[snaronikar]

Date Travelled: 30.12.2007 (Sunday)

Members in Ford Ikon: Me, Wifey, one kid & baby.[/COLOR]

Fuel:HP normal which was tanked up the previous day (30 ltrs).

Tyrepressure: 32 psi (front & back)

Maps followed: No Maps.

Photographs: As below.

Route taken: Bangalore-Bidadi-Ramanagaram-Chennapatna-Maddur-Malavalli-Bharachukki-Gaganchukki-Talkad & back.

Total kms travelled: 332 (To & Fro)

Ac: 90% (Was switching ac on/off through out)

Driven by: Me. Driven steadily at 90 kmph as I was traveling with family.

Fuel left after the trip in tank: Approximately 7 ltrs

Mileage: 14.43 kmpl (Low as the roads had very bad stretches)

Now the Travelogue:Left Bangalore at 8.30 am in morning. Caught up with Mysore road as it is near to my house. No Traffic Jams anywhere. First stop at MTR on Mysore road near Channapatna. Spent about 45 mins as the hotel - too much of rush. Started again and you need to take a left deviation towards Malavalli for reaching Shivanasamudram. There are sign boards available. Reached Bharachukki (Near Dargah) at 11.45 am. As some members had put in this forum that the view from Dargah was better, stopped here just to have a look. But to my astonishment there were no falls and the all the water was dried up. Spent some time and proceeded to Bharachukki. The falls were not so glorious as I had assumed before I went there. But was OK. Did not go down near the falls as I had a kid and a baby. On the way back visited Madhya Ranga Temple and stopped at a place (near Bharachukki falls) for taking bath in Cauvery. This place was not crowded much and had a very few people. Took bath and enjoyed some time with my son in water. The time was around 2.00 pm. Started proceeding towards Gaganchukki. Had lunch on the way to gaganchukki (as I had packed the food).

Reached Gaganchukki at 3.30 pm. Here we could not watch the actual splendor of the water falls as the water level was low / the authorities were stopping the water at some dam. We could see the water falling only at 2 places. This was a big disappointment. Stayed there for some time. As we were not satisfied with the proceedings, thought of visiting Talkad also. The drive from Gaganchukki to Talkad was a big disappointment as the total distance was around 21 kms and the time we took was 1 ½ hrs. Horrible roads (Photos enclosed).

Reached Talkad at 5.30 pm. Hired a local guide (Fees: Rs.50/-) for showing the place in and around Talkad. First went to River, could not take a dip in the river as we were already late. But went in “Thyappa”. (Thyappa is a round shape boat made out of bamboo shoots). They will charge Rs.10/- per passenger. The water was not deep here. Was around 4~5ft deep. This place is covered with sand around (1800 acres of it). The sand is similar to what we find on beaches. Actually the guide told us that it was a curse of some Vijayanagara Dynasty Queen and due to this curse, the whole of 1800 acres is covered with sand. There are 4 temples in and around this place – Maraleshwara / Pathaleshwara / Keerthenarayanaswamy and Garbha Gudi. By the time we completed all this it was 6.45 pm. Time to start back home.

The ride from Talkad to Malavalli was horrible and I myself do not know how did I managed driving in these treacherous roads. I was moving slow around 25 kmph. But there were many vehicles passing (SUVs & TTs). Couple of times, on these roads the humps scrapped the bottom of my Ikon but luckily enough, it escaped unhurt. from Malavalli to Maddur (Mysore road) was OK though there were some bad stretches. Reached Mysore road around 9.05 pm. The drive back from Maddur to Bangalore was good. But the traffic was too much as it was a Sunday evening and all the people who ever had gone on this side was coming back into the city (I presume). Ultimately reached my house at 10.15 pm. I covered this stretch of 78 kms within 1 hr 10 mins.

Pataleshwara Temple:


Maruleshwara Temple:


Road to Talkad from Gangnchukki: Horrible & Treacherous




Gangachukki from Dargah (Wherz the water flowing ??) Haha. No water falls if viewed from Dargah


Gaganchukki from the view point: (No water falls except for two loctions)


Bharachukki: Ummm..OK

[PatchyBoy]

Nice write up. I did the drive to the same place on the same day. I guess the place you stopped for a dip in the Cauvery is the same place I stopped. Did you spot a Black Palio paked across the road in a coconut grove, with a family of 4 and a white dog? That was me..

Cheers,
Rajan

[snaronikar]

Hey, that's nice. I saw you guys. Only if we knew earlier...The world is so small

[HotChillyPepper]

This is why we need an official sticker for TBhpians. You wud have recognized with that very easily

Nice write up friend.. Hope I will do the same trip once I reach bangalore.

Originally Posted by HotChillyPepper

This is why we need an official sticker for TBhpians. You wud have recognized with that very easily

If required I can contribute on the designing part.

Let me have the brief on the elements required on it.

[hrag]

Nice report sir.

Most people already have the sticker but it is difficult to spot a sticker on the number plate. On a car parked across the road. I have had many false alarms on Bangalore roads when I realize the red sticker is either Sireesh Auto or Dakshin Honda.

[blue_pulsar]

I did a trip to Shivanasmudram last Saturday(15-Nov-2008) with my parents.

Started off in our Swift around 8AM, after having a stomachful of breakfast at home. The weather was nice and bright. The traffic was okay. We took the ring road and joined the Mysore Road via Kengeri Satellite town. Mysore Road, as usual was having traffic. We couldn't go above 80kmph.

(OT: Guys, one warning from my side. Please do not go above 80-90kmph on Mysore Road. The roads are very curvy, having lots of cuts in the median. Also, because of the plants on the median, its difficult to spot senseless people crossing the road without even caring to look before crossing.)

Okay, enough of my lecture. Lets get back to our travelogue. Lots of Coffee Days on the way now. Felt good to see. A McDonald has started too. Last time I had been on that road, it hadn't started yet. Anyways, drove to my favourite Coffee Day which is just before Maddur(I guess this is the oldest one on this road). After having a Latte each, we headed to Maddur. It was time to leave a beautiful road and join a hopeless road. Took a left diversion at Maddur towards Malavalli. The road was filled with potholes. Has degraded a lot since the last 4 months. There are extremely bad patches of roads. Some stretches have no road at all. After taking more than an hour from Maddur, I covered the 46km and reached Shivanasamudram.

Visited the Gaganachukki falls first. There was lesser water now compared to what it was four months back(I visited the place 4 months back with friends). Have a look.









Have a look at a cute monkey at the falls.




We had some tea at the only hotel there. I strongly recommend you guys not to visit this hotel. The tea tasted like it had been prepared yesterday. Coffee tasted like something else. We left everything half finished. But one thing I thoroughly enjoyed was, I ate raw mangoes with salt after soooo many days. Reminded me of school days . After spending about 30-45 minutes there, we started for Bharachukki.

This is one sight we spotted on the way. 4-5 cars were already there. We too stopped for about 10 minutes.





Also spotted this beautiful Hanuman temple on the way.



After seeking blessings from Lord Hanuman, finally, we reached Bharachukki by 12.30PM. Bharachukki also had lesser water compared to what it had 4 months back.







We didn't go down by the riverside. My mother cannot climb down. So, we enjoyed the beauty of the falls for another half an hour from above. I seriously feel that there should be some nice seating above near the parking area, so that senior people who cannot climb down can enjoy the falls, like Jog falls. We started back for Bangalore. By 1.30PM, we stopped for lunch. We had got everything packed. I strongly recommend everyone visiting this place to get lunch packed. You will not find a single decent hotel till Maddur.
We spared the Talakad and Somanathpura for the next trip.
Some more pics:





Finally reached Maddur by 2.45PM. Had tea and Maddur vadas at the famous Maddur Tiffany's. Then drove home by around 4.15PM. Thankfully, we were back home before the mad rush of Saturday evening had begun!

Details:
Route: Bangalore-Mysore Road-Maddur-Malavalli-Gaganachukki-Bharachukki-Malavalli-Maddur-Mysore Road-Bangalore
Car: My Swift VDi
Distance covered: 280km (from home, back to home). Should be around 250 from the Bangalore University.
Mileage: 18.xx (Brought a big smile on my face! Can be considered a decent mileage after travelling on those bad roads.)

[snaronikar]

Hey noice pics. Good that you have waterfalls in full might. Last time I went there were no falls, you can see from the pics above....

[hellstar]

Very nice pictures there my friend , and be careful of these monkeys they sometimes get really wild .. the waterfalls look really nice

[blue_pulsar]

Originally Posted by snaronikar

Hey noice pics. Good that you have waterfalls in full might. Last time I went there were no falls, you can see from the pics above....

Thanks! Actually when I had been in the first week of Aug '08, it was still more beautiful. Have a look.
Gaganachukki




Bharachukki:





These are far better than the ones I've posted earlier, isn't it? If you haven't visited after you posted your pics, you are really missing something. Its a must visit.

Originally Posted by hellstar

Very nice pictures there my friend , and be careful of these monkeys they sometimes get really wild .. the waterfalls look really nice

Yes buddy, absolutely right. When I came back from the falls, were dancing on my car. I was shocked . Ran to my car to see whether any dents. Fortunately they were baby monkeys and nothing had happened. Had a sigh of relief.

[zerocritical]

Originally Posted by hrag

Most people already have the sticker but it is difficult to spot a sticker on the number plate. On a car parked across the road. I have had many false alarms on Bangalore roads when I realize the red sticker is either Sireesh Auto or Dakshin Honda.

why not have something on the windscreen instead of number plate?? Lets do some homework and discuss the same in the coming up meet.