All though the plan was finalized a week back, the heavy rains caused some hiccups with some riders to the Ride. None the less at the 11th hour of the day, v all were set to go n i was happy to see everyone at the meeting point.
Day 1:
My cell phone alarm helped me to wake up on time and I got my self ready n by the time I took my bike out, got a call from Narayan saying that he was already in meeting point n I waved bye to my mom, sis n dad ,left towards my friends (karthik) house to pick him up, picked him up n headed towards meeting point. Already all were waiting for me then i looked into my watch I was half an hour late..!!
Well 6 guys n 5 bikes were ready to hit the road. After a few quick clicks we made our move n with in few minutes we were on the way to Nh4, although the morning traffic was considerable we managed to leave the city behind us, reached the jazz road toll gate n stopped for a tea break. Again after some warm up we headed towards tumkur in a single line formation of 5 bikes.
Soon we reached Tumkur n I don’t want to miss the Idli’s in pavithra idli hotel. ;)
So stopped at hotel n ordered our breakfast, within no time we had our hot Idli’s with butter on top.. it was yummy..:). Again we started our ride , it was bit cloudy but yet no signs of rain, we continued our ride on NH206 via gubbi, tiptur, Arsikere, kadur n past the Arsikere we found a beautiful sunflower garden n stopped there for few clicks.
As we began to enter the chickmagalur ghats it started raining n from here starts our wet journey. Reached the chikmagalur city around 12pm n took deviation towards SH57 mullayanagiri, after few kms we were stopped by the ghat check post by checkpost gaurds, We asked them the route for mullayanagiri they showed the route n told that the mist is covering the hill n to be careful.
We began to climb the hill n a beautiful greenery of mother nature welcomed us, in each turn we were taking we were encountering more wind and mist, the visibility came down for few mtrs, came across many small falls on the sides of the road and soon we reached seethalayanagiri n then at the top of mullyanagiri.
As we reached the top of the Hill it started to rain n the wind was pushing us as if we were trespassers to its territory :D . We literally could not stand against the wind n moved towards the side of a Scorpio car. After few minutes, we decided to move to top of the hill where the temple is situated, after so much of wind resistance, rain, n low visibility we managed to top of the hill to our bad luck temple was closed. But the satisfaction was like as if we conquered the Himalayas.
We spent some time there n steped back where we parked our bikes..
After hoping on to our bikes we rode down n stopped where we found a sign board indicating directions towards kemmanagundi n kallathgiri. So we took the kemmangundi route n first 5 to 6 kms route was good then came the roads which was nightmare!! full of pot holes, potholes filled with rain water , mud, slush , adding to this the fog n rain that was bringing down our visibility. We came across many beautiful falls. We got to ride on roads with flowing water it was a total fun, everybody enjoyed it. ;)
here are some pics taken via phone(low clarity images.) ;)
I was tailing the group, in one pothole my rear wheel stucked n I switched off the engine to lift it up n then my pillion n I was scared by the silence of the forest, only the sound of rain n wind. we got the bike out n continued towards kemmanagundi n the time was 3pm n we stopped near one of the beautiful falls took some snaps n all were hungry n looked out n found one tea shop got some tea n biscuits n moved further.
Again we need to ride on those pathetic roads to reach kallathgiri, by 4 30 we reached kallathhalli n there we already booked the TB(travelers Bungalow) n our room was right opp to the kallathgiri falls, we were all wet when we reached the room n began to dry overselves n odered some omlets, egg burji, n some snaks and rested our butts on the bed.
After some rest we chatted there n had food to end our day n slept. At the end of the day we rode 342kms.
Day 2:
Next day Aug 1st, yes it was friendship Day I was missing all my frnds in Bangalore
we got up n freshened our selves by the time all are ready it was 8 45am, n we went to near by kallathgiri falls n again back to room for breakfast. We finished our breakfast n checked out our room by 11, yeah it was very late don’t know how we spent so much time there. When we all set to go , i found a strange sound in my biken found to be my chain was very much slackened and it was making some glurrr glurr sound. So thought of getting it fixed by some mechanic n we found no mechanics around.
So everyone left for tharikere, where we found one mechanic shop n fixed the chain problem. Avinash took a diversion from tharikere to chithradurga as he need to go for his native. And we four riders headed towards chikkamaglur, from there we took the belur Hassan road to bengaluru. It was already 2pm. We decided to go to Belur chennakeshava temple which is on the way. We reached belur by 3 pm n had lunch there in one of the hotel n went inside the temple. Visited the temple , clicked few snaps n left Belur at 5pm.
As it was late in evening everybody decided to ride nonstop till bengaluru. So everyone geared up n started our return journey. The route was Belur—Hassan—CR patna
The Ride was very memorable.Bikes,open roads, Rain, Mist, Forest, Waterfalls,Ghats ,
What else a Biker needs..:)
A special thanks to my friends who all made this ride a successful.
Avinash, Narayan, Abhijith, Shreyas, Karthik and my beloved love my Appu(my Bike).
Now another place is calling me…. J
Ride de….:)
