Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Freedom Ride - Bike trip to Lonar, Ajanta, Ellora and Aurangabad

Distance - 1583 km
Bike - Royal Enfield Classic 350cc (2014 model)
Riders - Vivek (RE) and Fahad (Bajaj Avenger)
Route - Hyderabad - Lonar - Ellora - Ajanta - Daulatabad - Aurangabad - Aundha Nagnath - Hyderabad


 Preparation
The planning started from when we received Leave Schedule for FY 2014-15. We saw that there is a long weekend in August as Independence Day is falling on a Friday. Then itself we decided that "We have to do something on this weekend". I booked my RE on 4th October 2013, and I received it after 8 long months, on 9th June 2014. I was very excited to own the bike I used to dream about. I completed first 2 servicing milestones (500km and 3000 km) within 2 months so that my bike ready for the long ride.

 When August came, my bike and I were ready for a long ride. I was very busy in the last few months and didn't travel at all. I get restless without travelling. Just wanted to go somewhere. But to go on a tour, most important thing you need is money. After paying my huge credit card and other bills, my "salary" account balance was in 3 digit, on 2nd of August. I borrowed some money from my mom, she never says "no"! :-)

 Coming to riding accessories, I bought RE jacket at the time I got my bike (Rs.6999). I already had a decent helmet, which I got customized a bit for the ride. Bought Army boots (just Rs.850) and borrowed gloves from Sreejith Sir. Fahad gave me his spare knee guards. So, I had all the necessary safety gears for the ride.

 We planned for a 3 day trip: August 15th to 17th. Our plan was to visit Lonar and Ellora Caves, and come back. 19th August was again a public holiday (Telangana Bandh). So, if we could get 1 day leave i.e. 18th, we'll have 5 days!! But it was difficult and risky, because both of us were serving notice period. We kept that option in mind and started our journey.

 Day 1

We started at 5:30 am in the morning. Idea was to cover as much distance as possible before the day gets hot. Asian Highway 43 is superb! We had to go to Nizamabad on AH43/NH7. We stopped for a while for some photographs.

We stopped at a lake in Nizamabad for a while to take some rest. It was around 9 am. We had some biscuits as our stomach was craving for food. We started again. There was some road construction going on near Navipet. So, we had to take an internal village road. That took around 1 hour extra. But the fields were awesome to see. Lush green fields were very pleasing.
We, crossed Godavari at around 10 am. There is famous temple near this place called Basara. It's a temple of Hindu goddess Saraswati. I didn't know that we'll be going through Barara, but seeing the sign boards after crossing the bridge I came to know.
Road from Navipet to Bhainsa is good. it didn't take much time to reach Bhainsa. We thought that we will reach Nanded and have lunch over there. There is a state highway between Bhainsa and Nanded, which is well maintained. It was amazing ride. Fields and trees along with the road, not much traffic.


We reached Nanded at around 12:30 pm. Found a decent veg restaurant and ordered thalis. This was the first meal we were having that day. Thali was just Rs.70 and it had 3 parathas, some rice, dal and 2 curries. Curries weren't good though, but parathas were like home, delicious! Then we had coffee and started our jouney again at around 1:15 pm. We came around 310 km away from home and Lonar was still around 180 km away.


The roads became narrow and full of pits as we left the state highway. We headed towards Hingoli. Once in a while we used to get good roads. We took some pit stops for rest. But we wanted to reach Lonar before sunset, so we were keeping track of time. I think we reached Hingoli at around 3 pm. We continued towards Risod. Road was worst we had that day. But the green field on both sides were compensating with the bad roads. The view of villages passing by was amazing.
Road was comparatively better from Risod to Lonar. We were very excited to reach Lonar asap. We stopped around 30 km away from Lonar to get the view of beautiful fields.
We helped 3 guys on a bike who were out of gas by giving some fuel from our tank. They thanked us and we started again. We didn't stop until Lonar. The final few kilometers were amazing. Specially the low light and greenery. There is a small village near the crater. We struggled a while to reach the crater, but local people helped us to find the way. As soon as we reached the crater, at around 6:15 pm, all our tiredness was gone. It was amazing! We rode around 500 km and for 13 hours, but it was totally worth it.
We decided to sit near the crater and watch this trick of universe. A meteor fell here around 55000 years ago, and over the time, this alkaline lake is formed. We met a guy who was kind of a guide, working in MTDC (Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation). Got lot of useful information about the place which I'll tell you later.

