Hampi, Badami & Aihole: Epic 4-in-1 UNESCO Heritage Road Trip Guide | Chapter 174 (Jul 1-6, 2019)

Place: Badami, Aihole, Pattadakal, Hampi

Distance: 1300km

Directions: Bangalore > Chitradurga > Gadag > Badami > Pattadakal > Aihole > Hampi > Bangalore

Krew: Madhu (Howle) > Karthik (Sippy)

Bikes: Pulsar (2)

Previous Visit: Kabbaladurga trek

Budget: Rs 5706/head (details given in the end)

INDEX: Brief > Intro and planning > Day wise description > Learnings > Budget

IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:

The Heritage Tour has to be one of excellent chapters done till date. 1300kms, 6 days, covering over 100 places over 4 different regions required a lot of pre-reading, planning and hell lot of discipline for execution. Badami known cave temples, Aihole & Pattadakkal known for its different styles of temples complexes and Hampi attracts a very broad spectrum of tourists. These places draw people who are interested in history, photography, hippies, temple visitors and vagabonds like us! So I am sure you will like this article if you are reader, writer, traveler or dreamer! I will not get into the details and history of each place in this article if you wish to know more, please ping me!

INTRO & PLAN:

Well for mega trips like these planning is very important. Well you could just go and see places and come back. But planning ahead and executing the plan to somewhat perfection gives you a sense of fulfillment. Hence our planning began in May 2019 and the stay was booked in June 2019. I concentrated on how to go about covering the places, which places first? Hotel bookings, Overall road circuit And most importantly the sub-circuits that are highly essential for covering a place like Hampi. Madhu started reading about the places and history and when we met, we exchanged views and learnt a lot more.

Hampi is one place where you can sit at a place whole day and admire one structure or you can cover off all the places in a day. We spaced it to 2.5days, spending quality time in places of importance and beating the rounds in others. I also suggest you to keep a lot of buffer time, adapt to a situation like we did when a hotel we booked had to get cancelled and we rode to Hospet a day earlier itself. Read on, it is quite interesting!

TIME: 22:00 (May, June 2019)

DAY-1: (Bangalore to Badami via Gadag and scouting Badami places)

This we knew had to be hardest of all days. We had to ride 500kms on a single day and also we had planned to cover Pattadakal which didn’t materialize. But we had foreseen this earlier and had to push a little on the second day.

The ride to Badami is one of most cherished rides I have done till date. We left early at about 5:30AM and cruised along at a decent pace until Chitradurga. After Chitradurga we proceeded towards Davangere and then after Harapanahalli the weather cooled down, windmills all around and the wind speeds increased drastically. Riding in the windy conditions was a good challenge. The ride was simply wonderful and as we approached Badami there were light showers and we felt good as the most difficult phase of the trip was almost done. We checked into the hotel and after freshening up went to the Agastya lake and sat with the police guard made a mental mark of all the places and created a good plan to cover all of them on the day to follow. After a good full meals we caught a much deserved sleep.

TIME: 22:00

DAY 2: Badami + Pattadakkal Temple Complex

Badami & Pattadakkal can be covered in a day easily and here is how you do it.

1. Badami Northern Fort: (Shivallaya temples, Mantapa, Badami Fort)

We reached the fort at about 6AM in the morning and trekked uphill to the Upper & Lower Shivallaya temples. One can find a lot of granaries, dungeons and Tippu’s treasury on top of the hill. The capital was shifted to Badami, earlier was Aihole. We spent about 2hours here and finished breakfast and decided to visit the cave temples.

2. Badami Cave temples: (4 cave temples)

From the North fort we reached the cave temples. There are 4 cave temples, one of which being dedicated to Shiva, 2 of it to Vishnu and last one to Mahaveer Jain. These cave temples are simply crazy, you can sit and admire the stone carvings for days together. When you enter each temple it gives you this spooky feeling. It also shows the prowess of the artists back in the days.

