[figo_united]

Thanks to the astrologer who suggested my parents to visit a temple in udupi, I got to drive through the green route!

The plan was to drive to udupi early in the morning on saturday from mysore, return to mysore on sunday evening, and then drive back to bangalore on the usual monday morning.

For those still wondering, I work at bangalore, and family is at mysore. I travel to mysore on most weekends.

On thursday evening, I realized that I won't be too occupied with work on friday, and decided I would "work from home".
Then struck an idea (not 3G), if I'm going to work from home on friday, why not drive to mysore on thursday itself, so that I can relax for a day and then start the long drive!

I called up a friend who accompanies me regularly on my travels to mysore, and forced him to work from home on friday too, and planned to leave bangalore by 8:30PM.
Got delayed by half an hour because of the heavy rains and finally, we started around 9PM.
Half an hour later, near the NICE road intersection on mysore road, this happened

Stopped for dinner at kamath, and reached mysore around 12:30!

Was all worried about how to go about fixing the damage, the insurance, the NCB and a lot more, and the udupi drive took a backseat.

Took leave on thursday instead of the planned WFH to attend to the damage on my figo, and this happened.

Was a bit relaxed after that, and the weekend drive was back into planning mode. Had already got route info and road conditions from this thread.

Decided to start very early in the morning so that I could cover the mysore hassan stretch before 7, and enjoy the scenic drive later.

Started from home at around 4:45AM, took the ring road and took the exit to hunsur road.

There are many speed breakers on this road till the deviation towards K R Nagar. Crossed K R nagar, and reached hassan via hoLenarasipura after around 2 hours(120kms).

Hassan - Sakaleshpura stretch

Next stop was at sakaleshpura, where we stopped for breakfast at Surabhi veg. The food was not that great.
The weather was all set with clouds, mist, rain and greenery all around! Was just hoping that the roads complement the weather and make for a good drive ahead.

It was such a picturesque drive from then on.
Stopped around donigal for a couple of pics. Its from here that we had started our railway track trek a couple of years ago.

Donigal

The roads through shiradi indeed exceeded my expectations! It was great driving through there, with the kempu hoLe flowing in almost full glory on the left and numerous small waterfalls on the right!

[figo_united]

Stopped for some jackfruit near the dharmasthala deviation.

The road leading to dharmasthala was just awesome.

Dharmasthala entrance arch


Dharmasthala Temple

We took a break to visit the Sri rama kshetra which is a newly constructed temple soon after dharmasthala.

Shri Rama Temple

Then took the following route

Ujire -> Belthangadi -> Guruvayankere ->Mudabidri -> KarkaLa -> Udupi.

Reached Udupi around 12:45 and headed straight to the krishna mutt for darshan and lunch.

Had a good darshan of lord krishna through the 'Kanakana Kindi' - a small window through which Krishna is believed to have given darshan to his ardent devotee Kanakadasa.

Had a sumptuous lunch at the temple, and then headed out to visit the MahakaLi temple at Ambalpaddy, which is around 5kms from the main krishna temple.
Since it was a saturday, it was empty, and we had a quick darshan. It usually is very crowded on fridays.
We then visited the Panchadurgaparameshwari temple at Indrali, which is on top of a hill, enroute manipal. But the temple was closed and we came back to the mangalore highway and headed to Kapu beach which is around 15kms from udupi.
Kapu beach has a light house, and we can get a good view from the top. We went there around 4, but found the light house door locked, and no one around to attend too.

Kapu Beach

Disappointed again, we thought of visiting the malpe beach too, which is nearer to the city. This beach is quite crowded in the evening.

Statue at Malpe Beach

Spent some time there, and since we were quite tired of the journey, wanted to catch some much needed rest.

We came back into the mutt premises, and took a room in the lodge run by sodhe vaadiraja mutt, which had basement parking too!
Relaxed for a bit, had dinner at the temple, and then crashed for the day.

[figo_united]

Plan for the drive back was to visit kateel on the way, since it wouldn't be too much of a detour.
Started around 7:45 and took the NH17 till mulki and then took a deviation towards kateel. We reached kateel around 8:45 and visited the durga parameshwari temple located right in the midst of the river!

taken from inside the temple

The next stretch from kateel to BC road was a downhill drive and was very enjoyable in the rain.

Stopped over at BC road for breakfast.

After that it was the same route back, but this time with less rain and more sun!

Spotted this modded 800 at sakaleshpura




Hassan - K R nagar stretch

reached mysore around 3:30, and crashed immediately so that I could wake up on time for the wimbledon finals.

Returned to bangalore on monday morning to complete the 1100km weekend journey.
Average FE measured was 17.5.

Here's the log with distance and time taken.

[ampere]

Great one there again @figo. Your "timed to perfection" drives continue!
The green route in Karnataka is always fun.

Good to note that on Saturdays its not crowded in Udupi.
(Or is it that it was just one of those days).

[figo_united]

Originally Posted by ampere

Great one there again @figo. Your "timed to perfection" drives continue!
The green route in Karnataka is always fun.

Good to note that on Saturdays its not crowded in Udupi.
(Or is it that it was just one of those days).

Thanks again ampere

The mahalkaLi temple was virtually empty, but the main krishna temple did have a bit of a crowd.
Generally, the crowds won't be much this month I guess, since it is AshaDa month in hindu calendar.

[addyhemmige]

Great drive f_u. I loved the pictures of the Green Route. Shiradi ghat or for that matter, any ghat in the western ghats look awesome in the rains. And yes, you really have to thank your astrologer for making you go out there.

I too went to Kudremukh last weekend and it was pouring out there. I loved it!!!

[predatorwheelz]

Great travelogue. I've never been to Udupi, although plan to visit it for a long time to taste the cuisine and check out Dr Hegde's museum

Very nice photos too. Keep it up.

[roamingrao]

Figo united, thanks for sharing.

Yes, good time to drive through Malnad and coastal districts. but also if and when the roads are good !

Sakleshpur - Hotel Ashritha ( near govt. bus stand ) is better than Surabhi. But too crowded for lunch.

Originally Posted by figo_united

The next stretch from kateel to BC road was a downhill drive and was very enjoyable in the rain.

was it Kateel - Bajpe - Kaikamba - Gurupura - BC road route ? If yes, you could have also visited Sri RajaRajeshwari temple at Polali ( just after Gurupura bridge ).

[figo_united]

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

Great drive f_u. I loved the pictures of the Green Route. Shiradi ghat or for that matter, any ghat in the western ghats look awesome in the rains. And yes, you really have to thank your astrologer for making you go out there.

I too went to Kudremukh last weekend and it was pouring out there. I loved it!!!

thanks addy.
The way you spelt my handle was

Originally Posted by predatorwheelz

Great travelogue. I've never been to Udupi, although plan to visit it for a long time to taste the cuisine and check out Dr Hegde's museum

Very nice photos too. Keep it up.

Thanks predatorwheelz. this is very good time to visit udupi. See if you can make it.

Originally Posted by roamingrao

Sakleshpur - Hotel Ashritha ( near govt. bus stand ) is better than Surabhi. But too crowded for lunch.

Is it on the highway itself? I just stopped at the first decent restaurant I could spot.

Originally Posted by roamingrao

was it Kateel - Bajpe - Kaikamba - Gurupura - BC road route ? If yes, you could have also visited Sri RajaRajeshwari temple at Polali ( just after Gurupura bridge ).

Yes, it was the same route. I did notice the polali arch on the way.
But there were many such temples on the way, couldnt decide which one to visit so didnt stop anywhere and moved on.