[vrvarier]

This is more of a trip log rather than a travelogue. The intention is to help somebody who is planning to do this route in the near future, and to share my experience. Apologies for no photos, mainly because the main intention was to visit the temple, and did not visit any tourist places.

Fast facts:

Dates: 26,27,28 Jan 2012.
Car: Tata Manza Deisel.
Route:
Leg1: Bangalore-Nelamangala-Tumkur-Tiptur-Arasikere-Kadur-Birur-Shimoga-
Thirthahalli
Leg2: Thirthahalli-Nagara-Nittur-Kollur
Leg3: Kollur-vandse-Siddapura-Haladi-Someshwar-Agumbe-Thirthahalli
Leg4: Thirthahalli-Sringeri-Jayapura-Kalasa-Horanadu
Leg5: Horanadu-Kalasa-Kottigehara-Belur-Hassan-Kunigal-Nelamangala-
Bangalore

We have been planning this trip since the puja holidays of 2011. Main intention was to do the Vidyarambham for my daughter. It was not happening, since someone or the other was falling sick at home. And for year end, we had other plans. So finally it was the republic day week-end on which it was materialized.

A sudden twist in the tail happened to my new manza, when the AC was blown out on my regular commute to office. A discussion of which is here:

We were all set by the previous evening.

The plan was to start from home by 5 am, but we started a good 45 mins late. We were not sure of about the breakfast opportunities, so packed some bread-jam for emergency. The only confirmed places were all before Tumkur, which would be too early for us. Searches in various threads yeilded a kamat in Tiptur, so we were counting on that. We reached Tumkur in no time, and took the bypass. Its not in a great shape, but still doable easily. After Tumkur, its 2-lane all the way till shimoga. We came across a matha residency before Tiptur, which looked ok from outside, but were still not convinced. We were in Tiptur by around 8.30, and Kamat there was a pleasant surprise. Decent Kamat standard food, and clean toilets. Shimoga goers on this route can count on this for breakfast.

I kept a steady 80kmph, and Manza was giving a mileage of 20kmph. Kadur, Birur etc passed eventless, and we were in shimoga by 12 noon. Shimoga-Thirathahalli road is a very good 2-lane road, twisting and turning all along. We were in Thirthahalli by 1 pm and took the koppa road from Koppa circle. Bananki homestay is 8.5kms on koppa road.

Homestay in Thirthahalli :: Bananki Home Stay

Bananki does not warrant any more description, as Fauji has done it umpteen number of times in his Malnad expeditions. its a great place, set within great surroundings. The hosts are extremely nice & warm, and you'll never feel outside your own home. And they served delicious food I tasted in recent times. Evening we spent checking out the place, and visiting a place called chiplegudde where we feed fishes on the river. In the night we were chatting with the other guests around a camp-fire sipping wine and hot-soup. Called it a day after a sumptous dinner.

Continued ....

[vrvarier]

Day-2:

We had a scare during the night and in the morning. My daughter's fever, which kept us from doing this trip for this long, had re-surfaced. We were thinking of going back to Bangalore, but a quick visit to a doctor and some
medication, brought the fever under control. This delayed us a bit, and we could start only by 10 am. Arpitha, our host, had packed lunch for us. We took the Nagara-Nittur route which turned out to be very good, except for
some 5% of the distance, and that was also reasonably good. There is a good chance of getting lost as there are many diversions, and signages are not proper. So, its a good idea to ask your way through. From Bananki, kollur
temple is 95 kms, and we reached there by 12.30. We proceeded to the Vidyarambham, immediately, and we were out of the temple after Darshan by 2 pm. We had our lunch by the road-side and started the return journey by 3.30pm.

We decided to try a different route for the return. Google maps showed a route via vandse and siddapura and decided to try that route. The road became very bad just before siddapura, and this set us in doubt whether we are on the right route. We asked for Siddapura and Thirthahalli, and realized that the road from siddapura to Thirthahally is closed for traffic since 1 month. We had to take the longer route of Haladi-sankaranarayana-someshwar-Agumbe route which came as a blessing in disguise. This meant driving through the wonderful Agumbe ghats, and we could also see the sunset in Agumbe. Manza got the first taste of navigating through hair-pin bends and she handled it wonderfully. Roads are extremely good all along after siddapura. We reached Bananki by 7.30 pm. Another round of indulgence with food, and retired for the night.

Contd....

[roamingrao]

Originally Posted by vrvarier

We took the Nagara-Nittur route which turned out to be very good, except for some 5% of the distance, and that was also reasonably good.

vrvarier, the bad 5% stretch was in the ghats ? the issue with this route is apart from being narrow, the sheer height of asphalt makes it difficult to move to the side when faced with oncoming traffic ( with low GC cars ). Did you face this issue ?

Originally Posted by vrvarier

via vandse and siddapura and decided to try that route. The road became very bad just before siddapura...We asked for Siddapura and Thirthahalli, and realized that the road from siddapura to Thirthahally is closed for traffic since 1 month. We had to take the longer route of Haladi-sankaranarayana-someshwar-Agumbe route which came as a blessing in disguise.

Thanks for the update. atleast some repairs happening ! Has been a bad stretch for a long time.

How is the vandse - haladi stretch now ? any signs of repair ? and Agumbe - thirthahalli near megaravalli ? sorry, too many questions

Looking forward to Sringeri - Horanadu and Horanadu -Kalasa - kottigehara stretch

Thanks again for sharing. Hope you had a good darshan at Kollur.

[airguitar]

A writeup of my favourite places in a long while.. Of late, Malnad triplogs/travelogues have become almost non-existent on the travelogues page ( perhaps everyone is waiting for the next monsoons )

Originally Posted by vrvarier

Day-2:
We took the Nagara-Nittur route which turned out to be very good, except for some 5% of the distance, and that was also reasonably good. There is a good chance of getting lost as there are many diversions, and signages are not proper. So, its a good idea to ask your way through.

+1 for that - years back when I did my first trip, I lost my way somewhere after Nagara.

[motomaverick]

Congrats on completing this trip, hope there was not much trouble from the ac? Getting 20kpl is pretty good for such a big car. Hows the road till Shimoga? Is it still bad in some sections?

[vrvarier]

Originally Posted by roamingrao

vrvarier, the bad 5% stretch was in the ghats ? the issue with this route is apart from being narrow, the sheer height of asphalt makes it difficult to move to the side when faced with oncoming traffic ( with low GC cars ). Did you face this issue ?

This was between Nagara and Nittur. And not that bad, after all. Also, repair work has already started.

First of all there were minimal oncoming traffic. And manza has decent GC. So no scraping anywhere here. The level difference is not all that bad, too.

Originally Posted by roamingrao

How is the vandse - haladi stretch now ? any signs of repair ? and Agumbe - thirthahalli near megaravalli ? sorry, too many questions

From kollur, till Thirthahalli, the only bad stretch was, some 5 kms before siddpura. The direct route from siddapura towards Thirthahalli is closed (a left from Siddapura), and longer route is via Haladi-Agumbe. Good roads all the way.

Originally Posted by roamingrao

Looking forward to Sringeri - Horanadu and Horanadu -Kalasa - kottigehara stretch

Thanks again for sharing. Hope you had a good darshan at Kollur.

Will post that soon. Yes, we had a good Darshan, with standing in the que for some 45 mins.

[vrvarier]

Originally Posted by motomaverick

Congrats on completing this trip, hope there was not much trouble from the ac? Getting 20kpl is pretty good for such a big car. Hows the road till Shimoga? Is it still bad in some sections?

Thanks. Nope, no trouble with anything. There is an odd pothole here, and an unexpected bump there, but nothing annoying. Good roads over-all. But 2-lane. There was another guest there who came via chitradurga, which is 4-lane till chitradurga from Bangalore.

[vrvarier]

Day 3:

We bid farewell to Arpitha and Bananki, and started from there at 11am. The planned route was: Thirthahalli-Koppa-Sringeri-Kudremukh-Kalasa-Horanadu. We were on NH-13 till sringeri, and apparently, we made a mistake of turning off NH-13 from here. We should have continued straight and take a left further down. Anyways, we kept asking people for Horanadu and everyone directed us to go straight. Suddenly we found ourselves approaching Jayapura, which was not in our plan. We were passing through some very bad stretches where there were no roads at all, and no vehicle in sight. We were convinced that we are taking the least used route. We asked a van driver about the route to Horanadu, and he said again straight, and hit the main road and take right from there. I was expecting to see Kudremukh before kalasa, and then realized we approaching kalasa from the opposite direction. Once on the kalasa main road, the road became good, still twisting and turning, and broken in patches. It was a big releif to see a good sign board saying, Horanadu Annapoorneshwari temple, and vehicles in both directions, after much driving not knowing where we are going. The last few kms were comparatively worse. It was 3pm by the time we reached there. We had a good Darshan, but we missed the lunch.

We started from Horanadu by 4.45pm. We were on our last leg of our Journey. Plan is: Kalasa-Kottigehera-Mudigere-Belur-Hassan-Kunigal-Nelamangala-Bangalore. From Kalasa till Mudigere roads are very good, but you cannot be fast as it is a winding road. Just before Mudigere, there is fork, left of which will go to Mudigere and right will goto Belur. From this point onwards, for the next 10kms or so the roads are extremely bad. Two-lane and filled with a lot of pot-holes and loose stones. A little before Belur, the roads becomes suddenly very good. From Belur to Hassan its a two-lane breeze. We hit the kamat a little after Hassan town for dinner. Needless to
say good food and clean toilets. Good that they had good food at 9.30 in the night. A little after CR patna, we hit the 6-lane road, for the first time in the entire trip. I stretched Manza to 120 kmph for the first time. I can feel there was much juice left, but I am never comfortable above 100. We reached back home by 12.30 am.

That's all about our little trip, folks. Thanks for all the help. Please feel free to shoot questions and, I'll be happy to help. Will try to put up a google map of the route.

[roamingrao]

Originally Posted by vrvarier

We asked a van driver about the route to Horanadu, and he said again straight, and hit the main road and take right from there

Looks like you took the Jayapura - Basarikatte - Balehole - Kalasa route. Roads on this stretch have been bad for ages.

Yes, you missed the more scenic Sringeri - SK border - Kudremukh - samse - Kalasa stretch.

Originally Posted by vrvarier

Just before Mudigere, there is fork, left of which will go to Mudigere and right will goto Belur. From this point onwards, for the next 10kms or so the roads are extremely bad

Good to know Kalasa - Herebail - Kelagur estate - Kottigehara - Mudigere road is good - long, narrow, through coffee estates. scenic.

From handpost circle, Mudigere ( fork ), there is another road to Belur from inside the town ( via gendehalli ), a longer one, but better than through gonibeedu.


Overall, a good scenic three day drive you had there. Fruitful darshan, Vidyarambham, green environs..one for memories. Thanks for sharing.

[neo45007]

I am planning following trip in December :-
Please advice on road condition.

Day 1) Bangalore to Thirthahalli (Banaki Homestay)
Day 2) Sringeri & near by places
Day 3) Thirthahalli to Murudeswara (via Sagara/Jog falls) - stay at Murudeswara
Day 4) Murudeswara to Bangalore

[vrvarier]

I went via Tumkur-Arasikere-Birur-Shimoga. Road is good, but 2-lane. I was told via chitradurga is much faster, it being 4-lane. Roads around sringeri was good. Not sure after the monsoon. I went in Jan his year. I should be a pleasant trip, with lots of greenary. No ideas about roads beyond shimoga. I know that the sagara-jog- route is very scenic. But 2-lane roads. Have a nice trip.

[hiunni]

Planning to get from Blr to Kollur on the 15th of August - anyone who has done this route off late ? any pointers would be of great help ( plan to leave on Friday the 16th and get back on Sunday the 18th to Blr ) have a choice between an battle proven Skoda Octi and a ready to go Ertiga vdi any reccos there would also help ~ - Thanks !