3. Pattadakkal Temple complex:

Pattadakkal is about 20kms from Badami. The roads are excellent and it takes about 20mins to reach. You can find a deviation to *Mahakoota Temple* and *Banshankri temple* as well. Pattadakkal again is a beautiful temple complex and enhouses about 10-11 temples of various architectural styles. The temple complex is well preserved and some of the important temples of Pattadakkal include – *Jambulinga*, *Galagnatha*, *Sangameshwara*, *Kashivishwanatha*, *Kadasiddeshwara*, *Papanatha*, *Virupaksha*, *Mallikarjuna*, *Chandrakeshwara*, *Inscribed stone pillar*. Each temple has its own share of history and architectural importance!

4. Mahakoota temple complex & Banashankri temple:

Mahakoota temple is quite a famous temple for travellers and it is one of the oldest Shiva temples in the world. The very sight of the temples tell you how old they are and gives a strange feeling when you enter them. From here 5km onwards we find the *Banashankri Shaktipeeta temple*, one of the most famous Shaktipeetas. Here after visiting the temple, we finished a simple lunch at the temple itself and returned back to Badami hotel for some rest.

5. Bhoothnath temple complex – North & East + Badami Museum + Malagatti Shivalaya:

After a good rest, we visited the Malagatti Shivallaya temple and finally we returned back to the place we sat last evening for sunset. We finished the museum first. The museum is a wonderful and a must visit place as it gives a lot of information not only about Badami but also on Aihole and Pattadakkal. Bhoothnath temple is the most symbolic temple of Badami. Agastya lake had dried a bit, but didn’t take away the glow of the temple. We visited the multiple temples of this complex and sat down in front of the Agastya lake for a good sunset.

So that was DAY-2, quite hectic but yes felt good having Badami & Pattadakkal in our bag!

DAY-3: Aihole + Surprise Ride to Hospet + Hampi Scouting

What was supposed to be a somewhat easy day turned out to be a very intense one. To start things we left from Badami at about 6AM and rode early to Aihole. Aihole can be covered in half a day. But then again the temple complexes of this place wide spread and simply magnificent. Some of them are quite far off from the centre. But follow this order of visit and you will do just great. The temple complexes of Aihole are: *Hacchappayana Matha*, *Kunti temple complex*, *Tryambakeshwar Complex*, *Mallikarjun Complex*, *Buddhist Chaitalaya+ Melguti Temple*, *Jain temple*, *Ravanaphadi Cave temple*, *Huchimalli Complex*, *Jyotirlinga Complex*, *Durga Complex*, *Ambigeri complex*, *Rachhguddi complex*, *Eniyar temple complex & Taarabasaveshwar temple*. Do it in the same very order when you travel from Badami to Aihole to save time. The Durga complex is the heart of Aihole and enhouses the two most important temples – Durga temple (*dedicated to Sun god*) and Ladkhan temple (*a very symbolic temple*). This complex is well maintained and also has a museum which is a must visit.

After the Aihole visit, we were surprised that we had covered most of the places by 12PM and thought we should have planned to Hospet on the same day, but alas the hotel bookings couldn’t be cancelled, *Or could it?* As we pulled over at the hotel in the noon there were some issues between the hotel and OYO and I had booked it though Makemytrip (*two middlemen never a good idea!*). So, called up MMT and asked for a cancellation. With great customer support, they did it immediately and refunded the entire amount. And after a great lunch we were off to Hospet at about 2PM – 125kms. The roads being excellent, played a very important role to ease our journey. Calling up the hotel at Hospet we requested for one day earlier check in and we reached Hospet by 4:30PM. Rested until 5PM and took off towards Hampi which is 12km from Hospete.

We scoured Hampi making mental map of where all the places lie in actual even though we had a map, doing it in real is so much better. Formulated the circuits in our head and climbed up Matanga hills to witness a beautiful sunset over the ancient Vijayanagara Empire. Simply breathtaking!

We reached the hotel about 8PM, ordered some good food and one beer and began watching documentaries and Vlogs on Hampi. With a good knowledge of what to see where, we crashed in for the day for some well-deserved rest.

