Solo ride to Chikmagalur- Sringeri -Agumbe: Day 3

Day 3:
          Woke up early, freshen up and headed to Sringiri Temple. Had darshan and took few snaps.

view of Sringeri Temple

River tunga is passes beside the temple, had lots of fishes

After temple visit, headed to Srimane waterfall which is 25km away from here, take a left turn from KSRTC bus stand & drive around 2km, yellow board sign is there pointing towards Sirimane falls. The road will take you through village and forest area. There is old temple in Kigga village- Rishya Shringeshwara temple.

On the way to Sirimane fall

Sirimane water fall

 

water flow was less during this time of the year, during monsoon season you can't get near to the fall. Spent some time there, and decided to head to Agumbe. 

     Agumbe is small village in shimoga district. it is 50km away from Sringeri. The road is ok, but very few people travel on that road, difficult to get direction. Finally one village guy was waiting for the bus to Agumbe, i offered him to drop to his destination. When i was nearing Agumbe saw the board for taking diversion for Barkana fall, decided to go towards Barkana fall, drop the village guy near Agumbe and left for Barkana fall. The road was very good, passing through the forest area. After driving for around 15KM couldn't  find the direction for Barkana fall, few children were returning from were returning from school, asked them for Barkana fall -"They told me i have already cross the place where i have to turn". I offered them to drop till that point, they happily jumped on for ride on Bullet.

Two girls helped me to find out the route

Once reach the point, found out that you have to park the bike near the village and walk for 3 km inside the forest to see Barkana fall as i was alone decided not to go there.

       Once again headed to Agumbe, from there took the road to Shimoga, stopped near Gajanur Dam for some refreshment. Reached by 12pm , had lunch and without waste much time planned to reach Bangalore by evening to celebrate Deepawali.

somewhere on the way saw this patch of cloud

On NH206, after crossing Kadur

NH206 road was good

after driving for another hour reached Arsikere, Sun was setting down stopped near the Arsikere lake to take sunset pics.

Bull resting near Arsikere lake

Sunset at Arsikere Lake

Sunset at Arsikere 

After this i drove continuously and reached Tumkur toll gate for another pit stop, it was chilled evening...had some snacks & 2 cup of tea to get warm. Once again drove continuously with break till i reach my room. 

It was almost 9:45 when i reached home, there few people still busting crackers. luckily it was almost over so don't have to feel the noise pollution of crackers. Took hot shower bath , had dinner & went to bed.

Route: Agumbe - Thirthahalli- Shimoga - Arsikere - Tumkur - Bangalore

Distance Covered : 390KM

Solo ride to Chikmagalur- Sringeri -Agumbe: Day 1
Solo ride to Chikmagalur- Sringeri -Agumbe: Day 2

Solo ride to Chikmagalur- Sringeri -Agumbe: Day 2

 Day 2:
          I had told Madhu about my plan for bike ride to Chikamagalur, they were coming to visit Deveeramanna betta. They came early in the morning around 4:30am by KSRTC bus from Bangalore. We took bath & freshen up and left for bus stand where we have to catch a local bus which will drop us at the starting point of the trek(trek to top the Temple i.e temple is at 1800m height).  Once we reached the starting point, saw the both side of road was occupied with vehicle, people have started trekking. I never expected that throng of devotee will be be gathered for Deveeramanna Temple visit.
        The tough part was we have to trek the entire path bare feet. It was cold , never had experience of walking bare feet more then few hundred meters. Now we have to do it the whole stretch. From the main road around 4km of tar road was the toughest part to walk bare feet, any how manage to complete this part as soon as possible. when you step on small stone in cold winter it feels like nails pinching your feet.
         Next part was discovering path as it was too crowded to walk on regular path,we had to go through the coffee estate & make our own path ...and people will soon started following you. This part really kool to walk on after the first 4 km as it was cold soft mud, which soothes the feet.
         After walking for almost 2hrs we came out of the coffee estate into the open, and the first glimpse of the hills.

Devotee were climbing to the top from every direction they can climb. It was a view to see, never seen this much people climbing up hill.

 hundreds of devotee were climbing up and simultaneous coming down as result the path was totally jam packed, you have to make your own way to climb up or go down.

