[ampere]

Which is the best road to take to Somanathpura?
I think its good to go via Mysore road. I know Kanakpura road is a better option,
but for food options its good to choose Mysore road, as the idea is always a
weekend fun and food. Kanakpura road not yielding to good food.

Is it better to turn at Maddur or at Mandya on the Mysore road?


How far is the temple from Bannur? I was told that the road when nearing the temple is in shambles. Is the same today as well? Any one been there recently?

[ravib]

Originally Posted by ampere

Which is the best road to take to Somanathpura?
I think its good to go via Mysore road. I know Kanakpura road is a better option,
but for food options its good to choose Mysore road, as the idea is always a
weekend fun and food. Kanakpura road not yielding to good food.

Is it better to turn at Maddur or at Mandya on the Mysore road?


How far is the temple from Bannur? I was told that the road when nearing the temple is in shambles. Is the same today as well? Any one been there recently?

Hey Ampere,

I went last to somanthpur in July'10, but we went to Shivanasamudra first and then went to somanthpur via Malavalli. Read this post: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post2005708

From Maddur to Malavalli, the road is not good, but from malavalli to somnathpur, its manageable. Not too bad, but not great either at that time. Probably, it would have got little worsened now after rains.

I think you can turn at Mandya instead of maddur, but don't know how the road condition is. My guess is it could be almost same like the other route.

Yea, for food options, mysore road is better choice obviously. In the rainy seasons, its good to go via Mysore road.

-Ravi

[ampere]

Hey Thanks. So as per what you say, Maddur is the standard route (via Mysore road).
Has anyone tried the route through Mandya?

EDIT: I checked in google maps. Either Mandya or the Maddur road, the distance remains the same. (~145Km)

[ampere]

How is the condition of NH212 from T Narsipur to Mysore?
Has any one tried that of late?

[prasad14]

Originally Posted by ampere

How is the condition of NH212 from T Narsipur to Mysore?
Has any one tried that of late?

This is just about fantastic (I drove on this road on 9th Oct). As they recently upgraded this road, they have removed all unauthorized humps also. You might get stuck at the Kabini bridge (connecting Narasipur and Tirumakoodalau) in the evenings, but not daily. I'm told that the road is very good all the way upto Kollegal.

Prasad

[ampere]

Another place to add:

Hemagiribetta; Hulliyurdurga.

Location: 70-90Km from Bangalore.
Route: Beyond Magadi, hit the Y junction to Kunigal. Take the route to Hulliyurdurga. Go beyond the town and then take a left. You will reach the base of the hill. There is a temple there. You can walk along to the top.

Route link: Route link

Difficulty: Minimal.
Terrain : Rocky. Not much greenery. Hence good to reach the top before sun rises. Though it becomes, hot, but still there is cool breeze.

Food Options: None. Need to carry your own food/water. You willl only find road side stalls that would serve Thatte Idli and tea/coffee.

[Fauji]

Originally Posted by ampere

Another place to add:

Route: Beyond Magadi, hit the Y junction to Kunigal. Take the route to Hulliyurdurga. Go beyond the town and then take a left. You will reach the base of the hill. There is a temple there. You can walk along to the top.

Visit the nice temple of Ranganatha swamy in Tirumale which is just before Magadi when you are driving from Bangalore

[Ragul]

Can you folks also mention location of good clean eating joints on the way with restrooms? And good petrol pumps too?

Anyone going after today please note gps co-ordinates and post them for highly recommended places.

Really useful thread here.

Thanks

[Fauji]

Some more

a) Antaragange - Mulbagal (nice temples) - Kurudumale (excellent chola temple) and Kaigal falls (beautiful place in monsoons)
b) Big Banyan tree - Manchana bele Reservoir - Ramanagara - Janapada Loka
c) Shivagange - Hale Nijagal - Siddagange - Basadi Betta all on NH 4 before Tumkur
d) Melkote (heritage town) - Hemagiri (barrage on Hemavathi river) - Hosaholalu (excellent hoysala temple)
e) Chunchi falls - Mekedatu - Galibore
f) Penukonda fort - Puttaparthi (for devotees of Satya Saibaba) - Gorantla (beautiful Vijayanagara temple) - Lepakshi
g) When you visit Nandi hills, Dont forget to vsist the beautiful Bhoga Nandishwara templa at foot hills of Nandi Hills and Muddenahalli, the birth place of Bharata Ratna Sir M Vishveshvaraiah
h) If you can strecth a little bit there are whole lot of places around Kurnool/Anantapur

Originally Posted by Ragul

Can you folks also mention location of good clean eating joints on the way with restrooms? And good petrol pumps too?