DAY-4: (HAMPI – Royal Circuit & Vittala Circuit)

Covering Hampi can get tricky, so you have plan well and formulate circuits. We had done it this way, hope it will help you all:

a. *Royal circuit* – which covers all buildings other than temples

b. *Sacred circuit* – which covers buildings involving mythology/temples. The sacred circuit can be further divided into two sub-circuits: Virupaksha circuit & Vittala circuit.

c. *Others* – hippie island, restaurants, others.

Woke up again at 4:30AM and left by 6:30AM, having breakfast on the way, we covered the Royal circuit and Vittala circuit on day 1.

*Royal circuit* includes the following: *Queen’s bath*, *Octagonal bath*, *Saraswati temple*, *Chandrakehwara temple*, *Royal enclosure*, *Mahnavi Dhiba*, *Public bath*, *Secret Council*, *King’s Audience Hall*, *Hazare Rama temple*, *Pan supari Bazar*, *Zenana Enclosure*, *Lotus Mahal*, *Elephant Stable*, *Guard quarters*, *Parashwanth temple*, *Ranganath temple*, *Museum-1*.

Finishing of these places required a good amount of riding and walking as well. And trust me it will drain you. So having goli sodas now and then we completed the royal circuit and headed towards Kamalapura for lunch. After a kick-ass lunch, we thought we would finish off the Vittala circuit.

*Vittala circuits* includes the following: *Museum-2*, *Pattabhirama temple*, *Domed Gateway*, *Water tank*, *Bhima’s gateway*, *Jaina temple*, *Gejjela mantappa*, *Kudregombe*, *Pushkarini*, *Vittala bazar*, *Vittala temple*, *Stone Chariot*, *Kings balance*, *Vishnu temples*, *Purandaradasa Mantappa*.

As the Vittala temple was quite crowded we decided to just spend few minutes and return the next day at 6AM. We headed towards the Hemakuta hill (Virupaksha circuit) to witness a good sunset and a heavenly rain showers which preceded the sunset.

DAY-4 was hectic, but filled us with a sense of joy! So two beers it was on second day and Andhra full meals :D

DAY-5: Virupaksha circuit, Anjanadri Temple & Hippie Island

This was the last day of visiting places. So we left as early as 5:30AM and reached the Vittala temple by 6AM, taking the first tickets we spent about 2 hours at the temple with zero people & noise. The place felt so beautiful and calm. We just split up and sat at different locations absorbing the beauty of the place and finally ended up meditating at the Purandardas Mantapa for a good 30mins.

After which we decided to finish off the final circuit – the Virupaksha circuit. The Virupaksha circuit consists of the following places: *Underground Shiva temple*, *Chandikeshwara temple*, *Lakshmi Narasimha Idol*, *Badavilinga temple*, *Krishna Temple*, *Krishna bazar* and *Pushkarini*, *Sasavikalu Ganesha*, *Kadlekalu Ganesha*, *Hemakuta Complex*, *Virupaksha temple*, *Hampi bazar street*, *Monolith bull*, *Achyutaraya temple*, *Matanga hill*.

Whew, it will take some time covering all of these. And a lot of walking too. After this we headed towards the other side of the river Tungabhadra which has a few more places to cover. It is a good 25km away from Hampi so yeah, it would take some time.

*Other side of the river circuit* includes the following places: *Anjanadri betta*, *Gagan Mahal* & *Hippie island*. Anjanadri betta has about 550steps and will take a good 1-2hours of your time. This is believed to be the birthplace of Hanuman. Hippie island is something very lively and choice of stay for most easy going crowd. We bought a few shirts and gifts for back home.

So DAY-5 we had finished it all and were very happy, so 3 beers it was :D Speak about an Arithmetic progression in real life.

