Motorcycle diary

I just wanted to blog that crazy trip of ours. It all started when on Friday morning we felt like getting out of town. I started looking up jungle lodges and some other resorts. All were booked!

Tour sketch:

Bike travelled on : Suzuki Fiero

Start 6.30 AM, 4th June, 2005 - Bangalore

Route followed : Blore - Nelamangala - Kunigal - Hassan - Belur - Chikmagalur - Kemmanagundi.

Time taken : Close to 11 hours - breaks almost every 1/2 hour. Final stretch from Chikmagalur to Kemmanagundi was bad! But very scenic and beautiful :) NH 4 upto Nelamangala - NH 48 upto Hassan - SH from Hassan to Chikmagalur - village road from Chikmagalur to Kemmanagundi.

Reached Kemmanagundi : 5.30 PM

Here's the general landscape of the area between Chikmagalur and Kemmanagundi.






5th June, 2005 : Woke up to see a beautiful mist outside our room. Slight rain!

Started trek to Hebbe falls at 1.00 PM .. Couldn't find the way on our own. Spoke to 3 kids and engaged them as our guides - Harish, Nagaraj and Manikandan. Amazing trek through forests and coffee estates. One part is very steep - down, down and down while going! Up, up and up while climbing back.

Saw some wonderful wild flowers and orchids growing on trees. We've brought home 2 orchids. Hope they grow on our tree.

We saw this beautiful sunset on the way back:



Got back to the room by evening. Shifted to Raja Bhavan in the morning. Much better room, awesome lighting.

Had a cold water bath. Sat down in the garden steps. What an amazing sky we saw!! Star-studded. Fantastic wind. Spoke and chatted and felt very romantic!

6th June, 2005 : Woke up to a lovely day again. Went down to the canteen for breakfast. Started on a trek to Z-point by accident. What an amazing place! What views! Really awesome.

This snap was taken on the Z-point:



Started back to Bangalore at 1.30PM. Decided to take the other route.

Return journey: 1.30 PM

Route : Kemmanagundi - Lingdahalli - Birur - Arsikere - Tiptur - Tumkur - Bangalore

NH 206 was beautiful. Lovely views. Landscape changes with every district. Hassan district had coconut trees. Tumkur had cactus!!

It poured and poured on the way from Lingdahalli to Birur. We continued for a while then got too wet. Stopped under a tree.

Took breaks almost every 1/2 hour. Was very necessary! For the sake of our bums :). Reached Tumkur by 7 PM. Then on to the 4 lane highway to Bangalore. Reached home after a stop at IISC by 10.30 PM.

What a lovely trip! One of the best!

Photos here : http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?&collid=128417334205&page=1&sort_order=0