170) Pavagada Fort Trek- Chilly Soda: (19/4/2019)

Place: Pavagada Fort trek

Distance: 175 x 2 = 350kms.

Directions: Bangalore > Dobbaspete > Koratgere > Madhugiri > Madakasira > Pavagada

Krew: Datta (Dattu) > Madhu (Dunns) > Karthik (Sippy)

Bikes: Pulsar (2)                                                                             

Previous Visit: Bhasmangi Fort Trek

Budget: Rs 617/head

IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:

Pavagada is a 600year fort which has multi-layer fortification, offers a decent climb for beginner trekkers. Since it is 175km away, riding to the place, trekking and riding back can be little tiring. This was a classical trip which was mostly fun, but severely draining as it was done in peak summer. Funny part is to reach Pavagada, you gotta leave Karnataka, enter Andhra, Re-enter Karnataka! :P

INTRO & PLAN:

As far as the planning goes, summer was in full swing and the temperatures were soaring high. Bali pass trek was a few weeks away and we were pulling down treks around Bangalore one by one. As we were on a roll at tumkur road, we decided continue the massacre. Hence Pavagada/Madakasira were on the cards and Dattu & Madho were on the confirmed list.

TIME: 20:00 (18/4/2019)

ASSEMBLE & LEAVE:

Alright I was up by 4:30, did a few push-ups, sit-ups, had a sip of coffee and was set to leave. The meet up was scheduled at Kamadhenu hotel at Dobbaspete. I picked up Dattu and we left cruising at a comfortable pace we reached the hotel. Madhu reached about an hour later. So we had covered a good 50kms and were all set for a good breakfast.

TIME: 07:00

    

RIDE 1: (Dobbaspete – Madhugiri - Pavagada)

After a pretty good breakfast, we chilled out having some tea as we had covered about 1/3^rd the distance. As we took off from Dobbaspete, we cruised along at a decent pace. The roads throughout are excellent. We pulled over at our standard stop just before Madhugiri for a quick break. After the break we took off once again and rode to reach Pavagada. Funny thing is to reach Pavagada, you have to leave Karnataka, enter Andhra, re-enter Karnataka and BOOM Pavagada. Waving past Madhugiri, Medigeshi & Madkasira we entered the beautiful city of Pavagada.

TIME: 10:30

PAVAGADA FORT TREK:

This was a pretty straightforward trek. It takes about an hour to ascend and half an hour to descend.There is a clear path right until the top. But places like these, time doesn't matter as there are a lot of things to explore. You have to fool around the place to get the best out of it.

This fort hill has many layers of fortification and gate-ways.  You can find a lot of granaries, storehouses on the way. One funny incident that happened was, as we were posing nicely for a photograph, a big fat angry monkey was approaching from the side. As we started making our way top, it kept following us a good distance with a very angry face, no mess intended we took off big time.

    

Reaching the top, we spend about an 30mins just chilling and enjoying the view from the top. From Pavagada top, pretty much you see only Andhra as you would have come to Pavagada from Andhra and little further you go, you enter Andhra again. Kind of leaves in bonkers.

TIME: 12:15

As we began our descent, we had set of granaries to explore and we re-joined the original pathway through another route. The descent took about 45mins and it was clean one. As noon was approaching, the sun was right above us blazing in all his glory. As we descended down and took our bikes, I remembered we had eaten a kick-ass Andhra full meals in Pavagada during our trip to Nidagal trek. Hence searching for the same hotel we pulled over for some really heavy and awesome food.

TIME: 13:15

RIDE-2: (Pavagada-Madhugiri-Dobbaspete-Bangalore)

After a heavy meal, basically I go high. No, I am not joking. I really get high on excessive food and I happy about it! :) So, hopping on the saddles we took off from Pavagada, the plan was simple, ride 50km and pull over for 15mins. So the planned stops were at Madhugiri, Dobbaspete and Bangalore and boy did we stick to it.

    

It was smooth cruising all the way to Bangalore, we did pull over at the same Cane juice shop near Dobbaspete for some yummy refreshment. Then on Madhu took NICE road and headed back home, where as I dropped Dattu to this home and reached back home as well !

TIME: 18:00

CONCLUSION:

“Soaring hot trek but yeah worth every bit. Enjoyed the trek and never miss the full meals of this place. I also heard Pavagada is famous for Chilly Lassi/Soda, anybody has any info on this? ”

Until next time, Cia \m/

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