Place: Coorg(Madikeri).Distance: 350 x 2 = 700kms.Directions: Bengaluru– Maddur – Mysore – Hunsur – Bylakuppe – Madikeri.Particiapants: Arvind(Whiteknight) > Arun(Slowpoke) > Ashok(Classic k350) > Madhu(Barco Mado)> Shekar(Thundersekar) > Chaitnya(Endu) > Vineeth(Red monster) >Anurag(Hanuman) > Karthik (Sp).Bikes: RE Thunderbird> RE Classic 350 > Pulsar200 > Pulsar 150 > Pulsar 150.Previous visit: Mekedatu& Sangama.
INLESS THAN 50 WORDS:Coorg, the Scotland of India is one of thebest places to visit in the entire South India.Known for its wonderful climate and coffee estates, this was one crazy trip wepulled off. The place is no doubt wonderful, but the ride to this place wassomething we enjoyed even more.
INTRO& PLAN:Well as far the planning goes it was Arviwas initiated and suggested of visiting this place. The plan got a solidbackbone when decent number of people pitched in. So the crew consisted of 9people and 5 bikes. And yeah initially he plan was 2day-1night trip. I’vedivided this entire article into 3 segments, hope you enjoy reading it.
DAY-1: (Riding the curvy Roads!!)
ASSEMBLE:I was up at 03:00hrs did a few push-ups andwas all set to pull this big one. Left my place at 05:30hrs and headed towardsbakery which was without doubt the starting point of this magnificent trip.Once everybody arrived we had some tea and bid adieu to Namma Bengaluru.TIME: 06:30hrs
RIDE1.1: (Bengaluru – Maddur – SriRangapatna - Mysore)This stretch extended for about 150kms, andyeah we did take sufficient breaks. As we left Bengaluru, the temperaturesdropped and it was an icy cold 30kms stretch till Bidadi. As we passed Bidadi,Anurag said he had some problems with the bike. But we continued till Maddurtiffany’s and had a great breakfast. TIME:09:00hrsAnurag said he with Ashok would take hisbike to a Service station and asked us to carry on. Having decided to meet atthe bridge at the outskirts of Mysorewe carried on. The ride was a smooth one and we reached the outskirts of Mysore at about 11:00hrsand waited for the others. After about 20minutes the two bikesre-joined us and we took a small 15mins break.One incident I would love to recall duringthis break is, a rich businessman in Merc Benz was zooming on SH-17, and hepeeped out of the car’s window and was staring at our bikes. There’s a saying “only a biker knows why a dog sticks its headout of the window” I guess that was a close enough ha-ha:PTIME: 11:30hrs
RIDE1.2: (Mysore – Hunsur- Kushalnagar)This was another 100kms stretch onSH-88.Once we reached Mysorewe took the by-pass road which was under construction, the first 5-8kms werebad after which we back on smooth sailing roads. We kept the formation intactand rode enjoying every moment and speaking all the way. We took enough drinksstop to keep our temperatures under control as it was sun was directly aboveus. It was not long before we reached Bylakuppe.TIME: 14:30hrs
GOLDEN TEMPLE:
This is one temple one’s gotta go; theambience of this place is simply superb. Calm & peaceful are the two wordswhich best describe this place. As we entered the place we saw the huge DalaiLama photo on the temple and saw Anurag’s face :D and everybody burst intolaughter. The laughter marathon continued as we finished one full lap at thetemple.TIME: 15:00hrsNext thing we went to the mall right infront of the temple and brought knives, watches, pendants, and other gifts forfamily & friends back home.TIME: 16:00hrs
RIDE1.3: (Kushalnagara - Madikeri)
This was about a 50kmstretch of pure bliss.It was one of my best rides till date. The temperatures took a steep dip, itbecame cold. The fresh broad roads with excellent curves made riding a purebliss. We kept the formation intact, bending our bikes to the maximum andnegotiating each curve to perfection. We rode non-stop and reached theoutskirts of Madikeri.TIME: 17:00hrs
MADIKERI:As we reached the outskirts, we startedlooking for a place where we could crash. We split into teams and decided tosearch and finally we found the best place. Oh yeas it was the best no doubt,huge house for Rs 200 per head per night, definitely worth it. So we all sat at the sit-out outside thehouse and changed the plan from 2days-1night to 3days-2night. And oh yeah, thefamous Abbey falls was just 5kms from this place. And a bakery right next toour place.TIME: 18:00hrs
We dumped all our bags and went to a smallhillock behind our home stay to find two huge monuments which was the tombstoneof a Muslim king. It became dark and we witnessed a perfect sunset to mark theend of riding for DAY-1.We left for dinner at about 19:00hrs, as wewere hungry and we had skipped lunch. The town was totally dead; most of theshops were closed. We were the only ones walking around and fooling around thetown. We managed to find a good hotel; we had a very heavy dinner and returnedto our home stay. We sat on the sit-out and fooled around till 23:00hrs wentback inside and crashed. That was not all the scary or rather funny ghoststories of ghost invading our stay kept us awake for a few hours more andfinally we dozed off.TIME: 01:30hrs
So…that was DAY-1 the ride to the place and also covering the Golden Temple.We were all prepared for the next day which meant business.
