160) Channarayanadurga Trek: (1/7/2018)

IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:This was another welcome back trek. It had been almost 4 years since we had visited this place and the first ascent of this hillock was very special back in 2012. Hence we decided to return back to her and give a special farewell to Dattu. INTRO & PLAN:Okay, as Dattu was moving to Hongkong we decided to give him a small farewell gift. With Deefu in town and Momz available we decided to have a small trek and end up at some dhaba nearby. TIME: 22:00 (30/6/2018)ASSEMBLE & LEAVE:Oh yeah woke up at 05:00, did a few push-ups & sit-ups, had a sip of coffee, woke up others & was all set to go! The meet up was scheduled at Dattu’s place at 07:00. So left my home at about 06:30AM,  Once I reached Dattu’s home, I was looking around if those cops were still around the place waiting to catch me, like always! Once the coast was clear, I called up Dattu and we began another epic wait. The wait lasted about 1hour, it had kind of became usual and this gave enough time for us to catch up. Once they arrived, we left Bangalore. TIME: 08:00RIDE 1: (Bangalore – Dobbaspete - Channarayandurga)Ride to Channarayanadurga is 100kms pretty much all throughout lay butter smooth roads. First 50kms was on the NH-4, so we cruised along at comfortable pace. We were able to spot Shivagange standing in all her glory shrouded by early morning mist. We pulled over at our regular hotel to belt on some tasty idly & vada.TIME: 08:45   

We had a pretty heavy breakfast and grabbing on to our tea cups, we went outside. We caught up on each other’s lives and how it had progressed over past few months. After the chat, we hopped back on our bike and continued cruising on the Dobbaspete-Kortagere road. We enjoyed riding on the empty road. As we approached Channarayanadurga, we could see her standing in all her might.TIME: 10:45

ASCENSION:Channarayanadurga is one of those hillocks where the time should not be taken into consideration. There is so much to explore in this beautiful fort. The fort ruins and the deflection paths are something to watch out for and also appreciate. But nevertheless it took us about 1hour to ascend. Anyway, I have divided the ascension into the following stages, and happy we didn’t feel much tired or fatigue, so yeah good indication. So, keep up with here! :i) Initial Stretchii) Lost Paradiseiii) Layoutsiv) Last StrechOnce we parked our bikes near a bakery, requested the bakery guy to keep an eye out for our bikes. Left the helmets with them and waking the goat’s spirit within us, we were all set to conquer the hillock.TIME: 10:45    i) Initial stretch:This stretch is the hardest part of the trek. Not surprising at all right, if you want your enemies to die, let them die at the foot of the mountain not at the top. This stretch is not that steep, but quite tiring and you don’t find much of resting places in between. But pushing on through, we made through this stretch in about 20min.TIME: 11:15ii) Lost Paradise:Once we reached the first fort wall, we spotted the right pathway which took us into the beautiful pond on the first tier of the hillock. From this layout one can spot the entire fort and the spot the top most tier of the fort as well. Here no matter how many times we visit this place, we just go on exploring the place like it was the first time. We visited the temple and after having a look inside, we went about the lake and begin our way up. TIME: 11:45    iii) Layouts:Last time we visited this place, we had majorly goofed up at this place. But this time, we made sure we take the right pathway and made to the “End of the World” spot. We could see Madhugiri standing afar. Sometime soon I said to myself and let it go. We spend quite some time here taking photographs.

iii) Last Stretch:There are two pathways to reach the top. One goes through the normal way and the other you would have to crawl through shrubs and thorns. But the shrubs path was completely thick this time, there was no space to even get in. If we had tried to get in, consider us pretty much done for haha. We took the normal path and reached the top of the hillock.TIME: 12:00TOP:As we reached the top, we settled down below some tree and began to relax. I opened my chocolate pouch and began distributing. Munching on some treats, we began talking about school and incidents which usually cracks us up till date. After which, we decided to take a power nap for about 20-30mins. Waking up, we let out a big yawn and decided to head back down.TIME: 13:00TREK BACK:It took us only about an hour to get back to base. But ah, I guess we wasted a lot of time during our way down having fun. As we began our descent, we explored the ruin buildings on the other side of the hillock. It was spooky and exciting. As we made our way down, Momz and Deefu spotted a huge boulder afar and decided to climb it. Dattu and me took a pass and sat down on the inclined surface seeing the fun. We made it back to base, collected the helmets and thanked the shopkeeper for looking after our bikes. As we were just about leave, a flock of sheep came storming on the road and we had just sit and watch them pass for the next 15-20mins. And oh yeah, in between some donkey was stuck and it was moving along with the crowd not able to figure out where it was heading to :DTIME: 14:00 
   RIDE 2: (Channarayandurga – Chandu Dhaba – Bangalore)Okay this was the 100kms ride back to Bangalore. As we left Channarayanadurga, the cool breeze felt good on our face. As we proceeded, we picked up speed post Kortagere and went full zoom towards the highway. After reaching the highway went straight to Chandu Dhaba for some food & drinks.TIME: 16:00We spent a good 1hour or so at the dhaba munching & drinking after which we rode back to reach our respective homes.TIME: 18:00CONCLUSION:“People usually say, we have been to that place already, let’s try something new. But different seasons, different people, and different mind-sets make the place seem new all the time. Last time we visited this place it was the same crew, yet this trip felt so different! “Until next time Ta-ta Cia \m/PICASA ALBUM:
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