 

Finally we manged to climb to the top, at the center is the Deveeramanna temple. there is circular path around the temple. we stayed at the top for one hour.

Deveeramanna Temple

You can have a view of almost entire range from Kemmangundi to bababudangiri

Then we thought to go to Bababundangiri, from here the path is difficult as we have to cross the deep gorge and climb up. It took us almost one and half hour to reach the Bababundangiri.

View of Deveerammana Temple from Bababundangiri

Time was around 11:30 am, we were feeling hungry ...few shops were there selling snacks. Had lots of bajji , tea and coffee. Then headed for Manikyadhara Water fall which is natural water fall falling from 50 ft, took bath from chilled water.

  

 

From left: Madhu, Prabhu, "forgot his name" and Saravana holding water bottle

 As the bus from Bababundangiri was at 2:30pm, we decided to walk till the bus stop. Had lunch at bababundangiri. by 4:30pm we reached Chikamaglur. Got freshen up at lodge and went to have snacks. Madhu & friends had to catch bus at 9pm for Bangalore. I decided to move towards Sringeri, left chikamaglur by 5:40pm. 

       Reached Sringeri by 8:30pm, as it is temple town hardly you will find single bed room in hotels & lodges. After searching for almost 1 hr got a single bed room near the KSRTC bus stand. Had dinner and went to bed, as planned to visit temple early in the morning.

Route: Chikamaglur - Aldur - Jayapura - Sringeri

Distance: 90KM

Solo ride to Chikmagalur- Sringeri -Agumbe: Day 1

Solo ride to Chikmagalur- Sringeri -Agumbe: Day 3

Solo ride to Chikmagalur- Sringeri -Agumbe: Day 1

Route: Bangalore-Kunigal-Hassan-Chikmangalur-Sringeri-Agumbe-Shimoga-Tumkur-Bangalore
Total distance covered:  810KM

After the first short ride experience with bullet, i wanted to take it to for a long ride; was waiting for a leave where i can get at least 3 days so that can cover all these places. And Diwali was the the perfect time where i got 3 days off. So everything was planned & packed for the ride, and ready to hit the road.

Day 1:
          Started from Bangalore early in the morning to avoid heavy traffic on NH 4 which goes to Mumbai, took left turn after Neelmangala into NH48 for Kunigal. The roads where in under construction for making it 4 lanes. Reached Kunigal at around 9:30am, had breakfast. then headed to Shravanabelagola, to see the 57 feet monolithic statue of the Bhagavan Gomateshwara Bahubali.

Shravanabelagola is one of the most important Jain pilgrim centers.

top view of the pond 

More snaps of Shravanabelagola

     Next destination was Halebidu, had lunch at Hassan and proceed towards Halebidu; roads from hassan to Halebidu was in good condition. reached Halebidu by 2:30 pm. The temple complex comprises two Hindu temples, the Hoysaleshawara and Kedareshwara temples. The walls of the temple are covered with an endless variety of depictions from Hindu mythology, animals, birds and Shilabalikas.

Few of the snaps from Halibidu.

  Front view of the Temple

inside view 

 Nandi

More snaps of Halebidu

From here 16km away is Belur, main attraction is the Chennakesava temple complex which contains the Chennakesava Temple and is surrounded by the Kappe Chennigraya temple. 

rayagopuram

Chennakesava Temple

 

The facade of the temple is filled with intricate sculptures of elephants, lions, horses, episodes from the Indian mythological epics, and sensuous dancers

More snaps of Belur

Left Belur & headed to Chikamangalur, needed to reached there before sunset & search from some accommodation. On the way stopped at Yagachi Dam. Reached Chikamangalur by 5pm, got a decent lodge,single bed with TV for Rs- 200. Had dinner by 9:30, saw a EPL match for hours and went to sleep.

Route : Bangalore - Kunigal - Hirisave - Shravanabelagola - Hassan - Halebidu -  Belur - Chikamaglur.

Distance covered : 330KM

Solo ride to Chikmagalur- Sringeri -Agumbe: Day 2

Solo ride to Chikmagalur- Sringeri -Agumbe: Day 3

Makalidurga & Lepakshi temple

This is my first Bullet ride!!!!.........