DAY-6: Hospete to Bangalore ride

This was a 350km ride back to Bangalore. After fuelling up at Hospete we rode pretty much non-stop. The roads between Hospete and Chitradurga are still half way done, so we got a mixture of 4-lanes and 1-lane. It was tiring and the raging winds made it challenging. After reaching Chitradurga we felt comfortable and with standard stops at Hiryur, Sira, Tumkur, Nelamangala i.e, every 40-50km once we reached back Bangalore comfortably.

TIME: 16:30

LEARNINGS:

These big, advanced planned trips teaches you a lot of good things. Here are some of them:

1. Buffers - Plan well in advance and keep a lot of buffers on daily basis.
2. Adapt & Improvise – wanted to ride to hospete, hotel mess happened, we used it to our advantage and pulled some levers to tilt the situation in our favour.
3. Do not go with expectations –Pattadakkal had to be done on day 1, but never happened. And we really didn’t know about any place, hence we spent good time admiring the places as they were.
4. Don’t be stubborn about the plan, be flexible – On day1 even though we knew pattadakkal was a drop, we visited the Basavanna statue in Gadag and had a nice time
5. Don’t overeat, Don’t overdrink, Don’t over sleep – every day we were up by 5AM and ready to roll, it takes a good amount of discipline to cover these places. So stay light & travel light!
6. Eat local food – that would be what they will know best to prepare, so eat what is best at that place. Try the Jowar rotti meals!
7. Stay hydrated – water, water, water. Carry a bottle and re-fill it during your food stops rather than buying sealed bottles every time.
8. Scouring - always go on a small beat previous day around all the places and form a mental map before actually visiting them. This greatly helps!
9. Rest well – might not be the best person to say this. But sleep well and rest well. You need that sleep to keep you active throughout the next day.
10. Speak out your plans – yes, you need to discuss with the team your plans, listen to their views, make changes if necessary and finalise on a common ground.

BUDGET:

A break up of the total budget (for both) is given below:

KREW:

Long self-planned trips like these are bound to see some ups and downs. No doubt in that. But what separates the old school and the newbies is how you handle them.

Madhu: had to be this guy. We meet almost everyday the ground for running and walking. Hence most of the pre-planning was never a problem. Even the day before we left Bangalore, we met for a short run in RR nagar. His active pre-reading and watching documentaries helped us a lot when we visited places. And it is a feat by in itself to ride a Pulsar 220 for 1300kms. And when I showed him the hand drawn circuits and explained how to go about it, made it point to wake up early and cover every place in the planned book! Cheers brah \m/

CONCLUSION:

So, yeah that’s it people. Hope you enjoyed reading through the article. As said earlier this is more about our visit to the place rather than the place itself. Because the place itself is so rich in history that I did not want to mix it in a common article. Detailed description of each place are on signboards near the places itself, so you need not worry. I can always share you photos of the same in case you need in advance. I hope this article helps you to cover these wonderful places, rich with heritage and history. Plan your trip, come back to the blog and let us know how your trip went. Cheers \m/

⬅️ 173. Kabbaladurga trek 175. Ratnagiri fort ➡️

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Kabbaldurga Trek: The Zero-Break 'Turtle Awakening' Solo Ritual | Chapter 173 (Jun 11, 2019)

• Place: Kabbaladurga trek
• Distance: 100kms x 2 = 200kms
• Directions: Bangalore > Bidadi > Channpatna > Kabbaladurga > Kanakpura > Bangalore
• Krew: Karthik (Sp)
• Bikes: Pulsar
• Previous Visit: Bali pass trek
• Budget: Rs 360/head

IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:

Alright, after a super Bali pass trek my birthday was around the corner, hence I decided to perform my annual ritual by visiting this hillock and hitting the reset button in my life. But this time lot of small things tried to stop me, but ah yeah pulled it off.

