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Bumping up to complete the logs
Day 4:
I woke up to the calm and serene ambient noise present in the surroundings. This homestay was really turning out to be one of the best finds of recent times, and I was sure that I'd stay in the place in the times to come.
Polished off a lovely breakfast and multiple doses of lovely filter coffee. I didn't feel like leaving the place, but I had a plan and schedule to keep. I had made plans to sync up with nfsnfs in Madikeri, my stop for the day. This meant I had to rush up my visit to Jog Falls and hurry back to the homestay to gather my stuff and take off.
Route for the day: Siddapur-Jog Falls-Siddapur-Sagar-Shimoga-Tarikeri-Kemmannagundi-Hebbe Falls-Chikmagalur-Hassan-Arkalgud-Kushalnagar-Madikeri - Approx: 450 kms.
So I moseyed out of the homestay by around 8 AM, and sped off to Jog Falls.
I was greeted by dense fog covering the falls, which was anyway low on water. This is one waterfall which to me is quite artificial in nature. The water one gets to see gushing out is controlled by the Linganamakki Dam Authority, hence it is not entirely nature at work. It takes some of the charm away from the place, and I wondered whether it was really worth the hype surrounding it. But nevertheless, it is one of a kind, and warrants its own place amongst India's hot tourist spots.
I began taking photos, and waited for some times in the hopes that the fog would clear up. Some of it did, and enabled me to get good enough vistas of the Falls. I took in the views, and deciding that it was enough and left the place. As I was walking out, I saw a little monkey who looked like this:
The poor fellow had lost one of his arms.
Anyway, I got on to my bike, and spoke to one of the guides manning the spot. He told me to visit Dabbe Falls up ahead on the road towards Kargal. Not sure if I had that much time, I headed towards the place and on the way, I came upon the Linganamakki Dam. I thought I could head to the actual Dam and get a look-see at the place, but it was off-limits to civilians. So, I retraced my steps back to a vantage point where I took some photos. The view was spectacular. I was on a cliff of sorts and across the cliff, there was a little valley, at the other end of which the dam was built.
In terms of sights, and spectacular scenery unfolding before me, I was really getting all and more than I had bargained for. Little did I know that what would unfold the same day would blow everything away.
Back at Jog
The time was about 9.15, and I had to take a call on going ahead to Dabbe Falls, or returning. Deciding that it would push things too far, I returned to the homestay, where I had all my things packed into my saddlebags and ready to go. I happily collected my dry, welcome jacket and gloves and bade goodbye to the caretaker. Matthuga was definitely a place I would not forget in a hurry.
Started off towards Tarikeri, and I was expecting a very comfortable ride and smooth roads. I wanted to be as quick as possible on this stretch because I knew that the 2nd half of my proposed route would be a slow, winding route around hills and mountains. I wanted to reach Madikeri at a sane hour, and sit down for some nice hot dinner with my hosts in Madikeri.
I crossed Sagar, a small town soon. There exists a beautiful old temple, called Ikkeri about 10 kms away. This place had fond memories, and deciding not to relive them, I carried on towards Tarikeri. A pretty uneventful blast down the highway, barring one pee stop where I realised I had lost my precious Bourbon biscuits (I keep eating them whenever I stop) which I had carelessly placed right under the top cover of the saddlebags. I guess the box had worked itself out and dropped off somewhere along the route. Anyway, carried on till Tarikere, where I took the right turn towards Chikmangalur. Immediately, I caught sight of the wonderful green hills capped by clouds. Lovely..
A short distance from this turn off is Lingadahalli. A deviation from here, leads you to Kemmangundi. My first stop after the pee break was on this road at Kalahatti Falls. Nothing great about this place, except that there's a temple across the water and one has to wade through a few feet of water to enter the temple. It was teeming with people, and I didn't feel like staying for a long time. Took a few photos, bought a fresh box of biscuits, some cans of Mountain Dew and got on my way.
From here, the road became very twisty, and was pretty bad in parts. My next target was Hebbe Falls. Not very visited often, it promised the curious traveller with some interesting experiences. I passed the point where the road divides up into one leading to Kemmangundi, and the other to Hebbe Falls.
