8th November 2007, 13:31
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| Newbie Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Bangalore
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| Trip to Madikeri (3-day) Ford Ikon Here is the repeat post for the same. Trip to Madikeri Nov1: started at 4:45 am from home----left to friend's places to pick them up, first Jayanagar, then BSK2ndstage and finally Kamakya. Then took the Ring Road connecting to Mysore Road SH17. Stopped at Maddur Tiffanys for b'fast around 6.45. Pit stop for about 20-25 min. Left Maddur around 7.10am. Reached Mysore-Hunsur Ring Road Junction around 8am. Proceeded towards Infy. Road is quite good with few stretches of bad patches where road-widening work was undertaken. Then took the Hunsur City bypass towards Piriyapatna. Reached Bylukuppe Tibetan Monastery around 9am. Actually we missed the arch which shows the way to monastery, and went ahead for about 2-3 kms, where the road widening work is going and absolutely no road exist there. To monastery u have to take a left near the Arch which says Tibetan School. Left Monastery around 10.30and reached the Kushalnagar checkpost around 10.45am. And to our dismay we realized that it was Kodagu Bandh on the Day of Karnataka Rajyotsava. Very frustrating and very very silly because we really didn’t understand the need to block vehicles from entering Kodagu on this day alone out of the 365 days of the yr. Anyways after waiting there for about 15-20 min and getting confirmed from few policeman there that its not going to get over b4 6pm in the evening, we left back towards Bylukuppe and stopped on the way for snacks. The most frustrating part was we didn’t ourselves know about this also didn’t get the info from the Home stay ppl where we had booked our rooms. It seems the decision to block roads was taken at the last moment. So there was no way we could have this info before hand on the way to Mysore or even Kushalnagar. Then we planned to leave to Mysore to a friend's farmhouse and be back to Kodagu around 6pm. I had done most of the driving from blr to kushalnagar, and now let my friend to take the wheels till Mysore. Mysore is 88km from Kushalnagar. We reached there around 1.30pm and had lunch at Olive Garden, where one of my friend's friend joined us there. Then after lunch we went to his Farmhouse, had coconut water and relaxed till 4.30pm chatting. It was very tiring and the coconut water helped us refresh for our journey back to Kodagu. We headed towards Madikeri, and the KSRTC buses headed back to Mysore from Kushalnagar gave us the indication that indeed the bundh had been called off. It was dark b4 we reached Kushalnagar and the road is very bad in that stretch making it all the more worse was that there were many KSRTC buses heading to Mangalore from Blr via Madikeri thru the Sampaje Ghat, bcos of the repair work of Shiradi ghat being closed. Also Charmadi Ghats is bad for Volvos and mostly traffic jams happen on this route to Mangalore. We followed some signboards and with the help of the Cauvery Home stay guys got to know the place finally. First we passed the East End hotel then reached the home stay which is about 2km from Madikeri town. It is on the right side of the road leading to Mangalore from Madikeri. We reached there by 8pm. IT was very tiring as we had almost done about 500km till then. After much deliberation we succeeded in getting the Person at the Home stay to arrange the dinner for us, his argument was being a bundh no hotels will have opened and he also had not arranged food at his place bcos the guy who cooked food had left the previous day, though the booking was done 1 week earlier, the bundh did upset our plans a bit. Nevertheless we did make it on Thu night to Madikeri. Nov2: it was a beautiful day and it was bit chilly in the morning, luckily throughout the day we didn’t get rains, from locals we heard that 2 days b4 we arrived the rains had stopped, so luckily we had planned to be in Madikeri at the right time. Firstly we headed towards Bhagamandala around 8.25am, which is about 33km from the place we stayed. The road was awesome and we covered it in 35min, reaching the place at 9.00am. 33 km in 35min is not bad was what I chuckled to which one of my friend jokingly said that he got stomach upset sitting in the backseat due to the rally ride !!! hehe it was fun though as I was in the driver's seat. My Ford Ikon did respond well to the speed, but a few places I did lock the brakes, the need for ABS for this young-IKON felt badly  After we spent some time at the sangama of 3 rivers (Kaveri, Kannika and Sujyothi) we went to the Bhagamandaleshwara temple, which was under renovation, it’s a very old temple but was a nice place to be. From there we headed towards Talakaveri which is roughly 9km. We left around 9.45am and reached TC at 10.15 am; the road is not that good from there and so took some time to cover the 10km distance. The place is awesome, did some puja at the base where the Kaveri birth takes place, took a few snaps and then climbed the steps to reach the hill top near the place. IT was awesome exp, and we felt like eternity there. One thing I still could not figure out is y we become so romantic when we are on hill tops hehe we chatted there for about and hr or so about past, present and future girlfriends and pulled each other's legs big-time.Now comes the most imp part of the trip, at least for me. There was a place known as Chalavera falls about which I had read in