Bike Trip - Kemmanagundi

After a week long in office why would anybody want to wake up at 3 in saturday! that too in the nice cozy weather of bangalore morning and ready to hit the road for next 8+ hrs.Well you know it is hard to explain! . I was planning to do a long weekend bike trip and finally decided to try chikmagalur. Managed to lure one of my friend (pillion) in to the plan!.

we are supposed to start at 4 on saturday ,I woke up at 3 had nice bath in hot water and suddenly it started raining out side. I love riding in rain but not in the morning! I kept calling my friend but he seems too busy sleeping, Finally we managed to start at 6:30.

we headed straight to kemmangudi via tumkur - kadur - birur. It was a monotonous ride till birur but once we crossed it Mother Nature embraced us with the sheer beauty and wilderness of the green mountains. The ride suddenly became enjoyable making the 300+ kms ride fatigue fading away quickly.we reached kemmangudi around 1'o clock. A bit about Kemmannagundi here: Kemmannagundi also called Krishna Rajendra Hill Station is a beautifull Hill station situated in western ghats a hamlet of Tigada village is 35 km south of Tarikere, 32 km south-west of Birur, 48 km north of Chikmagalur and on the Baba-Budan range with an elevation of 1,434 metre and 252 km north-west of Bangalore. you can learn more about this place here- http://www.onlinechikmagalur.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=27#hillstation We didn't pre booked our accomodation in the only resort available here (run by Horticulture department) the staff asked us to come back around 5 p.m to check the availability We had our lunch in the nearby canteen (can't call this a restaurant!) it was a simple meal but the fresh vegetables added an extra taste which you normally don't find in urban cooking!



As nothing much left to do till 5 we decided to pay a visit to Hebbe Falls nearby.
Enroute to hebbe breath taking landscapes covered with all shades of green will welcome you. On the way we noticed cars parked on sideways and only jeeps and
4wd moving ahead with out thinking much we continued ...Due to the continuous rain the muddy path ways (road!) were covered with slush and made our ride challenging, Also the path became narrow with full of gravels and steep incline and decline completely drenched in rain. Avenger did behaved well but it was a tough task for both the machine and man to reach hebbe with out breaking a leg ;). Finally reached hebbe , parked the vehicle . Moved inside the forest to get a darshan of the falls , the falls definitely will take your breath away. Completely hidden in the jungle this is really awesome! Lot of "leeches" around this place so you need to be bit more carefull with them here (their territory) one was romancing me in the neck for quite a while with out me knowing it!!





After spending few hours we started off back to kemmangudi, the dusk came too soon and the mist filled routes made our journey back really Adventurous!.

The guest house staff finally offered us a dormitory accomodation ;(. After the challenging ride to hebbe my friend wanted to celebrate it and didn't want
to stay in dormitory , we decided to start off to chickmagalur , it is already 7 . The localites advised us not to go as the routes are bad and there
will be hardly any visiblity. With the new found courage we decided to ignore them and started off after a gharam chai. We took the viewpoint - datte peeta route (not lingdahalli route) . Soon we were covered with mist and zero visiblity on the roads. Mid jungle and pitch dark , absolutely no traffic and we were riding on high peaks which has no barricade in the sides, you miss one turn and you will be out of coverage area ;) and to add bit more fun it started raining. Arun played some classical instrumental songs from his phone which were apt fit for the situation
enjoying the music we reached a town.before we were relieved,the street dogs started chasing us hearing the bike sound (not one but 10s of them) excellent!! shooted my bike in 90s and quickly moved out. Finally we reached chikmagalur at 9 , checked in a hotel. we ended our first day adventure with couple of beers.





Second day we started at 9 from hotel and headed to mullayanagiri (highest peak in karnataka) , Excellent place. the 20+ kms ride in the mountains was one of
the best rides of the trip (nothing can beat hebbe). trekked / climbed to the top , the temple is currently being renovated. took couple of snaps around.
I wanted to buy some coffee in chikmagalur so we started off at 12 and reached chickmagalur. Bought coffee in MG road , on the way back we decided to visit belur
Excellent roads from chikmagalur to belur. The Hoysala temple in belur is by far the beautiful temple I have ever seen , Amazing architecture and beautiful
stone carvings. Belur's main temple, Lord Chennakeshava, dedicated to Lord Krishna, was built at the instance of King Vishnuvardhana in 1117 AD to celebrate Hoysala war victories. It took over 103 years to complete this temple , the sculptor's skill is revealed in the living carvings.



After spending few hours we headed back to bangalore around 3 , had lunch at hasan. It started raining heavily, we waited for few hours and started off in the rain. Finally reached bangalore around 10, looked like whole bangalore was flooded, complete traffic stall near by majesty. Almost knee depth water riding with high acceleration prevented water entering the engine. we pulled off from the mess successfully and reached home at 10:30. All in all it was a heart throbbing experience and a weekend well spent.

Photos uploaded in http://picasaweb.google.com/isachere/Chikmagalur

Quick Facts:

Rider (me) pillion (Arun)
Total Kms: 650 Kms (round trip)
Mileage: 40 Kms /Lt
1rst Day Route: Bangalore - tumkur - kadur - birur - kemmangudi - hebbe falls - chikmagalur
2nd day: Chikmagalur - Mullayanagiri - chikmagalur - belur - hasan - bangalore