INTRO & PLAN:

Every birthday I have made it a point not to miss visiting this place, so after returning from the Himalayas I was very eager to test my endurance levels. So having continued the physical training I was all set to visit her again and alone as always. TIME: 22:00 (10/6/2019)

ASSEMBLE & LEAVE:

Yeah I was up at 04:30 heard water flowing on the road. Though it must have rained last night and was about to skip. Then I realised that a water pipe had broke and water was flowing from it. Then I realised my mind is trying to play games on me trying to pull me back. Hence hit the shutdown button, dusted my bike and took off without brushing my teeth :P TIME: 06:00

RIDE 1: (Bangalore– Ramngara – Channpatna - Kabbaldurga)

This was a 100km one way ride on Mysore road and country roads. I cruised along at the early hours without much hassle. It had been a while since I visited Mysore road, the road where we began fooling around on bikes. Lot of things had changed, but one thing remained same, me trying to still fool around. Cruising at a decent pace I reached Bidadi, and pulled over our regular hotel for some tasty breakfast. TIME: 06:30

After some good idly and vada, I checked my phone to see the birthday messages, then hopping onto the saddle took off from Bidadi. Cruising past Ramnagar reached Channpatna. Taking a left turn here, the roads turned pleasant and a sense of calmness flooded the air and the more or less the bike was taking me effortlessly. Reaching the base, I parked my bike near the cow stand and was all set for the hike. TIME: 07:45

KABBALDURGA TREK:

Well it took me only 45min this time to ascend the hillock. But guess what with zero breaks, then why did it take 45mins? Well after the Bali pass trek one thing I realised and learnt was maintaining a slow steady pace is much better than having outbursts and taking breaks at regular intervals.. As before I have divided the trek into the following sections: initial stretch, 3 point stretch, Viper stretch and Final stretch.

So ready? Yeah this was a calm yet crazy trek, keep up with me here!

Initial stretch:

This trust me is never a straightforward part of the trek. No matter how many times I climb this hillock, I always miss a turn here or there and end up searching for the route. This time it was no different. I Lost my route couple of times, but made it through the initial gateway to reach the challenging stretch.

3 point stretch:

This was tester, it always gives me a sense of where I stand in terms of stamina, reading the rocks, balancing, ability to stop thinking and much more. So yeah as I began to ascend the rocks, the usual outbursts of energy like before wasn’t there, calmly I was taking step by step, not minding one bit of just chilling in middle of a the steep stretch for a few seconds. So without breaking much sweat I made it past this stretch, felt great!

Viper stretch:

This stretch is something you can really experience when you trek alone or when in a group you shut and climb. This stretch is filled with a good length grass and as you make your way through it, you can always head some animal crawl amidst the grass, yes it was scared the shit out of me first time, then you get used to it. And that feeling is something you have to hold onto it and get comfortable with. Just an incredible feeling.

Final stretch:

The final stretch now consists of steps which is quite draining, but this stretch always reminds me of first time I had ascended the hillock solo back in 2010 – Kabbaladurga trek. But keeping a slow and steady pace making sure my breathing is at normal rate I made it to the top without any tiredness. Guess all the workout for the Bali pass was worth it! TIME: 08:30

TOP:

As I reached the top, searched for monitor lizard I had spotted once a few years back. But these natural things, when you seek for you shall never find, they have a tendency to appear out of nowhere, well that’s there thing! I visited the main temple on top, paid my respects to the place and headed to the Shiva temple to crash. One of my toe nails was still recovering from the frost-bite. So rested well in the temple for about 30mins and woke up afresh and decided to head back down. It had already started drizzling very lightly. TIME: 09:15

TREK DOWN:

Trek down was again a tester of my knee strength. As I began my descend, I was moving at a descent pace. Then I met the priest of the place, speaking to him for a while moved on to meet a family. They had travelled from Kollegala to visit this place, not bad. They seemed tired so gave off the remaining water and asked if they wanted some chocolates. One aunty felt very happy, so I handed over the bag of around 60-70 chocolates, she took out 5 and gave it to me. I was angry and at the same time wanted to burst into laughter, I smiled and was about to move on when her husband spoke some sense into her and she returned the bag keeping another 10-15. Haha! Reaching back to the base, I played around with a baby bullock as it was thinking I had come to take over the place. Filling up my bottle in the town of Kabblu I took off! TIME: 10:00

