Place: Hosaholalu temple & Markonahalli DamDistance: Round Trip of 350kms.Directions: Bangalore > Magadi > Kunigal > Markonahalli > Nagamangala > KR Pet > Hosaholalu > Srirangapatna > BangaloreKrew: Ashok (Momz) > Madhu (Barci) > Dileep (Koof/Isro) > Karthik (Sippy)Bikes: Enfield > Pulsar Previous Visit: Pavagada Fort Trek.Budget: Rs 750/headIN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:This was fun ride actually to drop koof to Mysore. But I kind of planned a small detour. This was the same bunch which pulled of Wayanad in March 2017. Hosaholalu temple is a mind blowing place if you’re into architecture. It is situated almost at the mid-point between Hassan and Mysore.INTRO & PLAN:As far as the planning goes, was lazily lying on the bed watching some TV series, then parents came and asked me to show me Hosaholalu temple on the net. After looking at the pictures, they looked at me and said “go to these kind of places, not some haunted fort and all”. I gave a wicked smile. Just then asked others if they are in for the weekend, when Koof told he had to go to Mysore, I formulated a whole new plan. Ashok & Madhu also confirmed their spots for the trip.TIME: 20:00 (20/4/2017)
ASSEMBLE & LEAVE:Alright I was up by 04:30, my usual time of awakening (ok wait before that 11PM, 1AM, 3AM too!) had a sip of coffee, did a few push ups and sit ups and was all set go. I called up others and woke them as well (I am going to hell, I know!). Okay, I left my home and picked up koof, then we met Ashok and Madhu at Madhu’s place and decided to leave Bangalore. Just then, Madhu suggested a breakfast near his place – “Kaape Katte” and we caved in on some yummy yummy breakfast.TIME: 08:00
RIDE 1: (Bangalore – Magadi – Kunigal – Markonahalli Dam)This was plain 100kms ride to this wonderful reservoir on a completely new route. Off late wandering into the unknown had become a hobby for me. So, yeah took the Magadi rode as Madhu suggested and the ride was decent. Traffic yes, was there but hey, was a different route. One funny thing that happened at the Nagarbhavi junction was :Madhu – “hey lets take Magadi road, it will go straight to Kunigal”Sp – “ sure ha?”Madhu – “Yes.”Sp & Ashok – “ Are You sure?”Madhu – “ yes goes in the same direction na?”Sp, Ashok & Koof – “ ARE YOU ABSOLUTELY SURE?”Madhu – “ Barappa muchkond, normal route nalley hogona” (Shut and come, lets go in normal route only, I don’t know)Thing is we also knew it would join, but asking him thrice to confuse him – priceless! :PThe route was decent and we covered good ground inspite of the dense traffic to reach the Hassan road 8kms before kunigal. We reached the Markonahlli dam and started searching for the kottu shop. People started smiling us but gave us honest direction. But when everything was closed, we decided to head into Yadiyur. And lo behold, at the entrance we were welcomed by not one but 3 shops (all open! :P). Packing the needed, we reached the sparkly Markonahalli dam.TIME: 10:30
MARKONAHALLI DAM:The dam as usual had very less crowd. The waters had clearly depleted to a great extent. Ashok as usual began his kick-ass jokes session. Finding a neat place below a huge tree we settled in to float away for the next hour or so.
After munching down on some of the snacks we had got we went near the water to have a closer look. The sands was swampy just then Madhu said “ this sippy noe? should be pushed into a thing like this kikikiki (laughter)” Only thing he forgot was I right behind him and BAM, I pushed the mighty Madhu into it. Well he tried to chase us holding a stick for the next 15mins but ran out of breath hehe! Then the epic skipping stones began for another 10-15mins. Then we decided to leave Markonahalli.TIME: 12:30
RIDE 2: (Markonahalli – Belur Cross – KR Pete – Hosaholalu Temple)After a nice session at Markonahalli, we decided to ride via Belu cross. And the roads trust me were amazing. This was the same route we had taken way back in 2011 when we had traveled to Melukote. Excellent roads with good scenery throughout. As kept cruising ahead, a deer from nowhere came running from the trees and took a huge leap over the road the disappeared into the woods again. Madhu and me looked at each other and confirmed it had just happen, no doubt about it. Asking the locals for directions we reached KR pete by noon, when the sun was burning in all his glory. Hosaholalu temple is just a few kilometres from here.TIME: 14:00
HOSAHOLALU TEMPLE – Sri Lakshminarayana Swamy Temple:The temple is three shrine temple built in 1250 C.E. The entire temple is constructed on a platform about 1m above the ground. At the bottom it has 6 layers of decorative carvings narrating stories when read in clockwise direction, very similar to that of Belur and Halebidu. Most of the images carved represent Vishnu. For art lovers , this is the place you gotta visit. A lush green grass surrounds the temple where one can sit and relax. We sat the temple and actually slept for a while and then decided to move ahead as our tummies had begun to grumble.TIME: 14:45
RIDE 3: (Hosaholalu – Srirangapatna – Ramnagara – Bangalore)This was a good 170kms ride back home with a major lunch stop in between. As we left the temple, we pulled over at a bakery in KR pete to much on some puffs. After a light snack, we rode non stop towards Mysore road. This was pretty harsh considering the time of the day and the damn hot temperatures. Once we reached Mysore road we pulled over at a new dhaba for some second round session and lunch. TIME: 16:00
The lunch was pretty good and reasonable. After about 1.5hours we left the dhaba totally afloat. As promised we dropped Koof to the Srirangapatna Bus stand where he could catch a bus to Mysore. We thanked him for making it for the day as well. Then koof pointed towards Mysore and asked us to head back safely, we all looked at each other and burst out laughing. Asking him to confirm his safe reach to Mysore, we took off. The ride back was a no non-sense ride, maintain a constant speed in between 75-85km/h, dodging the slowly increasing traffic we made it back home.TIME: 20:30CONCLUSION:“Funny kind of trip, I must say. It was a smooth run and felt good unveiling another jewel of a place! And hey, listen to your parents :P”Until next time, Cia \m/
MAPS:PICASA ALBUM:
