Doddagaddavalli: The Jinxed 400km Ride to the Tranquil Hoysala Temple | Chapter 156 (Mar 10, 2018)

Place: Doddagadavalli

Distance: 200kms x 2 = 400kms

Directions: Bangalore > Nelamangala > Kunigal > CR Patna > Hassan > Doddagadavali

Krew: Deepak (Deefu) > Datta (Dattu) > Avinash (Avi)  > Karthik (Sp)

Bikes: Enfield > Pulsar                                                                   

Previous Visit: Vanivilas Sagara Dam

Budget: Rs 600/head

IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:

Alright, this was ride to a new place of historical importance. Doddagadavali situated on the Hassan-Belur road is known for being one of the earliest discovered Hoysala temples. The temple premises is just so pleasant.

INTRO & PLAN:

February had seen no chapters. Hence, early in march we planned this jinxed trip. Yes, ride to Doddagadavalli after Mahe, is one such trip that had failed to execute 10+times. And finally everyone pumped to pull this one off. Dattu & Deefu were on the confirmed list.

TIME: 22:00 (12/3/2017)

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 Avi at 5:30, asked him what he was doing :D. Once the obvious reply came through, I asked if was free for the day and asked him to get ready in 15mins.  Went to Avi’s home picked him up and met the other two on the Outer Ring road. After some formal introductions, we decided to head out of Bangalore. 

TIME: 6:30

    

RIDE 1: (Bangalore – Nelamangala – Kunigal – CR Patna – Hassan - Doddagadavalli)

This was 200kms straightforward ride. We knew the path was long one, but we also knew the roads were in awesome condition. All we had to do was stick to our lane and zoom ahead. We rode about 100kms and pulled over at our regular hotel on Hassan road.

TIME: 08:30

Post a pretty darn good breakfast, we decided we hit the road. With just 1 stop in between we entered the Hassan city limits and we took off the Halebidu road by mistake. But the re-routing led us through beautiful field sand peaceful atmosphere. Finally we joined back the Belur-Hassan road and asking the locals for the direction we proceeded towards Doddagadavali. We were able to see the shrines from far off. It was like this old bunch of temples had been just placed in middle of modern homes.

TIME: 11:45

DODDAGADAVALLI:

We were quite impressed by the tranquillity which shrouded this place. All surrounding places were burning hot, but within the temple premises it was cool and the air kept flowing to carry away our sweat. There are 4 shrines and overall the temple looked pretty damn ancient. We took our time to have closer looks at the art work, connected it with our friends and ended had a laughter marathon.

We sat in peace for about an hour and then decided to leave the place.

TIME: 13:00

   

RIDE 2: (Doddagadavalli- Hassan- CR Patna- Kunigal - Bangalore)

As we left Doddagadavalli, we began searching for a dhaba to crash. Unfortunately we didn’t find any good ones on the route to Hassan. So we ended up in the Hassan-Bangalore highway, finding a nice place, we crashed in for a good session.

TIME: 14:00

After spending about 2.5 hours at the dhaba we left afloat. Hopped on our bikes and began zooming towards Bangalore. We took couple of breaks as our body had begun to wear down. Thanking Deefu and Dattu for making it for the day, we split at the NICE road junction at Tumkur road. Avi and myself continued and reached the PES exit, then rode to BTM to drop Avi and returned back home.

TIME: 21:00

CONCLUSION:

“Tiring yes, but ready for more? Hell yeah! It was super duper ride, the get things back in shape. Yes we had revised our plan for more or less 1 chapter a month. To get a chapter earlier on in the month felt freaking great. “

Until next time, Cia \m/

PICASA ALBUM:

MAPS:

⬅️ 155. Marikanive dam 157. Gundal Dam ➡️

Follow us on Insta
📸 Follow @theloapers_90

Maddur & Kanva: The 220km Farewell Ride for Delicious Dosa and Exploring the Completely Dried-Up Kanva Reservoir Bed | Chapter 97 (Jul 19, 2014)

                                                                      

Place: Maddur & Kanva.

Distance:  220kms Total

Directions: Bengaluru – Ramnagar – Maddur - Kanva.

Particiapants: Srinidhi(Nidhi) > Srihari(Hari) > Sukesh(Banda) >Karthik (Sp).

