A Drive to Religious and scenic places

May 1st being holiday just put me in a spot of bother, wondering what I would be doing over the weekend with the Friday being a holiday. On a lazy afternoon on Monday the 27th April 2009, my cell phone rang. My uncle had just helped me clearing all the bothering for the weekend. We together planned to visit the places listed below.

1) Kollur
2) Udupi
3) Sringeri
4) Horanadu
5) Dharmastala
6) Kukke Subrahmanya

We decided to start on the 30th evening. Here is how the drive for the next 3 days went about, but before we get into the details a quick list of facts.

Car: Alto LXI June 2008

Odo Reading: 2398 kms (the car is very sparing driven)

Day 1: 30th April 2009 – 1st May 2009

Planned to start at 5 pm, however invariably we got delayed and started at 6.45 pm with the odometer reading at 2398. Set the trip meter to ‘0’ and we set off. A big thanks to our Bangalore traffic, we were delayed even further. By the time we cross the Nelamangala it was already 9 pm. Reached Tumkur outskirts around 9.45 pm were we stopped to tank up. Next stop was for dinner somewhere after Gubbi. Had couple of rotis to ensure that I don’t dose off with a heavy dinner. The road up to Arayur which is about 20 kms from Shimoga is in excellent condition. Here I took the deviation towards Kollur. From here on the roads are ok, but very bumpy and narrow. This route had quite a bit of Lorries carrying the iron ore towards Byandur. We reached Hosanagara at 3.15 am. Stopped for a pee break and continued driving towards Kollur via Nittur. After Nittur the roads are pretty narrow and steep. We reached Kollur at 5.30 am. We took a lodge and dumped all the luggage and I dosed off for a couple of hours.

We got ready and visited the temple and after darshan had breakfast. Vacated the room and started off towards Udupi at 9.30 am which is about 75 kms from Kollur. It was getting hotter as the sun got higher in the sky. We reached Udupi at 11.45 am, had a tough time parking the car near the temple. Not to mention it was seriously hot and humid in Udupi, however the temple (for god sake the temple inside is air conditioned). After the darshan, we had lunch at the temple.

Now the most irritating part was to get the car out of the parking spot. The cars, MUVs, bikes all parked so haphazardly ensured that we almost wasted an hour getting the car out of the place. With the load of 5 adults and AC operating at full blast ensured the Alto was struggling to take even the slightest of inclines. After all the irritating parking woes, another one incident was in store for us. The boot lock spring jumped out of place to ensure that the boot cannot be closed. We searched for a nearby garage who could fix it. We indeed found a garage where we got the spring problem rectified.

We headed towards Agumbe. Agumbe is the Chirapunji of South India. This route from Hebri to Agumbe has dense ever green forest. This made the frustration to just disappear. The ghat section here is pretty steep and narrow. We drove up the ghats and stopped at the sun set point. We had some yummy pineapples here; the pineapples were just too good.

From here we drove to Sringeri. No rooms at the temple lodge in Sringeri, we were scouting around for a room to stay. We finally found one, which was very average. Left with no choice we had to opt for this one. Refreshed ourselves and visited the temple. We had dinner at the temple. I have to mention that the food serving premises at Sringeri temple is huge and it can easily serve food (lunch/dinner) to 5000 people at one shot. It was time to hit the beds for a sound sleep.

Day 2: 2nd May 2009

Got up early, paid another visit to the temple and then headed towards Horanadu via Kudremukh. Here we visited the Soothanabbi Falls; I’ll let the pics do the talking for falls and the Kudremukh road.

Reached Horanadu, we took a room there for a mere 80 bucks. This is the temple trust owned lodge hence the price being so low. Visited the temple and hand yummy lunch at the temple. It was time to dose off and remained indoors to avoid the scorching sun. In the evening it was time again to venture out, visited around the temple. Had the temple pooja related things done in the evening. Had dinner and time to hit the beds again.

Day 3: 3rd May 2009

We started early in the morning by 7 am as we had to reach Dharmastala by 9.30 am max. However the schedule went haywire as the Charmadi route has been closed until June 09. We had to go through Sakaleshpur and reach Dharmastala. We reached at 11.15 am. Now the frustrating part of waiting in the queue took toll on me. A good 4+ hours by the time we came out of the temple. Time to head to Kukke Subrahmanya which is about 60 kms from Dharmastala. The roads where pretty good.

We reached Subrahmanya at 4.30 pm, took a lodge and it was time for me to dose off up to 7.30 pm as I had to drive back till Bangalore. Visited the temple for darshan and then the dinner. But at the dinner place we got delayed it was already 9.45 pm when we finished dinner.

Quickly packed up things and started off at 10.30 pm. We had a couple of breaks on the way which lasted for about 45 mins. Reached Bangalore (my uncle’s house at 3.30 am)

A drive completed after quite a break. The reason for the break coming up in the next post.

Route:

Bangalore – Nelamangala – Tumkur – Arasikere – Bhadrawathi – Shimoga – Arayanur – Hosanagara – Nittur – Kollur – Kundapura – Udupi – Manipal – Hebri – Someshvara – Agumbe – Sringeri – Kudremukh – Kalasa – Horanadu – Kalasa – Kottigehara – Mudigere – Sakaleshpur – Dharamastala – Gundya Post – Kukke Subrahmanya – Gundya Post – Sakaleshpur – Hassan – Kunigal – Nelamangala – Bangalore
Total Trip Distance – 1188 kms

A Brisk Solo Ride to Jog Jalapatha

Date: 17th August 2008

With all the hurdles crossed (objections from parents not to go out for ride due to eclipse and stuff), had finally succeeded to convince them to give me the green signal.

Scheduled start 5 am, however invariably got delayed by 45 mins and left my house at 5.45 am. Headed straight to the petrol bunk, only to see it not opened yet. Did not want to waste any further time, headed towards Tumkur. Hit reserve about 20 kms to Tumkur. Refueled to the brim and ready to ride, continued cruising at around the three figure mark. The roads were pretty smooth up to Birur, but not without irritating road humps near every damn village on the National Highway (NH – 206).

Stopped at Shimoga for breakfast, after a nice tasty idli sambar and a super strong coffee continued riding. Just after 10 odd kms, the rain gods were at full play. Put the rain gear on, also with a wide smile on my face. It was quite some time from the last time I rode in Rain.

Nice sweeping bend enroute to Sagar from Shimoga

The paddy fields @ Talaguppa

Arrow straight roads with paddy fields on either side @ Talaguppa

Thanks to the late start and the rain, reached Jog almost an hour late from schedule, which actually ruined the latter part of the plan. I expected quite a few people to visit Jog during weekend in Monsoon, but there were loads of people. Parked the bike and the rain just got heavier. Huh no respite from rain at least to click photos. Found a place where I can take shelter from rain and try my hand at the cam. Clicked a few pics and headed straight to a small hotel there. Had nice hot chapati and palav and left Jog at around 2.30 pm.

First view @ Jog Jalapata

Rain Drops

Umbrella and the rain

With the rain gods still at play and with very little traffic, enjoyed riding not without taking the sweeping bends with good leaning exercise. Rode till Tarikere, but saw a sign board with info that Bhadra dam is only 19 kms, it was pretty inviting to get there. Took the deviation and headed towards the dam. Initially the roads were excellent and started deteriorating to an extent where there was no tarmac at all. The suspension bottomed out at least half a dozen times. Spent about 15 mins there (it was still raining but not as heavy as when I was at Jog).

Bhadra Dam

Rode back till Tumkur and then stopped for a cup of coffee. The weather was dry and I sighed a bit of relief, but the relief was short lived, just after about 5 kms, it started pouring again to an extent where there was water flowing on the highway, invariably reduced the average speed. Finally reached home at 9.15 pm.

Only a little part of life reclaimed. Hoping to ride in the rain more very soon!!!!

Trip Stats

Distance covered: 828.7 kms

Total Trip Duration: 15 hours and 35 mins

Fuel costs: 19.8 Litres @ Rs. 1137/-

Beach – Falls – Rugged Terrain and finally the Mist

Long time no ride, took 3 days off for wat else to do, ride and get the butt sore…………

Riders: Myself – Apache 200

NFSNFS (Santosh) – P180 V1

Day 1: August 19th, 2007

Planned to leave by 4 am initially, then the schedule moved to 6 am and finally got moving by 7 am . Had breakfast at Kamat and continued toward Shimoga via Tumkur. Reached Shimoga to find that there was some sort of a problem with the alternator as no current was supplied to the battery or the lighting circuit. Hmm got some help from one guy at the spare shop and got the coil thing fixed and continued towards Sagar. Reached Jog only to find a huge traffic jam with loads of people who were there at jog . So skipped visiting jog for now and continued towards Honnavar. Just a few kms from Jog the rain gods dancing to full glory. Stopped to get in our rain gear and this is what we were presented with.

