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/
PICASA ALBUM:
MAPS:
