Why this ride
From Chennai it runs 123 km to Chennai; allow about 2 h 07 of riding. The stops in between: Mukunda Nayanar Temple, Pidari Ratha / Valian Kuttai Ratha, main complex of Mahabalipuram and Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Chennai day out · Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 123 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 h 07
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Chennai
Chennai was Madras until 1996, and it is a place where tradition and technology sit side by side. The city grew up around Fort St George, which the East India Company began building in 1644, and the fort still stands near the seafront, now home to the state government. A short distance south, in the old quarter of Mylapore, the Kapaleeshwarar Temple rises in a colourful tower of carved gods and animals, and the streets around it are lined with shops selling jasmine, brass lamps and sweets.
Read the complete Chennai write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Chennai is where the day begins. Next is Mukunda Nayanar Temple.
2. Mukunda Nayanar Temple
Mahabalipuram, the Seven Pagodas of old sailors' charts, was a port city of the Pallava kings, who ruled this coast from their capital at Kanchipuram in the seventh and eighth centuries. Their sculptors worked in granite, carving temples out of the living rock and building others from cut stone, and the town is now full of the results. The Mukunda Nayanar Temple is one of the smaller and quieter of them, a modest stone shrine of the eighth century dedicated to Shiva, standing a little apart from the crowds in the north-west of the old town.
Read the complete Mukunda Nayanar Temple write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Mukunda Nayanar Temple comes up about 56 km into the recorded legs. Next is Pidari Ratha / Valian Kuttai Ratha.
3. Pidari Ratha / Valian Kuttai Ratha
Cut from a single boulder, the Pidari Ratha and its neighbour the Valayankuttai Ratha belong to the earliest generation of monuments at Mahabalipuram. The Pallava sculptors who made them in the seventh century worked from the top down, starting at the roof and carving inwards and downwards through the rock, a method that left no room for mistakes. The result is a small, compact temple form, square and neat, with a pyramidal roof, and some of the details were never finished, so you can still see where the chisels stopped.
Read the complete Pidari Ratha / Valian Kuttai Ratha write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
At least about 59 km into the recorded legs you reach Pidari Ratha / Valian Kuttai Ratha. Next is main complex of Mahabalipuram.
4. main complex of Mahabalipuram
The main complex at Mahabalipuram is a stone anthology of Pallava art, set between a low granite hill and the Bay of Bengal. Its centrepiece is the Shore Temple, built in the early eighth century under King Rajasimha, a pair of slim, tapering towers of weathered granite that stand almost at the water's edge. Sea winds have rounded the carvings, and in the morning light the temple looks like a sandcastle that has been left to harden for thirteen centuries. It survived the tsunami of 2004, when the sea drew back and exposed more ancient structures on the sand.
Read the complete main complex of Mahabalipuram write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
main complex of Mahabalipuram, about halfway. Next is Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram.
5. Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram
Planning note
Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram sits at 73 km, about halfway. Next is back through main complex of Mahabalipuram.
6. back through main complex of Mahabalipuram
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete main complex of Mahabalipuram write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through main complex of Mahabalipuram comes up about 62 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Pidari Ratha / Valian Kuttai Ratha.
7. back through Pidari Ratha / Valian Kuttai Ratha
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Pidari Ratha / Valian Kuttai Ratha write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 63 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Pidari Ratha / Valian Kuttai Ratha. Next is back through Mukunda Nayanar Temple.
8. back through Mukunda Nayanar Temple
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mukunda Nayanar Temple write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Mukunda Nayanar Temple, late in the day. Next is Chennai.
9. Chennai
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Chennai write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 123 km.
Leg by leg
Chennai to Mukunda Nayanar Temple
Chennai → Mukunda Nayanar Temple is 56 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Mukunda Nayanar Temple to Chennai
back through Mukunda Nayanar Temple → Chennai is 55 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.