Mullayanagiri to Bababudangiri Trek: A walk through the clouds!

Crew Members: Arun, Geo and myself.
Duration: 3 Days.
Expense: ~3000 per head.
Date: 29th, 30th and 31st of August 2014.
Terrain: Rocky, Steep and Slippery.
Abstract: Storm, Showers and Mist!

Geo calls me up on 26th of August at 1 AM when I was about to doze off and asks about plans for the weekend and he suggested about doing a trek as Arun is also craving for one! There we go. I lost my sleep. I started searching for destination the moment he dropped the call. Next day, I met Arun from office and he suggested this place Ettina Bhuja which is supposed to be a difficult one but doable in two days. We had three days and I wanted some thing that would need all three days and then I found this Ettina Bhuja to Ombattu Gudde trek! We got all excited reading various blogs and seeing the difficulty level. On 26th night, I decided to call up Patrick, BASC organiser and a master of exploratory treks. I learned from him that since these destinations belong to Sakleshpura reserve forest there is a temporary ban for trekking there and if caught, it could be a disaster and he suggested Mullayanagiri-Bababudangiri-Kemmengundi-Hebbe falls trek which would need 3 days. We decided to take that up! It was been only two weeks since I visited Mullayanagiri by bike! :D

Arun could get a GPS track of the entire trek done by one of his team mate few years ago. He managed to to load that into Google Earth in his phone and we could see the terrain as such! Excitement just got multiplied by 'n'! :D We searched around for interested trekkers in our group and seeing the difficulty and strain, there wasn't a fourth member. We three form a good team from the experience we have with Kumara Parvatha trek that was done nearly 10 months ago! ARs were assigned to each of us by Arun and we did procure all the stuffs required.

Getting to Chikamaglur became an issue as most of the buses were full and trains were running on waiting list. We decided to try for tatkal and there lied some luck for us! Our plan was to reach Birur at 10:45 PM by train and then try to see if we can reach Chikamaglur the same night which is 40 kms away or else settle at Kadur, a small town 14 kms away from Birur enroute Chikamaglur.

Train reached Birur 45 mins late and it was drizzling. We boarded a rick from Birur station and the driver said we'll get Chikamaglur bus through out the night from Kadur. We paid him 180 bucks and got down at Kadur bus stand. With in 15 mins, we got a jam packed Chikamaglur bus and we decided to board that anyway! We settled ourselves at the foot board and had a nice journey and by the time we reached Chikamaglur, it was 1:30 AM! We walked around for a lodge and could find one close to the bus stand. Seeing our gadgets, person at the reception could make out we are on for trek! I asked him about the weather conditions and the level of rains. He said "Rain is a part of nature. People who are born and brought up in cities don't know what nature is. You get in the rain and you get a cold and fever, one believes its caused by the rain. But actually, the ailment is because of your weakness and rain is not the one to be blamed!". We decided to crash there.

We checked out of the lodge at 8:30 AM and went to the hotel Annapurna right opposite to the bus stand. Couple of weeks ago when I came to the same town on my bull, this hotel was getting inaugurated! I should say this - If you are going to Chikamaglur, go to this restaurant and try out the Guntur Idli and Bisi Bele Bath! My taste buds went all excited tasting these two items there! We soon went to the taxi stand and we were swarming with taxi drivers in a second! We told them we wanted to go to Sarpadhari - The starting point of the Mullayanagiri trek! None of the appeared familiar with the name Sarpadhari. We had to tell them we wanted to climb the whole hill and not to go to the peak by a vehicle. And they started shouting out prices 700, 600, 500 and finally 400! Driver who shouted out the least hit a jackpot! :P

Slight drizzle soon got a bit heavy and in 20 mins we were dropped near Sarpadhari! We got our Ponchos out and started our hike at 9:45 AM! I couldn't take a pic of the entrance because of the rains and so did I miss out a lot of awesome shots where I cursed rains!

Initial climb was pretty easy except for the rains. I got a wooden stick thick enough to serve as a trekking assistant and we climbed as soon as possible. Ponchos were going out of control because of the force with which the wind was blowing! And we decided to get the poncho off and walk in the rain. All our belongings in the bag were sealed in air lock zip bags anyway.

We got a bit of a break from rain and I soon got my camera out. Place looked heavenly with all the mist around. Temperature must have been close to 20 degrees and we didn't have any thermals due to lack of space in the bags.

With few pit stops, we kept moving. Our aim was to hit Mullayanagiri peak by 11 AM! Arun had some stiff muscle problems because of which we had to take some stops. Seeing the rains vanished for more than half an hour and rising fog, I got my head wrap and smurf wear on! By 11 AM, we could reach a small shrine in the middle of some trees! Believe me, that's the most sanctimonious temple I have ever seen! Nature had decorated the shrine so well that one wouldn't walk past that point with out spending some good amount of time there. There was a small Nandi statue inside the temple and entire place was decorated with pink flowers which appeared to me like led lighting. Greenery and mist around added to the beauty.

Place was all wet with the rains and every single leaves around carried rain drops.

We sat there for sometime and had some carrots that Arun carried. We could hear people talking and realized that peak is not very far. We started moving and there were few people coming down to this shrine from the peak. Those people asked me "Did you guys just climb all the way from the bottom? Didn't you know there is a proper road that can take you to the peak?" and I said in my mind "Did you guys just drove up till the peak? Did you guys know what exactly did you miss out by choosing not to climb?" :D

Just before hitting the peak we spotted a cave on the right side of ours and decided to explore it. Cave went in indefinitely and we didn't want to go deep into the dark.

We soon reached the peak and time was 12 PM and people around were looking at us as if they've spotted a group of aliens! We didn't know how to find the trail to Bababudangiri. We asked one of the priests and he directed us. He asked us to removed our shoes, carry in our hands, take a half a round walk with in the temple walls and then to walk out of the gate near the restrooms. I went inside the shrine and took a glance at the deity and moved as he directed. We got out of the gate he said. We were expecting leach bites and none except one was found so far. One leach tried attaching me at the temple entrance but was spotted before it would dig its fangs in. Geo had brought a custom made leach repellent and we applied that on our feet, had some energy bars and decided to take up the visible trail in front of us. Arun was constantly tracking the route in his phone with GPS on. Still we missed the trail couple of times and managed to get back to the right one with not much waste of time. Climate was just perfect. We walked enjoying the beauty around.

By 2:45 PM, we hit Swamy Vivekanda point above the forest check-post! We entered the road where the check-post is located and we are supposed to take the trail opposite to the check-post. 

The trail was clearly visible, but was closed with the board saying "No Admission"! We were skeptical about getting permission to get through the forest check-post. There were two forest officers and we went and enquired about the route to Bababudangiri and one guy pointed us the motor road and said you can either take a bus from here or walk up 16 kms! He also said there is a small junction named Attigundi in between where you can have food in between. I asked him what's the no admission trail opposite to their office and he replied saying that's a route to some quarters. We decided to have our lunch from the bus shed there and eventually the officer who talked with us left. I went and had a talk with the other officer. Knowing to speak Kannada, being in India and forest dept. being under government sector, things were dealt with the way it is supposed to be! We decided to finish off our lunch asap! Mean while, a tourist taxi came up there and driver came to talk to us when his passengers went in search of the Vivekananda Point. He warned us about walking in the forest as there is a tiger that's wandering there lately! We have heard such comments at many places as the local people find some kind of immense pleasure in scaring shit out of the trekkers! We didn't bother to pay attention and we were soon on our way stepping over the "No Admission" sign board. :D

It started drizzling again. Carrying tent in hand is an irritating job while doing hikes, so we tried to tie it on top of Arun's already heavy enough 70L backpack. Our trail started getting treacherous! A stretch of trail here is over a ridge with pointed rocks!

Both the sides were pretty deep and wind was no less. Slippery  rock and lack of visibility served as right toppings! But believe me, that was one memorable stretch I have ever been through. We realised we are far behind our schedule and should increase our pace. Soon we got to plain land and walk was damn easy there. Rain never stopped since then.