team-bhp.com, and it was recommended to visit this place bcos its awesome, not many ppl visit that place. So we had taken little road-route info from the net about this place, but to our surprise not many locals knew about this place. Now this falls is in a place called Cheyyandane, Kakkabe. We had planned to take it up on the 3rd day, the day we were to leave back to blr. But then we decided to change the plan a bit, and explore this place on the 2nd day itself. Now this place one needs to visit for lot of reasons, its tranquility, it s beauty and the fact that getting to this place in itself gives a sense of achievement The road as I had read about needed a jeep 4x4, but on speaking to some of the locals who knew about this, cars could also make it at slow speeds.The route is like this. Firstly u have to go past a place called Napoklu--- to which there are signboards predominantly in Kannada. SO it helps if u has someone with u who knows Kannada. On reaching Napoklu, there is an intersection, one which goes to Virajpet and another which goes towards Nalknad palace, Tadiandamole. Take the road which goes towards Virajpet to reach Cheyyandane. The falls is in this place only. After a couple of directions from the locals, reached a place which had a jeep stand? Take a right at this place, the road all the way was bad, 2nd, 3rd gear and max 30km speed. The road narrows down further once u takes a right towards the falls. This road is like a walkway and only one vehicle can pass at a time, one another thing is most localites here own a jeep and they hardly give way to u more so if they realize ur from blr (by looking at ur vehicle regn no) Which to me is awkward, I mean y will u not give way to someone just bcos he’s not from ur place. Neways have to be careful though. This roads leads to another Kaccha road, for about 4-5 km and then there on the left u will find a board showing the way to Chalavera falls. We parked the car at the base and had to climb to reach the falls. The sound of the falls was deafening from a distance and we had to see it to believer the beauty of this falls. Well this was the most satisfying moment of the trip, all the tiredness all the frustration of the Bundh vanished in a second, at the sight of this place. IF SOMEONE IS GOING TO COORG, THEY CANT MISS THIS PLACE. We reached the falls at around 1pm, a journey of close to 2 hrs from Bhagamandala and distance was around 49km. We really didn’t want to leave the place at all. After enjoying the falls, taking snaps, drinking the ice cold misty (better than mineral) water of the falls, and storing some for our further use, we then moved to the base of the falls, which was also equally good. Then the weather suddenly changed from clear blue skies to cloudy black. and dark. There were a few kids who were coming towards the falls, apparently their homes were still further than the base of the falls, to a question whether it would rain, one of the kids said yes definitely and believe it or not, it started pouring cats and dogs in just 2-3minute. we had to run back to the car, and the ride back to the main road where the jeep stand was bit scary and difficult , all the while I was expecting no vehicle from other side as there was no way this road can take 2 vehicles at any time. With wiper working at full speed I could still barely see the road ahead. This was the only instance where we saw rain in Coorg throughout our stay for 3 days. Then we reached Madikeri town at around 3.45pm and went to Athithi for snacks, we didn’t feel like having lunch at that time. Then around 4.30pm we left for Raja Seat, just 0.5 km from Madikeri town. IT was evening time, thought of catching the sun set but the cloud cover played spoilsport, nevertheless the mist formation and the chill in the air was enjoyable and spent some 1 to 1.5 hrs there. Then left Raja Seat around 6.30pm towards our Room. Nov3: The last day of our trip, we started from the Room early, the plan was to visit Abbey Falls and have b'fast come back to room and then check-out before leaving towards Iruppu falls. The last leg of the trip. We started around 8am; Abbey falls about 9km from Madikeri. Reached there at about 8.30am. It was a pleasant scene, spent about 30min or so there and left around 9am back to the room, on the way had b'fast at Madikeri town, checked out and left towards Irupu falls. Took the road to Virajpet, which is about 38 km from Madikeri, and then there is a check post, take left there towards GOnikoppa. Reached Irupu falls around 1pm. Distance about 90km, Time: 2.5 hrs. It was very crowded at Irupu, not as enjoyable as Chelavera, but guess the time we had been there, most of them were already in that place. Spent some time at the falls and left there around 2.15pm. Then stopped over a place near the falls, for having some snacks. Then we planned to go through Nagarhole on our way back to Mysore. It’s about 63 km from Irupu. We reached the entry point at around 3:50pm, and drove thru Nagarhole, it was awesome, found many deer near to the road. Reached the exit point at around 4.20pm and left to Mysore to our friend's sister's place for a stopover for tea. The distance was about 63 km from Nagarhole and reached there around 6pm. After a 15-20min break left for Blr, it was already dark, and so had to keep the speed a bit low, neways took a good 2.5 hrs to reach the Outer ring road in blr, usual traffic greeted us, and also the feeling of y we were back, the past 3 days had gone past us like 3minutes or so, and the Best memories of the Chalavera falls, The Talacauvery and the hilltop all came thru my mind. Then I dropped off all the guys and reached home around 10pm, the total distance covered in the whole trip about 1000km and mileage about 14.5 km , not bad for Ford Ikon what with around 30-40% distance covered in 2 and 3 & 4 gears. THanks guys, Hope you will njoy my first written travelogue in this forum. REgards Manjunath Ford Ikon Last edited by Rudra Sen : 9th November 2007 at 14:51. Reason: Format tags fixed. |
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8th November 2007, 15:46
| #2 |
| Newbie Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Bangalore
Posts: 23
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8th November 2007, 22:29
| #3 | |
| Senior - BHPian  | Quote:
but on one of my earlier posts, when i was talking about the 4x4 path, i wasnt talking about the road till the falls. its what lies beyond that needs the 4x4. its a pity you guys had to drive back from there. you could have pushed a little more. apart from a few more waterfalls, here's what lies beyond:    ...and the road to chelavara and back is not that scary. its a normal internal coorg road thats been beaten by the recent rains. its beyond chelavara falls that the roads end, and the fun begins best thing to do is rent a jeep from kakkabe and do the trail. its safe to park the car in kakkabe too.please do post pics of your trip... Last edited by NIP : 8th November 2007 at 22:32. | |
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9th November 2007, 14:30
| #4 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Bangalore
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9th November 2007, 17:00
| #5 |
| Senior - BHPian  | Nice report manjunath, some pics would have done justice to the few readers here and would have very well complemented your effort of writing that report. A travelogue without pics is like a car without a FFE  . |
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9th November 2007, 19:08
| #6 |
| BHPian | Nice travelogue. Well detailed IMO. Btw the Ikon is a 1.3 is it? Doesn't sound like a 1.6  cya A |
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12th November 2007, 01:57
| #7 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Charlotte/Blore
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12th November 2007, 10:27
| #8 |
| Newbie Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Bangalore
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| hi NIP, well, somehow i missed that in your travelogue i guess, but surely will make it to that place next time, cos i am determined to visit the Chalavera falls again (sooner rather than later). Anyways just to get some info on that place, the pics look like you had to trek to the top of the hill, or did the 4x4 jeep take u all the way to the top ? if were to hire the jeeps, wt could be the approx cost ?(per head basis) neways still better can we trek to this place from the falls ? cos i think if its a couple of kms from the falls, then best would be to park the car near the falls, and trek to this place. , the pics are awesome !!! maybe this would be the next best reason to visit Coorg next time. hehe thanks anyways for all ur valuable inputs and other guys in the forum too. Regards manjunath Note : somehow i am unable to upload the photos , plz let me know the best / easiest way to do that in this forum. THanks |
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12th November 2007, 10:50
| #9 |
| Newbie Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Bangalore
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| Posting pics hi guys, finally figured out how to post pics in here. Hope this works.  |
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12th November 2007, 10:53
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| BHPian | |
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12th November 2007, 12:20
| #11 |
| Senior - BHPian  | |
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12th November 2007, 13:10
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| Team-BHP Support   | Manju, as the others mentioned, please do put up snaps. On a travelogue they are VERY important. |
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12th November 2007, 17:10
| #13 |
| Newbie Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Bangalore
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| Hi guys, here are some more photos..... [img=http://img161.imageshack.us/img161/2329/ssl20340ff8.th.jpg] [img=http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/6794/cimg0051ss6.th.jpg] [img=http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/2060/cimg0005bw4.th.jpg] [img=http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/5670/ssl20301lf2.th.jpg] Absar and snaronikar its the 2007 model Ford Ikon 1.3 Flair, Jeans Blue color. I must say at few places on the way to Kushalnagar, the underbody took some beating , not bcos of the road but bcos of some crazy villagers who put up artificial humps on NH using Size Jelly stones, and mud. crap, its hardly noticeable at speeds over 110-120. |
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12th November 2007, 17:33
| #14 |
| Newbie Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Bangalore
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12th November 2007, 18:46
| #15 |
| Newbie Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Bangalore
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