Saturday night just getting bored and suddenly planned for a short trip to near by place. I have always like the hills from the train of Makalidurga. So we decide to go to Makalidurga hill. Search in net got more info on Makalidurga hills, people used to go there for rock climbing and repelling. Its about 60 km from Bangalore. Got the route information in maps.yahoo.com. planned to leave Bangalore by early morning.

We started from Bangalore at 6:30am in the morning. Catch NH7 traveled for 7km and took left turn for Yelahanka on SH9. At IOC petrol pump filled the tank of the Bull-our Bullet. The road condition was good....riding in the morning with chill wind blowing. After 30 KM, just before Dodabalapur we stopped for breakfast. we refreshed our self and once again started for our destination. By 8:00 am we were near Makalidurga railways station, there we asked local people for Makalidurga fort. From Makalidurga railway station we had to go ahead for another 2km, after that took left turn for mud road till the railways track. There were no place else to park the vehicle, had to park there on the road.

MakaliDurga Hill

Bull parked near the railway Track

Now we started trekking for Makalidurga fort. Makalidurga fort was a top of 1350 feet height. We crossed the railway track. There is a small temple near the base. From the left side we started climbing up, on the way we found trek marked by other group who had earlier climbed the hill. we followed the trails and reach near the top.

Lake

There is Makalidurga temple at top surround by the fort.

MakaliDurga fort

Makalidurga village was visible from the top,its on the other side of the hill. We enjoyed the cool breeze passing through the hill, walked all along the fort.

MakaliDurga Temple

After resting for 20 min we planned to go down. Now the sun was beating hard at us, taking shelter for sometimes under the small trees. we climbed down by 10:30 am. Rested on the railway track, had some snacks.

It was only 11am,so we thought to visit Lepakshi temple. Once decide we headed for Hindupur, it was around 50km from Makalidurga hills. From another 15km the road are little bit bad condition till Hindupur. Around 1:45 pm we reached at Hindupur, took left turn for Lepakshi Temple, it was around 15km from Hindupur. Reached Lepakshi temple by 2:00pm, parked the bull near the temple.

Lepakshi Temple

Lepakshi temple date back to the 16th century,where three shrines dedicated to Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu and Lord Virabhadra are to be found. Lord Virabhadra is the wrathful form of Shiva, the patron deity of the Nayak rulers.

Nandi facing Lepakshi Temple

Started raining heavily while we were in the temple.

Still it was raining, it was getting late. Put our rain gear and We started for Bangalore by 4pm. This time we decide to take the NH7 road. From Lepakshi village NH7 was 18km.

Just near to NH7 bull gave up, couldn't find what happened, tried to kick start the bike....but with no result, checked carburetor it was clean. Decided to pushed the bull till NH7 in hope of finding some mechanic, to our surprise there were no mechanic available in that area. After inquiring local people came to know that we can find mechanic in Begapalli, which was around 10 km from the place. Manas stayed with the bull, i took the bus for Begapalli. There inquiring a vehicle parts dealer got hold of one guy who deals with bull repair work. He came with his bike, but couldn't take his bike as it was raining so finally had to take a cab that made a big hole in my pocket...after bargain arranged it for Rs.250 till AP/karnataka border checkpoint. Mechanic doubted that fuse might have broken, he checked all the fuses, found everything is ok. I told him that some times the igination light on and goes off automatically, So he checked the wiring, and found out the soldering has broken. we had to make it direct and take it to his garage for repairing. Rafeeq bhai(+91-9448444124) made the bull ready , and we are ready to hit the road once again.

Around 6pm we left Begapalli for Bangalore, around 100km from here. We are feel very much hungry, because we had not taken lunch...so planned to reach Bangalore as soon as possible. The road was good at most of the place, some places work is going for 4 lane. Reached Devanahalli, planned to go to Bangalore International Airport, night time it was glittering with lights. Once again we were back in highway and stop near Swati Gardenei for dinner.

Back in home by 11pm.

Route : Bangalore --40kms-- Dod Ballapur --14kms-- Makalidurga --25kms-- Gauribidanur --25kms-- Hindupur --14kms--Lepakshi temple --25kms-- Bagepalli --42kms-- ChikBallapur --19kms-- Devanahalli --30kms-- Bangalore

Total Distance : 234kms

More Photo: Makalidurga & Lepakshi Temple