There is a hill near by which I usually find beckoning me for a climb whenever I travel towards chennai on NH46,
I finally found time to do it this week, turns out it is around 12KMs from Ambur this is just before a village called madanur.
Here are some snaps from the trek if you are bored to read
Start from home...
It was the usual.... my partner came to my home after fajr (that is around 6.00 AM) I had barely woken...
and after the usual lecture from my grandpa about not to go out in for trek as it was summer and you will lose face complexion and be careful during the trek and what not... we tiptoed our way out in SUPER XL TVS moped (ahem its not a super fast bike you see), we filled up the moped tank with 0.66Litres of petrol and were rolling on towards madanur a near by village...
We usually don't plan which hill to trek before heading out and it happens on the run, after crossing the flyover near pachakuppam a hill range with 3 adjacent hills start, these hill are usually thorny with no gateway to climb to top, we had attempted a climb in one of them sometime back but failed due as there was no much room to enter it.
It is one these hills actually the last one which has a unique shaped peak and I had wanted to climb it for sometime now for some reason I call it nosedive hill, I slowed down the moped (which was going super fast at 25KMPH) near this hill desperately looking for a opening, the speed-o-meter was reading 5KMPH and I barked a order at my partner .. "kya to bhi opening milta kya dekh?" (Check if there is any opening?)
Bless his sharp eyes he promptly replied "wahan dekh muzzu! ek barik lane jaata dekh" (Look ahead muzzu, a narrow lane is opening up there) well Muzzu is my nickname u see...
Fair enough there was a small muddy lane about 2 feet wide going into the hill with thorny bushes all around. we pulled over and were contemplating to go inside or not, fortunately we saw a local village man with his lungi tied above the knees and his short clearly visible walking down the muddy lane into the hill, we hurriedly followed him, I asked him "malai mele porattuku wali irukka?" (is there a way to up the hill top?), he didn't stop but was advancing onwards, I got a feeling he might not oblige to the question, but as if he was used to the question he answered all the things we need to know while walking and it was really heplful.
Fortunately the state government had made a narrow mud trial from the base to till top of the hill (Apparently there is a token temple on the top). This trial was the only way to climb the hill as all around the hill the only thing you could find was thorny bushes, even this trial was not a safe one as it was carved out between these flesh in a thorn(y) bushes and our steps for most of the part up and down the hill had be taken with a lot of care and maneuver to avoid getting pricked or rashes which we did (well atleast for most part)
Midway...
Halfway we found a resting spot which was good for resting as well as taking in a beautiful view of the scene below, I did my usual "stand on rock and looking at the peak" pose for a photograph and we both took a breather.
No water policy gets our @r$&...
Since it was mid April (Summer) we were feeling the heat quiet early in the morning, we looked at each other we were already tired and sweaty by then,
Well you could say "Whats the big deal, you should have sipped a bottle of water or juice rested a bit and get a move on already" after all thats what all trekkers do right?
Unfortunately thats not so in our care, we both have a policy for our treks no water no refreshments, go bare hand and survive the wild for 4 hours without any external support, and it usually makes us suffer but this being summer it was making us suffer a lot more, we were feeling our dry lungs which had only seen a glass of water since we woke up and nothing else.... curses!
Power Ups...
We started our way up again and our pace was a little slow, each time I was clenching my fist and trying to "power up" to get the extra strength for me to carry on...
If you are wondering what this power up thing is, then I will explain it..
Its a thing which super heroes do in Animes and video games which makes their strength double or triple or fourble (ahem! Quadraple that is).....
Having realised that power ups are beyond me, I did a reality check, my partner was a little ahead by now and I called him "Mujju! wapas jaange ki...?" (Mujju shall we go back? Mujju is my partners nickname) this is usually the case in our trips when we tire out and one of us contemplate returning halfway.. this time it was my turn.My partner put up a brave front and asked me to rest up a bit so that we can start again.
Well I did this complaning 3 to 4 times before we finally reached the top.
On Top...
we finally made it to the peak and somehow I made it first, there was a layer of sunburned black grasses which was apparently effects of overdoing the sun-tan, (poor fellows)
I did my usual stand on top and look below pose for a snap and we explored the top a bit.
The back side of the hill was a jungle unsuitable for exploring but there was a lone tree which stood majestically with a barren look, fresh fruit were seeping out of it (looked like mangoes to me...)
we appreciated it a bit and made our way back
Heading back...
