Re: Slush Affair- Malnad Monsoon trip

GOod one boys! I missed this slushy ride :P

Re: Slush Affair- Malnad Monsoon trip

Day 3:
After a memorable day full of 'Dirty' adventure on day2 we were planning to get ready for a scenic ride towards Kudremukh.
As always due to the 'effects' of previous night we woke up late, very late the next day. It was around 10 am when all were up. We had the homemade breakfast and slowly packed to vacate the home stay, since this day's halt is going to be in Kudremukh.

Phanikar, myself and Bharath G lubed all the bikes and saddled them. Later everyone joined. Bharath K's bike had a problem with his sprocket, which we thought of sorting out on the way. The reason for that problem would be the mud i think. Anyway we all were set to start the day's ride by 11 am. Bid adieu to the home stay people and started towards thirthahalli which was the next stop. It was around 70 kms i think from our departing point. Bharath K was recording our trip in his Go pro. Wonder when he will be posting it here.

The entire stretch was beautiful with good roads. Reached thirthahalli around 12-1230 pm. There was a Bajaj service center and Bharath K dropped his bike for a sprocket change. Bharath G's RJays riding boot tore when he had been busy with slush So he was searching to buy a rain boot/gum boots for time sake, just to complete the trip. Meanwhile others planned to finish the lunch here. We pushed off to a nearby Bar-restaurant for having the lunch. It was about 2 pm when the bike was ready. But except Phanikar and Bharath K others started towards the Koppa. We fueled on the way and started towards koppa. After riding about 20kms we found that it was not leading to koppa. So had to comeback to thirthahalli and took the correct route. This ate up easily more than half hour. When we reached Kavishaila in Kuppai for meeting Phani and Bharath K . It was a place dedicated to a poet called Kuvempu. It resembles Stonehenge of England. We spent half hour over there and clicked some nice pics. At around 430Pm we started towards Sringeri on the way to Kudremukh. This route way way scenic with lots and lots of twisty's and beautiful bridges. We did not stop anywhere since we were way behind the schedule. Reached the Sringeri side check-post to enter Kudremukh by 630 pm. It was dark by this time. Actually i was quite disappointed since i would be missing the scenic views leading to Kudremukh from this check-post. Anyway i consoled myself saying 'there is always a next time'. We stopped at the checkpost for a tea break. Actually every vehicle entering the forest via this checkpost had to get a pass which should be submitted when one is exiting the forest on the other side. But the Forest dept guys did not give us a pass for all since we are going to spend the night in the KIOCL guest house inside the forest. We did not stress for it also.

It started to rain quite nicely by this time. With no lights on this road there was zero visibility. The rain had made the condition more foggy. I was tailing the group since my bike had the worst lights. Before me there was Bharath K and Arnab. There was numerous waterfalls on the way which we could only hear! .I was quite bored and was pissing off arnab by shouting his nick names behind him. Helped me to stay awake actually . After an hour long ride we reached the Kudremukh guest house where we checked in and unpacked our saddles.

The guest house was quite huge and was the only accommodation available in this forest. The rooms are all duplex rooms which were built in late 80's if i recollect correctly. Food was pre-ordered by Jai and a very big thanks to him for that! Bharath K started to upload the videos from Go Pro to Arnab's phone to view them. That was our midnight premiere for the day. We all had food and went to bed. Siva Arnab and Bharath were discussing seriously about some new arrivals (bikes ) in the market late night. Din knew when they went to bed after those talks.

Thus ended the day3 which was more of riding and scenery than the previous days. As usual Pics follows...

Busily watching the previous day's pictures.

Bharath G relaxing in the home stay


Bharath trying his skills in photography
[ kavishaila, Koppa





The stonehenge


Poet's memorial


Arnab and myself in the stonehenge




View from Kavishaila



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The Poet's House



Jai, our cameraman

Photosession

Our Midnight premiere- The go pro videos..

The duplex room...upper berth for Phani


Day 4 will be coming soon

Re: Slush Affair- Malnad Monsoon trip

Day4:

The climate in the Kudremukh was splendid. The guest house was invaded by a lot of singing birds making the morning heavenly!
This day was supposed to be the home-run to Bangalore. Quite a long distance to cover for this day. The plan was to go to a nearby dam and then to start to home after breakfast.