DAY-2: (Travelling is mybusiness…. And business feels good!!)
RISE& SHINE:Yeah I was up at around 04:00hrs and aftera 3hr wait Anurag & Ashok were up. We went outside to the bakery and gotsome excellent Coorg coffee. As we sipped on everybody woke up one afteranother. We left our home stay for breakfast and decided to leave to Talakaveridirectly after the breakfast. TIME: 09:30hrsRIDE2.1 (Madikeri – Bhagamandala – Talakaveri - Madikeri) Sothis was a 40kms (one-way) stretch, the bad narrow roads filled with patchesand holes made it feel like 80kms stretch. Few of the stretches were stillunder construction it was a small road, but the climate was something which wewere all happy about. After about an hour we reached Bhagamandala.TIME: 11:00hrs
BHAGAMANDALA:Well this is another beautiful temple. Theunique shape of the Gopuras (pagoda shaped) is something to be observed at thisplace. Also this is a place where 3 rivers meet (Kaveri. Kannike &Sujyothi). We did a few laps inside the temple and decided to head towardsTalakaveri.TIME: 11:30hrs
Talakaveri is 8kms from Bhagamandala androads again are narrow with hair pin curves. But we enjoyed the ride thoroughlyto reach Talakaveri.TIME: 12:00hrs
TALAKAVERI:
This is the place where the river Kaverioriginates. But it was damn hot and the place looked good after the renovationdone in 2010. The wishing pool is at the entrance where people throw coins andwish for something. Without wasting anytime we decided to climb up theBrahamagiri hill hoping the temperature would dip. After a 20mins tiring climbwe made it to the peak, unfortunately the temperature kept rising. But yeah theplace is of importance, Kerala & Mangalore can be seen from this peak.After spending about 20mins on top, we decided to leave Talakaveri.TIME: 12:45hrsThe ride back was again a slow one back toback… two incidents that has to be mentioned are:i) Sekar & Endu taking thewrong route and riding towards Mangalore before being pulled back.ii) Vineet standing on the road withhis bike below him in a pit :D
So… as we reached Madikeri, we decided notto go to our home stay instead have a lunch and then go. So we went to a hoteland started munching away.TIME: 15:15hrsOMKARESHWARA TEMPLE:
As we finished our lunch, we peeped outsidethe window and we were surprised that we could spot Omkareshwara temple fromthe hotel. So we decided to finish of the temple. One thing that has to beobserved at this temple is the style of architecture. It is constructed inIndo-Islamic style i.e., both Hindu & Muslim style of architecture has beenemployed.TIME: 16:00hrsRIDE2.2: (Madikeri – Abbey falls – Raja Seat)After a visiting the temple, we scrappedthe plan of going back to home stay instead we thought of covering off Abbeyfalls. We passed by our home stay and continued further towards the Abbeyfalls. The ride to this place was a rough one, narrow roads filled withpot-holes made riding slightly challenging.
ABBEYFALLS:
As we reached the falls premises, we parkedour bikes and walked a kilometer to get the first glimpse of this magnificentwaterfall. The water was fading off, but yeah the sight of the waterfalls madeall feel refreshed. We spent about 45mins at this place and left Abbey falls.TIME: 17:15hrs
Again we thought of going back to ourplace, but we scrapped the plan again and decided to directly head to Raja Seatfor sunset.TIME: 17:30hrsTwo incidents worth mentioning:i) Ashok getting angry for the firsttime, as a car touched his new bike.ii) All of us waving & makingfaces at the kids & pretty girls ofmadikeri :P
RAJASEAT:Yeah this place is pretty much in the heartof the town. We spent about 30mins at this place wandering around before we gotto witness a brilliant sunset which marked the end of riding for DAY-2.After the sunset, we returned to our homestay and left for dinner at about 21:00hrs.After a heavy dinner we returnedhome and fooled around outside for about a couple of hours and finally crashedfor some well deserved sleep.TIME: 00:00hrs
So…thatwas DAY-2 what do you guys think of it eh… we had pushed ourselves to theextent possible. But yeah covering all these places gave us thesatisfaction….next up DAY-3.
DAY-3: (Reckoning day!!)
RISE& SHINE:I was up at 03:00hrs, highly insomnia tic …when all of a sudden I heard footsteps behind me. I turned back to find Vineet,he sat for about 30minsandwent back to sleep. After 4 hours of sitting ideallyI started waking up others. At about 08:00hrs everybody was half-awake that wasgood enough. Arun and I went back to the tombstone behind the place andexplored the place and returned to find everybody geared up and all set tounwillingly bid adieu to the wonderful town of Madikeri. Oh yeah before we left we bought lots ofcoffee powder and stuffed it in our bags :)TIME: 09:30hrs
RIDE3.1: (Madikeri – Hunsur – Mysore– SriRangapatna – Bengaluru)Alright we were all set to put the lastrites on this wonderful trip. Started of from Madikeri in full flow, theexcellent curves of the forest kept us awake. The weather was cold and pleasantto ride. Once we reached Kushalanagara, we decided to skip Dubare &Nisargadhama as we would run late. Once we touched SH-88 the temperatures wentback up again and we all felt dizzy. We rode back at a much quicker rate andreached Mysoreoutskirts.TIME: 12:00hrs
We were damn hungry as we had skippedbreakfast. So we took the by-pass route to re-join SH-17 and rode for about5kms from Mysoreto find decent dhaba with a great ambience. We ate like there was no tomorrowand had coconut water.The last 120kms were remaining and this wasjust formality on SH-17. 4 lane butter smooth road offered little resistance,so with non-stop riding we reached back Bengaluru.TIME: 16:30hrs
CONCLUSION:It’d like to conclude this long article bysaying the following “this was oneclassic trip which would be buried deep in our minds. 3 days of non-stop ridingwas just heaven and we had pushed ourselves to the limits on DAY-2. And ohyeah, it was the perfect New Year gift to everybody :) “
PARTICIPANTVIEW: ARVIND:If it wasn’t for him, this trip would have beenjust a dream. ANURAG:Wanted to ride to this place so bad, not to forgetthe LamaDoma in Tibet Land. Ha-ha!!ARUN:With his new hair-style had to sit behind me, toprovide minimal drag resistance :PASHOK:First ride on his new bike proved to be excellent,stayed last and made sure everybody were safe.SEKAR:His cruise run kept continuing. ENDU:If it wasn’t for his Ghost stories the trip wouldhave been so different.VINEETH:Thankfully didn’t shred the roads of Madikeri intopieces with his Red beast.MADHU: The most silent guy of this trip, he hardly spoke but blended inwith others perfectly,SP: Unlike others, had to take bath after 4 days haha:P Until next time Ciao \m/
Ps: Other places to visit around Coorg are: Nisargadhama, Harangi Dam, Dubare Elephant camp, Irupu Falls, Nagarhole forest, Pushpagiri Wildlife Sanctuary. Have covered these with family.
Album: (Harangi Dam, Nisargadhama, Irupu falls, Nagarhole, Dubare Elephant Camp)
