[pmvelu]

Friends,
This is My third Travelogue in our site & this time the difference is I got a New Sony H7 (Digital camera) and hence photos should be OK as in my earlier travelogues, Photos were out of focus Or Bit Shabby.

Date : Feb 2nd / 3rd 2008
Car : Santro XO
Route Taken : Mysore - Hunsur- Periyapatna-Bylekuppe-Koppa-Kushal Nagara-Cauvery Nishadharma - Hosakote - Suntikoppa - Madikeri- Abey Falls-Bhagamandala-Talacauvery-Madikeri-Mysore

Distance (From Mysore) ( You need to add +6 kms to the undermentioned as we Joined the Hunsur Road @ Hinkal Junction) :
Hunsur (38 kms)
Periyapatna (63 kms)
Bylekuppe( 78 kms)
Koppa ( 80 kms)
Kushal Nagara(82 kms)
Cauvery Nishadharma ( 88 kms)
Hosakote(94 Kms)
Suntikoppa ( 100 kms)
Madikeri (115 kms)
End- to - End :- 340 kms

General Hints:-

1)Once you Leave Mysore, you have good Hotel near Hunsur Bypass Followed by good Hotels At Kushal Nagara and that's it in the entire stretch of Mysore - Madikeri
2) Take Care while you drive back from Abbey Falls as it's SSSSSSssoooooo Steeppppp Climb for few Kms and one Mega U turn which I felt someway odd and difficult to take the turn & Also road is kind-of-single at many places (I mean IF a car comes in the opposite Direction, it's better to stop and go instead of getting down which might create problem as the Road sides are with Bigger Holes
3) It's better to aVoid taking older people for the Steep walk From talacauvery temple to the Top to have views of Brahmagiri Mountain Ranges as eventhough the view is brilliant the Steep walk is very very difficult for anybody

Feb 2nd :-
We (Myself, My wife, My 4 year Kid & My Mother) started at around 11.30 am from Mysore on Saturday and took Hunsur Road and Road is as usual smooth, Drove Thru Hunsur Bypass and Reached the first bad patch of the Trip and that is periyapatna (For Around 3 kms) Road is Bad .Drove past Bylekuppe / Koppa ( People who are interested to Visit the Tibetan Settlements / Golden Temple need to take a Left in Bylekuppe Or Koppa and in one of our earlier trips we visited Tibetan settlements and we took the left from Koppa).From Koppa again the road is bad and the stretch is bad upto Kushal Nagara.Stopped for few minutes in Kushal Nagara anf got some snacks / Packed lunch and continued in Madikeri Highway. Road is bad until Suntikoppa .From Suntikoppa the actual Ghat road starts and it is just like normal Kerala Roads and we never felt we are climbing up with no Valley view OR Hair-pin bends.Reached MAdikeri around 3 pm (I normally drive relatively slow and hence and experiences drivers can make it much faster).
From Madikeri, We wanted to go to Hotel Mayura Valley view (Karnataka Tourism Hotel) and we asked a Policeman and he directed us towards the Raja's seat (For Raja's seat, just before Madikeri bus stand, we need to take a left). Drove past Raja's seat and took the extreme left and passed "All India Radio Madikeri" and saw the Hotel.

Hotel Mayura Valley View :-



We got a Double B/R and it's 999 Rs /Day (INcluding Taxes) + 200 (For extra mat). Rs 1200 /Day. Complex is new and rooms are also neat and we have the same view from the rooms equivalent to the view we had from Raja's seat. Just Relaxed for 1/2 an hour or so and then we started towards Abbey Falls.
ForAbbey Falls, Basically we took the Same road and reached the Madikeri Private Bus stand (Via Raja's seat and Turned left). From MAdikeri PRivate Bus stand we took a right (It's better to ask i the PRivate bus stand). Road is excellent with roads Zig Zag kind of and towards the end there was a Mega U turn and reached Abbey falls (I think it's around 8 kms). Parked the car ( PArking 20 Rs) and Walked for 10 minutes or so and reached the falls and it's almost 6 pm and the Lone Policeman there told, it's relatively late and hence may be you can finish soon and come back to the PArking & he started walkign back. Took Few Photos and we followed him to the parking. Started back From Abbey Falls and PArked near Raja's seat.

Way to Abbey Falls :-





Abbey Falls :-





Raja's seat is good with Dancing Musical Fountain and the views are fantastic. We spent around 1 hour or so. (Entrance Fees is Rs 2). We then reached the Hotel and had a nice dinner and slept.

View from Raja's Seat :-





Musical Foutain - Raja's Seat:-




Feb 3rd:-

We got up at 5 am and leaving behind my family in the room (as it's quite cold) I had a Quick walk to Raja's seat to take soem few photos and saw Local people doing walking /Exercise / Jogging etc.

Madikeri @ 5.30am:-



View From Raja's Seat @ 6 am:-









AIR Madikeri @ 6.00 am:-




Returned back after taking few photos Had breakfast in the restaurant (Breakfast is inclusive in Room Rent) and we had Upma / Bread Omlette and Vacated the room around 8 am (We Planned to vacate as in all the Karnataka tourism hotels the check-in time is 12:00 and check out time is also 12:00).
We started and took first left after Raja's seat and then took left after few metres (there are 2 lefts one leading to Virajpet / Gonikoppal & this left is almost like U turn and the left which we are supposed to take is proper left (Sign Board Bhagamandala says 36kms and Talacauvery 43 kms and mangalore 110 kms or 115 kms --This OR is mine as i forgot). It's gradual descent with every curve in bad patch and after few kms, we need to take a right as the straight road leads to Mangalore. Road is excellent and Sign boards are there and no need to ask anybody for route and we reached Bhagamandala and drove past for Talacauvery (Bhagamandala to Talcauvery is Ghat Road and Relatively steep , scenic Valley views , Saw Few PRivate Buses on the way) and at last reached Talacauvery. Parked the vehicle.

TalaCauvery Temple Photo:-




Steeep Walk From Talacauvery temple to View Brahmagiri Mountain Ranges :-



[IMG]http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/4985/talacauverytempleinbgzj3.jpg
[/IMG]

View of Brahmagiri Mountain Ranges :-







WIP to build an Arch in front of the temple and the temple is Beautiful and we saw people climbing up the Steps near to the temple and it's dead steeeeeepppp. That walk is worth as we saw beautiful views from the top, came back and visited the temple , had prasadam, theertham and drove back to Bhagamandala. On the way, Saw a Board "View Point" stopped there and took a photo of Bhagamandala Temple and it came out good.

View of Bhagamandala Temple from View Point (Talacauvery):-






Then we visited Bhagamandala temple and we saw temple authorities are preparing the temple for Kumbabhisekham (Not sure on the date but the work is in full swing)
We Started Again and on the way , near Cauvery nishadharma , People are cutting down the trees for Road Widening . We waited for 1/2 an hour or so as the road is blocked as they are trying to pull down the chopped tree.

Then we continued and I thought of visiting harange Dam this time atleast (8 kms from Kushal Nagara) BUT saw a PWD board , "Welcome to Haranage Dam - 8kms" & " Entry to Harange Dam is prohibited"".. It's good we saw as We had a simlar experience when we tried to Visit Shimsha Power Plant near Shivsamudra some time back. We drove all the 10 kms (After seeing the Board " Welcome to Shimsha Power Plant First Plant in South East Asia " in the bad roads with none around on the way to ask for route to face the question at the Dhimsa plant gate, "Who asked you to come here & without authorization you are not Supposed to use this road first of all"-- We turned back (Aleast HAranage PWD people are good)
We Drove Straight with few minutes stop at Kushal Nagara for refreshments and reached Mysore at around 5pm.

Hope this will be of some help when our T-BHP Members plan a trip in future to these places.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Great trip

Nice pictures too.

[snaronikar]

Nice pics and report. BTW what's the FE you got?

[ravibhat]

Good write up, Madikeri is beautifull place

Agreed about Harangi Dam and Shimsha. When we visited Shimsha they told us same thing we were disappointed but sometimes I heard in few reservoirs if we pay some money to them they will become our gudies I prefer not to see such prohibited areas because its too risky to enter such place and nothing special in it and better to follow the rule.

I have seen every corner of few big Dams like TB Dam Hospet, Linganamakki Dam Jog, Harangi Damm KushalNagar and can't remember few more in old days where there was not much security involved. but now a days because of threats may be they started prohibiting every such places. If we bring MLA/MP/Top governameant authorities letter they will allow.

Regards,

Ravi.

[akroy]

Nice Pics, During my visit there it was raining and foggy, finally could see some sunlit pics from that place...
Abhi

[pmvelu]

Thanks a lot for your time & comments Thad E Ginathom ,Naronikar(I haven't checked FE), Ravi bhat (yes you are right & I too have the same view on getting into unauthorized places) & akroy .
I took quite a lot of photos BUT while posting the traveloue only I came to know 20 photos is the maximum limit.
Please find some more photos which I have taken during the trip .

View from Hotel Room:-




Raja's Fort - View from Hotel:-



Sunset - Raja's Seat:-



View OF Madikeri @ 5am:-



TalaCauvery temple in the BG:-



Near Raja's Seat :-



Cheers