Sunday, November 23, 2008

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









0 comments: