150) Huliyurdurga Fort Trek: (29/7/2017)

Place: Huliyurdurga trek

Distance: 100kms x 2 = 200kms

Directions: Bangalore > Nelamangala > Kunigal > Huliyur

Krew: Aditya (Adi) > Datta (Dattu) > Deepak (Deefu) > Karthik (Sp)

Bikes: Enfield > Pulsar

Previous Visit: Bhairavadurga Trek

Budget: Rs 500/head

IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:

Alright, this had to be an awesome way to get the 150^th chapter under our belt. People told the top was inaccessible/ with the rains around the corner it would prove risky blah blah! But we were stubborn to wear the garland of Navadurgas by completing the last one remaining – Huliyurdurga, on the occasion of the our 150^th run. (Other navadurgas are Savandurga, Makalidurga, Nandidurga, Channarayanadurga, Devarayanadurga, Kabbaladurga, Bhairavadurga & Huthridurga)

INTRO & PLAN:

After the completion of Bhairavadurga as the 149^th trip, we did make an attempt to plan a huge trip to Gandikota. But when that failed to materialise, I had a different idea in mind. With just one of the Navadurgas pending, I thought it would be best if we finish this off and metaphorically it would be like wearing a garland of the hill forts around Bangalore. Not much info was available on the net about the place, so had to go out there and check it out ourselves. Adi, Deefu & Dattu were on the confirmed list.

TIME: 22:00 (11/7/2017)

ASSEMBLE & LEAVE:

Yeah I was up at 04:30, did a few push ups & situps, had a cup of coffee and sat back listening to music for some time. Previous day had taken leave and slept from 11AM to 7PM, so had pretty much a disturbed sleep. I picked up Adi from his place at 06:30 and we reached Decathlon on Mysore road. After Deefu & Dattu arrived we greeted each other and left Bangalore.

TIME: 07:30

RIDE 1: (Bangalore – Bidadi – Ramnagar – Maddur - Huliyurdurga)

This was a 100kms smooth ride on the Mysore road. We preferred the Mysore road as it would bring back the memories of our first trip to Maddur. Cruising at a decent pace along the heavily traffic flooded state highway, we made it to Bidadi for some yummy breakfast.

TIME: 08:00

After the breakfast, we walked out for some light tea and I was really glad to see school friends accompanying for this one. It was also, very surprising that we had not changed one bit since school, same old themed jokes and same old pure laughter. Impressive, I thought to myself and quickly blended in. We decided to ride non-stop to Maddur, the traffic from Bidadi onwards became thin and we rode at a pretty good pace to cruise past Ramnagar & Channpatna to reach Maddur. Here we took a right deviation and the same road without any deviation landed us at the outskirts of Huliyurdurga.

The hillock look pretty scary to be frank. We thought from where the hell we climb. Enquiring with the locals, we were asked to take a road behind the police station and find the old temple at the base of the hill. We parked our bikes at the temple and decided it was time to wake the good old lizard king up to light the spirits and take us up the hillock.

TIME: 10:15

HULIYURDURGA TREK:

Well, ahem, ahem… it took us exactly 20mins to reach the top.Yes, no kidding, it wasn't as the other long hikes, but trust me it was a fun filled and intense trek huh. Few stretches did a good number on us.

As, we parked the bikes we made our way along the staircase to a certain height where we could find a temple. Deefu & me looked at each other, it reminded us both of the terrific Bhairavadurga trek where the route to the temple was not actually the route. But this time, it was indeed. Few people had marked arrows showing the way to the top and trust me, it was a steep initial ascent. Hovering in between boulders the first leap itself set us on fire and bam we were off.

The route which followed was a narrow trail in between boulders, pretty steep and more importantly loose and muddy. After a few minutes into the trail, we hit a dead end and the trail continued with a gap. The gap had to be covered by venturing on a rock and this was pretty tricky. Deefu & me, as usual played Rock, Papers & Scissors & I went ahead first and decided to help others up (while climbing down, Deefu went first!) This stretch is the only part you gotta watch out for, everything else is a walk in the park! We were happy to see the fort walls and the guide paths reminding us of the other 8 fort hills. Finally, ascending over the last fort tier Adi led us all to the top.

TIME: 10:35

TOP:

We spent about 1.5hours on the top. As we reached the top, we explored the place to find only ruins of the fort wall. There was one brick building standing firm. Surprising part was even though the hillock was not tall, but the view it offered was brilliant. We could see for miles in all directions, no wonder it served as one of the outposts. Took out some chocolates and water, we spoke about all sorts of shit and slowly drifted off into the silence for a deep nap. Waking up, we could see the clouds traversing towards us and we decided it was the right time to descend.

TIME: 12:00

CLIMB DOWN:

The climb down took us 15mins. We made it past the fort walls to actually lose our way hehe. Then Deefu took the lead and found the tricky spot. He ventured down and called others. Dattu and Adi were the next to follow as I decided to stay on top and lend my hand for the ease of descent. After which, told others to form a wall and jumped down the rock phase hehe. After which it was pretty easy and neat and made it back to the temple.

Getting on to the bikes, we had one look at the 9^th Navadurga and thanked it and left the premises.

TIME: 12:30

RIDE-2: (Huliyurdurga – Kunigal – Nelamangala – Chandu dhaba – Bangalore)

This was a 100kms ride back via a different route. As we left Huliyurdurga, we felt a few big rain droplets crash on our head. Oh yeah, the skies were covered with thick black clouds and it was ready to unleash. As we rode on, down came the rain mercilessly. But it lasted for a short duration and as we reached Kunigal on the Bangalore-Hassan highway the rains faded.

The ride from then on was pretty smooth, waving back big at the Shivagange and Bhairavadurga we made it back to Nelamangala. From here we zoomed right into our regular Chandu dhaba for some food and drinks!

TIME: 14:00

We spent about 2hours at the dhaba and decided to leave. We reached the NICE road junction and thanked each other for making it to the trip and headed back to our respective homes.

TIME: 17:00

CONCLUSION:

“Had to be one of the awesome chapters done till date. Even though the hike was a very small one, it offered a good challenge and completing all the Navadurgas and metaphorically wearing the garland of them around our necks as a mark of completion of the 150^th trip was a special feeling!! A big thank you and cheers for all the people who have really been there for us. “

Until next time, Cia \m/