After a long stretch of walk, at 5 PM, we took a halt and Arun opened up his pack of dates. We were just talking about what the people who don't do treks are missing! We were all by ourselves there. Calm and quite except for the howling wind. We could see the mist moving with speed over the rocks and we just sat there enjoying the emptiness! Myself and Arun switched our bags.
Soon we got back on our feet. We should be getting to a village near to Bababudangiri peak before night fall. We kept on following the trail and later realized, some where in between with out noticing we deviated off the course and were 500m away from the actual trail! We had to climb a small steep hill to get back to the trail shown by Google Maps. Walk over the mountain with out a proper trail costed us a lot of scratches as it was through thorny bushes. We could see foot prints of Deer/Byson which we couldn't be sure. It appeared like a herd of one of these animals had passed not long ago. We managed to get back to the trail and this happened 4-5 times! Trails are damn tricky in this place. Finally, we did a continuous stretch of 4-5 kms over a very clear slippery trail and when Arun checked maps, we learned, we have walked past Bababudangiri peak and have done an additional walk of 4 kms! We missed out the BSNL mobile tower which is supposed to be the peak identification point due to lack of visibility. It started getting dark and wind became torrential! We were completely drenched and temperature made a sharp decline. We were left with no option but to walk towards the nearest road without any trail. We managed to climb a hill and to reach the road on the other side! Guess what happened! Where the google maps displayed a road, there was a huge water body! Can you imagine what we would have felt at that point considering all the environment conditions! We were completely lost!
Finally, I managed to find road through the mist and that was a huge relief! We reached the roads and rains got heavier. Couple of vehicles with tourists passed by and they were all staring at us seeing walking outside in such a weather. We asked one of the drivers for the nearest village and he directed us to walk through the roads another 1.5 kms. We would have walked at least 2.5 kms and we didn't find any village. All three of us were shivering like anything. Another 15-20 more minutes in that weather, at least one among us would have blacked out!
Out of no where this empty jeep appears in front of us and we asked for lift. Driver was headed to Attigundi which was 12 kms from the place. We closed every hole in the jeep and got ourselves warm. He took us to Attigundi and we had some hot coffee. He arranged a lodge room for us at 1000 bucks per night. Guess what the villagers asked us! They all had one question! "Did you get to see the tiger?" The same tiger about which the cab driver told us appeared to be real and it comes in the roads as well to attack the cattles it seems! I was like WOW. We expressed our gratitude to the jeep driver and he laughed and said he always gets passengers like us while driving back to his house from his hotel near Bababudangiri peak! :D

Day 2:
Next day we had a brain storming session on what to do with next two days. Our options were Kudremukh trek/Kumara Parvatha trek/Jog Falls visit. Kudremukh would have the same climate and the green carpet view wouldn't be visible at this time. Kumara Parvatha trek was already done by us from Kukke side. We thought of hitting the peak from Somwarpet side. I called up the lodge reception where we stayed 10 months ago at Kukke and he said its raining heavily there. Finally, we settled for Jog Falls and boarded a bus to Shimoga and from there to Sagara. We took a lodge room and decided to call it a day!

Day 3:
We had our breakfast and asked around for a sightseeing cab. We got one soon and made a deal for 2100 bucks. He took us around covering Siganthur Chowdeshwari Temple, Ikkeri Aghoreshwara Temple, Keladi Rameshwara Temple, Lingadahalli Dam view point, Jog Falls - Mungarumale view point and Jog falls front view point.
Sigandur Temple journey consist of backwater crossing on a boat.

Ikkeri Temple is an ancient stone temple with beautiful carvings.

Keladi temple looked very much like ancient temples/houses in Kerala.

Lingadahalli view point was amazing with the distant view of the dam.

Drive towards Jog Falls from Sagara is extremely scenic with all the agricultural fields on either sides of the road!

Mungarumale view point was less crowded and was very scenic.

Main view point was all covered with mist and we had no view of the falls initially. We had to wait for almost an hour to get some clear view of the falls! We had ample time as our return bus was at 10:30 PM and Jog falls was our last sight seeing point.

Things to remember:
1. If you are to planning to rely on mobile phone for maps, do carry a power bank for your power thirsty batteries.
2. Carry precautions for leach bites.
3. Carry zip lock bags as rains in Malanadu area are totally unpredictable.
4. Carry antiseptic and pain killer medics.

Do's:
1. If you are a lousy trekker and is eager to do this trek, you may as well opt to reach Mullayanagiri peak by a vehicle and then do a trek to Bababudangiri. I would recommend other wise though! ;)
2. Make sure the weather is apt for trekking.

Don't:
1. Be a responsible trekker and carry back all our plastic/metal waste. We carried all our garbage in our bags to the next garbage bin available.

Finally, our group pic:

Ride to the pinnacle of South India - Mullayanagiri!

Crew members: Dilip, Shyam and myself!

Duration: 2.5 days.

Expense: ~3000 per head.

Date: 15th, 16th and 17th of August 2014.

Round Trip: 640 Kms.

Bikes: RE Electra 350 and RE Classic 350.

Abstract: Trip to the highest and oldest of Karnataka!

This road trip again got initiated as one of our MS batch mate invited us for her marriage at Tumkur. My mind was set to go for Valparai ride as the destination. But the wedding being in Tumkur and the function being on the Friday of a long weekend, it was a perfect combo for an escape to Chikamaglur which is just ~180 kms from Tumkur.

I got immediate response from Dilip as he himself was desperate to go for a ride! We didn't plan to include any pillion riders and neither did we ask around in our usual group as we were to start from Tumkur post the function. Tour preparations began a month before the dates! I got my bike serviced and Dilip changed his Goldie silencer to Wild Boar! I also bought a two sided water resistant saddle bag from Sandhya Motors, JC Road!

Finally, the day, Aug 14th came up and we both were on our toes! We decided to have Dabaspet as our rendezvous point as Dilip is coming from Doddaballapur. Shyam had called me up on 13th and asked me for a ride till Tumkur for the marriage. Myself and Shyam started from Domlur at 5 PM with all the luggage loaded! By the time we crossed Yeshwantpur railway station and entered Tumkur road, it was 6:15 PM and we called up Dilip to make him start from his house! The ride till Dabaspet was awesome! Sky was all cloudy and at a distance on our left hand side we could clearly make out clouds pouring! Shivaganga hill was almost invisible in rains! Cold wind was blowing because of the rain hardly a kilometer away on our left side. I was a little worried of getting drenched even before the ride actually started. Luckilly, we had to confront only a little drizzle and that added to the pleasure! I maintained a consistent 80 kmph to reach Dabaspet by 7 PM. Dilip had already reached our catch up point - CCD. Had one mango shot each from the CCD and headed to Tumkur. Checked-in to our lodge, attended the function and late night chats went long and it was 2:30 AM by time myself and Dilip slept!

Day 1:

I woke up at 6 AM when one of our friends banged on our door. I got freshened up first and headed to the marriage hall early. Dilip and Shyam got up a bit late and I got a call by around 8 AM saying they hit flat tire on the way to marriage hall and finding a puncture guy at that time on Independence day was a pain. Some how they managed to find one guy who claimed his shop remains open 24 hours a day. Since bike was ridden till there, tube was torn and we had buy a new one. We bought an extra one for just in case. We went to the marriage hall, had breakfast and decided to leave as it was already an hour late of our planned departure time. We had to put little effort to force Shyam in to the trip. Shyam was made Dilip's pillion and I tied Dilip's bag behind my bike, filled our tanks and the ride started by 10:45 AM.

Our first pit stop was decided to be Tiptur. We were riding on an average of 80 kmph and some where near Nittur Dilip's bike fell behind and I thought they'll catch up didn't bother to slow down! Few minutes later, I get this call from Shyam asking me ride back as they have issues with the bike. Bike's chain sprocket area was smoking and we thought we got busted. Dilip also complained he wasn't able to go above 70 kmph! So we decided to go to the nearest mechanic which was 3 kms away. He could debug the issue in no time and the issue was with rear brake! The puncture guy did some goof up while fixing the tire back!

Road was smooth and we decided to take up this road as we were least interested in 2 lane highway where the riding gets boring. The route which we decided to take up was Tumkur > Tiptur > Arsikere > Lingadahalli > Kemmengundi. We had to stop couple of times before hitting Arsikere as pillion riding for such long distance isn't an easy task! We didn't have anything since breakfast and it was 2 PM the time we crossed Arsikere and reached Kadur. We stopped by a bakery and had some 4 slices of Dilpasand and couple of masala bread and hydrated ourselves. The shopkeeper gave us clear directions to goto Lingadahalli and then to Kallathigiri and to Kemmengundi. Kallathigiri was in our schedule anyway. Since it is enroute Kemmengundi, we decided to visit the Kallathigiri temple and then ride to destination for the day. We left Kadur and we were supposed to take a left deviation from Lingadahalli. But Dilip who was riding ahead missed the left turn and drove straight ahead to Tarikere route and I had no option left but to follow and catch up with them. There is a route from Tarikere to Kallathigiri whose scenic beauty was praised in some blogs. So we didn't bother to ride back. Just as blogs said, the route was amazing! It was drizzling slightly and we continued riding. I almost wished that stretch of road never ended! Lush greenery vegetation and trees on either sides of the road and slight drizzle. It was heavenly! Closer we went to Kemmengundi, colder it got! Shyam and Dilip switched in between and we rode till Kallathigiri and by 3:20 PM we entered Kallathigiri premises. We had to pay 10 Rs per bike as entry fee there and by then drizzling had stopped! We dropped our luggage with the foot wear stall and I got my camera out. Kallathigiri was one of a kind falls where there are shrines in the middle of the falls! Place was crowded and it was difficult to get some good shots.