Bikes: Pulsar(2).

Previous visit: Muthati – One Last Ride!

IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:                                                  

Alright, like the last chapter this chapter again signified the departure of another good friend. This chapter was a small & simple one. Nothing of complicated lines existed on this run. A plain simple breakfast & ride to Kanva. But this time the reservoir had dried up completely !!

INTRO & PLAN:

With Zethu off to Mumbai, I was looking for opportunities to ride out of town. When Nidhi & hari were all set to go to US for their masters, we sat & came with the idea to ride to Maddur for breakfast one day. Since they had sold their bikes we were searching for another person. At office all of a sudden on Friday, Banda(Sukesh) caught my eye, oh yeah there was no escaping from me this time :D No excuses were accepted this time haha…:P

TIME: 22:00 (18/7/2014)

ASSEMBLE & LEAVE:

Yeah I was up at 05:00, did a few puh ups & situps, had a cup of coffee and was all set to go. It was decided that we would meet at our bakery and take off from there. So I took off at about 5:45 and sat there sipping on tea, waiting for others to arrive. Once Hari & Nidhi arrived, I kept calm and first made sure that I guessed them right first :PLast but not least with Sukesh arriving on the scene we took off from Bangalore.

TIME: 06:30

 

RIDE 1: (Bangalore– Bidadi – Channpatna - Maddur)

This was about a 80kms stretch on the butter smooth Mysore Road (SH-17). Like always ride to Maddur always takes me back to our first trip. All those places we had stopped throughout our long 5 year journey on this very road. Anyway we left Bangalore on two bikes and riding atleast I had thought would be slow and easy. But Sukesh to my surprise was leading and leading with a pretty decent pace I must say.

It was a fun filled ride throughout we rode beside each other chatting all the way, at the same time making sure we don’t crash into other vehicles or let others crash into us. We reached Bidadi in about 30mins, but we decided to have breakfast directly at Maddur itself. We crossed Ramnagar & Channpatna without worries, the ideas of other places were scrapped as we were bound to return by noon :P

In about 1,5 hrs we reached Maddur and pulled over at our regular hotel for some tasty breakfast.

TIME: 08:15

MADDUR TIFFANY:

We parked the bike outside the hotel and started munching on some Maddur Vada & Dosa. (Trust me, Dosa you get here are much better than many so called famous dosa hotels)

We spoke about the brothers plan. Finally sipping on some awesome coffee we sat outside. Then the plan of Kanva was brought up. I had heard it had dried up completely but never believed it. So wanted to go there and check it out myself. Since it was on the way a green signal was given to its visit.

TIME: 09:00

  

RIDE 2: (Maddur - Kanva)

 This was about 50kms ride. With our tummies at peace we rode back slowly making sure we don’t doze off. We took the deviation before Ramangar and from here we rode about 8kms to reach the reservoir. Yeah it was a short ride, so nothing much write about.

TIME: 10:30

KANVA:

The first sight of the reservoir took my  breath away (In a bad way) it was dried up completely and we could see the reservoir’s bed. It hurt so much, all the games we had played for the past 5 years came right in front of my face. How we had bunked college for  few hours and come here for a swim, shit, it felt real bad man!

Anyway with the waters being down, it gave us an opportunity to go down to the gates and explore. So we explored our way and found a small muddy trial which lead to the bottom of the gated directly. We parked our bikes and fooled around a little.  We spent about 45mins at this place.

TIME: 11:15

RIDE 3: (Kanva – Bangalore)

This was a 60kms ride, I must say a smooth ride. With the sun up, the temperature had risen and it was only fair that we head out as there were no waters at the previous destination which could have cooled us down. So, we rode back to back at a decent pace to reach back Bangalore in about an hour. Wishing Nidhi & Hari the very best for their new venture we split to our respective homes.

TIME: 12:15

Until next time Cia \m/

MAPS:



ALL PHOTOS:

⬅️ 96. Muthati 98. Channarayanadurga Trek ➡️

Follow us on Insta
📸 Follow @theloapers_90

Kanva Reservoir & Maddur: The 120km Surprise Birthday Ride (Dattu's 22nd) and First Trip of 2013 | Chapter 70 (Jan 14, 2013)

Place: Kanva Dam.
Distance: 60 x 2 = 120kms.
Directions: Bengaluru – Bidadi - Ramnagara - Kanva.
Participants: Chethan (Zethu) > Karthik (Sp).
Bikes:  Avenger > Pulsar.

IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:
This was another good 200kms ride to celebrate or toad-clown’s birthday - Dattu’s 22nd birthday that it is. A surprise cake cutting & opening of some crowns by the clown made it a wonderful run.
Oh yeah., also this was the first trip of 2013. So a very Happy New Year to All :)

INTRO & PLAN:
Well as far planning goes, the phase was sintering was still in it’s initial stages so this chapter also had to be done at a familiar place. So Maddur & Kanva was chosen. Zethu & Dattu were the only ones on the confirmed list.

ASSEMBLE:
Yeah i was at about 05:00. did a few push-ups & sit-ups, then had some coffee. As the meet-up was scheduled at RR Nagar Arch, i left my home at about 06:15 and met them. After a formal greeting, we left Bangalore.
TIME: 06:30



RIDE-1: (Bangalore - Kanva reservoir)
This was a neat 60kms stretch on Mysore Road (SH-17). Being a 4-lane we cruised smoothly without much difficulty. On the way we decided to first visit Kanva & then move on to Maddur.
TIME: 07:30

KANVA RESERVOIR: 

The waters were good as always. But yeah it was becoming lesser & lesser due to the lack of rains last year. With the cake cut using a our good old camping knife, we celebrated Dattu’s birthday.



Like last time we had Dattu walk back the road one year back and re-collect the most important events that had occurred. After a good one hour & merely being run over by a flock of sheeps we left kanva reservoir.
TIME: 08:45

MADDUR:

Maddur is just about 20kms from Kanva. So again switched on our cruising mode & reached there in about 30mins. Entered our regular hotel Tiffany’s for some heavy breakfast. After 30mins of breakfast we left the hotel & ended up at some Dhaba near the hotel itself.
TIME: 10:00
We grabbed a few drinks & sat back watching the vast green grasslands & a train afar roaring across the bridge.
TIME: 11:00



RIDE-2: (Maddur - Bangalore)
This was a 80kms stretch on SH-17, with a couple of breaks. As we left Maddur we sailed along comfortably till Bidadi. We stopped for a small tea break at noon. Then we continued till our ‘JB split Stop’. Pulled over thanked each other for participating & yes wished Dattu again and then finally left back to our respective homes.
TIME: 13:00

Until Next time Cia \m/

MAPS:



ALL PHOTOS:

⬅️ 69. Kanva 71. Nijagal Trek ➡️

Follow us on Insta
📸 Follow @theloapers_90

The 500km Chitradurga Fort & Vani Vilas Dam Run: Exploring Obbava Kindi & Concluding with a Monsoon Rain Ride | Chapter 57 (Jun 20, 2012)

Place: Vani vilas Sagar Dam & Chitradurga fort.

Distance: (220+ 20) x 2 = 500kms.

Directions: Bengaluru – Tumkur – Sira – Hiruyur – Chitradurga..

Particiapants: Chetan(Zethu) > Karthik (Sp).

Bikes: Avenger > Pulsar 150.

Previous visit: Yelagiri.

IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:

This was another excellent cruise to the ancient fort of Chitradurga & to the beautiful Vanivilas Dam. The cool weather made the fort tour a pleasant one. And Marikanive dam, well as usual like last time nothing short of heaven.

INTRO & PLAN:

Well as far as the planning goes, Zethu wanted to join us during the last visit but couldn’t. So it was him who initiated this run and I gladly joined him. As the monsoons had begun, riding in the heavy rains is something we both wanted to do badly. After confirming the timings we crashed.

TIME: 23:00 hrs (19/6/2012)

 

ASSEMBLE:

Yeah I was up at 04:00, had a cup of coffee, did a few push-ups & was all set for a long day on road. Left my home at 05:00 & cruised along the Outer Ring Road (ORR) at a slow pace to reach the BP petrol bunk on ORR. After a formal greeting we departed Bengaluru.

