Re: A Weekend Gateway to Kudremukh: From Concrete Jungle..to..Jungle

Waiting for the rest.. .

Re: A Weekend Gateway to Kudremukh: From Concrete Jungle..to..Jungle

The Ride Begins..

Leg 1

We started off from Ashish's house around 4:40 am, straight towards NICE road toll, Bannerghatta. We were in no hurry as because the purpose of this trip was to have a relaxing weekend, and since Kudremukh was only 300+ kms, we were not worried about reaching there early. This was clear in both of our minds and both of us, wanted to cruise (hence the name, Cruiser Brothers ). Anyways, we both had rented two Go Pro cameras with us and once we were halfway in the NICE road, we wanted to take couple of videos. It was our first experience with Go Pros and both were excited like anything I must say. We wasted quite some time setting up the cameras as well and hence, by the time we reached the NICE road toll exit, the sky was lit up. As usual, I wanted to take couple of shots with the sun visible just above the horizon.



Watching the beautiful sun rising over the horizon, we continued our journey, on the highway. Traffic was comparatively lesser than expected, with gentle touch cool breeze on my face and some soothing bollywood numbers in the ears, a mind blowing experience I must say. Man! this is the reason why I love to ride! That is the moment which makes you feel blessed. Forget about all the troubles in your life, forget about all the tensions in office, it is just you and the open road.

Anyways, let me not get carried away with emotions and let me concentrate on the journey . In no time, we reached Neelamangala from where we had to take the Bangalore-Mangalore Highway. There was a tea stall at the corner, but I guess even Ashish was having the best time of his life so we did not even bother to stop there and have some tea. Instead, we both were riding down the traffic-less, butter smooth tarmac. We two were maintaining a speed of 95-100 kmph and since there was literally no traffic, we took both the lanes, one each. We could see locals staring at us, sometimes waving, sometimes shouting; especially the kids were enjoying the most I believe. Some cars that sped past us, did show thumbs up (although I know it was more for Ashish ).

We reached Hotel Mayura by around 07:30 am to have some much needed breakfast. The sun was also rising higher and we knew it was going to be hotter now. We hence decided to have our breakfast quickly and head back on the road. By 08:00 am we headed back on the road, destination Hassan. The target was to reach Hassan without a break. However, after few kms, the highway narrowed down from 4-lane to 2-lane, best part of it was that there was greenery all around us. Both of us could not resist to pull over and take some shots out there.



Next stop, Hassan. And then started the awesomely awesome curvy roads (with some rough patches though). I pulled out my phone and turned on my GPS to take the road to Belur. We both wanted to take a different route and the chosen route looked curvy and through small forests. However, such was the beauty of the road, Ashish blazed off to the horizon as soon as we resumed our leg, and there I was, standing the Belur junction, calling him repeated on his phone. Couple of minutes later, he called me back, learned that he missed the turn towards Belur and as per our assumption, he was good 20 Kms ahead of where I was.

30 minutes later, Ashish came to the junction where I was waiting for him. His eyes were lit up! His words were : " bro, what a road! what a road!". I had no choice but to say, "okay okay, enough..we need to reach Kudremukh today only remember!"

The road we now took was a State Highway, it was a mix and match of good roads as well as some terrible off-roads, and yes there were lot of diversions. Our speed came down to 60s but with the GPS still guiding us, we did not have any problem taking the right diversions. Around 30-40 Kms into the ride and we found small forests on our way. I do not know what struck us, but both of us stopped at one place, turned off our engine and dammm!! There was pin drop silence! I pulled out my camera.



Another 20 Kms and we were on the outskirts of Belur. My GPS starting showing out of range so we asked some locals about the road to Mudigere from there. Once we hit the SH to Mudigere, we were surrounded by beautiful trees on both sides, with small ghat roads from time to time. Though it was already 10:00 am, but the temperature somehow was cooler than we expected, so our happiness continued. We were able to get sight of Western Ghats through the trees and this time, it was me who wanted to stop for photo session. Believe it or not, our hearts were filled with joy when we saw the nature's beauty around. The pictures do not do justice to the place, but at that moment, I literally felt that there is no point going back, I so wished to stay there, longer.



We spent some good 30 minutes, such mesmerizing was the beauty of nature. Who knew that this break was necessary because we would be welcomed by some terrible off-roads which would swing our moods, atleast temporarily.

To Be Continued..

Re: A Weekend Gateway to Kudremukh: From Concrete Jungle..to..Jungle

Wow...! the RE Bullet with mods looks awesome. Nice ride waiting for the rest of the log.

Re: A Weekend Gateway to Kudremukh: From Concrete Jungle..to..Jungle

Nice ride n clicks. ..waiting for the rest

Sent from my GT-I8262 using xBhp Connect mobile app

Re: A Weekend Gateway to Kudremukh: From Concrete Jungle..to..Jungle

As usual amazing t-log...

Re: A Weekend Gateway to Kudremukh: From Concrete Jungle..to..Jungle

Nice tlog Suvra, nice pics. Keep pouring more.

Re: A Weekend Gateway to Kudremukh: From Concrete Jungle..to..Jungle

Leg 2

We started off shortly after the break, hoping to be mesmerized again. As mentioned before, we could see the mountain ranges at distances, covered with clouds. Time to time, I was looking for a place from where I can get a nice view and take a picture. Shortly, that opportunity arrived.



We noticed that the quality of the road was deteriorating slowly. From fresh tarmac came the road with potholes, and slowly, the entire ghat section was filled with broken roads. We could not maintain a steady speed of 60 anymore, even maintaining 30 was getting difficult for us. Slow moving vehicles (though not big ones) added to our pain, making us difficult to overtake. Both of us had no option but to wait for the road conditions to improve. At one point, we pulled our bikes to one side and decided to let the train of cars go so that at least we can ride in peace.