One could climb up the falls to a point where there is a taller water falls. The climb was extremely slippery and swampy! But the beauty of the falls is worthy enough to get through the tough slippery patch!

We didn't waste much time there and got ourselves packed and started our uphill ride to Kemmengundi! Ride was good except for 1 or 2 kilometers where the roads where extremely bad. It was very cold and rich green. View of the valley was extremely beautiful!

We had detailed photo sessions enroute as we were gonna crash at Kemmengundi for the day and we had ample time left!

We reached the Kemmemngundi peak and to our surprise, there were no stay options there! The peak consisted of only the view point named Raj Bhavan and we were dumbstruck! We asked around with the tourists, who all said its better to ride back to Kallathigiri and find a lodge there! The understanding we had about the place was totally out of place. Kemmengundi is just a peak and there are couple of stay options with the Horticulture department which for our misfortune were under renovation! It was already past 5 and was getting dark. So we decided to ride back to Kallathigiri! On the way we were all thinking of alternatives and we came up with this brilliant plan of directly heading to Chikamaglur instead of staying at Kallathigiri as our plan for next day was morning ride to Mullayanagairi. We didn't bother to think further. Kemmengundi waved a colorful good bye to us!

We didn't have to go back to Lingadahalli to goto Chikamaglur as we could find an alternate route near Kallathigiri which was one of the best roads I drove. It was curvy, uphill and downhill stretch of 43 kms and I just loved driving and was playing around all the curves to make as sharp bends as possible! Sunset was magnificent with all hills and thick clouds and green plain lands!

Soon it got dark and we stopped by a tuck shop to have some snacks. We were almost shivering closer we got to Mullayanagiri. We had some nice big Nipattu and Kodebale! Kaimara circle, where the Mullayangiri ride starts was 21 kms from the tuck shop and Chikamaglur is another 6 kms from Kaimara. We could reach Chikamaglur by 7:30 PM. We started inquiring rooms and by 8:30 PM we must have check with at least 7 lodges and learned almost all the lodges in Chikamaglur are occupied! Some receptionists even told us there is no point in wandering for rooms as there are no rooms available across the town and tourists were walking in search of rooms since evening! Luckily, we met two girls who were also wandering for rooms! There were couple of guys as well with them - Aarushi, Seema, Mohit and Himanshu! So, now we were a group of seven with four bikes! Finally we went to a lodge named Benaka Residency and they agreed to give their staff's hall to four of them for the night as there were girls among them. They asked us to join them in the hall and that was luxury for us! We had to bargain a little and settled the tariff at 250 Rs per head and by 9 PM, we had a roof to sleep below! I checked the distance covered in day 1 and it was 280 kms! The whole lodge finding thing was nightmare and learned a lesson there - If the trip destination is Chikamaglur and it is a long weekend, room reservations should be made at least a week in prior!

Hall had just a toilet and no bathroom! Chikamaglur town sleeps at 11 PM and no shops would be open beyond that point of time! At 10 PM, we had to roam a lot to find a hotel! We had our dinner and got back and by then the lodge staff had arranged the beds for us in the two corners of the room! We slept off as soon as we crashed in the beds!

Day 2:

We woke up at 8 when our friend Manish called from Thailand! We checked with our lodge uncle and he agreed to give us two rooms with hot water to get fresh! We thus had time till 10 AM to take a hot shower and vacate! We were ready by 9:30 AM and we said good bye to the Mohit and Himanshu. Lodge uncle let us leave our luggage at the reception and we agreed to take it back once we are done with Mullayanagiri!

We had some hot idlis, dosa and pulav and started ride to our prime destination! We hit Kaimara circle in 10 mins and we payed 5 Rs per bike to the check post as entry fee. Awesome hairpin curves waited us since there! We swifted through driving past almost all the vehicles we confronted. 

We could drive on an average of 60 kmph and we reached the view point Sitaliyangiri. Place was sick crowded and it was a lush green climb beside road all covered with fog! Uphill road to Mullayanagiri peak from Sitaliyangiri was narrower and was covered with fog!

