The Start
Detour
The by-pass started promisingly, two lane tarmac with little traffic. But the fun was short lasted as the potholes started to appear and our speed dropped to 30-40kmph. We were supposed to take a right at Gullur Lake which would have landed us back on NH206 but we missed the turn and continued on towards west. Soon we realised we are going in the wrong direction as the road was devoid of any directions to Gubbi, rather the milestones were showing unheard of places. Finally when we reached Hebbur, we decided to ask some locals for directions. The locals, though awestruck, seeing two fellow on bikes in a small village, guided us to a road (Hebbur-Gubbi Highway) which would land us back on the track. And boy oh boy, what a road that was. Smooth, newly laid 2 lane state highway with lush green country side treating us from both sides. Bliss!


Back on the track
Soon we were back on the NH206 and en-route to Birur. It was around 11AM by then. The whole journey from Gubbi to Birur was mostly uneventful. At Birur, we decided that each will ride at their own comfortable speed and meet at Tiptur. As I feel extreme pleasure and comfort at very high speed I decided to scorch the Highway at a generous 105-106kmph, overtaking anything and everything on my way. It was an amazing ride till Tiptur, though I did hit some speed bumps (which resulted in some exciting and heart stopping aerial stunts), scared the road crossing chickens and almost ran over a poor old farmer.
Well farmers should be careful while crossing a highway.
We met up at Tiptur. The road from Tiptur to Birur was mostly congested due to slow moving buses and trucks. The road was decent, apart from a few broken down patches!




Plans be damned
From Birur starts the mountain road towards Lingadahalli, As I have been to Kammangundi once, I was somehow aware of the the route. From Lingadahalli we finally decided to call up the Resort and get a room booked. Also we had no idea about the route from there. The Resort owner picked up the call and said that the resort is closed for renovation and there are no other places up there to stay. That called for a change in plan. A local shoe shop helped saying that we could go to DattaPetta, KalyathiGiri, Kemmangundi or MullayanGiri as all those are on the same route.
We decided on Kemmangundi for the day and leave next day for MullayanGiri.

To Kemmangundi
Sunset Chronicles