TIME: 05:30 hrs

RIDE 1: (Bengaluru – Tumkur – Sira – Hiryur – Chitradurga)

This was a 200-220kms stretch. So as we started off from Bengaluru, we cruised at a slow pace. We had a tea break on the highway and then set in and hit the road at decent pace to reach Tumkur. After reaching Tumkur we decided to skip breakfast, so we continued another 60-70kms to reach Sira. Took a small break and hit the road again to reach Hiryur, I kept a constant look out for the Arch, where we had to take a deviation to VaniVilas Dam. But unfortunately I couldn’t spot it, so we continued further to reach Chitradurga.

As we reached Chitradurga, the wind speed increased drastically & trust me balancing the bike became a challenge. We zoomed through the city and reached the fort entrance.  We parked our bike in front of the mighty fort and were all set for another tour.

TIME: 10:00 hrs

 

CHITRADURGA FORT:

Well this was my second visit to this huge fort, the last one being almost exactly 1 year back (23/6/2011). So this time we didn’t need a guide to take us around the fort, also this saved us some money as well :)

So… like last time i’ll be giving a fort tour like last time, hope you enjoy it, Cheers!

Ticket counter: If you don’t have a ticket you wont be allowed to enter the fort: P, so a place of very much importance. If your pay Rs 5, you’ll have an awesome ticket in your hand and now you shall enter the fort.

    1) Snake Inscription: This is right behind the ticket counter; the whole fort was built on this simple design.

    2) Gates: There are 7 main gates, and many secret passages. Each gate had several gun points to defend the fort.

    3) Kamana Bagilu: The path way is at right angles to each other, it helped immensely to counter the enemy attacks as there were gun points on each of the corner. Oh yea it would also not allow the enemies to take a run up if they were planning to break the doors open with huge logs of wood or elephants.

   4) Enne Kola (Oil Storage): This is at the entrance only, huge rock storage tank, oil used to be stored here. There is also a small tank next to it along with a cave for the guard. 

   5) Cannon ball shots: All along the fort wall you can observe the deep grooves due to the cannon balls. Hyder Ali who was the enemy had done some hard work for sure ha-ha!!

  

   6) Bombe Mantapa: Place where they used to bury the animals which died in war , or during construction.

   7) Deer Drawing: Early men’s inscription of a deer on a rock.

   8) Raja’s Gym: The place where the King used to work out, the door of the gym was very small. This was because in case the enemies attack him at the gym, only one at a time could enter the place.

   9) Ancient art of Rock cutting: They used to make holes in the rock with a chisel, stuff wood into it, and allow water into the holes. The wood would expand and cut the rocks.

   10) Ganesha Temple: This temple was built for a reason, the huge boulder which is right behind it looks exactly like an elephant.

 

   11) Weird Rock formations: The weird rocks & boulders to watch out for are Fish shaped , Ship shaped , Toad shaped , Alligator Shaped, Turtle Shaped, Shanku Shaped …

   12) Hidimba Temple: Hidimba the famous demon in the epic Mahabharata used to terrorize village people, staying on this hill. So a temple in his memories.

   13) Huge Swing & Lamp post: The goddess idol was placed on the swing during the festivals. And the king would climb up the lamp post and light the lamp.

   14) Ghee Storage: This is one of the main attractions of this place. If you had to be in the Chitradurga army you had to climb this hill, and as you did, they would start pouring ghee from the Ghee storage tank at the top. If you made it to the top well you were appointed in the army: D. ( Place where Ramchari played by Vishnuvardahan in Nagarahavu movie, falls off the cliff & commits suicide)

   15) Bank & Safety Locker: Place where they used to mint coins. They used to bury the coins 15-20 feet below the ground; a small temple was constructed on the surface. Cannon ball shots are seen on the temples of this place too.

   16) Akka Thangi Kola: Two small water bodies where the king’s wives committed suicide once Hyder Ali won the war.

 

   17) Temples: There are many temples which can be seen from Akka Thangi Kola ( the place where you are standing now :P), Some of them are Gopalswamy, Hanuman,Nandi,.Ganesha temples.

   18) Tanniru Doni: Place where cold water flows all through out the year. This is also the place where Obawa (wife of a guard) spots the first of Hyder Ali’s men, so she went back to the Kindi and killed the others.

