176) Shivagange Trek – Trek into the Clouds: (7/8/2019)

Place: Shivagange (Shivaganga) Trek

Distance: 60 x 2 = 120km

Directions: Bangalore > Nelamangala > Shivagange

Krew: Chinmay (Big Show) > Datta (Daattu) > Ashok (Moms > Karthik (Sp)

Bikes: Pulsar > Enfield                                                                   

Previous Visit: Ratnagiri Fort Trek

Budget: Rs 337/head

IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:

This had to be one of the craziest rain treks done. We had almost turned down the plan and were about to return back, but then decided to begin the climb and pulled this one off. With foggy winds all around and drizzle throughout, it made climbing up and down, quite risky and challenging. But treating every step with importance we pulled this one off. A great chapter to be cherished for some years to come!

HISTORY:

Shanthala was a brilliant dancer and her dear friend was Lakshmi. When she performed at Hoyasala king Vishnuvardhana’s palace, the king expressed his desire to marry her. But she insisted she would only on one condition and that was if the king would marry both Lakshmi and herself. King agreed and they got married, Shanthala became the primary queen and Laksmi the secondary. But once Shanthala was not able to conceive a baby and it was custom that only the primary queen’s son can become the heir, she insisted that the king make Lakshmi the primary queen, but the king refused as he truly loved Shanthala. Going into depression Shanthala jumped off the Shivagange and committed suicide. One can find the the statue of the dancing queen at Belur temple near Hassan,

INTRO & PLAN:

The last visit to this place was very significant with Deefu. So decided to climb this hillock during monsoon. Dattu was in China and we were awaiting his return. Once he returned asked him, once he confirmed, Momz and Chinamy as well did. So with a crew of 4 people, we were set. Plan was simple, Go > Climb up > Come down > Come back.

TIME: 22:00 (6/8/2019)

ASSEMBLE & LEAVE:

Yeah I was up at 04:30 sharp, had begun running for 4km everyday and was in good shape. As the meet up was scheduled at kamdhenu hotel, I left my home picked up Dattu and begun our ride towards Kamadhenu.

TIME: 07:00

RIDE 1: (Bangalore- Nelamangala – Dobbaspete - Shivagange)

This was a 60kms ride, on the smooth highway of Tumkur road. But this time it was quite different, it began to rain in the morning itself, it was something new. The rains were not so heavy but we had to slow down. After reaching the hotel, Chinmay and Momz joined in a few minutes and we started a light tasty breakfast.

TIME: 07:45

After the breakfast, we rode back a few meters and took a right deviation and the rain really intensified here. We could see peacocks dancing and flying around in the rain, it was a beautiful sight. But the rains were quite worrying. Shivagange has steps throughout, but it is on a rock face and rains and rock faces don’t go very well. We entered the town and parked our bikes near a bakery near the base of hillock and the rains really intensified.

    

The Dilemma & 2 hours wait:

Okay, as the rain intensified, the bakery people warned us not to attempt the summit that day as it would be very dangerous. Also they told the monkeys turned rogue and snatched away 10,000rupees from a tourist the day before. I asked if all were okay to cancel the plan and return back some other day or take our chance, wait for few hours and go ahead and climb. When all said lets push it and finish it, we waited for about 2 hours and once the rain had turned into drizzle, with somewhat shaky thoughts we began our trek.

TIME: 10:00

SHIVAGANGE TREK:

As far as the trek goes, this has to be one of the craziest treks done till date. The fog, the strong winds, the rains made the trek quite challenging and different. We really enjoyed the change we experienced during the trek. And guess what, it took 1hour to climb to the top inspite of all the resistances. I guess we were not slow after all, but that is not the point, we took our time and enjoyed the trek. Like always, I have divided the trek into the following sections:

i) Initial stretch

ii) Battle Monkey Stretch

iii) Final Stretch

So, what do you think. Try to keep up with me, here all!

i) Initial Stretch:

So the trek begun and as be began to gain altitude, a cloud came cruising in and made the view of the base land disappear. And the hillock as such was shrouded in misty clouds as well. So we were basically entering into a cloud and it was quite an experience. The terrain was easy to start off, there is steps throughout. None of the shops were opened owing to the weather. As we reached the Shiva & Parvathi statue the initial stretch came to an end.

ii) Battle Monkey Stretch:

Okay, this stretch was totally covered with mist and we could hardly see 5-7 steps ahead of us. And this was the place we had got attacked by the monkeys. So told everybody to pick up and stick and no matter what, not to freak out and try to run incase the monkeys start an attack. But fortunately for us on that day all monkeys were fast asleep in the cold and misty weather. But nevertheless we kept our guard up and ascended the steep steps with caution.

iii) Final stretch:

In the final stretch, the steps get real tricky and narrow. You have to climb cross-foot and its quite fun. The weather had not faded and the mist of intensifying with every step we took. Once we spotted the Nandi, I was actually surprised we had made it to the top.

TIME: 11:00

TOP:

The Nandi statue looked so mystifying this time, covered with a blanket of mist he sat peacefully. As we reached the top, the wind speed hit the roof and we were being dragged around. It was too intense, but step by step taking cover amidst the boulders we visited the Shanthala drop and sat near a boulder just admiring the beautiful weather. Never had we experienced such a trek off-late. Then moving near the stupa (pillar) proved to be real challenge amidst the harsh winds. Just the act of standing was a challenge trust me. After spending about 30mins at the top, we decided to venture down.

TIME: 11:30

   

TREK DOWN:

The climb down was actually smooth, but one wrong footing would have ensured a bad day. The steps were slippery and we had to doubly cautious while descending. As we began our descent, the gang of monkeys were all set to attack us. But then remembering Deefu’s trick, we went on hitting the railings and rocks with a stick and none of them dared to attack us. Momz amazed by the trick said “Deefu has told you WHAT to do, now I shall explain WHY it works?”  All ears were on momz as he took some while before the next statement came out of his mouth. Momz continued “once you start hitting the stick to the railings and rocks, the monkeys think you are blind person trying to climb the hillock and forgive you :P” All of us burst into laughter, and the monkeys kept staring at us wondering what happened. Slowly but steadily we descended, as the rain began to intensify. We made to the bakery and had some light tea, thanked the bakery people for holding onto our helmets and we took off.

We pulled over at a field near by for some stuff stop. We sat in circle amidst the grass fields, floating away in our heads, we admired the mighty Shivagange covered in mist. Simply beautiful she looked. As we felt at ease and slightly afloat, the hunger began to kick in and it was time for some dhaba lunch.

TIME: 14:00

RIDE 2: (Shivagange – Nelamangala – Bangalore)

As far as the ride back goes, it was smooth ride. As we reached Nelamangala, we were surprised that Chandu Dhaba was demolished. But we spotted another Dhaba – Whitty Dhaba next to it. And boy was it a good find!

TIME: 14:30

After spending about an hour at the dhaba afloat and lot of laughter we had traditional rasam to settle down. And we rode back smooth, Chinmay and Moms headed back towards BEL. I dropped Dattu off at this home and reached my home safe to open my pigeon canteen :)

TIME: 16:00

Guys do remember, water is an option but a stick in your hand is a must. And never let your guard down and remove your wallet, camera without looking around!

Until next time, Cheers \m/

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174) Badami, Aihole, Pattadakal & Hampi – Heritage Tour: (Jul-1 to Jul-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 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 breath-taking!

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/

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