Few minutes later, we continued our leg. Few Kms later, we were welcomed by some lovely scenery of tea gardens along hills. The road condition started improving thereafter and we both heaved a sigh of relief, and I was overjoyed because I got a reason to click some pictures as well.



The tea plantations came as a refreshing break to both of us, and we spent some good amount of time there. It was already 01:30 pm and we were still 40 odd Kms from Kudremukh. There were scattered clouds in the sky and hence we were not facing the actual heat now. Slowly, we resumed our ride and in another 30 minutes, we were at the checkpost of the Kudremukh National Park.



We were handed a pink slip (a gate pass) at the checkpost and we were instructed that we need to hand over this slip at the exit checkpost. We were not supposed to stop in the middle of the National Park and we had a time limit of 2 hours to cross the National Park..and yes, strictly No Photography .

Anyways, we came to know at the check post that there is a KIOCL guest house in the middle of the National park and incase we are willing to stay then the rule of 2 hours would be waived off. Both of us decided to have a look at the guest house as we were feeling hungry and needed some shelter. While looking for the guest house, somehow we missed the junction to go to the guest house and continued going through the forest. The forest was getting dense each Km we traveled, until we bumped into a board of Lakya Dam. We took the turn and although we were disappointed by the view of the Dam, where there was no water, but we ended up seeing the Kudremukh Range from the top.



We asked one local about the location of the guest house and came to know that we left it behind. So, without wasting further time, we made our way back to the junction. At the junction, we took a left to enter into a colony. It was easy for us to find the guest house and we were actually relieved to see that rooms were available. We dumped our luggage, took bath and rushed to the attached restaurant. We noticed one thing that the entire colony was kind of abandoned and very few people were seen on the streets. Rusted signboards, broken windows and pin drop silence around us made us excited! Best of all, no network! We switched both our phones off as there was no use of them anymore.

After filling our tummy with heavy lunch, we headed back on the road with our steeds. Aim: to explore the surroundings. Man! now we got the picture of the entire colony. Each and every house looked haunted, both of us were riding down the narrow lanes in the middle of those houses and we could hear our engines' sounds echoing around us! We could not miss getting some shots of the surroundings.



Slowly we starting going around the colony and the darker it was becoming. Though it was around 04:00 pm but the clouds in the sky was making the environment darker, giving a spooky feeling.



There was pin drop silence around us and after few meters, we ended up at the top of a small hill. The very moment made us realize that this was what we were waiting for, and yes, the trip is a success. Both of us were left without any words for few seconds, until Ashish said: "Bro! This is it! This is why we ride!". I pulled out my camera and started clicking shots there after.



We spent around an hour and a half, until the sun went down in that beautiful place. Nor the pictures, not this log justifies the experience we had at that very place. Honestly speaking, we did not feel like going back to the hotel. By the time we reached the hotel, it was quite dark. There were no street lights anywhere and we took this opportunity to click some pictures.



We were now feeling very tired and our body was asking for some rest. We entered the hotel, took some rest and went down to the restaurant again to have dinner. The dinner was not that great, but we were hungry like anything so we ignored the quality of the food. By 09:00 pm we crashed into our beds.

To be Continued...

Re: A Weekend Gateway to Kudremukh: From Concrete Jungle..to..Jungle

Simply nice. ..you must have enjoyed the weather and greenery:thumbup:

Sent from my GT-I8262 using xBhp Connect mobile app

Re: A Weekend Gateway to Kudremukh: From Concrete Jungle..to..Jungle

yes we did! and thank you for your lovely comments

Re: A Weekend Gateway to Kudremukh: From Concrete Jungle..to..Jungle

Do I need to post a lovely comment?!

Re: A Weekend Gateway to Kudremukh: From Concrete Jungle..to..Jungle

haan maar de

Re: A Weekend Gateway to Kudremukh: From Concrete Jungle..to..Jungle

Wasn't it apparent? -

Do I need to post a LOVELY comment?! (coz' it's already lovely)


Anyways, let's look at my definition of your log .....
You have strategically used wonderful photography in conjunction with splendid narration to fabricate the characteristic features of your story. Besides, the presence of Kudremeukh has undoubtedly made it more alluring. Some of the significant facets that distinguishes your log are:

• Bullet BABA - BABA's Black Sheep is an unmatched contender in your kudremeukh getaway although the THH lid was a bit of spoilsport.
• Aphrodite - Evidently, sex is an inherent association with this term, but I must confess that your ride's nothing less than sexy.
• Kudremeukh - The scenic beauty of kudremeukh witnessed via your brand new lenses is unmatched. It is a testament justifying the magnitude of grandeur in Kudremukh.
• Emotions - The psychological description portraying your unforgiving work routine is unparalleled. The word 'concrete jungle' inflicts a revolutionary attitude within my psyche, and makes me feel like breaking the conventional chains of regularity.

Last but not the least, I would definitely like to add - hum sab notice kar rahe hain

Re: A Weekend Gateway to Kudremukh: From Concrete Jungle..to..Jungle

ufff...jiyoo..kya comment hai! i could not have asked for more and all i am left to say is..thank you!

Re: A Weekend Gateway to Kudremukh: From Concrete Jungle..to..Jungle

Chaos Bhai, Its "hum sab note kar rahe hai" not notice kar rahe hai.

Re: A Weekend Gateway to Kudremukh: From Concrete Jungle..to..Jungle

By god , the first para was a bit too much to process for my almost non existent brain due to excessive work load. What a lovely comment indeed.

And yeah Suvra bhai, we are all note kar rahe hein. :P

Sent from my HUAWEI G700-U10 using xBhp Connect mobile app