Ps: There is a fish inscription on a rock nearby, which suggested water’s available nearby. Obawa’s grave is also situated opposite to this place.

19) Okkali Honda: Place where the town people use to play with colored water. Coloring of water was due to turmeric and other auyervedic ingredients.

 

20) Obbavana kindi: Here is the main attraction of this place for all tourists.ThisPlace is where food & other groceries were brought to the soldiers from the from,But few of the soldiers leaked this info to Hyder Ali’s men as it was the easiest way to invade the fort. Obawa whipped the soldiers at this place as only one could squeeze through.

   21) Gali Mantapa: This was the place where the king was worshipped during festivals. There’s a huge swing           and a lamp post here.

   22) Siddeshwara Temple: Nice ancient temple, where you can get a pooja done.

   23) Murugha matha: This was a residential school for young kids of chitradurga, the interior of this place is just brilliant. The cooking place , study halls , dining halls etc..

   24) Pataabhisheka : A huge platform where the king was given the pattaabhisheka, they used put gold and silver flowers, this was a common tradition during those days. This was also done if a person would live to see his 4th generation.(Thanks dad for this info)

   25) Monkey man: And you guys thought I forgot him eh , ha-ha… Introducing world’s second fastest climber, man with the amazing skills to climb the fort walls, huge lamp posts mentioned earlier, the huge swing, the man who learnt his skills by observing monkeys – The Monkey Man (Kothi Raja) . During this visit, unfortunately he was recovering form a fracture so couldn't climb.

 

Well that was our view of this magnificent fort, hope you enjoyed it. The cool breeze made the tour superb. We fooled around the fort for a few more minutes & decided to leave Chitradurga.

TIME: 12:00 hrs

RIDE 2: (Chitradurga – Vani Vilas Sagara Dam)

 

This was a good 60kms stretch. As we left Chitradurga, we cruised past the beautiful windmills and reached the highway. We continued for another 30kms to reach Hiryur. After reaching Hiryur we found that the Arch(our sign for the right deviation) had been pulled down, but fortunately we recognised the deviation and continued further, another 25kms to reach Marikaniva Dam.

TIME: 13:30 hrs

VANI VILAS SAGARA DAM: (Marikanive)

Alright I couldn’t wait to get the first glimpse of this reservoir, over the huge bund that stood firmly in front of us. As we started climbing up the stairs I started jumping around in excitement, a few minutes latter, down I was down with an ankle sprain. Damn it hurt badly, but we continued reach the top of the bund. Momentarily I forgot the pain, due to beautiful view of the reservoir that stood in front of me. 

 

Limping across the entire bund, we found a neat spot to sit. We sat there for about an hour, sipping water and enjoying the cool breeze.Vani vilas is one of the most beautiful reservoirs I've visited till date. After giving my ankle some time, it was a little better. So we decided to hit the road back to Bengaluru.

TIME: 14:30 hrs

RIDE 3: (Vani Vilas dam – Sira(lunch break) – Tumkur)

This was about 80-90kms stretch. As we left Marikanive, we did the next 25kms at a slow pace to reach back NH-4. Then on it was smooth sailing to reach Sira. (15:30 hrs)

At Sira we had the first meal of the day. But we ate really less, and decided to ht the road to Tumkur. After the light lunch we cruised along at a decent pace to reach Tumkur.

RIDE 4: (Tumkur – Bengaluru)

 

This was the last 70kms of this run. As we left Tumkur, dark clouds formed above us. We looked at each other in gave a thumbs up. Oh yeas, this was something we were waiting for the entire day. The clouds burst open & down came the rain. It was real fun riding in the heavy rains for a good 50kms to reach back Bengaluru.

TIME: 19:30 hrs

Ps: As Zethu headed towards Malleswaram, I took the Outer Ring Road(ORR) and zoomed till Nayandhalli traffic junction. Then I put my bike’s centre stand, wiped my bike, took a nice nap & went back home fresh ha-ha !!:P

Until next time Cia \m/

MAPS:



ALL PHOTOS:

⬅️ 56. Yelagiri 58. Makalidurga Railway trek ➡️

Follow us on Insta
📸 Follow @theloapers_90