A lil ride up the hill

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Pix by me and Arun.

I am still grounded!. By self or circumstances or what ever. But do feel like getting away for a few hours. 4pm Arun calls for the ride up the Granite Hill which we had done 2 years back. Was a nice lil adventures ride owing to some tough offroading. But its also raining this time. Doubtful of whether would be able to actually try it out, but still wanted to see if we could ;). A lil after I started from home rain drops or doing their bit. I stop to wear the Rain gear and I get a call from Arun "Its blasting rain here man! Let’s do it some other time. Or come over will have drive in car." Well with nothing bettor to do went towards his home. I get royally drenched just after. Okok it was just my shoes as I had my rain gear on. With wet soggy shoes and sox was thinking what to do. Get a call again by Arun "Rain's stopped coming by bike, will give it a try". Ohh ok looks like we have a ride on ;)

As we approach the deviation with the rain threat continuously on, The familiar feeling of not making it back grips me :D. Yeah it had been months/years since I last time I experienced it. After running around interior village roads a bit, we finally make it to the beginning of the Offroading. Looks a bit dry, no rain so let’s give it a try we thought. We wait at the end of the road for the dump truck to climb its way up. We could feel the stares from the ppl who were waiting there for public transportation, as to what are these guys up to. After some time we get on the rock face in the general path the truck had gone. Actually there is temple which ppl come to visit. As we pass the temple to go up the Granite quarry behind, we see some very old stone scaffoldings at the base of the temple steps, which were meant for shops in ancient times. There was even a lonely 'Agora – A stone platform around a huge tree' where village ppl can hang out. There was even an un-maintained temple pool 'kalyaani'. Awesome place away from the hustle n bustle of the city. We get around this area and follow a mud road and finally reach the base of the quarry hill. Its the point of no return;) it looks dry so we are doing it.

Ride on path literally chiseled on the rock face of the hill. It had some steep sections with slope'y rock face gravel and mud. Quite some tough sections to climb. We even pass through a section where the rock face was scraped layer by layer for harvesting stone for construction purpose. It would be tricky if it gets wet. I take few pix stopping many times while Arun rushes to the top. Since we were already late as much as 6pm!. Finally I come up to a very steep section which had to the taken at one go. I had also taken a fall there the last time while climbing down or rather I had dropped my bike. I took the wrong side, slowed down and lost momentum and the engine dies. The path was full of sand and gravel and struggling to get some traction. Thanks for some rocks I din slide all the way down. I had to pull and push on the 50 degree incline to free myself and some how made it to the top with wheel spinning. Phew stopped some time to catch my breath. That was hard work. The Michelin tires rocks :). Reach the top and Arun has parked there, while I explore the quarry hill a lil bit and park my bike near Arun's.

The wind is catching up and Rains getting real. Perched high up the hill top we could literally see the rain advancing towards us. Though it was light, I soon to get under the shelter of my helmet. As soon we were under the drops. After braving quite some wind we decided to get back to safety saving what little of day light is left. Now I take the lead and negotiate the path slowly and steadily and Arun takes it more cautiously as he did not want to drop his bike and break some plastic. I pass the steep section with out a hitch as there was some traction in the sand thanks to the light rain. Carefully negotiated the path until we come on the path on the rock face slanting perpendicular to our path. Now its wet and there's gravel too. Slowly cross the 200 meters of it only to find a 20 feet of tricky rock face to cross. Take it slow with rear wheel skidding all the way. I am through. Yuppeee. Then I get off and hold Arun's bike just in case, as I had experienced how slippery it was. He cleared too.

We make it back to the village hang out place under little light by 7 PM. The temple is closed by now and hardly any ppl around. We park our bikes near the Kalyaani and sit the steps. Quite, Calm, Fresh air and we got to chatting. Bikes, travel, life and philosophy what else. Touched spirituality, Universe, evaluation and what not!. The awesome ambiance and time flew and it was 9PM by the time we realized it!. By the now the sky was clear enough to show star constellations and there was bit of star light as well.

N we have to ride back don we ? ;) A nice get away. My body a lil sore with man handling the bike (or bike handling? !) but it was worth it.