After we came down, we rested a bit and started our way back, we wanted some refreshments badly after our dry trek and fortunately we found a tender coconut guy on our way back, we stopped and quenched our thirst before going back home...
I finally found time to do it this week, turns out it is around 12KMs from Ambur this is just before a village called madanur.
Here are some snaps from the trek if you are bored to read
Start from home...
It was the usual.... my partner came to my home after fajr (that is around 6.00 AM) I had barely woken...
and after the usual lecture from my grandpa about not to go out in for trek as it was summer and you will lose face complexion and be careful during the trek and what not... we tiptoed our way out in SUPER XL TVS moped (ahem its not a super fast bike you see), we filled up the moped tank with 0.66Litres of petrol and were rolling on towards madanur a near by village...
We usually don't plan which hill to trek before heading out and it happens on the run, after crossing the flyover near pachakuppam a hill range with 3 adjacent hills start, these hill are usually thorny with no gateway to climb to top, we had attempted a climb in one of them sometime back but failed due as there was no much room to enter it.
It is one these hills actually the last one which has a unique shaped peak and I had wanted to climb it for sometime now for some reason I call it nosedive hill, I slowed down the moped (which was going super fast at 25KMPH) near this hill desperately looking for a opening, the speed-o-meter was reading 5KMPH and I barked a order at my partner .. "kya to bhi opening milta kya dekh?" (Check if there is any opening?)
Bless his sharp eyes he promptly replied "wahan dekh muzzu! ek barik lane jaata dekh" (Look ahead muzzu, a narrow lane is opening up there) well Muzzu is my nickname u see...
 |
| The hill we climbed. we call it nose dive hill... |
Fair enough there was a small muddy lane about 2 feet wide going into the hill with thorny bushes all around. we pulled over and were contemplating to go inside or not, fortunately we saw a local village man with his lungi tied above the knees and his short clearly visible walking down the muddy lane into the hill, we hurriedly followed him, I asked him "malai mele porattuku wali irukka?" (is there a way to up the hill top?), he didn't stop but was advancing onwards, I got a feeling he might not oblige to the question, but as if he was used to the question he answered all the things we need to know while walking and it was really heplful.
 | |
| Narrow lane leading from highway to the hill base.. |
Fortunately the state government had made a narrow mud trial from the base to till top of the hill (Apparently there is a token temple on the top). This trial was the only way to climb the hill as all around the hill the only thing you could find was thorny bushes, even this trial was not a safe one as it was carved out between these flesh in a thorn(y) bushes and our steps for most of the part up and down the hill had be taken with a lot of care and maneuver to avoid getting pricked or rashes which we did (well atleast for most part)
Midway...
 | |||
| Buddy resting midway |
 |
| Stand on rock and look at peak! |
Since it was mid April (Summer) we were feeling the heat quiet early in the morning, we looked at each other we were already tired and sweaty by then,
Well you could say "Whats the big deal, you should have sipped a bottle of water or juice rested a bit and get a move on already" after all thats what all trekkers do right?
Unfortunately thats not so in our care, we both have a policy for our treks no water no refreshments, go bare hand and survive the wild for 4 hours without any external support, and it usually makes us suffer but this being summer it was making us suffer a lot more, we were feeling our dry lungs which had only seen a glass of water since we woke up and nothing else.... curses!
Power Ups...
We started our way up again and our pace was a little slow, each time I was clenching my fist and trying to "power up" to get the extra strength for me to carry on...
If you are wondering what this power up thing is, then I will explain it..
Its a thing which super heroes do in Animes and video games which makes their strength double or triple or fourble (ahem! Quadraple that is).....
 |
| I wanted to power up like this... alas! I'm human after all |
Well I did this complaning 3 to 4 times before we finally reached the top.
On Top...
we finally made it to the peak and somehow I made it first, there was a layer of sunburned black grasses which was apparently effects of overdoing the sun-tan, (poor fellows)
I did my usual stand on top and look below pose for a snap and we explored the top a bit.
 |
| On top |
we appreciated it a bit and made our way back
 | ||
| Barren tree which caught out attention, this was facing the back side of the hill |
After we came down, we rested a bit and started our way back, we wanted some refreshments badly after our dry trek and fortunately we found a tender coconut guy on our way back, we stopped and quenched our thirst before going back home...
 | |
| We sipped to our hearts content... |
wittily essayed..
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