Sitting at the edge of the crater, soothing breeze hitting us vaporizing our sweat, we were just looking at the crater, admiring it. Whenever I come to such place, universe' miracle, I think "how tiny we are". Our lifetime period, our circle of influence, it's nothing when you compare with universe. Then you realize, "life is short", very short, make the most of it :-)
After sunset, we started our bikes to find a place to stay. That guy told us that MTDC rooms are full. We expected that as it was a long weekend. 15 August falling on Friday, best coincidence for explorers! He said that there is a Krishna Lodge in the village, were you can good rooms. It took around 15-20 min to find the place. Room was decent for 2 guys and @ Rs.300 only. In a big city you have to pay at least 600 bucks for such room. We freshed up, and went to have dinner. It was already 9 pm and most of the "Bhojanalayas" were closed. But we were lucky that Sharma Bhojanalaya was open. We had delicious "ghar jaisa parathas", mix veg curry and paneer ki sabji. Food was very good, like home! And the rate was very reasonable, around Rs.120 per head. We went back to our room and went to bed after seeing some pics of that day. Plan was to wake up early next morning and trek inside and around the crater.


Useful Information About Lonar: What you can do here!
  • Nature lovers: If you are a nature lover then u MUST visit Lonar. It is really amazing!
  • Camping: You can camp in night. So must bring your tents. If you are coming in a group then you can camp, set up a bonfire and go for a night trek also.
  • Watch towers: There are 3 watch towers around the crater. From where you get a pretty good view of the crater.
  • Trek around the lake: Trek inside the crater! It is so amazing! You can hear different kind of birds (specially peacock) chirruping. You'll see many langoors and even wild boars. The trek becomes difficult when you go farther in the jungle because very less people go there. So, be careful. We heard from a guide that localities have also seen leopard in the jungle. We took big sticks with us to protect ourselves in case a wild animal attacks us.
  • Photography: There are 16 ancient temples inside the crater. Most of them are ruins now but still a must watch. Photographers will love this place.
  • Temples: As I told, 16 temples! One of them is still in good condition and many people visit it. That's why the tracks are clean and you can easily reach there. It's a temple of goddess Durga (I hope I'm correct, don't remember exactly).
  • Accommodation: You can stay at MTDC. They provide AC and non-AC rooms and dorms also. But book online as there is no guaranty that you'll get rooms after reaching there. Otherwise you can stay in Krishna Lodge which is in the village. Rooms start from Rs.300. Good service.
  • Food: You get home-like Maharashtrian food in Lonar at reasonable price. I liked it!
For more photos check my facebook album: Freedom Ride


Day 2
  • From Lonar to Ellora : 195 km
  • Route: Lonar - Sultanpur - Jalna - Aurangabad - Daulatabad - Ellora
  • Started @ 11:00 am, Reached @ 4:00 pm
Day 3
  • From Ellora to Ajanta and back : 259 km
  • Route: Ellora - Phulambri - Sillod - Ajanta
  • Started from Ellora @ 9:30 am, Reached Ajanta @ 1:00 pm
  • Started from Ajanta @ 6:00 pm, Reached Ellora @ 10:00 pm
Day 4
  • From Ellora to Aundha Nagnath : 251 km
  • Route: Ellora - Daulatabad Fort - Bibi-ka-makabra - Jalna - Aundha Nagnath
  • Started from Bibi-ka-makabra @ 2 pm, Reached Aundha: 9:00 pm
Day 5
  • From Aundha Nagnath to Hyderabad : 376 km
  • Route: Aundha - Nanded -Bhainsa - Nizamabad - Hyderabad
  • Started @ 7:30 am, Reached @ 4:00 pm
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