With visibility being very very poor we continued riding towards Honnavar. Reached Honnavar at around 6.50 pm. Had coffee n snacks left Honnavar by 7.45 pm. Even though still raining heavily decided to continue to ride towards Karwar. The roads were sick for most parts and one big scare was that I was about to hit a dead buffalo calf on the road , lucky me some how escaped all this because visibility very poor. Reached Karwar at 9.30 pm, dumped all the luggage and had dinner. A sound sleep was very much required…………..

Day 2: August 20th, 2007

Got to up at around 8 to see the rains still continuing, thought why not get that rain pics as well. A pic to remember :-) With no choice but to ride, we started off towards Panjim. But rains not giving way, bad roads made us decide to visit Polalem Beach which is close to 45 kms from Karwar. Stayed at the beach for a couple of hours before heading back to Karwar. Relentless rain at Polalem Roads on the way after goa border and back to Karwar
My bike
Refuelled at a HP petrol near the Goa border, a good 6 rupees cheaper petrol in Goa . Came back to Karwar, had lunch and packed the entire luggage and headed off towards Sirsi.

We had to visit Bennehole falls and reach there we had to ride pretty fast. The falls is something like 6.5 kms from the main road (kumta-Sirsi road) Complete off roading experience, rains, sluch, boulders, broken tree branches, twigs, what not. Took the bike to last possible path, parked the bike and walked towards the falls, it was already like 6.15 pm. We need to be quick else, if would be tough to find our way back to the place we had parked the bike. With all the struggle this is what we were blessed with

A quick visit and return to the bikes only to a quite a number of leaches happily trying to suck blood on our legs, lucky me again, had Gum boots on which made it difficult for leeches. NFS donated a bit of blood to the suckers. Somehow rushed back to Sirsi and took a lodge and then the fun started to hunt down leeches on our clothes, jackets, luggage, saddle bags, everywhere. It took close to 90 mins to get rid off the suckers and kill a few too. Had dinner and a sound sleep……………..

Day 3: August 21st, 2007

Got up early, packed everything and decided to ride to Unchalli falls. Reached there at around 10.15 am and reached the view point only to find the falls completely filled with mist. Spent around 30 mins just to get few glimpses of the falls when the mist cleared up slightly.

From there rode to Jog falls, as usual clicked a few snaps, and reached Sagar for lunch.

The guy at the hotel, guided us through a shortcut to kodachadri via Hasirumakki, took a Ferry on the Sharavati Back waters.

Reached the other bank and headed off towards Kodachadri. We were at the Kodachadri base at around 4 pm, clicked a few pics as well to enjoy the surrounding.

Just a few hundred metres my bike slipped and slided on the slush to have a fall, so message very clear, “WELCOME TO KODACHADRI”……. Then on being very careful continued riding.

A few stops and were at the top by 5.20 pm. After unloading all the stuff from the bike, to have a hot coffee in the chilling weather. Being very misty restricted our movements to a few hundred feet from the PWD Inspection Bungalow. What next no electricity, nothing to do in the dark, started chit chatting, had yummy dinner at around 8 pm and we hit the bed at 9 pm.

Day 4: August 22nd, 2007

Got up at around 6.30 to find that it was raining heavily outside…. So packed everything and waited for the weather to clear up a bit, but to our luck that did not happen. After breakfast decided to descend from the heavenly place. Reached the ferry place by 9.15 am.

Reached the other bank and rode till Shimoga. Went to the nearby TVS showroom to get the coil fixed again…. Finally got most of the things fixed, but could not fix the compression loss due to no valve clearance. Did not want to take a chance with those mechanics as they seemed to know nothing about the bike. Just rode all the way back from Shimoga with poor compression. Left Shimoga at 3.30 pm and reached home at 7.50 pm. A good good ride with lot of events ended here.

Need to thank Santosh for all the help and his patience to overcome all the hassles and still make it back home riding.......
The Route:
Bangalore - Tumkur - Shimoga - Jog Falls - Honnavar - Karwar - Polalem beach - Karwar - Minvad - Bennehole Falls - Sirsi - Heggarne - Unchalli Falls - Siddapur - Jog Falls - Sagar - Hasirmakki (used the ferry service here) - Sampigekatte - Kodachadri - Sampigekatte - Hasirmakki - Sagar - Shimoga - Tumkur – Bangalore.