RIDE 2: (Kabbaldurga – Channpatna – Bidadi-Bangalore)

This was 100kms ride back, but took the Kanakpura road this time completing a small good circuit. As the road was being widened lot of construction work and it turned out to be a tiring ride back home. Anyway reaching back home, had a light meal and called back people and thanked them for the birthday wishes drifted into slumber! TIME: 11:45

CONCLUSION:

" when you go solo treks i realized, the mindset you would require during the climb is something you would require right from the moment you set off. The art of shutting up and executing without much thoughts! haha! :) "

Until next time, Cia \m/

⬅️ 172. Bali Pass trek 174. Badami, Aihole, Pattadakal and Hampi ➡️

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Madakasira Fort Trek: Navigating the Boa Fort's Internal Maze | Chapter 171 (Apr 29, 2019)

Place: Madakasira Fort Trek

Distance: 150kms x 2 = 300kms

Directions: Bangalore > Dobbaspete > Madhugiri > Madakasira

Krew: Datta (Daattu) > Ashok (Moms > Karthik (Sp)

Bikes: Pulsar > Enfield                                                                   

Previous Visit: Pavagada Fort Trek

Budget: Rs 516/head

IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:

Madakasira is a part of Andhra Pradesh, lying about 150kms from Bangalore. The fort is well preserved and offers an excellent one day trek. From the top most point when you look back at the fort, it looks like a boa constrictor all coiled up and deep in sleep.

INTRO & PLAN:

After the Pavagada trek, we had completed most of the non-Navadurgas in this region except Madakasira. During the last chapter we had our eye on this hillock, but decided to go ahead with Pavagada. So, after 10days we returned back to conquer this baby as well! Dattu & Moms were on the confirmed list, as Deefu was in Chennai he could not make it for this one. But a visit with Deefu to this place is guaranteed shortly!

TIME: 13:00 (25/1/2017)

ASSEMBLE & LEAVE:

Oh yeah woke up at 04:00, did a few push-ups & sit-ups, had a sip of coffee & was all set to go! As the meet up was scheduled at Dattu’s home, I rode slowly on the ring road and reached Dattu’s home and awaited Moms arrival. Once Moms arrived, he said he had some issue with this petrol pipe and was fixing it, then came the cops, I have been caught here so many times that I was almost getting ready with all the documents and mentally rehearsing all the dialogues, when the cops stared at Moms, who had grease all over his face, hands, really genuine attempt to fix his bike, they ignored us and went. Dattu looked at me surprised, I was equally surprised! Post fixing the issue, we left from Bangalore.

TIME: 07:00

RIDE 1: (Bangalore – Dobbaspete – Madhugiri – Madakasira Fort)

This was a good 150kms ride with perfect two stops in between. We had rode the last few chapters on these roads, so yeah had got used to the conditions and more importantly we knew when to space out and when to push further. Taking off from Bangalore, we rode amidst the somewhat traffic filled roads, once out of Nelamangala we cruised along at a 50-60’s to pull over at Dobbasbpete at our regular hotel for some kick-ass breakfast.

TIME: 08:00

We had our standard breakfast of Idly vada, not so heavy, not too light, just the thing in there which would keep us going. After a good coffee we went out and discussed about the next trip that was the Bali pass. Past 7 treks over two months had been covered with good amount of discipline which we would have to carry over to the next big trip.

Continuing further, as the roads from Dobbaspete to Madhugiri is as smooth as they come, we cruised at a comfortable pace to pull over just before Madhugiri for a small chocolate stop. From Madhugiri, we didn’t waste anytime, I went on explaining the route to Ashok (moms) after listening to everything he said “u be in front, I will follow u, I dint understand anything” :P Well that’s moms alright ! Haha

Saying hi the Channarayanadurga, Madhugiri, we cruisied past the mighty Medigeshi and entered Andhra. As soon as you enter this land, you get that raw feel! Far ahead we could see the hill fort with the boa resting on top. Finding our way amidst the town, we parked our bikes near a home handed over the helmets at the house and were all set for the trek.