Soon the visibility reduced and was limited to hardly 4-5 feet! Vehicles had their headlights on and it was a bit dangerous stretch with no barricade to stop vehicles from getting off the edge! It seemed like we were the only RE riders there at the point and everyone were staring at us! We parked our bikes at the highest point where the vehicles can go. There was a small tuck shop from where we thought of having some hot beverage. Soon couple of guys and girls around rushed to our bikes and wanted to take pics with the RE! Wanna explain how an RE owner feels seeing that? :D

We checked with the security and he directed us to the climbing point to go to the pinnacle of South India. Without his directions, it would have been practically impossible to find the climbing point which was all covered with fog!

It was 400 stairs and I was totally on my adrenalin! We reached the peak by 11:30 AM and realized we were above 6300 ft above sea level! I was ecstatic and felt proud of myself! ;)

We clicked pics around and visited the Shiva temple. People were waiting for the shrine to open and the priest said he'll open the temple in 10 mins. We waited and payed our offerings to highest located SHiva temple I've ever been to. Soon we decided to go back as we had a tight schedule for the day. It was 12 PM and the place looked like as if it was 6 AM. We soon got back to our bulls and started our downhill ride. Buses and tempo vans plying on this narrow road created bad traffic blocks and 15-20 mins got wasted waiting for the traffic to get cleared. Bikers were allowed to go through the gaps in between and I couldn't imagine how long the cars would have taken to get out of that long queue!

We reached our lodge by 1:15 PM. Dilip's rear brake started giving a weird sound and we decide to get it rectified before leaving the town. We made Shyam to sit and order the lunch and we went in search of a RE mechanic! After 20-30 mins of struggle, we could find a guy who knows RE work around. It was again some rear wheel nut loose issue and he fixed it instantaneously! By 2:30 PM, we tied our luggage and bided adieu to Chikamaglur! Our plan was to visit Belur and Halebidu and find a place of stay at one of these places or to head to Shravanabelagola. Belur was 30 kms away from Chikamaglur and we could nail that in 30 mins.

Since we didn't want to take the pain of removing the luggage and tying it back, Shyam was made to take the first watch and myself and Dilip went in. From the pics of Belur and Halebidu I saw in internet, I was expecting some thing that is similar to Somnathpura temple near Mysore. Even the architecture of the main shrine was quite similar, but the beauty of Belur temple is beyond what words can explain! The sculptures were so damn detailed and rich! One could spend a whole day there going through the sculptures!

Inside the main shrine beside the Garbhagriha, there is a glass box which carried a pair of huge leather slippers. Myself and Dilip were wondering what it was and an old woman explained to us. Apparently, that is a pair of slippers that God is believed to wear when he steps out of temple during night time! The slipper gets torn 7 times a year and cobblers fix them it seems. And this happens every year she said!

Dilip stepped out and replaced Shyam to take over the watch. I was roaming around and was waiting for people to clear out of the frame to get some shots.

After a very detailed photo session and roam around, we stepped out of the temple. Dilip was sitting with a bronze statue vendor and was buying some tiny bronze statues which he quoted 120 Rs and we bargained it down to 100 Rs. Dilip bought two dancing Shiva statues. I bought one dancing Ganesha and a dancing Shiva. Shyam bought 2 as well! To our surprise, the vendor suddenly gets a call and he talks in Urdu! When we enquired with him, he said he is a Muslim! We were shocked at his business and that he knew every single God's name! India is obviously full of surprises.

We learned from him that Halebidu temple closes by 6:30 PM and he have an hour left to reach there! We drove as fast as we could. The road connecting Belur and Halebidu is not a very good one. But there is an alternate route that take one to Halebidu which goes through a place named Agara. But that is 15 kms longer than the direct route. We decided to take up the direct route and in 45 mins we could reach Halebidu! There again were this Bronze statue vendors who came to us quoting 80 Rs per piece! We realized our mistake and successfully bargained it down to 50 Rs per piece! I bought out Nataraja pendant and Shyam bought couple more pieces! Myself and Dilip again went in first and captured some shots around. Halebidu temple isn't as big as the Belur one. More over Halebidu had just one main shrine where as Belure had multiple shrines spread across a wider area. Covering Halebidu temple did not cost us much time.