Once I took this route, I began to realise the challenge that lay ahead of me. The tarmac disappeared to reveal a fine brown layer of red slush (in keeping with the name), with some potholes sporadically spread out in the 20 ft wide road. This was going to be an enjoyable experience. I had a gut feeling that I will not be forgetting this riding day so easily, and I carried on ahead. Soon, the slushy surface turned into a surface which had loose pebbles, and stones. Now the weight of the saddlebags became apparent, I'd lose the rear ever so slightly on the loose pebbles. But it wasn't all that bad and I moved on. The speed now had dropped to about 30 kmph.
Soon, I came across a curve on the road, which opened up towards a valley with some breathtaking scenery. I stopped for exactly 5 seconds, and continued. The road, which I shall now call a path, to be more accurate, sloped downwards, with some massive boulders and stones. If it were just this, I wouldn't have had a problem, but these boulders and stones were covered with algae/moss which made it treacherous to say the least. This stretch looked like it was about 2-3 kms, and it took me a good 15 minutes to cover it. I was in 1st gear, blipping the throttle and clutch to make it through.
Just after this stretch, I encountered a water crossing which was comparable to the ones we see in the Manali-Leh stretch in terms of depth. This was really turning into an adventure, and I began to enjoy this a lot more than Kodachadri. Continuing in 1st and at a speed of about 15 max, I encountered a group of trekkers who were returning from Hebbe, and shell shocked to see the sight of a bike, with luggage etc. I asked them the distance to Hebbe, and they said a good 4-5 kms more. This 4-5 kms extended to about 7 kms, and took me almost an hour. And it started raining heavily.
Just when I was slipping into desolation, I came across a checkpost, which was open, and led right into some kind of estate, complete with a caretaker house and a bungalow. I was stopped by the caretaker of this estate, who informed me that the waterfall was a 1 km walk from there, that my bike wouldn't be able to cross three water crossings that I would encounter in that 1 km. I parked up, sloshed around in my wet gear, and grabbed my GPS and began walking along the path. The caretaker very ominously gave me a small damp cloth sac filled with salt. As I walked along the path, I became minutely aware of my surroundings, and realised just how quiet it was . I could only hear the sound of my wet socks squishing against the soles of my boots, and began observing the path for any leeches that may want a free lunch and ride to Madikeri with me. Soon I came across the water crossings, and I crossed them and caught sight of the waterfalls.
I was now in ankle length grass, and after my leech experience in Sirsi, and Siddapur, I didn't want to spend time getting leeches off myself. So I fanned out trying to get a good photo of the waterfall. I didn't get one, but by then I was sure that any longer and I'd have been deluged by leeches so I quickly backtracked, and walked back.
Once I was back at the caretaker's house, I struck up a conversation with the caretaker. He turned out to be a sweet old man, who was happy to find someone to talk to. He told me that the estate belonged to a wealthy liquor group, and that there was a massive bungalow deep inside the estate which overlooked the waterfalls. I thought to myself, that I had to get myself a place like this someday. And then I'll throw it all away and watch the coffee seeds grow under my watchful old eyes.
Thanking him for the tea and biscuits that he had provided while we were getting acquainted, I stepped out of his house and began checking my extremities for leeches. Sure enough, found quite a few who were just about getting cosy on my legs and feet. Got them out easily with the salt, and just when I was about to start, the rain started up again. Resigning to my fate, I left the place, and I began the arduous 15 km ride back onto tarmac. Again, it took me about 2 hours, and I wish I had enough adjectives to explain how I did that stretch.
All I know is, it destroyed my clutch plates, and took a lot of energy out of me. Once I got back to the curve I mentioned, I stopped for a few minutes of rest. As I looked out over the valley, the light fog and the undulations of the hills covered with greenery, I was thrown back into some very special memories I had with a certain person. It was about a year before that day, that we had visited Kemmangundi, and shared a special moment while looking out over a similar valley. Overwhelmed, minutes went by before I realised that I had to go on. Collecting my thoughts, and emotions, I got back on the saddle. The ride for the next 15-20 minutes was almost robotic in nature.
