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-   -   A morning drive to Shettihalli (Rosary Church Ruins)...with a twist in the plot (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travelogues/169661-morning-drive-shettihalli-rosary-church-ruins-twist-plot.html)

A morning drive to Shettihali(Rosary Church) with a plot twist in the end:

This trip was in “To Do” list for a long time and finally got a chance on a Saturday to drive to this place with family.

Plan was to start early so that we can return to Bangalore by lunch.

• As planned, we started by 5:00 AM.
• Took the NICE road, Tumkur road and then the exit towards Mangalore.
• For around 5-10Kms it was very misty and couldn’t go more than 40Kmph.
• Once the road was clear, it was a spirited drive as the traffic was almost Nil.
• Reached A2B by 7:05 AM. This branch has started very recently. (Thanks to parag for suggesting this place).
• It was a long break for an hour.

Misty roads


At A2B,


Now ,the drive towards Shettihali. Another 30Km on the highways and then we had to take left. This left is on the second intersection on the Hassan highway.

• From the highway, it’s around 22Kms to this church
• Roads were not bad, we could maintain 40-50Kmph.
• It took around 25 minutes for us to reach the spot.

Some pics on the way from the highway towards the Shettihali church.

Shettihali(Rosary Church):

To go near the church ruins, it’s kind of off-roading on the river bed as there is no proper road. We just followed tyre marks.

We entered a mud road towards the church,

• This is not a proper tourist place.
• There are no shops or any kind of civilization very close by.
• Initially we were alone and this place was deserted.
• Little dirty around with broken bottles.
• Kids had some fun throwing stones on the water.

Here are the some pics,











































Kids had fun throwing stones in to the water,

Twist in the plot:

After spending around 45mins, we decided to return to Bangalore. It was 10:00 AM then. My 8yr old was disappointed that the outing was coming to an end so soon and was not interested in returning to Bangalore. He wanted to drive to some other place before going back to Bangalore. My wife was also ok with the idea.

Mangalore was there in my mind for some time, so I suggested Mangalore and they were excited. We checked the google maps for the distance and it showed 183 Kms and another 4 hours of drive approximately. We started from this church with the destination still in discussion on where to go and in another 25mins we reached the highway with the decision yet to be taken.

Also, the plan was to return back by evening from wherever we go.

I was bit hesitant for Mangalore because,

• Never been on this stretch or to Mangalore.
• I have never followed on the road conditions on this stretch. All I know was, there was one Ghat section which was closed for some time for repair work.

So, I gave a call to team bhpian speedsatya and he said, it will take around 3-4 hours from Hassan based on the traffic. Finally, we decided to drive to Mangalore for lunch and get back to Bangalore by EOD. This is the craziest thing me and my wife ever did as a family, much thanks to my 8yr old son. The 3yr old never had any complaints about being on the road.

Drive to Managalore:

• Started exactly at 10:30 AM from Hassan.
• Lot of traffic almost throughout especially the tankers.
• The ghat section was a challenge because of the train of vehicles going in
  front with a tanker or truck leading the pack most of the time. Hence, overtaking was difficult.
• The ghat roads were very wide at turns and curves.
• At times, it looked like F1 track with everyone behind you trying to overtake at the turn without bothering about the oncoming traffic.
• The government buses were driving like the Bangalore auto-walas
• Overall, it was a very nice experience driving on this stretch. Obviously with some interesting overtakes :D

Lunch and Icecream @ Mangalore:

• speedsatya and family took time out of their day to welcome us as they were waiting for us at the entry.
• Then, he took us for lunch at “Village” restaurant.
• They served us with some very delicious Non- Veg food, Mangalore-style.
• Then, we went to Pabba’s for some delicious ice cream. Crazy place. There was a mile-long queue at this place. We had to wait for around 45 mins before we saw the icecream and it was well worth the wait.

Return Journey to Bangalore:

• Started at 5:30 PM.
• Filled the fuel at a BP COCO, it was around 30Kms from Mangalore.
• Again some traffic throughout till Sakleshpur
• It was really challenging after dark with no proper marking/sign boards at turns.
• At some places, only at the last moment you will know whether the road is turning left or right.
• After the ghat section, we stopped for 5 mins for some cool drinks.
• With the kind of lunch and dinner we had, everyone wanted to skip the dinner.
• So, it was a non-stop drive after that and reached home exactly at 12:00.

Some Numbers:

Total Kms: 789.4
FE(MID): 18.1
Avg Speed: 52Kmph
Duration: 14H:56M


Overall, it was a glorious day that took its own course. We decided to go with the flow and see where it takes us. Much thanks to speedsatya and his family for taking the time out and spending the afternoon with us. The drive was a joyful one with all kinds of road sampled..4L, 2L, off-roading and ghats. Kept me and my Linea on the toes. The kids had fun all along and my wife was a happy camper. A perfect day out with my family.clap:

Drive to Shettihalli with a stop over at Mangalore !! clap:

Seems like they have patched up Hassan - Gorur road, last year majority of that section was in bad shape.

Also, seeing your pics we can figure out how bad this years monsoon was. When I visited the church in Sep 2014 it was almost completely submerged in water. PIC

Can't believe that one can go near these ruins !

When we went there in October 2006, it was completely submerged in water, with barely the tip of the church visible. Remember having seen this ruin standing on the bridge.

Yes, now the road conditions are good almost throughout. Some sections are newly laid.

Looking at that pic, it clearly shows how bad the monsoon is this year.

The below pic was taken from near the water body and it clearly shows how far the water has receded from the church.

@arun, nice account of your visit to the Rosary Church and to Mangalore for lunch and ice-creams. Nice pictures as well, thanks for sharing :thumbs up Hats off to you and the family's zest/enthusiasm for such drives.

You could have also visited Ideal Cafe just off KS Rao Road in Mangalore, again owned by the Pabbas folks. But again, that would have been just Veggie food, not the Non-veg stuff you seem to have enjoyed this time.

Brought back some nostalgic memories of early morning weekend drives to Bidadi, Tumkur and Kolar several years ago just to enjoy the drive and to get some good local breakfast delicacies like Thatte Idly :D
And none of those roads were the 4/6 lane like they are now!

Hello Arun, happy to see you had a nice time and the pics of the ruins are nice. Can't believe you went to Shettihalli and came back via Mangalore:D

As Indian and Suhas have already mentioned, during this time of the year the water should have covered the church. That shows the status of the monsoon this year. In fact people in Hassan unofficially refer to the level of water around the church to decide how the monsoon has been that year.

That said, the place is frequented by mostly people from Hassan who make this place a picnic spot on holidays and thereby littering the place. Since there is not much 'tourist' inflow, the district administration has neglected this place (in terms of facilities). However when more crowds are expected (usually during August-September, when the church is fully submerged), there is some police presence to control crowds.

Thanks NPV!

I will keep a note of it for our next visit :)

Our initial plan was Thatte idly at kunigal and then Shettihalli, but then we decided to reach Shettihalli before the sun came out in full swing and had to skip kunigal.

Thanks addyhemmige!

It was an impulsive decision :D. I had this plan of driving to Mangalore for lunch, but it would have been a direct solo drive to Mangalore with an early start. This one was a tight fit.

Good to know this. When we reached the spot, initially it was only us. Then a KA 51 Xylo with group of guys and a local Omni with a family came to the spot.

Shettihalli Rosary Church Ruins under water:

Visited this place today after 3 years and this time the church is submerged in water. It was an early morning drive and I reached there by 6:30 AM, it was dark and drizzling as well. Here are few pics,

Had come across a recently uploaded drone footage of the church

https://youtu.be/MyrTGURWF08

Another drive to Shettihalli two days back. Now you can enter the church ruins as the water level has receded.

Thanks for the recent pics. Two days back on Kannada Rajyotsava day, we were roaming around Sakleshpur, had plans to visit the ruins but a wrong turn delayed our schedule and therefore had to skip it.