Place: Coorg (Madikeri).
Distance: 350 x 2 = 700kms.
Directions: Bengaluru – Maddur – Mysore – Hunsur – Bylakuppe – Madikeri.
Particiapants: Arvind(White knight) > Arun(Slowpoke) > Ashok(Classic k350) > Madhu(Barco Mado) > Shekar(Thundersekar) > Chaitnya(Endu) > Vineeth(Red monster) > Anurag(Hanuman) > Karthik (Sp).
Bikes: RE Thunderbird > RE Classic 350 > Pulsar200 > Pulsar 150 > Pulsar 150.
IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:
Coorg, the Scotland of India is one of the best places to visit in the entire South India . Known for its wonderful climate and coffee estates, this was one crazy trip we pulled off. The place is no doubt wonderful, but the ride to this place was something we enjoyed even more.
INTRO & PLAN:
Well as far the planning goes it was Arvi was initiated and suggested of visiting this place. The plan got a solid backbone when decent number of people pitched in. So the crew consisted of 9 people and 5 bikes. And yeah initially the plan was 2day-1night trip. I’ve divided this entire article into 3 segments, hope you enjoy reading it.
DAY-1: (Riding the curvy Roads!!)
ASSEMBLE:
I was up at 03:00hrs did a few push-ups and was all set to pull this big one. Left my place at 05:30hrs and headed towards bakery which was without doubt the starting point of this magnificent trip. Once everybody arrived we had some tea and bid adieu to Namma Bengaluru.
TIME: 06:30hrs
RIDE 1.1: (Bengaluru – Maddur – SriRangapatna - Mysore
This stretch extended for about 150kms, and yeah we did take sufficient breaks. As we left Bengaluru, the temperatures dropped and it was an icy cold 30kms stretch till Bidadi. As we passed Bidadi, Anurag said he had some problems with the bike. But we continued till Maddur tiffany’s and had a great breakfast.
TIME:09:00hrs
Anurag said he with Ashok would take his bike to a Service station and asked us to carry on. Having decided to meet at the bridge at the outskirts of Mysore Mysore
After about 20minutes the two bikes re-joined us and we took a small 15mins break.
One incident I would love to recall during this break is, a rich businessman in Merc Benz was zooming on SH-17, and he peeped out of the car’s window and was staring at our bikes. There’s a saying “only a biker knows why a dog sticks its head out of the window” I guess that was a close enough ha-ha:P
TIME: 11:30hrs
RIDE 1.2: (Mysore
This was another 100kms stretch on SH-88.Once we reached Mysore
TIME: 14:30hrs
This is one temple one’s gotta go; the ambience of this place is simply superb. Calm & peaceful are the two words which best describe this place. As we entered the place we saw the huge Dalai Lama photo on the temple and saw Anurag’s face :D and everybody burst into laughter. The laughter marathon continued as we finished one full lap at the temple.
TIME: 15:00hrs
Next thing we went to the mall right in front of the temple and brought knives, watches, pendants, and other gifts for family & friends back home.
TIME: 16:00hrs
RIDE 1.3: (Kushalnagara - Madikeri)
This was about a 50kms stretch of pure bliss. It was one of my best rides till date. The temperatures took a steep dip, it became cold. The fresh broad roads with excellent curves made riding a pure bliss. We kept the formation intact, bending our bikes to the maximum and negotiating each curve to perfection with joy. We rode non-stop and reached the outskirts of Madikeri.
TIME: 17:00hrs
MADIKERI:
As we reached the outskirts, we started looking for a place where we could crash. We split into teams and decided to search and finally we found the best place. Oh yeas it was the best no doubt, huge house for Rs 200 per head per night, definitely worth it.
So we all sat at the sit-out outside the house and changed the plan from 2days-1night to 3days-2night. And oh yeah, the famous Abbey falls was just 5kms from this place. And a bakery right next to our place.
TIME: 18:00hrs
We dumped all our bags and went to a small hillock behind our home stay to find two huge monuments which was the tombstone of a Muslim king. It became dark and we witnessed a perfect sunset to mark the end of riding for DAY-1.
We left for dinner at about 19:00hrs, as we were hungry and we had skipped lunch. The town was totally dead; most of the shops were closed. We were the only ones walking around and fooling around the town. We managed to find a good hotel; we had a very heavy dinner and returned to our home stay. We sat on the sit-out and fooled around till 23:00hrs went back inside and crashed. That was not all the scary or rather funny ghost stories of ghost invading our stay kept us awake for a few hours more and finally we dozed off.
TIME: 01:30hrs
So… that was DAY-1 the ride to the place and also covering the Golden Temple
DAY-2: (Travelling is my business…. And business feels good!!)
RISE & SHINE:
Yeah I was up at around 04:00hrs and after a 3hr wait Anurag & Ashok were up. We went outside to the bakery and got some excellent Coorg coffee. As we sipped on everybody woke up one after another. We left our home stay for breakfast and decided to leave to Talakaveri directly after the breakfast.
TIME: 09:30hrs
RIDE 2.1 (Madikeri – Bhagamandala – Talakaveri - Madikeri)
So this was a 40kms (one-way) stretch, the bad narrow roads filled with patches and holes made it feel like 80kms stretch. Few of the stretches were still under construction it was a small road, but the climate was something which we were all happy about. After about an hour we reached Bhagamandala.
TIME: 11:00hrs
BHAGAMANDALA:
Well this is another beautiful temple. The unique shape of the Gopuras (pagoda shaped) is something to be observed at this place. Also this is a place where 3 rivers meet (Kaveri. Kannike & Sujyothi). We did a few laps inside the temple and decided to head towards Talakaveri.
TIME: 11:30hrs
Talakaveri is 8kms from Bhagamandala and roads again are narrow with hair pin curves. But we enjoyed the ride thoroughly to reach Talakaveri.
TIME: 12:00hrs
TALAKAVERI:
This is the place where the river Kaveri originates. But it was damn hot and the place looked good after the renovation done in 2010. The wishing pool is at the entrance where people throw coins and wish for something. Without wasting anytime we decided to climb up the Brahamagiri hill hoping the temperature would dip. After a 20mins tiring climb we made it to the peak, unfortunately the temperature kept rising. But yeah the place is of importance, Kerala & Mangalore can be seen from this peak. After spending about 20mins on top, we decided to leave Talakaveri.
TIME: 12:45hrs
The ride back was again a slow one back to back… two incidents that has to be mentioned are:
i) Sekar & Endu taking the wrong route and riding towards Mangalore before being pulled back.
ii) Vineet standing on the road with his bike below him in a pit :D
So… as we reached Madikeri, we decided not to go to our home stay instead have a lunch and then go. So we went to a hotel and started munching away.
TIME: 15:15hrs
As we finished our lunch, we peeped outside the window and we were surprised that we could spot Omkareshwara temple from the hotel. So we decided to finish off the temple. One thing that has to be observed at this temple is the style of architecture. It is constructed in Indo-Islamic style i.e., both Hindu & Muslim style of architecture has been employed.
TIME: 16:00hrs
RIDE 2.2: (Madikeri – Abbey falls – Raja Seat)
After a visiting the temple, we scrapped the plan of going back to home stay instead we thought of covering off Abbey falls. We passed by our home stay and continued further towards the Abbey falls. The ride to this place was a rough one, narrow roads filled with pot-holes made riding slightly challenging.
ABBEY FALLS:
As we reached the falls premises, we parked our bikes and walked a kilometre to get the first glimpse of this magnificent waterfall. The water was fading off, but yeah the sight of the waterfalls made all feel refreshed. We spent about 45mins at this place and left Abbey falls.
TIME: 17:15hrs
Again we thought of going back to our place, but we scrapped the plan again and decided to directly head to Raja Seat for sunset.
TIME: 17:30hrs
Two incidents worth mentioning:
i) Ashok getting angry for the first time, as a car touched his new bike.
ii) All of us waving & making faces at the kids & pretty girls of madikeri :)
RAJA SEAT:
Yeah this place is pretty much in the heart of the town. We spent about 30mins at this place wandering around before we got to witness a brilliant sunset which marked the end of riding for DAY-2.
After the sunset, we returned to our home stay and left for dinner at about 21:00hrs.After a heavy dinner we returned home and fooled around outside for about a couple of hours and finally crashed for some well deserved sleep.
TIME: 00:00hrs
So…that was DAY-2 what do you guys think of it eh… we had pushed ourselves to the extent possible. But yeah covering all these places gave us the satisfaction….next up DAY-3.
DAY-3: (Reckoning day!!)
RISE & SHINE:
I was up at 03:00hrs, highly insomnia tic … when all of a sudden I heard footsteps behind me. I turned back to find Vineet, he sat for about 30mins and went back to sleep. After 4 hours of sitting ideally I started waking up others. At about 08:00hrs everybody was half-awake that was good enough. Arun and I went back to the tombstone behind the place and explored the place. We returned back to find everybody geared up and all set to unwillingly bid adieu to the wonderful town of Madikeri
Oh yeah before we left we bought lots of coffee powder and stuffed it in our bags :)
TIME: 09:30hrs
RIDE 3.1: (Madikeri – Hunsur – Mysore
Alright we were all set to put the last rites on this wonderful trip. Started of from Madikeri in full flow, the excellent curves of the forest kept us awake. The weather was cold and pleasant to ride. Once we reached Kushalanagara, we decided to skip Dubare & Nisargadhama as we would run late. Once we touched SH-88 the temperatures went back up again and we all felt dizzy. We rode back at a much quicker rate and reached Mysore
TIME: 12:00hrs
We were damn hungry as we had skipped breakfast. So we took the by-pass route to re-join SH-17 and rode for about 5kms from Mysore
The last 120kms were remaining and this was just formality on SH-17. 4 lane butter smooth road offered little resistance, so with non-stop riding we reached back Bengaluru.
TIME: 16:30hrs
CONCLUSION:
It’d like to conclude this long article by saying the following “this was one classic trip which would be buried deep in our minds. 3 days of non-stop riding was just heaven and we had pushed ourselves to the limits on DAY-2. And oh yeah, it was also the perfect New Year gift to everybody :) “
PARTICIPANT VIEW:
ARVIND: If it wasn’t for him, this trip would have been just a dream.
ANURAG: Wanted to ride to this place so bad, not to forget the LamaDoma in Tibet Land
ARUN: With his new hair-style, had to sit behind me to provide minimal drag resistance :P
ASHOK: First ride on his new bike proved to be excellent, stayed last and made sure everybody were safe.
SEKAR: His cruise run kept continuing.
ENDU: If it wasn’t for his Ghost stories the trip would have been so different.
VINEETH: Thankfully didn’t shred the roads of Madikeri into pieces with his Red beast.
MADHU: The most silent guy of this trip, he hardly spoke but blended in with others perfectly,
SP: Unlike others, had to take bath after 4 days as soon we returned haha:P
Until next time Ciao \m/
Ps: Other places to visit around Coorg are: Nisargadhama, Harangi Dam, Dubare Elephant camp, Irupu Falls, Nagarhole forest, Pushpagiri Wildlife Sanctuary. Have covered these with family.
Album: (Harangi Dam, Nisargadhama, Irupu falls, Nagarhole, Dubare Elephant Camp)
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| Coorg , Dubaare , Nagarhole: ( 11'12/6/2011) |
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