Approved!

Wonderful! Bring on the rest so that I can enjoy reading during my miserable 6 weeks rest period.

BTW, I see 2 bikes. How solo?

re: ZMR Bisle solo

It was a solo trip, found another guy from Bangalore in his duke. He is not a member of xbhp. We rode together for a while. He will be joining xbhp soon.

re: ZMR Bisle solo

Naaaiceee one... Rain... ZMR and Bisle... what a combo... bring it onnn!

re: ZMR Bisle solo

Nice ride Shashank. I always love this route. Been n number of times. Best one was we had cycled in Sept 2012 from Channarayaptna, Bisle, Kukke, Dhamrasthala to Udupi(310KM), 3 days with on and off rain. Below is the link:





Please upload more pics if you have and the detailed ride write up.

1. Did you take the same for return journey?
2. How bad is the bisle ghat good?
3. How good was the rain?

re: ZMR Bisle solo



Answers in bold.

re: ZMR Bisle solo

Part 1 - Bangalore-Shravanbelagola-Shanivarsanthe-Bisle

During one of my office outing, I fell down while playing and my knee injury came back. I have had a nasty fall 3 years ago which has resulted in a ligament injury, all this while I presumed that it was repaired and kept riding. When the problem came back I knew I won't be riding for good 2 months or so, but made it a point to get well soon as monsoon was here and I had a lot planned up for this year. As July was nearing end and one by one I could see the trips being cancelled, agitation started to creep in and by the end of 3 weeks, it was unbearable. I had to get back on the road. When the 4th weekend came I decided to practice a bit by taking my bike to Narasapura ccd for starters.
I could only manage to go till Hoskote and on my way back I found a little pond and sat there thinking of when to start. August was around the corner and it was not a bad time to start either.

Pond on the way from Hoskote towards Channasandra(Taken from moto G) -




When I came back I had made a decision to go for a small test run next weekend, probably Nandi hills OR Lepakshi, Banyan tree, Tattekere Lake. I was browsing through the maps in office (My manager was surprised, as it was quite a while since he saw me busy with google maps after a long time), and Shravanbelagola came to mind, I had till date never taken my bike on NH 48, So the decision was made - I would be riding to Shravanbelagola and will be back by afternoon, how naive of me !!

Started at around 4 a.m., I wanted to stop by the neelamangala toll for tea before starting, I have always stopped there (members of xbhp Bangalore would recall Blackbuck reserve, Valneshwar and Chitradurga trips)
Since it was a short trip I took only my tank bag with basic essentials.(tips taken from Vykier's blog !! !)
I reached Shravanbelagola early morning
Had a nice breakfast in a road side idli shop, must admit- the vegetable curry (saagu) was awesome. Cleaned my visor here as it was full of insects.

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On the Shravanbelagola-Holenarasipur route I stopped at Chikaganni bridge over the Hemavati river for some pics. A car was already there and one of them came towards me to enquire where I was going and also informed me that he had seen 3 bikes a while ago with saddle bags. I was taking pictures when a black duke passed by, the rider flashed his headlight and signaled a victory sign and was gone in a flash.(Dukers, you know what I mean).








A little while after the bridge, I saw a temple on a hill top and there where wind mills on the other side. If it was any other day with other bikers or my pillion, I would have stopped there to take a pic or would have just admired it from my visor. But this time I was riding solo, for the first time there was no one to remind me that Bisle was ahead and I should move on, neither did I have to follow a fixed schedule. I decided to take a diversion and go up. Any way this trip was all about freedom of riding alone, exploring and having a lazy bike ride, with no obligations, I asked a local for direction and I was happy that I did so.

End of road (I had to walk to the top) - I had plans of going all the way up, but had to stop here. It was a short climb from this point.
I had avoided Shravanbelagola to save my knee from further damage and here I was on a short little trek!! !



The town of Holenarasipur was visible from the top and the view was just breathtaking.



Road was still under construction and this place was deserted, even the pujaari was not there.





It had been fairly dry all this while but during that 1 hour in the temple I saw the weather change from windy to cloudy to light drizzle to bright sunshine and back to cloudy again. I knew what was waiting for me at the ghat section which was visible in the distant far.



Sitting here at this time I told myself that my trip was fulfilled already, this is what I had come for , not some point on the GPS with a description attached, but to a place where there was no one around to disturb. I stayed there for almost an hour (A packet of biscuit was a good idea indeed). In the distant far I saw a stretch of the main road where vehicles were passing at crawling pace, I later realized that this stretch is a permanent problem as the river frequently overflows and spoils the road. After this stretch the road was good again, at Shanivarsanthe and asked for directions, by now it had started to rain and I did not have the patience to take my GPS out.

Stopped here to let the feeling sink in, GPS displayed dark green color ahead and I knew in a while I would be touching those clouds.





Saw the same duke parked here, by now the rain was heavy, he waved at me so I stopped to inquire if everything was alright.







He was going to Bisle as well, we decided to ride together from here on. Again, took a leisurely break of almost 40 minutes here, had a small chat with the man working in the fields.







From here, it was a non-stop run towards Bisle forest area.

Forest department gate



Upon reaching Bisle ghat view point, I was too lazy to go up, Finally we decided to keep everything in bikes and just go up to have a look, still wearing helmet because it was raining heavily.
Since I left my camera in the tank bag, these pictures are taken from mobile camera.

Bisle ghat view point.







Felt relaxed, there was no tourist around, absolute silence and I have to admit that up until now, my trip had been very satisfying. Sat here and jotted down important points of the trip.
I had planned for a short trip for Nandi hills, cancelled it and extended it to Shravanbelagola and here I was - amidst serenity.

I was smiling with eyes closed, lying flat on one of the creaky wodden benches.. .

Re: ZMR Bisle solo

Wow nice pics....scintillating to be in this route.....!

Re: ZMR Bisle solo

Hey, Thanks a lot. Read your trip log too, must have been a herculean task to have completed that route in a bicycle. Kudos!!

Re: ZMR Bisle solo

Man those are some really inviting shots and yes... trip satisfied if one can get an hour peace with mother nature...

Re: ZMR Bisle solo

My camera had gone kaput a while ago. After repairing it I decided to stop editing photographs, Belive me - now I realize that unedited pictures have their own beauty. Hope to keep the trend on for upcoming rides as well.
And yes, peaceful time alone atop a hill is the exact reason behind travelling so far

Re: ZMR Bisle solo

I have plans to cycle in this route again for the next shivaratri season(5 days) from Bangalore. Basically, people do pada yatra to Dharmasthala(9 days and nights) will cope up with them. If the leaves doesn't work or other commitments, I at least will ride..

Re: ZMR Bisle solo

Nice ride and nice narration as well!

Re: ZMR Bisle solo

Thanks, Suvra da. Happy to hear from you, still learning

Re: ZMR Bisle solo

Wonderful photograpy and narration. Loved reading!