Anyone going after today please note gps co-ordinates and post them for highly recommended places.

Really useful thread here.

Thanks

On all the highways - NH4, Mysore road and old Madras road - you have Kamat group of Hotels which have rest rooms.

One more to add

Vani Vilas Sagar (Mari Kanive) (Beautiful reservoir) - Chitradurga Fort - Chandravalli Lake - Jogimatti.
A good weekend trip as the distance is 200 KMs but the road is so Good, it is a comfortable road trip. This can be done either independently or club with the trip to Hampi as a stopover.

Note from the Team-BHP Support Team: Please use the "edit" button if posting within 30 minutes of the first post, instead of creating another back-to-back post.

Also use "Multi Quote" option for quoting Multiple posts.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Fauji

Visit the nice temple of Ranganatha swamy in Tirumale which is just before Magadi when you are driving from Bangalore

Thanks. Did not know about this.

Climbing top the top was not difficult. Was totally taken aback by the colour at the top. See for yourself!

[crazydrives]

The whole week, my partner keeps searing in mind (and team bhp) what should be the next weekend gate way.
after good research, we actually started with Somnathpura in mind , but at the end we were undrer the cool and heavy waters of barah chukki.
We both started at aroun 10 in the morning. For safe side, we had our boxes carrying Pulihara(puliyogare) with us and even an extra pair of dress. On the Mysore road, we diverted left when we saw Maddur following the boards of shivana Samudra. Actually we had with us the route to reach Somnathpura but strangely we kept driving in the direction of Shivana samudra. The road between maddur and Malavalli is a bit bad stretch but managable. To reach Somnathpura one should divert right after malavalli which we didn't do. so we were at last at the gaganchukki water fall which we earlier thought would be out next trip.
Gagan chukki fall was good but not as amazing as Barahchukki,may be because of the less rains these days. We felt it would definitely deserve a visit during heavy rains time.(photos in my next post)
Then we turned towards Barah chukki-The place where you reach very easily but tough to get out-this has got 2 way meaning:the beauty of the falls may not let you go or the steps to come back are a bit steep and more in number too. Old people may feel a bit tired to come back.
But, after we reach the foot of the fall, just stare at the falling water and im sure one will forget the world around. Its awesome.
our next destination was again still not decided, but we were at Talakadu, since my partner didn't want to miss the pious river cauvery and our judgement proved worthy.
By the time we reached there, it was getting dark but we took a guide with us who managed to make us understand the history of the temple with his managable english.(all other guides are kannada guys and we dont understand that) Though he charged 150/- it was felt deserved. There is a story that people believe happened many years ago regarding the history of Talakadu:
The beautiful queen of bangalore(or some other near by kingdom couldn't undrstand completly) had great posessions of jewllery and beauty. After the king died, the king of Mysore wanted to take the authority on them and sent his army to fight. butu the queen, being a great Pativrata, gave 3 curses: Talakadu must be dumped under sand
a whirlpool should come (the point of its origination was not undestood)
The king of Mysore should never have offspring.(even now all the heirs of Mysore king are adopted ones)

As per the 1st curse, Talakadu was covered under sand and many years laetr the department of Archeology got it out .Even now we can see the totla area having sand and even the temples were on the same location. there are very good temples and great history behind them. without that guide, we're sure that we could not at all do the darshan of the temples since it was dark and even the route seemed mysterious.
We strongly felt, we should have a 2 nd visit during day time since the story was quite interesting. The pious river Cauvery was beautiful at the sunset time with reddish shade covering the calm water surface and cool breeze touching the depths of the heart.

Photos and detailed route in next post

[crazydrives]

One more attraction on the route was the temple of Sri Ranganatha Swami which is called Madhya ranga
Adi ranga being-Sriranga patnam(near Mysore)
and antya ranga -Srirangam(Tamilnadu)
Some devotees believe that it is good if one can finish the darshan of these 3 temples in a single day and many people do that.

[crazydrives]

here are the few pics caught

Gagan chukki snaps:















Barah chukki Falls from far

[crazydrives]

Beauty of barah chukki falls more eloborately

[crazydrives]

the serenity that cools the body and soul




The middle part of the statue resembling the face of an ox:



The front part of the vehicle of Lord ganesha if of horse and the back part is like that of a rat: