Place: Bhasmangi
Fort Trek
Distance: 130 x 2 =
260km
Directions: Bangalore
> Dobbaspete > Madhugiri > Bhasmangi
Krew: Deepak
(Deefu) > Ashok (Momz) > Karthik (Sp)
Bikes: Enfield
> Pulsar
Previous
Visit: Nijagal Fort Trek
Budget: Rs 470/head
IN LESS THAN
50 WORDS:
Bhasmangi Fort is one of those forts, on hearing the name itself, it
sends you a shiver. But the trek is a pleasant one as it has a step route till
the top. And if you’re like us, you end up proving that the name of the fort
has something in it haha! This chapter we took the normal route to the top and
while coming down all hell broke loose.
INTRO &
PLAN:
It was about a week since our Nijagal betta trek and since Deefu was in
town, we decided to head to Bhasmangi Fort. Last time we visited this place was
in 2016 and Deefu could not make it that time. So with Deefu & Momz in the
confirmed list we were all set!
TIME: 22:00 (2/12/2016)
ASSEMBLE
& LEAVE:
Woke up as usual as 5AM, did a few
push-ups and sit-ups. After having a sip of coffee I set out. The meet up was
scheduled 50kms away from Bangalore at our regular hotel Kamadhenu. After
reaching the hotel, I waited for others and in came Deefu and Momz as usual swearing
at each other. Momz by the way was wearing a shirt which had elephant symbol on
it and saying SRILANKA. We started asking all sorts of questions as we munched
on a light breakfast. Momz had to get some documents signed so he said he had
to be back at 6PM.
TIME: 07:00
RIDE 1:
(Dobbaspete – Madhugiri – Bhasmangi)
As about 1/3rd the distance was already covered, we took it
easy at the hotel. Once we left the hotel, we cruised at a decent pace and
reached Madhugiri. After Madhugiri, we had to ask around for directions and
proceed. Last time we had come via Sira. This time we wanted to experiment with
a new route. The riding pace reduced as we had stop frequently and ask for
directions, with lot of turns and riding in between towns we made it to final
road that would lead us to Bhasmangi. The final stretch I could recollect all
events of last trip, but didn’t want them to interfere with this one, so temporarily
erased all memories of last time and just went ahead and parked the bike in
actually a very decent parking place.
TIME: 07:30
BHASMANGI
FORT TREK:
There was the village festival and all the drums were in full flow, lot
of people from neighboring villages had also gathered. Without interfering
much in their activities we parked our bikes and proceeded towards the regular
route.
The trek up hill was not at all exciting as we took the normal route. In
about 20mins were at the top. We were really disappointed. The trail ran through
various gates and presented us a lot of ruins which was good. But it was just
too easy! At the top, we just sat and discussed about the Bali pass trek and preparations
for that. We spent about 45mins on top and decided to leave back – on a different
route ofcourse!
TIME: 11:00
The trek back down took us 1.5hours, so this kind of tells you we got
into some major shit. Okay, ontop it was all fun, we in fact we got on top of
the fort wall and started walking on it until we hit a dead end. Then we got on
the other side of the fortwall and started circumventing the hillock until we
could find a decent trail down. This was risky, as it was a one person path and
we had to hold onto to the fort wall and take step by step. When none of the
routes looked promising we decided to go straight down amidst the burnt bushes.
With Deefu leading the way, we were making progress. Then as we began
making our way down, our hands started turning black as the entire terrain was
scorched to the core. With my bad shoes, slipping here and there was always
there, hence my jeans also was turning black.
Then a group of people younger than us were climbing up. Then one of
them said “Anna, keep your leg in that
slot and get down it will be easy” Then Momz was like “Guys, mechanical engineers ah all?” they looked puzzled. “who else would use terms such as slot?” justified momz and all burst into
laughter. He had earned their instant respect among fellow juniors. Deefu and
me kept staring at each other and called Momz aside and asked if that much
respect was necessary or we had ways to nullify it :P he asked us to shut and
climb down haha!
The climb down continued to be challenging and we made sure the fort had
lived up to its name. We made down back to the town and the village festival
was in full flow. People were dancing around, goats were being beheaded right
in the middle of the street and as were proceeding towards the bike, a quarrel
among two villagers started and it escalated to a fight between the villages.
We were walking dead right in the middle of the road, as people kept fighting
each other and all off a sudden everybody saw us, that freaky feel you get man!
We just went to a water tank nearby washed our faces, totally avoiding
eye-contact and made near our bikes. We took our bikes, just before heading out
we smiled at them and took off with a breath relief.
TIME: 12:30
RIDE 2:
(Bhasmangi – Madhugiri – Bangalore)
Okay this was a 135km ride, done with ultra-smoothness. Deefu and me
took on the saddles and we began cruising at 80+kmph with ease. The roads were
pretty empty and the air began cooling our bodies off from the good trek back
down. After cruising past Madhugiri, we stopped at Koratgere for a small break.
After which we ended up in a baker for lunch. We just had some Egg puffs, Dilpasand
and buttermilk for lunch and continued further to reach back Bangalore as
promised to Momz by 3PM itself. Then Deefu and me parked the bikes and started
wondering what to do until 6PM as he had said "at 6PM". Haha, momz was like, “guys earlier is also okay :P”
TIME: 15:00
CONCLUSION:
“ This was crazy chapter, last
time I remember we had returned from Bhasmangi at about 7-8PM, this time we
cruised with ease. And the climb down was crazy but fun. Totally busted our
hands but it was worth it! And have you been keeping an eye on the budget of the past few trips? You should, cause we have a point to prove there!"
Until next time, Ta-da Cia \m/
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