Travelouge-Bangalore->Lepakshi->Penukonda->bangalore

[amohit]

Date: Nov 17, 2007
Route:NH7. Hebbal->yelenkha->devanahalli->chikabalapur->Bagephalli->AP checkpost->Lt turn to lepakshi.

Road Condition: Ok ok within karnataka. Not very smooth on AP side.

Type of place: Archeological. Siva temple.
Distance: 140km from IndraNagar.

Verdict: very good one day trip. Lepakshi temple is very clean.Not very crowded. should be on your must see list.

We started from Tippasandra at 7.00am. First stop Shell petrol bunk at OMR. Filled in petrol worth 700/-(Didnt want to fill in more as have to give my car for first free service on monday). Hit the outer ring road...hoping against all odds to beat the morning traffice.
If only I could be that lucky :(
Took me almost 1 hr to reach hebbal flyover. Ride from there was quite smooth.
Reached chikabalapur by 9.30. Stopped at "xyz Shanti Sagar" just before we enter chikabalapur for breakfast. Idli vada & masla dosa were good. Tea was great. The place was very crowded and it took us 45 mins to get going.

Ride up to Bagephalli was smooth, with some occasional potholes on the way..and some unmarked humps!
Roads in bagephalli are bad..beware of the deep huge craters on the road!.

Bagephalli is the last village of karnataka. After that there is a checkpost of AP. There is no sign of any checkpost actually. Just a unclosed barrier. No indications for lepakshi. One need to be watchful for the barrier and the left turn. There are a few trucks parked on the road. There is a mqsque on the right side. You need to take the left. From here lepakshi is 15 kms. Road is narrow. 3/4th of a lane and almost 50% is not in very good shape.
You know u have reached lepakshi when you see the huge nandi statue towards your right. We reached here by 12.00pm.



After spending some time here we headed for the siva temple. the temple is 100 mts from the statue. One need to continue further and take the left turn. The land mark for this turn is the Arc gate constructed across the road. There is parking available at the temple.
It is advisible to leave the footwear in the car itself. No, the floor was not hot(at 12.30 in the afternoon on a sunny day it was cool!).




This temple is a must visit. Very neat and clean. Very less crowd. Very cool.

After spending 1.5 hrs in the temple, we headed for penukonda fort. To reach penukonda, you need to go back to the NH7 and then take the left(towards hyderabad). Its about 25kms further.
By the time we reached penukonda it was 2.00pm. Our hunger was at its peak! We asked around and found out that there is a mess(serves only veg andra meals), just at the enterance of the fort. Forgot the name of the mess..something with "Seema***". or "seena***". Its difficult to miss. its just on the left hand side at the enterance of the fort. The mess was very tidy. Food very tasty.Rate very cheap(20/- for an unlimited meal!). We very hungry. And visit to fort was forgotten till we were stuffed till our necks!.

After eating as if we havn't eaten in last 1 month, it was decided to give fort a miss(anyway its not a great place to see).but if you are going to lepakshi, i would certainly recommend travelling another 25kms just to have a nice meal at this place.

We started back at 4.00pm. Reached chikabalapur by 5.30. After another tea break of 15 mins, we started back for home. Reached home by 8.00(after braving the blr traffic for 1 hr ).

[skandyhere]

How's the vegetation enroute? Is it the typical north Bangalore dry landscape? Nice review. Need to visit this place the next time I come down.

[akroy]

Nice Account, it is really a nice one day trip...following was my account of the same...
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...bangalore.html (Weekend Travelogue: Bangalore - Lepakshi - Bangalore)

Originally Posted by amohit

There is no sign of any checkpost actually. Just a unclosed barrier. No indications for lepakshi.

Actually there was an indication, a statue of 2 big swans but unfortunately they have removed it to expand the road into 4 laned...

Any idea about the 4 laned status? Any work started in AP or KN side...

Abhi

[amohit]

@abhi,

I came to know of this place thru ur travelouge only

Statue has been removed. Its now placed abt 1km down the narrow road that leads to lepakshi.



@skandyhere, vegetation is minimal. Shrubs/bushes are there...but no huge shady trees(except for a few imli trees).
The temple though, has a park kind of area around it(with shady trees)...but i prefered to spend time inside the cool coridors of the temple.

Work on the road const is going on, but at a very slow pace.I guess another 1 yr before we see the new roads open for traffic.

Regards,

[Ketan]

Originally Posted by amohit

@abhi,

I came to know of this place thru ur travelouge only

Statue has been removed. Its now placed abt 1km down the narrow road that leads to lepakshi.




Regards,

Hi Mohit,
Nice brief report and I'm sure you must have enjoyed the cool breeze inside the corridors of temple,, really good place and nice carvings on pillars and beautiful paintings on ceiling..

the statue that you see about a KM down on that left turn was there earlier too.. I guess as Abhi said the ones were on the highway are now been remvoed.. the one you see down towards the lepakshi village points to some bird reservoir on the left side of that road...

nice to know that the fort is another 25KM from that place, should surely visit the fort next time..

where are the pics of your car! trip report is not complete without it..

[IronWolf]

Hi Mohit.. nice write up.. please post some pics of the road / car etc if you have to get a better idea.

[reachmash]

Guys,

I heard that Country Club has its resort close to both the places, not sure how far. We are planning to visit these two places and check the Country Club as well, as my friend is a member.

if nothing is good in Country Club, then the place near fort will do for us :-)

Regards

[akroy]

Originally Posted by amohit

@abhi,
Statue has been removed. Its now placed abt 1km down the narrow road that leads to lepakshi.

Mohit, This was already as well...The one on the highway has been removed ...

Abhi

[snaronikar]

Nice account mohit. Post some more pics (if you have taken). Did not know this place existed. Will plan to this place some day.

[akroy]

Originally Posted by snaronikar

Nice account mohit. Post some more pics (if you have taken). Did not know this place existed. Will plan to this place some day.

See my travelogue too, there are some more pics there as well...

Abhi