Place: Kabbe hills trekDistance: 300kms x 2 = 600kmsDirections: Bangalore > Nelamangala > Hirisave > Kikkeri > Hunsur > VirajpeteKrew: Datta (Dattu) > Ashok (Momz) > Deepak (Deefu) > Karthik (Sippy)Bikes: Enfield > Pulsar Previous Visit: Huthridurga trekBudget: Rs 5000/headIN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:Kabbe hills is one of the calmer version of Tadiandamol. Less visited by tourists, Kabbe is a short hill to climb, but the position of the hillock is in such a way that it offers a very beautiful view from the top. Taking an hour to cover 10km, sleeping in random bus stop, diverting a group of bikers behind us made this chapter fun and wild! \m/
INTRO & PLAN:2019, I wanted to start with something different. After digging up few places, considering the weather conditions, we decided that Virajpete would be the general side we’d be heading towards. Digging deeper found this place called Kabbe, which happens to the twin of the biggest peak of Coorg – Tadiandmol. The crew wanted on board were somebody old school as we didn’t know what to expect from the place and trust me it totally paid off to take the old school route on this one!TIME: 23:00 (26/1/2019)ASSEMBLE & LEAVE:Yeah I was up at 04:30, did a few push ups & situps, had a cup of coffee listening to some Doors. As the pick-up was scheduled at Dattu’s place, left comfortably by 6AM and after formal greetings we left Bangalore.The plan was simple – GO, CLIMB, COME BACK!TIME: 07:00
RIDE 1: (Bangalore– Nelamangala – Kikkeri – Hunsur - Virajpete)This 300kms first day ride had to be one of the craziest done till date. As we left Bangalore, we cruised along at a pretty decent pace. We decided to take the Hassan road as we had thoroughly enjoyed the route during our visit to Tadiandmol.We pulled over at our regular hotel for breakfast. Once funny incident that occurred before we reached the hotel. The Diversion:A group of about 50-75 bullets were on full on roar on Tumkur road, somehow, momz with his bullet got into the crowd and even though he didn’t mean to, he was successful in steering away 10-15 bikes with us to Hassan road :P while others continued straight towards Chitradurga. Best part is he had no clue what mischief he had pulled off, poor riders had to get screwed from the higher ups-yeah hierarchy or anarchy?!. TIME: 7:30After our tummies full, we stepped out for some light tea. Knowing there was some greenery around, we decided to just have tea and proceed and pull over in a peaceful spot. After about an hour of riding we parked our bikes on the highway and pretty much stranded off into somebody’s farm. Finding a peaceful spot, we were pretty much up afloat speaking to dogs and cows of the farm. TIME: 10:30
The Decoy:As we leftthe “somebody’s” farm, we proceeded towards hirisave, remembering barely the right roads we asked localities for direction and we were happily en route Kikkeri. Once we reached Kikkeri, we missed a turn that took us into completely country roads and the two bikes got separated. Dattu and me were happily floating and going in circles around a town meeting the same railway tracks again and again. When we crossed the railway for the third time we realised we were in some deep shit. We called Momz and deefu and they started laughing at us and said they’d wait for us near the highway about 30kms from Hunsur, I looked at Dattu and asked him “ last we asked that localities about an hour ago he said Hunsur is 40kms” Buying some Koppiko and a bottle of cold water, we stood on firm ground for a while and then proceeded further. Meeting deefu & momz who were already sitting peacefully in a grassland nearby, we met up and after a hearty laugh we pulled over at Hunsur for some lunch!TIME: 13:00
After some heavy lunch and some lemon tea we felt the dizziness drifting away. Hopping back on our bikes, we proceeded merrily to enter Virajpete and pull over at our standard juice shop. I can tell you my bag’s weight increased atleast by 7-8kgs.
TIME: 16:00TURN VIEW ESTATE:Reaching the home stay we had some tea and proceeded towards the Cheluvara backwaters which flows within the home stay. Crashing in the waters, we floated on the water. Post the sunset we set the campfire alight and sat around it with some music and snacks drinking juice. The party went on until late night, we spoke of all sorts of shit like animies, school life, imitations, the last time how we all made it back from WH, Himalayas plan for 2019 and finally we crashed. TIME: 02:00
Day 2: Kabbe hills trekWoke at about 7AM, had some coffee and began to wake up others as well. We all went for an early morning walk into the estate and had a second round of coffee and juice at the tree house. After an excellent breakfast we packed lunch in a hot box and were all set for a day in the hills. TIME: 09:00
We left the homestay and reached the base of hill in about 30mins, hardly 10km from homestay. Upon reaching, there was guard and he said we could go only to one of hills as the other hill was banned. We were okay, but he also said we can’t stay at the top for long, this go us worried, we tried negotiating, but he was a forest official and in a way it was good to see them stick to rules. We kept all our back packs at the post, and began running towards the top. The climb was not a big one and the path was quite clear. But the view we got from the top was excellent. We did loaf around at the top for about 30-45mins. And finally decided to head back. Upon reaching the base, we picked up our backpacks and as we rode back there was some strike at various places and the roads were blocked, we asked them for directions and took a narrow road between two beautiful estates. TIME: 12:00
Finding a bus stop nearby and the aroma of the rice bath sitting in the backpack hitting us all hard, we decided to pull over at the bus stop and finish off what was a very memorable lunch. We doubled back to the homestay, slightly disappointed with the trek – tats how life is right. And finally sat at about 2:30PM, lighted a few and started explaining the epic card game of Mendikot to Deefu and Dattu. Trust me, next thing you know the campfire was light at about 8PM, and we were floating and playing for about 6hours straight.The greenery kept fading but we were getting into the game totally. The epic marathon lasted for about 12 hours and wounded back into our beds after a heavy dinner.TIME: 02:00
DAY 3: Ride back Third day, woke up as usual at around 6AM. Had nothing to do, so opened the fridge and was trying to finish off all the left overs silently, when all others heard the cling and came rushing for an early morning party :P. We sat around the camp fire which as almost dying and I looked around there was a thick log of wood, and a bottle of kerosene. The challenge was accepted by momz and together we put the log into the dying embers and poured kerosene over it. It set ablaze like a signal fire haha. After a nice heavy traditional heavy breakfast we decided to head back towards Bangalore.TIME: 09:00
The ride back was surprisingly smooth. We took the Mysore route while heading back, and guess what, we did spot some elephants as well. Jumped ofd the bikes and headed towards the edge of the road to get a closer look, by then I realized what I thought were other ordinary people were actually forest guards, smiled at them and stood alongside for few minutes and hopped on the bikes and Mysore dhaba was the target. We reached Mysore pretty early so, continued further and pulled over at our regular Dhaba at mandya for some light lunch. Post lunch, felt drowsy as the sun was blazing, never the less we rode at a constant 70-80kmph and made it back to Bangalore in one piece.TIME: 17:30
Until next time, Cia \m/