Once I got back to the plains in Lingadahalli, it was about 5.30 and Madikeri might as well have been Timbuktu at that point. I had put the bike down in some very slippery slush which sort of bent the gear shifter. It made shifting a wee bit inconvenient, but I continued onto Chikmagalur, where I stopped for some coffee and a much needed rest. I called nfsnfs, who was waiting for me at the homestay in Madikeri, and I got some interesting shortcut advice from the wife of the homestay owner. The shortcut, if the roads were good, would cut a full hour or so out of my proposed Chikmagalur-Belur-Hassan-Madikeri route. The route she suggested was Chikmagalur-Hanbal-Sakleshpur-Sannivarsanthe-Somwarpet-Madikeri. The time was now 7, and I decided to go for it. Refreshed to a certain extent, I began chomping the kilometres in the dark.
I reached Sakleshpur after a good 30-40 kms of dark twisty forest roads, with very very minimal traffic. It was unsettling, and amazing at the same time. Got on the road to Sannivarsanthe, and things began looking up. The time was now 8.30, and with Madikeri a good 150 kms away, I was looking at an arrival time of about 11.30 pm. Communicated this to nfs, and moved on. The ride was easy, but as I closed in on Somwarpet, it got really foggy and slowed my pace a little more. Crossed Somwarpet, and I encountered A LOT of twisties that I would have happily feasted on in the day time, but in the night, it was more like a chore. Slowly winding around, I suddenly found myself in Madikeri, and promptly the rain gods decided to wake up. In a total downpour, I was trying to find the homestay in the dark, and for some reason, I couldn't find it. The mind plays tricks on itself when in that state I suppose. I made my way to a landmark that I think nfs mentioned, and called him from there. He woke up on my call, and made his way out in the rain to find me.
Once in the homestay, I dried myself off, took a nice long hot shower, and after exchanging some stories with nfs, crashed for the day. And I mean literally crashed. But in somewhere in my mind, there was a dull feeling of immense satisfaction floating about, due to a fantastic day of riding that had unveiled itself to be one of the toughest I had ever done. If things were to remain the same over the next few days, this would be a fantastic trip!
Day 4 ends.
Day 4:
I woke up to the calm and serene ambient noise present in the surroundings. This homestay was really turning out to be one of the best finds of recent times, and I was sure that I'd stay in the place in the times to come.
Polished off a lovely breakfast and multiple doses of lovely filter coffee. I didn't feel like leaving the place, but I had a plan and schedule to keep. I had made plans to sync up with nfsnfs in Madikeri, my stop for the day. This meant I had to rush up my visit to Jog Falls and hurry back to the homestay to gather my stuff and take off.
Route for the day: Siddapur-Jog Falls-Siddapur-Sagar-Shimoga-Tarikeri-Kemmannagundi-Hebbe Falls-Chikmagalur-Hassan-Arkalgud-Kushalnagar-Madikeri - Approx: 450 kms.
So I moseyed out of the homestay by around 8 AM, and sped off to Jog Falls.
I was greeted by dense fog covering the falls, which was anyway low on water. This is one waterfall which to me is quite artificial in nature. The water one gets to see gushing out is controlled by the Linganamakki Dam Authority, hence it is not entirely nature at work. It takes some of the charm away from the place, and I wondered whether it was really worth the hype surrounding it. But nevertheless, it is one of a kind, and warrants its own place amongst India's hot tourist spots.
I began taking photos, and waited for some times in the hopes that the fog would clear up. Some of it did, and enabled me to get good enough vistas of the Falls. I took in the views, and deciding that it was enough and left the place. As I was walking out, I saw a little monkey who looked like this:
The poor fellow had lost one of his arms.
Anyway, I got on to my bike, and spoke to one of the guides manning the spot. He told me to visit Dabbe Falls up ahead on the road towards Kargal. Not sure if I had that much time, I headed towards the place and on the way, I came upon the Linganamakki Dam. I thought I could head to the actual Dam and get a look-see at the place, but it was off-limits to civilians. So, I retraced my steps back to a vantage point where I took some photos. The view was spectacular. I was on a cliff of sorts and across the cliff, there was a little valley, at the other end of which the dam was built.
In terms of sights, and spectacular scenery unfolding before me, I was really getting all and more than I had bargained for. Little did I know that what would unfold the same day would blow everything away.
Back at Jog
The time was about 9.15, and I had to take a call on going ahead to Dabbe Falls, or returning. Deciding that it would push things too far, I returned to the homestay, where I had all my things packed into my saddlebags and ready to go. I happily collected my dry, welcome jacket and gloves and bade goodbye to the caretaker. Matthuga was definitely a place I would not forget in a hurry.
Started off towards Tarikeri, and I was expecting a very comfortable ride and smooth roads. I wanted to be as quick as possible on this stretch because I knew that the 2nd half of my proposed route would be a slow, winding route around hills and mountains. I wanted to reach Madikeri at a sane hour, and sit down for some nice hot dinner with my hosts in Madikeri.
I crossed Sagar, a small town soon. There exists a beautiful old temple, called Ikkeri about 10 kms away. This place had fond memories, and deciding not to relive them, I carried on towards Tarikeri. A pretty uneventful blast down the highway, barring one pee stop where I realised I had lost my precious Bourbon biscuits (I keep eating them whenever I stop) which I had carelessly placed right under the top cover of the saddlebags. I guess the box had worked itself out and dropped off somewhere along the route. Anyway, carried on till Tarikere, where I took the right turn towards Chikmangalur. Immediately, I caught sight of the wonderful green hills capped by clouds. Lovely..
A short distance from this turn off is Lingadahalli. A deviation from here, leads you to Kemmangundi. My first stop after the pee break was on this road at Kalahatti Falls. Nothing great about this place, except that there's a temple across the water and one has to wade through a few feet of water to enter the temple. It was teeming with people, and I didn't feel like staying for a long time. Took a few photos, bought a fresh box of biscuits, some cans of Mountain Dew and got on my way.
From here, the road became very twisty, and was pretty bad in parts. My next target was Hebbe Falls. Not very visited often, it promised the curious traveller with some interesting experiences. I passed the point where the road divides up into one leading to Kemmangundi, and the other to Hebbe Falls.
Once I took this route, I began to realise the challenge that lay ahead of me. The tarmac disappeared to reveal a fine brown layer of red slush (in keeping with the name), with some potholes sporadically spread out in the 20 ft wide road. This was going to be an enjoyable experience. I had a gut feeling that I will not be forgetting this riding day so easily, and I carried on ahead. Soon, the slushy surface turned into a surface which had loose pebbles, and stones. Now the weight of the saddlebags became apparent, I'd lose the rear ever so slightly on the loose pebbles. But it wasn't all that bad and I moved on. The speed now had dropped to about 30 kmph.
Soon, I came across a curve on the road, which opened up towards a valley with some breathtaking scenery. I stopped for exactly 5 seconds, and continued. The road, which I shall now call a path, to be more accurate, sloped downwards, with some massive boulders and stones. If it were just this, I wouldn't have had a problem, but these boulders and stones were covered with algae/moss which made it treacherous to say the least. This stretch looked like it was about 2-3 kms, and it took me a good 15 minutes to cover it. I was in 1st gear, blipping the throttle and clutch to make it through.
Just after this stretch, I encountered a water crossing which was comparable to the ones we see in the Manali-Leh stretch in terms of depth. This was really turning into an adventure, and I began to enjoy this a lot more than Kodachadri. Continuing in 1st and at a speed of about 15 max, I encountered a group of trekkers who were returning from Hebbe, and shell shocked to see the sight of a bike, with luggage etc. I asked them the distance to Hebbe, and they said a good 4-5 kms more. This 4-5 kms extended to about 7 kms, and took me almost an hour. And it started raining heavily.
Just when I was slipping into desolation, I came across a checkpost, which was open, and led right into some kind of estate, complete with a caretaker house and a bungalow. I was stopped by the caretaker of this estate, who informed me that the waterfall was a 1 km walk from there, that my bike wouldn't be able to cross three water crossings that I would encounter in that 1 km. I parked up, sloshed around in my wet gear, and grabbed my GPS and began walking along the path. The caretaker very ominously gave me a small damp cloth sac filled with salt. As I walked along the path, I became minutely aware of my surroundings, and realised just how quiet it was . I could only hear the sound of my wet socks squishing against the soles of my boots, and began observing the path for any leeches that may want a free lunch and ride to Madikeri with me. Soon I came across the water crossings, and I crossed them and caught sight of the waterfalls.
I was now in ankle length grass, and after my leech experience in Sirsi, and Siddapur, I didn't want to spend time getting leeches off myself. So I fanned out trying to get a good photo of the waterfall. I didn't get one, but by then I was sure that any longer and I'd have been deluged by leeches so I quickly backtracked, and walked back.
Once I was back at the caretaker's house, I struck up a conversation with the caretaker. He turned out to be a sweet old man, who was happy to find someone to talk to. He told me that the estate belonged to a wealthy liquor group, and that there was a massive bungalow deep inside the estate which overlooked the waterfalls. I thought to myself, that I had to get myself a place like this someday. And then I'll throw it all away and watch the coffee seeds grow under my watchful old eyes.
Thanking him for the tea and biscuits that he had provided while we were getting acquainted, I stepped out of his house and began checking my extremities for leeches. Sure enough, found quite a few who were just about getting cosy on my legs and feet. Got them out easily with the salt, and just when I was about to start, the rain started up again. Resigning to my fate, I left the place, and I began the arduous 15 km ride back onto tarmac. Again, it took me about 2 hours, and I wish I had enough adjectives to explain how I did that stretch.
All I know is, it destroyed my clutch plates, and took a lot of energy out of me. Once I got back to the curve I mentioned, I stopped for a few minutes of rest. As I looked out over the valley, the light fog and the undulations of the hills covered with greenery, I was thrown back into some very special memories I had with a certain person. It was about a year before that day, that we had visited Kemmangundi, and shared a special moment while looking out over a similar valley. Overwhelmed, minutes went by before I realised that I had to go on. Collecting my thoughts, and emotions, I got back on the saddle. The ride for the next 15-20 minutes was almost robotic in nature.
Once I got back to the plains in Lingadahalli, it was about 5.30 and Madikeri might as well have been Timbuktu at that point. I had put the bike down in some very slippery slush which sort of bent the gear shifter. It made shifting a wee bit inconvenient, but I continued onto Chikmagalur, where I stopped for some coffee and a much needed rest. I called nfsnfs, who was waiting for me at the homestay in Madikeri, and I got some interesting shortcut advice from the wife of the homestay owner. The shortcut, if the roads were good, would cut a full hour or so out of my proposed Chikmagalur-Belur-Hassan-Madikeri route. The route she suggested was Chikmagalur-Hanbal-Sakleshpur-Sannivarsanthe-Somwarpet-Madikeri. The time was now 7, and I decided to go for it. Refreshed to a certain extent, I began chomping the kilometres in the dark.
I reached Sakleshpur after a good 30-40 kms of dark twisty forest roads, with very very minimal traffic. It was unsettling, and amazing at the same time. Got on the road to Sannivarsanthe, and things began looking up. The time was now 8.30, and with Madikeri a good 150 kms away, I was looking at an arrival time of about 11.30 pm. Communicated this to nfs, and moved on. The ride was easy, but as I closed in on Somwarpet, it got really foggy and slowed my pace a little more. Crossed Somwarpet, and I encountered A LOT of twisties that I would have happily feasted on in the day time, but in the night, it was more like a chore. Slowly winding around, I suddenly found myself in Madikeri, and promptly the rain gods decided to wake up. In a total downpour, I was trying to find the homestay in the dark, and for some reason, I couldn't find it. The mind plays tricks on itself when in that state I suppose. I made my way to a landmark that I think nfs mentioned, and called him from there. He woke up on my call, and made his way out in the rain to find me.
Once in the homestay, I dried myself off, took a nice long hot shower, and after exchanging some stories with nfs, crashed for the day. And I mean literally crashed. But in somewhere in my mind, there was a dull feeling of immense satisfaction floating about, due to a fantastic day of riding that had unveiled itself to be one of the toughest I had ever done. If things were to remain the same over the next few days, this would be a fantastic trip!
Day 4 ends.
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