157) Gundal Dam: (7/4/2018)

Place: Gundal Dam

Distance: 150kms x 2 = 300kms

Directions: Bangalore > Kanakpura > Mallavali > Kollegala > Gundal Dam

Krew: Dileep (Koof) > Madhu (Gundu)  > Karthik (Sp)

Bikes: Enfield > Pulsar                                                                   

Previous Visit: Doddagaddavali

Budget: Rs 700/head

IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:

Awestruck is the right word to describe our take on this chapter. Gundal is beautiful and serene reservoir located amidst the thick forests of lower Western Ghats. Hardly 15kms from Kollegala this reservoir proved to be a hidden jewel all these years. And to top things off we had our session at the legendary Buyyanadoddi fish fry, WOW!

INTRO & PLAN:

Weekday, I was browsing for few new places, when I hit upon this place. I was slightly confused and felt the google was fooling around. I mean it had been 7-8years on the road and we had covered a lot of places in an around that area. How the hell could we miss such an amazing place? So with my dear Laxmi friends – Koof and Madho we were all set to ride. This was the only time we had upto to PLAN E as we weren’t sure if the place would actually exist, if it does we weren’t sure whether water would be there!

TIME: 22:00 (6/4/2017)

   

ASSEMBLE & LEAVE:

Yeah I was up at 04:30, did a few push ups and sit ups, had a sip of coffee and was all set to go.  Called up Koof and Modho and woke them up. Initially the plan was to ride via Mysore road, but thanks to Koof’s last minute change we rode via Kanakpura road for a given reason you shall soon find out.  I left my home and while waiting for Modho outside his home, found 100bucks on road.. aha breakfast money set! Picking up Modho we met Koof at the NICE road junction at Kanakpura and left from Bangalore.

TIME: 07:15

RIDE 1: (Bangalore – Kanakpura – Malavalli – Kollegala – Gundal Dam)

It was quite some time since we had started off on NH-209. It felt good and weird at the same time. Cruising through the snake way, we kept a decent pace. As we approached Kanakpura we pulled over at one of the super hotel – “HOTEL VAASU” the reason why we had chosen Kanakpura road over Mysore road.

TIME: 08:30

   

Belting 3 rounds of breakfast, and tummy completely satisfied with the awesome dosas and bath we left the hotel and resumed our journey. The ride was smooth and straight forward. To be frank it took me back to the days of Shivanasamudra, Talakdau, BR Hills, MM Hills days during engineering time. Not to forget the crossing the river on a coracle with our bikes on it hehe.

We cruised past Gaganachukki and Barachukki and entered the Kollegala limits.  The first canal of the Shivanasamudra was running dry and it pretty much left us low. Asking the locals for directions, we proceeded towards Gundal. Being harldy 12kms from Kollegala, we reduced our speed and had a good look around. The final stretch to Gundal had lots of solar panels kilometres together and on the other side of the road were chicken farm. Finally we reached Gundal and a huge bund wall was in front of us, not knowing what is on the other side was giving me butterflies in my tummy. As the bike good go on top we raced away to the top of the bund to get the look.

TIME:11:00

GUNDAL DAM:

My God! What a view we received. Whoo.. it was a huge relief that there was water and the place looks awesome! We rode all the way to the end mesmerized by the view the dam offered us. We went up to the IB which was being constructed and got a clearer view of the entire place. We rode back down to the bund and we decided to get into the water.

TIME:11:30

   

The waters were freaking cold and the sun was right on top of our head. It was like fire and ice effect. The waters were crystal clear and being in the waters koof and modho were picking on me as to why I didn’t search this place before haha! Also, please note the waters turn deep in a short distance. After an hour of swimming we decided to bask in the sun to dry up and shortly we left the place still awestruck!

TIME: 12:30

RIDE 2: (Gundal dam – Kollegala – Mallavali – Buyyanadoddi – Kanakpura - Bangalore)

The ride back was a flat 150kms, but with an awesome stop at Buyyanadoddi. As we began our ride, we knew it would be hard as we had taken a dip in the waters. We rode pretty much non-stop until Mallavali picking up a bottle of water we proceeded towards Kanakpura. At Halguru, we took a left turn and headed towards the legendary fish fry stop at Buyyanadoddi. As we arrived the fish were just being prepared on the tawa, so we decided to head out and get ourselves some kottu so that we could crash for some time. Once the fish arrived the session began and it went to a couple of hours. Whew! Awesome it was, finally paying them a lot of courtesy and respect we left the place afloat.

TIME:16:00

   

Riding back towards Bangalore, we stopped one last time again for the day at Hotel Vaasu to get a Masala Dosa into our system. Yummy! After which we rode non-stop and pulled over at NICE road. Koof went ahead through the city Modho and me took the NICE road.

No not yet over, on the NICE road as we approached towards the Shanmukha temple we were watching out for a place where we could get Modho off , this is when another Pulsar at 90+kmph slammed into my hand (had held my hand on sides of the handle). Right fist was numb, but dropped Modho back home and reached my home with a numb right fist hehe.

TIME: 18:30

CONCLUSION:

“Whata great chapter this was! Truly one of the top 15. Firstly we didn’t know whether the place would actually exist. Second of all, even though it would exist, what were the chances that water would be there considering the summer heat. Things paid off, cheers to that! “

Until next time, Cia \m/

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