Ride to Bisle & Manjarabad Fort (Sakleshpur)

[lohithrao]

After the scroching summer, monsoon was a big relief. Work pressure and hectic city life was forcing me to take a break! and thats when my friend told that he wants to go to some nice green place...

So whats better then western ghats, decided that we will cover "Bisle" ghats and "Manjarabad fort", if time permits go to subramanya - Dharmasthala - charmadi and back.

Aug 17 What a day!- Our plan was to start from Bangalore by 3ish so that we can reach either Chanarayapatna or Hassan by 7. but thanks to my work we had to start by 5:30 from indiranagar. we(me and my friend) both were little apprehensive in the begining as we had to do most of the journey during the night. but decided to continue with the plan.

What a mess - From indiranagar till nelmangala we had to move through sticky traffic, looked like the entire population was on road. Without any doubts i was cursing the traffic and my friend was cursing me for being late (hehe). We reached Nelamangala by 6:20. took a short break and started off.

Sun sets and our ride begins - This was the first time that i started my ride at this hour, though i dont encourage myself to ride/drive at night. Just wanted to give it a try.
Intially facing those powerful headlights was a tuff task but got used to it. also my headlights were good. so could manage. did notice that vehilces had better lane sence at night compared to the day or they might be thinking that my bike was a car (have fitted extra light )

Riding at night turned out to be a good experience as the roads were deserted and not much of traffic. just had to be careful about some vehicles especially Oil tankers which dint have tail lights.

We reached hassan around 10:30pm, During the ride had taken couple of butt breaks and had dinner on the way. So we were happy that the beginning was good…

Aug 18 .. The day of excitement: Since the day 1 was little stressful, we dint want to start too early. So started off from the hotel (Hassan) around 7 am.
Till Hassan roads are good but as you close by Sakleshpur roads starts getting appalling. Since we knew of the road conditions it dint dampen our spirits. At sakleshpur we stopped for breakfast and from there Manjrabad fort is few kms away (about 4kms).

100_1920.JPG :: view from the hill.. NH leading to Mangalore(Right road) road leading to bisle ghats(left)... @ Fotopic.Net

It took hardly anytime for us to reach the base of the hill from Sakleshpur town, Manjarabad fort is situated on top of the hill, need to trek up to the fort. But once you reach on top, the magnificent sight of the lush green hills around greets you.

100_1925.JPG :: i like it @ Fotopic.Net
100_1939.JPG :: Watch tower @ Fotopic.Net
100_1939.JPG :: Watch tower @ Fotopic.Net

For my luck none were around so it was peaceful and also could take pictures easily without having to wait for people to move out of the frame. There was nothing much to see in this fort, just many chambers all around. Just the view is superb from this fort, hope the pictures will do some justice.

100_1933.JPG :: Manjarabad Fort @ Fotopic.Net

After spending some good time in the fort, it was time to head back to our bikes, which were parked near the small hotels along the NH48. Getting back dint strain us much. We had sweated quiet a bit while we were climbing up, thanks to our riding jackets (Leather) and to top the humid weather. All in all it was a nice experience since it sint rain we were able to spend some good on top and also took lots of pictures.

100_1934.JPG :: inside... @ Fotopic.Net

As I was getting back was dreaming of gulping some nice COLD drink, so once back just headed to the hotel and asked for a “COLD” drink but was not lucky as there was no power. So had to satisfy with a “Warm” drink[FONT=Wingdings][FONT=Wingdings]L[/FONT][/FONT].

So set off to Bisle, nice narrow winding roads. Green.. Green everywhere, lush green fields, and lovely landscapes. Felt great to be away from the stressful city.

100_1964.JPG :: Green green... @ Fotopic.Net
100_1966.JPG :: Kya jodi hai @ Fotopic.Net

Road s was ok for about 20 kms, had to take a right at a junction (forgot the name of the place) and from there it was a bad experience. Potholes everywhere, since we were on two wheels we were spared from few of the potholes. It was a definitely a painful experience riding on such a battered road. Did take more then an hour to reach Bisle viewpoint.

100_1955.JPG :: Winding road.... i miss them:( @ Fotopic.Net

We were happy to reach the view point, dint have to travel anymore.. but did have the thought that had to ride back on the same road[FONT=Wingdings][FONT=Wingdings]L[/FONT][/FONT]. My friend was upset as he felt that it was not worth the effort we had to put in reaching this place. But as I tried to convince him to see the place as we have come all the way, saw some tourists coming out with a happy face and couple them headed towards us and fired a chain of questions at us like “Where are you from”, “What are you here for” etc Their question just made me smile as it is quiet normal for us to attract attention, thanks to the riding gear and the bikes. Many of times people have come up with questions like “You have come all the way from Bangalore on bike, don’t you have buses??” They would have thought how stupid was I [FONT=Wingdings][FONT=Wingdings]J[/FONT][/FONT], Many don’t understand the concept! (It’s not about reaching a destination but about how you reach[FONT=Wingdings][FONT=Wingdings]J[/FONT][/FONT])