Surprisingly everybody was up by 6-7am and we were getting ready to go to the dam. Arnab was killing time by Blah-blah'ing all over the place saying he did not have a good sleep.
When we were about to leave for the dam visit, Arnab jumped in saying he also wanted to join pissing off everybody! After waiting sometime for him we proceeded towards the dam.

On the way we stopped at a bridge for a photo session. The dam was just a km away from the stay. It is called the lakhya dam. No need to say, it was raining all the time. Surprisingly there was no water stored in the dam, instead it was all slush. Heard it was built to store the waste from the nearby iron ore mining industry. After Killing some time in the dam we went back to the room for refreshing and to have the breakfast. Siva did not join us for the dam visit. He said he wanted to take rest. We reached the room by 830 am and had breakfast. Settled the bills and was ready to check out by 1030 am. Bharath K went to get a pass from forest dept office nearby which was needed to pass out through the exit gate of the forest.

Later we found that to get that pass the entry pass given at the sringeri check post is needed. If you remember, i would have mentioned that the entry pass was not given to us since we were staying in the forest guest house. But this proved to be a trouble for us. Inspite of explaining the situation to the forest officer the efforts to get the NOC pass proved futile. Phanikar tried to convince him but he was expecting quite some bribe which we were not willing to give. After turning his down his offer we pushed to the exit check post of the forest. As expected the officer had called the check post and asked the guards not to let us pass. We tried to explain that it was not our fault, but nothing seemed to work. Phani and Jai were trying the best to convince them for more than an hour. After so much of effort he asked all of us to pass except Phani who agreed to go back to the forest office and get the permission for all . That was quite a relief for us but on the other side extra work for Phanikar since he had to ride back to the office. we fixed the mudigere as meeting point. So except Phani others pushed to that place. It was already 1pm by this time and we were slowly riding because of rains and bad roads.

Myself, Arnab Jai and Bharaths sticked together and Siva went ahead as usual. We tried some serious cornering in this stretch . By the time we reached Mudigere we were informed to ride to Belur to meet Phani as well as to have lunch. This was a nice scenic route but was having just ok ok roads. Witnessed the tea estates for the first time in the trip. As usual Arnab and myself had our fun by passing each other in the corners. Glad that we both did not have a fall anywhere though! Reached Belur by 2-3Pm. Searched for a nice hotel and messaged Phani. Shockingly he reached the hotel by the same time we reached, which will clearly explain the speed we climbed down!

Had a good lunch and Siva wanted to push off to Coimbatore right from here, since he was a league apart in the average speed from us. Bid goodbye to him and we all started riding to Hassan and Bangalore then after. I was riding quite fast from here since i wanted to reach Bangalore by 9pm so that i can catch a bus to Chennai. I did not want to ride to Chennai that night due to tiredness. After Hassan it was all four lane madness and we doing our maximum speeds. Here is where Mr. Arnab woke up and was seen in the front side of the group. As usual there were a lot of 'caged' idiots who were driving very 'sanely' . We had to ride cautiously since it was Sunday evening and all were returning to Blore .

Stopped at Bellur Cross for Tea and lubing. We were happily discussing about the maximum speeds we had touched in the four lane stretches. After lubing we started towards Bangalore. It was dark by this time. Myself and Bharath stopped for fueling. After starting again, in another 50kms we found Arnab pushing the bike on the road. Phanikar and myself stopped to check what the problem was. He said that the bike is stuttering as if there is no petrol. But, when checked there was still some fuel left. After a simple examination we found that the Fuel level had hit reserve and Arnab did not switch the Reserve on! That was some silly thing to miss, but since he is a Super biker he did not realize that there is fuel reserve switch in the 'poor' ZMA.

At around 820 pm we reached the outskirts of Bangalore. From there i bid goodbye to all and started towards Bangalore ahead so that i can catch a bus to Chennai. Bharath accompanied me. Reached Bangalore by taking the Nice road at 9pm. Dropped my bike at Arnab's house and went to Madiwala to get a bus. By this time i got message from all that they had reached their respective homes. Was glad that everybody had reached home safely after a tiring day long ride.

I waited for two hours to get a bus with no success. With no other option i had ride back to Chennai . Went back to Arnab's home again, took the bike and saddled it up. Arnab and Bharath were against my decision to ride to Chennai, without rest. But i had no option since i don't have any leaves in office. Started from Bangalore by 1130pm. I was feeling quite sleepy (as usual) but was keeping myself awake some how. I reached the Schoolagiri Mc'D at around 1230am. Had my dinner over there and started again . My body was aching all over since i am riding from morning with no rest ( add the previous 3 days riding to it) and it was already more than 17 hrs of riding. Reached Somewhere near Krishnagiri at 130 am. Had reached my critical point by this time and my eyes were refusing to open, could not see anything on road. Pulled the bike off the road, there was a tea stall nearby. Informed him that i will be sleeping nearby on road. He offered me to keep my luggage inside his tiny shop. Gladly accepted and slept right in bare ground near the road. Climate was a bit cold, could not help it though. Glad that it did not rain! Kept alarm at 530 am so that i can ride to Chennai reaching my office on time.

Slept for 3 hours and woke up at 545 am. Had a nice tea there and started to home, after thanking the tea shop guy. Then after I was riding at maximum possible speeds since there was almost no wind on the road. Reached Chennai toll gate at around 8-815am. Was quite happy that i reached as planned. Reached home at 9 am. My eyes were still blood red due to in adequate sleep. After a quick refreshment left for the office.

There ended our trip. I was the last to reach home since Siva had already reached Coimbatore by 1130 pm the last day. He was extremely fast!

As a whole it was an unforgettable experience with some amazing people. Though there were a lot of problems, we had to face, it was nothing comparing the fun we had.
A perfect monsoon trip it was!

Myself or others will be glad to tell any details, if anyone needs it.

Pics ...

A bridge near our Stay





Some Go Pro Pics





This ij called Valley


Near Lakhya Dam


Its Posing time


Bharath G posing

The Iron ore mining factory as viewed from The Lakhya Dam








Bharath K hit this magic number




Bharath K on his P230


There are still some pics remaining which will be posted assortedly...

Re: Slush Affair- Malnad Monsoon trip

some pics...

Tall man standing

Bharath K getting water washed

Re: Slush Affair- Malnad Monsoon trip

Great stuff nice clicks

Re: Slush Affair- Malnad Monsoon trip

Liked the narration, snaps and the dirty bikes ;-)



BTW, you either inspired that little boy to be a biker or scared him or is he zapped by all the suits and bikes???

Re: Slush Affair- Malnad Monsoon trip

Thanks buddy

The bold part says it i guess... or may be he is wondering what we were doing on bikes, in these roads where only jeeps ply..

Re: Slush Affair- Malnad Monsoon trip

Good one brother!

Re: Slush Affair- Malnad Monsoon trip

That's one awesome travelogue that you came up with, especially the NS stuck in the mud, . . Hope you guys enjoyed it all. . .

Cheers!!!

Re: Slush Affair- Malnad Monsoon trip

Thanks guys

Re: Slush Affair- Malnad Monsoon trip

Great Pics and still better travelogue Dipak!
Reminded me of my kudremukh trip some years ago (though we went in car, not this much fun! )
You should check out Lakhya Dam during summer sometime.. the greyish, very fine sand (from the mines ofcourse) stretched in all directions against the backdrop of blue hazy mountains transports you to some other planet like they show in Sci-fi movies !!

Had great fun reading through your travelogue!
Cheers!!

Re: Slush Affair- Malnad Monsoon trip

Thanks a lot Buddy!
Yes Lakhya was something different. Unusual 'dam' Have to check it out in dry days

Re: Slush Affair- Malnad Monsoon trip

some more pics....
Jai

Myself, crossing the stream...

Bharath G crossing the stream

This man crosses streams only in supersports.. so he did not attempt this


That Boot covers did an awesome job in the whole trip.










The Kudremukh checkpost where we spent more than an hour trying to convince forest dept guys..


Siva

Arnab @ Lakhya dam

Myself @ Lakhya dam

continued..maybe