Nijagal Betta Trek: Perfect Weekend Morning Hike Guide | Chapter 206 (Jul 7, 2024)

Place: Nijagal betta trek

Distance: 60 x 2 = 120km

Directions: Bangalore > Nelamangala > Dobbaspete > Nijagal Betta

Krew: Dileep (koof) > Karthik (Sp)

Bikes: Pulsar                                                                                                   

Previous Visit: Medigeshi trek

Budget: Rs 150/head

IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:

Nijgal is a small hillock situated 50km from Bangalore. This hillock offers an easy climb and is a perfect trek if you are unsure about a trek for a weekend. This place can be submitted via two routes, we usually take the easy one to the top and take the mildly challenging one back down.

INTRO & PLAN:

It was one week since our nice trek to Medigeshi. So, we had no plans to trek, but a meet up scheduled for the first week of July. Hence a Saturday passed away lazy watching The Shield. Then asked Koof if he was up for a small trek, and we decided to go to Nijagal once he agreed.

TIME: 19:00 (6/7/2024)

ASSEMBLE & LEAVE:

Oh yeah, woke up by 3 am, did a few stretches, and warmed up. Had a sip of coffee and was waiting for 6 am. At around 5:45 am left my home picked up Koof from his place and left Bangalore.

TIME: 06:15

RIDE 1: (Bangalore – Dobbaspete - Nijagal)

This was a clean 50-60km ride, a very smooth one. As we departed Bangalore we stepped on the gas and accelerated.  Cruising at a comfortable pace we zoomed pass Nelamangala. Since both of us were not very keen on breakfast, we skipped and directly headed towards Niajagal.

The starting point of Nijagal is slightly tricky. You can spot the hillock from the Dobbaspete Bridge itself. But after the HP petrol bunk, one must take a route under the railway track to reach it. This time it was flooded with water, hence parked the bike near the railway track and decided to walk up.

TIME: 07:15

NIJAGAL TREK:

Alright, Nijagal is one of the smallest treks but offers a pleasant view throughout. For a Sunday morning, yeah this is good. It took us about 30 minutes to reach the top.  I have divided the entire trek into 4 phases which include the descent via different route.

i) Initial walkway

ii) Hike uphill

iii) Dark Caves

iv) Lost Ruins

Ok, so, let us finish this, eh?!

i) Initial walkways:

The initial walkway is through a gravel-filled muddy trail. The route is straightforward, the view of Shivagange lifts you. The weather was cool, and we kept moving at a controlled pace.  At the end of this initial stretch is ancient gateways and the place really opens up after that.

ii) Hike uphill:

Once the initial stretch is done you get a very good overview of the place. The center of all is the ancient temple in complete ruins.  We took the path towards the right, which led to steps, and this took us uphill. This is the easier route to the top.  Once we reached the top, the view all around was very uplifting.

iii) Dark Caves:

But the highlight of the place is the huge boulders on top. It had become a thing, a few years back nobody knew this hillock, but now quite some people were present. Asked Koof if he wanted to sit at the cave, finally opted to sit at the cliff with a view. A monkey came slowly towards me, Koof warned me about the monkey, but I just sat there aligning my breathing with it showing I’m no harm and beautifully it also sat in peace alongside me observing the view. It was a magical moment.

iv) Lost Ruins:

We spent about 45 minutes on the top. After which I told Koof, we head down a different path which would lead us to the ruined temples. And trust me guys, this good route. The rock of this Nijagal is slightly slippery, so cautiously we made our way down. We did encounter a few tricky spots and it was super fun negotiating all of it.  Once we reached the ancient temple, it looked beautiful like always. This place kind of hits you differently, with Shivagange staring from afar. Once we rested a little bit at the temple, we decided to wrap up this chapter.

TIME: 09:45

RIDE 2: (Nijagal – Nelamangala – Bangalore)

Ok, to be very honest we were super confused on what to do the rest of the day. I suggested we have breakfast on our way back, then go home, and then again meet at Blue Wings. But Koof we finish off all together. Hence the ride back was a dash, we pulled over near my place for some nice breakfast, after which we headed to Ble Wings and chilled for an hour so, after which I dropped Koof and reached back home.

TIME: 13:00

CONCLUSION:

“This was the perfect chapter for a lazy Sunday, rather than sitting at home or chilling at bar, this just fell into the slot perfectly!”

Cheers, until next time \m/

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Medigeshi Fort Trek: The Spirit is Only High (2024) | Chapter 205 (Jun 29, 2024)

Place: Medigeshi Fort Trek

Distance: 150kms x 2 = 300kms

Directions: Bangalore > Dobbaspete > Madhugiri > Medigeshi

Krew: Madhu (Simha)  > Karthik (Sippy)

Bikes: Xpulse 200                                                                                         

Previous Visit: Kabbaladurga trek.

Budget: Rs 615/head

IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:                                                             

When a trip starts with a good tea and breakfast, you know it will be good! Yeah, this was one such trip where everything fell into the right slots and all we had to do was keep moving. Medigeshi is a small town situated on the Karnataka-Andhra border.

INTRO & PLAN:

Okay, with 2024 rolling out well, and the treks flowing in smooth, decided next up would be Medigeshi. Madhu and myself had visited Ratnagiri last month, so Medigeshi was a slight tougher trek than Ratnagiri, hence the choice of place.

TIME: 15:00 (27/6/2024)

ASSEMBLE & LEAVE:

Yes, I was up by 3:30am, stretched out a bit, had a sip of coffee and was all set to go. Madhu has a 25km ride to my place through the city. He reached my home by 5:45 and left the town with clouds hanging low down in the skies.

TIME: 06:00

RIDE 1: (Bangalore – Dobbaspete – Madhugiri – Medigeshi)

This was a 135km ride, I would say it was one of best this year so far. We made it out of the city limits at a slow pace. But once we hit NH-4 we picked up speed, once we reached Dobbaspete, we took left deviation towards Madhugiri and had a tea. The tea shot some fresh energy into us, it was so good. After thanking the person we continued our journey.  

A lot of hillocks flood this place, and all the top of the hillocks were covered with clouds. It was something magical. The skies felt heavy, and the temperature was cool and the whole air was gloomy. It was almost like, If I could prick the clouds with a pin, then a downpour was given.  This made the ride extra special. We cruised along smooth and we decided to pull over at our regular place about 10-12km from Dobbaspete for some yummy double round breakfast.  

TIME: 07:15

With our tummies full, and the weather superb we cruised along at a decent pace absorbing the cool ambiance that was offered to us to reach Madhugiri. From Madhugiri, Medigeshi is about 25-30km on butter-smooth roads.

TIME: 09:00

MEDIGESHI FORT TREK:

It took us about 45 minutes to reach the top. The trek as such is not so difficult, but there are a lot of instances one can lose their way. But hey, this is what makes it fun right? Even after visiting this place 4 times, the last time we visited we had lost our way. 

i) Initial forest– 10 to 15mins

ii) Rock Face – 10 to 15 mins

iii) Final gates – 10 to 15mins

i) Initial Forest:

The trek begins with a walk through the forest. One gets a feeling of walking into an ancient kingdom in ruins. This stretch is easy and enjoyable. The lush green forests and the sounds of the chirping birds lifted our energies and we took it all in with a happy smile.

ii) Rock face:

Once out of the forest, we found ourselves on pure rock face. With the entire town of Medigeshi behind us, we started ascending the rock in a slow and composed manner. We could spot a lot of buildings in ruins, pillars fallen, fort walls torn down, must have been a bad invasion.

iii) Final gates:

Last phase of this trek is to go figure out and go through a couple of more gateways. But to get to the gateway we had to climb up a steep face of rock. Now, we had two options, take the steps or climb up free style. We chose the later as it would be more fun. So we studied the rock face and plotted a route up that would join back the steps just below the entrance of the 4^th gate. 

And boy, was the climb fun. It is these moments in which you are forced not to think other than your next step. Simply a beautiful climb, few places it turned risky, but that is what makes climbing fun.  After joining back the route, it was a peaceful walk to reach the top and spot the iconic building of Medigeshi constructed in Indo-Islamic style.

TIME: 09:45

TOP:

We spent about an hour at the top. We skipped the main building and directly ventured towards the spooky tree behind. To our surprise, the spooky tree was all alive and was sporting green leaves for the first time. In all our previous visits we had seen only a skeletal structure.  But the place was seriously spooky this time, with no one around, and under the tree was dark and scary. And over all this, we found a nice stone bench in a corner.

We sat on the stone and relaxed having some water. Madhu pulled out a notebook and started drawing some amazing sketches. I played blackjack for a while and then slept off. As we stopped talking, the silence set in. Then trust me, we started hearing sounds. The whole place came alive from all sides. Insects chirping, wind blowing, it was beautiful and scary at the same time. We enjoyed nature talking to us in its purest way, but we also realized we weren’t fully prepared to have a full-fledged conversation. Once we both started speaking, it was like a veil disappearing from all sides of us, sounds receding, and suddenly the place went silent. We decided it was time to hit back, as we spotted some clouds coming from afar right towards us.

TIME: 10:45

DESCENT:

The descent was quite straightforward. We took no breaks in between, oh yea we didn’t on the way top as well. The descent took us about 25 minutes. We visited the building and spent few minutes there and from then on it was straight down.

There were a lot of instances where we lost our way, that is common, but we knew we had to just keep going down. And things fell in place, we found pathways back recollected few landmarks and made it back down.

TIME: 11:30

RIDE 2: (Medigeshi – Madhugiri – Dobbaspete - Bangalore)

The ride back was on again the butter-smooth roads. This time I thought I would give a shot riding the X-pulse and boy was it fun riding it. Cruising at a decent pace of 70-80kmph, we cut through the well-laid smooth highway to reach Madhugiri. Here we had a “sting” off late it had become a custom to have one after a trek. Then we reached Dobbaspete, took a short break, and then reached our regular “Whity Dhaba” for some light lunch and drink. We spent about 2 hours at the Dhaba, relaxing, and then rode back to reach our homes.

TIME: 16:00

CONCLUSION:

“Excellent tea to kick start things, a yummy breakfast to set our energies, a great ride with captivating views all around to take us to our destination, then the whole process of the trek was relishing, then the butter smooth ride back – a day well spent! “

Until next time Cia \m/

 

 

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