TIME: 10:45

MADAKASIRA FORT TREK:

It took us about an hour to ascend the fort. The weather somewhat assisted us in the first half and drained us to the core during the descent. The trek can be divided into the following stages: Stairway to heaven, Boa’s belly and Final test

So, try keeping up with me on this one. Here goes:

i) Stairway to heaven:

The initial stretch is on stairs all along. It passes through a couple of gateways and on both sides lie lots of shrubs and trees. This finally leads up to a flight of stairs to the sky. Yes, it looks as if it were the stairway to heaven. As these stairs lie in between two gigantic boulders, the wind really rushes through this pathway and vaporizes your tiredness and sweat!

ii) Boa’s belly:

This is the core the trek. You have to traverse through this maze and get out of the fort to proceed with the trek. The path through the fort can be misleading sometimes. Always keep an eye on the end point which becomes visible after you enter the fort. But exploring the fort is always fun and we took our time here just fooling around and trying to find some new routes hidden passages.

iii) Final tester:

This is the tester, actually one small pathway is a the actual test as it has to negotiated with caution and with some technique. Last time I had just stuck my hand up the rock and pulled myself up somehow, while descending, I slipped and fell and then caught others. This time, we were well prepared. But it was moms who somehow got the right footing and went up first and helped others. After this tricky stretch, we get few caves and shelters post this lies the top.

TIME: 11:45

TOP:

We rang the bell, and sat at the mantap. The wind speeds began to pick up and as it was a small piece of land we decided to head back to the caves and chill there as it would be dangerous to take a nap near the top. In the caves we just relaxed, played around with insects, ate few chocolates, Momd & Dattu gave some tips for snow treks as it was my first time and they had experienced it last year as well. After relaxing and rejuvenating for about 45mins we decided to head down.

TIME: 12:30

TREK DOWN:

Well, the trek down took us only 30mins but it had few intense moments. As we left the caves we had to encounter the two tricky stretches (that’s right there are two). I tried going ahead, but couldn’t get the right footing again, so again it moms who, I don’t know but just has a knack for these, got down first and helped us down. After the tricky stretch it was just plain descent, we pretty much fooled all the way to the bottom. Once in town we had 2 glasses of cane juice each and felt refreshed.

TIME: 13:00

RIDE 2: (Madakasira – Madhugiri – Dobbaspete– Bangalore)

This was a 150kms ride back home, with some intense moments towards the end of the ride. So, with the standard Madhugiri and Dobbaspete stop fixed, we headed in full flow to reach Madhugiri. Asking locals for a good hotel, we pulled over at hotel Annapurna near the circle itself for a very heavy lunch.

TIME: 14:00

Trust me, the lunch was excellent, I wondered how I had missed out on such a wonderful hotel all these years. But yeah never too late, when you live on the roads. After heavy lunch I usually go a little high, getting on my bike I almost crashed into an auto few yards from the parking place haha! Then we slapped myself a few times and it was game on!

We rode flawlessly until dobbaspete and continuing further, the skies darkened and incame the merciless bullet rain. All two wheelers on the highway were pulled over to the side or under the bridge that day, except two. Haha u guessed it right, it was an insane ride back, we dropped our riding speeds to 40’s but the rain was so heavy and harsh my god! It took everything in us to keep pushing little by little. As we reached Nelamangala, the skies cleared and the final tester of the trip was also passed. Moms said he would drop back Dattu and I took the NICE road to reach our respective homes.

TIME: 16:30

CONCLUSION:

“This place is in a league of its own. It’s not that risky, but few stretches make this trek a thing to consider. But the beauty lies in the core of the trek negotiating and finding the way through the boa’s belly. Head out there and explore! Cheers fellas”

Until next time, Cia \m/

⬅️ 170. Pavagada fort trek 172. Bali Pass trek ➡️

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