100_1976Pano.jpg :: Panoromic shot of the Bisle ghats...looks nice @ Fotopic.Net

We enter the “view point” and find none around. Was it coincident or are we lucky. We dint mind the peace and the silence. Took some time to settle down, recuperating from the exhaustive ride. Don’t have words to explain how breathtaking the valley looked, while the sunlight played some hide and seek, while the clouds went past the peaks of the mountain. All this definitely made us forget the journey. Soon it started to rain and we were more then happy. The whole reason for us to be here was to enjoy the rain of the hills. We decided not to go on till Subramanya as we were running short on time. Instead take the same road back, which we came from. As we headed out, there comes a Sumo full of people… we were more then happy to leave[FONT=Wingdings][FONT=Wingdings]J[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Wingdings][FONT=Wingdings][/FONT][/FONT]
100_1987.JPG :: love it @ Fotopic.Net
100_1993.JPG @ Fotopic.Net

Prepared ourselves to take the tuff 40kms ahead, while on our way back we saw some shooting(Film) taking place. Did come to know that it was a Telgu version of “Mungaru Male” being shot. But for their bad luck it was not raining for few days and they wanted it to rain[FONT=Wingdings][FONT=Wingdings]J[/FONT][/FONT]. Apparently “Mungaru Male (Kannada movie)” was shot around Sakleshpur.

100_1994.JPG :: Pandu's garage in Sakleshpur, was here to get my biks tappet adjusted @ Fotopic.Net

Did manage to reach Sakleshpur town around 5ish, I had to get my bikes tappets adjusted so had to look out for a mech. We were told that there is a Bullet mechanic near to the market.

100_1994.JPG :: Pandu's garage in Sakleshpur, was here to get my biks tappet adjusted @ Fotopic.Net

Good times comes to an end: Had a great ride, some great memories and some painful (bad roads).

Next morning headed back to Jamlore (Bangalore), don’t have to write how I felt getting back. So I will end this lonnng write up.

100_1995.JPG :: On my way back... @ Fotopic.Net

Hope you guys dint get bored reading this, this is my first write-up so please excuse me if there is any grammatical mistake

Finally the picture of the my bike, Love this machine
100_1967.JPG :: Smart boy! @ Fotopic.Net

More pics on "lohith.fotopic.net"

[akroy]

Nice Travelogue and pics Lohith, I specially liked the pic of the jodi bikes with sucha background...Excellent...
Somehow I am yet to do Sakleshpur - Bisle route, it is really picturesque,...

Abhi

[kumar2007]

Loved the last shot of your bike. No wonder you love the machine.

[kaushik_s]

Nice read.. And liked the pictures..Feeling like going out for a drive right now ;-)

[-GT-]

Lohith:
Nice write-up and great pics. Couldn't stop looking at all your recent albums in fotopic.

You sure having a lot of fun!!

[lohithrao]

Thanks a lot people This was my first write-up, nice to know you all liked

[theMAG]

Lohith,

Thats awesome stuff. Trust me when I say that I could almost smell the Western Ghats air looking at those pics.

[magiceye]

hey the pics are lovely!! you sure must have had a great time soaking in the excellent weather and scenic ambience!!

[lohithrao]

Originally Posted by magiceye

hey the pics are lovely!! you sure must have had a great time soaking in the excellent weather and scenic ambience!!

That was the sad part:( it hatdly rained. while i was hoping that it would.
we were prepared for the rains. anyways we did hav a good time

Maggi sarr thanks....(am smiling... cant use anymore smilys hehehe)

[warchild]

hey lohit
looks like you fellas had loads of fun
nice writeup & sweet looking pictures

[sushrutha]

Good writeup and nice pics..
Keep them coming

[benbsb29]

Lohith, dropped by your travelogue rather late, but i enjoyed it.
Bikes really make us feel adventurous when exploring the countryside.

As for the questions which people put forth, its quite common everytime they see a bike which has a non-local registration. Faced the same a couple of times too during my biking trips.

[lohithrao]

Thanks guys for going through the travalogue

btw benny in our case it was not the number plates, it was the riding gear and the bike.

[black12rr]

Nice ride and pics there , saklespur is notorious and deadly , it was pain coming back at night on that road after a trek and ride to railway track trek (green trek) . BTW you have a very good seat .

[lohithrao]

Thanks black...

Yae roads there are in bad shape for sometime, remember riding down shiradi ghats (last dec) was fun.

The seat has been reworked, learnt that the stock seat was not for long rides. so got it redone(widened the seat plate, refoaming)