Kodagu is not a bad place by any stretch of imagination at all during the monsoons.
So the plan to start off @ 7 am and the meeting point being the Shell petrol bunk on the Mysore road. Not really bad with the start off time, we head to Madikeri via Srirangapatna
Day 1: 7th July 2007
Being on time really helps. After tanking up at the Shell petrol bunk we rode non stop till the Kamat Lokaruchi after Ramanagaram. Had a nice yummy breakfast and continued on. There was a light drizzle all the way till Mandya. After Mandya surprisingly the drizzle stopped and we rode on a little faster here. After Srirangapatna we took the deviation towards Hunsur to avoid entering the Mysore City and the also the distance will be reduced by about 10 odd kilometers. We rode till Periyapatna. Thought it was definitely not a bad idea to exchange bikes. We rode on for a few more kilometers till Kushalnagar also clicking a few pics on the way.
We stopped over for tea also we required a 10 mins break to clean up the visors and also the bike a bit as we rode through quite deep slush. More so I wanted to ensure it does not hamper the breaking especially the discs. Then from here on we headed towards the Harangi Dam. We reached there about 10.45 am. Spent close to 30 mins, clicking away at the glory of the water gushing out of the 4 outlets of the Harangi Dam. It had completely submerged a bridge.
We rode on till Madikeri town and now the hunt for a decent lodge began. We were quite successful in getting a decent room for a decent price as well. Dumped the entire luggage, freshened up ourselves and headed straight for lunch in the restaurant at the ground floor. Sorry I forgot the name of the lodge. It was raining all the time.
After lunch we headed to Abbey Falls. Wow what a sight. It was just too good; let the pics speak more about it.
Almost an hour we headed back to Madikeri. On enquiring about the route to Baghamandala, the route was closed due to land slides and overflowing river. With the spirits a little dampened, we headed to the Raja Seat. Nice place with mist all around. Spent about 30 mins enjoying the cool breeze, luckily the rain had stopped for a while.
We had to head back to the room as it started pouring. The rain never stopped. Santosh had a very sound sleep in the evening. Left with no choice I was just viewing whatever was relayed on TV. Spend the whole evening in the lodge. Later in the night we watched the Movie “Poison Ivy” on HBO as well.
After the movie off we go to bed.
Day 2: 8th July 2007
As per our discussion the previous day, we first ventured out for shopping. We bought the Rubber boots as it is a cheap alternative to avoid getting your shoes wet during rains.
Packed everything, no better time to test our new rubber boots, we put them on and start riding towards Virajpet and then later head to Iruppu falls. We rode enjoying the scenery around and clicking pics where ever we got a chance. We reached the foot of the Iruppu falls. We had to walk for about half a kilometer here to go near the falls. It was raining all the time. On the way we found a few people coming back from the falls on the hanging bridge. It was a good experience as the water was gushing below the hanging bridge with good speed.
Clicked a few pics and headed back. We could not take the trek there to Brahmagiri as the guide from the forest dept was not available. We rode to Kutta and stopped for Lunch. Here we decided to ride to Sulthanbatthery and then to Gundlupet and back to Bangalore via Mysore. En route we had the opportunity to click a few good snaps.
Reached back home by 9.30 pm, the bed at home never felt so comfy. All in all nothing like a ride or a drive to the Western Ghats during monsoon. They are just awesome.