We returned and Shyam went in for his exploration. We sat outside and had some chat with the local vendors. During the Mughal ruling period, when Mughals came to attack Halebidu and were destroying the statues, locals some how managed to get this news to Belur and on getting this advance notice, people in Belur covered the entire temple with sand and protected the temple it seems! Halebidu temple is famous for its exterior beauty and thus it closes by 6:30 PM. Where as, Belur temple is famous for it interior magnificence and hence it remains open till 7:30 PM with all the lighting setup inside!

Shyam wanted to get back to Bangalore by 17th afternoon for some family emergency. Because of which we dropped our Shravanabelagola plan and decided to crash at Hassan for the day! Hassan was 45 Kms away from Halebidu and it was a proper high way where we could clock consistent 80 kmph! We reached Hassan town in 30 mins and roamed around for a reasonable lodge with parking facility! We ended up finding Vaishnavi Lodge near Sahayadri Theatre! He charged us 370 Rs for a double room and 80 Rs for extra bed! Lodge was decent enough and had ample parking space! Decided to end our 140 Kms ride of the day there! Parked our bikes, dropped all our luggage in the room and stepped out for some eatables and time pass! We bought some snacks and had chats!

We got back to room, switched on TV and were discussing about the day's ride! Day 1 was a bit disappointing and Day 2 was amazing! We came across Lagan movie in TV and decided to watch! That should be 7th or 8th time I'm watching it! :D

At around 9:30PM Dilip got a call from Aarushi of previous night and they were checking with us on our plans. Apparently they went to Mudigere from Mullayanagiri and got lost there. They wanted to get info about some close by place to crash! We had no idea about the place and we asked them to come off to Hassan if they can. Hassam was ~73 kms ride for them and they said they'll call us if they are to reach Hassan. In another hour we got call from them asking our lodge details, we directed them and they reached our lodge by 11 PM. They appeared shocked hearing the cheap room tariff and were given rooms adjacent to us. I was glad we could return them a favor! We informed them about our plan on leaving Hassan as early as possible the next day!

We got back to our room and Shyam slept off immediately! Pillion rider was more tired than the riders apparently! :D

Myself and Dilip were chatting and watching Pirate of Caribbean  Part - I. I dozed off some where in between!

Day 3:

Myself and Dilip woke up when Shyam pulled each of ours spreadsheets away! It was 7 AM and we took hot shower and had breakfast from adjacent hotel! We had to wake Mohit up to ask them to pay for their rooms. Check out formalities didn't require much time and we were on our way by 8:30 AM. We could hit highway in another 20 mins and the drive was smooth. 15 kms from Hassan, we came up to an accident spot where a bike was bashed up by a car and the local people were in a tight quarrel with the car driver! They broke the car's wind shield. We went to bike rider and he was in deep agony and was crying out loud! He was bleeding all over and there were deep wound in his face and legs. We gave away our water bottle, the least we could do. Ambulances came in another 10 mins and we left soon. That was a kind of reminder for us to drive safe! We clocked consistent 80-90 kmph and by 10:30 AM, we reached Kunigal. I wanted to go via Tumkur to get the famous Ragi buscuits and so we did. We reached Tumkur by 11:30 AM and bought half a kilo of Ragi biscuits from Nanjundeshwara Bakery! Believe me, it is delicious! Then we headed to Pyara Punjabi Dhaba at Dabaspet! Had a pitcher lassi costing 100 Rs and rottis and Dal makhani! I decided to make this place my regular place for food every time I ride form Tumkur to Bangalore. Dilip was to take Doddaballapur road from Dabaspet and we untied his luggage from my bike and went to in two ways!

Myself and Shyam rode to Bangalore and could reach Yeshwantpur railway station in 30 mins. I dropped him near to his house in Malleshwaram and I went on with my last stretch to Domlur! Third day ride was 230 Kms long!

Do's:

1. One can either take up Tumkur > Hassan > Chikamaglur route or Tumkur > Tiptur > Kadur > Lingadahalli > Chikamaglur route. I would personally recommend the second one for the scenic beauty.

2. If it is RE rides, keep a spare tube and a clutch wire in hand!

3. Make reservations at lodges before hand or better carry a tent! :D

Don'ts:

1. Kemmengundi and Mullayangiri are maintained clean! Mind your garbages!

Things to remember:

1. Belur temple closes by 7:30 PM and Halebidu by 6:30 PM.

2. If you are planning to buy anything around these places, try your best bargaining skills!

Our group pic: