Day One (9th March 2013)– Bangalore to Kodachadri – 405 kms,
It was the time you feel you have to step out and taste the
fresh unpolluted air, After a frantic search for a place to head out in the
weekend a decision was made to visit Kodachadri .
As usual it’s hard to get sleep when you have a bike ride
the next day, inspite of that caught a brief moment of sleep and bidding adieu
to mom left home at 6 am and headed towards Shimoga via Tumkur . It was quite
an uneventful ride till Shimoga and I had decided this trip to be done at a
slow pace. It was around 10.30 that I reached Shimoga and filled up fuel and
checked on further directions to Kodachadri. I had to reach Ayanur which is on
the Shimoga- Sagar road and had to take a deviation upon reaching Ayanur. Enroute
made a brief stop at the Lion and Tiger Safari , hardly anyone visiting the
place inspite of being a weekend. The
road till Ayanur was good being a
National highway, but once I entered SH towards Nagara the next place on
my way, the road were potholed but nothing when compared to what I was to
experience in the evening.
Nagara has a beautiful Fort which is now almost in ruins ,
but did spend a while looking at the landscape from the top of the fort which
was quite a pleasant view. Had lunch at sampigekatte which is at just around 20
ms from Kodachadri, the food was in malnad style simple, but delicious and the
people I must admit are quite friendly, a drastic change from the city life. Just
few kms before kodachadri I came across a board which said “ Bubble Pond” the
board was quite interesting and I could say the place was quite captivating and
I did not regret stopping to check out this place and getting refreshed at the pond, the pond was crystal clear
and I could see the plants below clear and green, there were bubbles that would
start whenever a sound was made or the birds started chirping. Reached
Pathalgere guest house at 2.30 in the afternoon this place is quite convenient if you are traveling by your own vehicle instead of trekking and is conveniently located
at the base of Kodachadri and is the starting point from where Jeeps enter the
kodachadri Ghats. The owner of Pathalgere Mr Prabhakar is quite a good host and was happy to accommodate a lonely traveler at any time. He welcomed me with hot
and tasty tea made from fresh milk . No sooner did I dump my luggage and headed
towards the road it started raining, This was quite unexpected since it was scorching hot the whole afternoon, the rains indeed cooled down the blistering
heat . I took this delay to chat up with Prabhakar and he advised me to be
careful on the roads and wanted to know if I would change my plans of riding
and take a jeep instead, to which I humbly declined. I had no intentions of
sitting in a jeep and take a bumpy ride. He knew that I was adamant on traveling alone he adviced me to be careful and to watch the sunset at the
temple and not stay for long at the top as it would get dark and would be
difficult to navigate alone in the dark.
I promised I would and headed towards an adventurous ride on
non-existent roads, the road was riddled with rocks and pebbles and
realized why only 4wd jeeps are preferred, but the ride was quite amazing and I
enjoyed it to the core. Stopped at few places and took few snaps and upon
reaching the temple parked the bike and started trekking, visited the Ganesha
cave temple and then the Shankaracharya mantap it took around 20 minutes for me to reach the
top from the temple, the views were magnificient and cannot be described and should be
experienced , The priest at the mantap offered buttermilk and lemon juice and
when he came to know I am alone he also advised not to stay for long and to
reach the temple to view the sunset. I took their advice and then stepped down,
it was almost time for the sunset to start the temple area was soothing to see
and quite clean and maintained well and this whole place had a kind of
calmness from which you do not want to
get away , they have a small shop where you can get coffee and few snacks to munch on , apart from this not much is
available, It was around 6.15 the sunset started and each minute was different
in colour and beautiful to watch. It was getting dark fast after the sunset at
6.45 and started my descent towards the guesthouse which is round 9 kms from
the top ,the terrain which was difficult enough to climb in daylight
I had to complete the same downhill in the
darkness, it was at 7.30 that I reached the guest house. There was another
group of visitors who were staying at the guesthouse and had started up a
campfire I chatted up with prabhakar for some more time and had a go at a delicious
dinner before I hit the sack.
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| Skimming |
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| Tiger and Lion Safari- Shimoga |
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| Lotus Bud |
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| Nagara Fort |
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| View from Nagara Fort |
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| The Bubble Pond - Gouri Teertha |
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| Directions to Gauri Teertha |
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| A short intro about the pond |
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| This is the terrain i had ride luckily i am used to riding on Bangalore roads- did not make much difference |
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| Galipata location |
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| Kodachadri Kurves |
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| sunset at kodachadri |
Day 2 (March 10th 2013)–
Kodachadri-Kollur-murudeshwar-Idagunji-Jog Falls – Bangalore – 595 kms
Waking up in a countryside puts you in a very pleasant mood
and that was how the second day of this trip started, went for a stroll inside
Mr. Prabhakars farm and spent time at a nearby stream.
Time does run fast, it
was already 8 and I returned to my room to have piping hot coffee served by Mr
Prabhakar. After thanking Mr Prabhakar
for a pleasant stay started towards Kollur the next destination.
This was a
ride thru the mookambika forest and the early morning pleasant weather helped
me seeing variety of birds. Tthis road from kodachadri to Kollur was blocked
due to repar works , but riding a two wheeler has its advantage, managed to
navigate thru the construction work and reached kollur around 10 am.
Visited kollur temple and took blessings from the deity, Still
a whole day ahead and having ample to
return to Bangalore started pondering on the next destination. I remembered
seeing the place Murudeshwar while entering Kollur and the directions indicated
it was around 65 kms from kollur. Being Shivratri thus the next place was
decided.
Travelling around 25 kms I reached the Mangalore Goa
highway, being near the coastal area the humidty came along with it , riding
for another hour I reached Murudeshwar. The huge temple Gopuram and the shiva
statute surrounded by the Arabian sea on three sides was mesmerizing. Even
thought it was crowded owing to shivrathri I managed to get Darshan within an
hour. Next took the elevator to the 18th floor of the
rajagoupram which gave me a magnificent
view of the Arabian sea and the Shiva statue. Had lunch at a beach hotel just
next to the temple and made plans for heading home, there were two routes to
reach Bangalore from here, one via mangalore and the other via Shimoga, both
were approximately 500kms, decided against the mangalore route as the ghat
section would be difficult to cover during dark and preferred the plain
straight road via Shimoga.
It was around 3 in the afternoon when I left murudeshwara,
hardly had I travelled for a few minutes , saw directions indicating it was 4
kms to Idagunji fampus for the ganesha temple, not sure how often I might
travel here did not want to miss this place and went ahead. Came to know the
temple opens only at 3.30 , had few more
minutes and made it useful by taking a quick siesta in the temple premises.
Again had a quick Darshan of Lord Ganesha after the temple
opened and not much to do here headed out to the highway. The plan was to reach
Shimoga around 6 and fuel up here and reach Bangalore around 10 . But did not
realize Jog falls is just enroute , even
though I had been here couple of times during my past visit I did not want to
skip having a view of the falls. Reached Jog around 5, though there was not much water at the falls
the place was quite pleasant and I took this opportunity sit for a while and
enjoy the surroundings . It was around 6
and darkness was setting fast and I decided the trip was worthwhile and not to
stop much for anymore visits, as planned crossed Sagara at around 7 and reached
Shimoga at 8 where I fuelled up my bike again and started my journey back to
Bangalore. The drive was bit difficult as I had to ride with my helmet visor
open to avoid the flashing lights from oncoming vehicles.
Had a brief stop to have a delicious dinner and then piping
hot coffee at midnight near arsikere.
As I neared Tumkur and had to take a deviation towards
Bangalore Byepass, couple of policeman stopped me to check what I was doing at
this time riding alone. Along came with the normal questions - where from , where to, luckily I had all
the documents in place and they had nothing to complain or seek a bribe from me
and had to let go off wishing me to ride safe.
The ride from here was uneventful and I loved to ride in the
traffic free Bangalore roads and reached home around 2 am.
