[zoomingbhat]

This is my First Travelogue at Tbhp so please excuse me for any mistakes and correct me if required.

Places Covered:

Bangalore-->Kukke Subramanya-->Dharmasthala-->
Chikmaglur-->Kemmangundi-->Shringeri-->Udupi-->
Kundapura--> Maravanthe-->Murudeshwar-->Jog Falls-->Bangalore

Day 1:
Bangalore-->Hassan-->Sakleshpur-->Shiradi Ghat-->Kukke Subrahmanya-->Dharmasthala-->Ujire-->Charmadi Ghat-->Chikmaglur.

Total Distance covered on Day 1:Around 450kms


Our semester holidays had begun and we wanted to go on long drives this season.So put up a thread on it.

On the d day 2 of my friends dropped out leaving only 3 of us But our enthusiasm managed to do this trip.The main worry was a lone driver ie:myself.Having seen so many travelogues especially by akroy and I felt that i could drive entire trip.

We started at 8am from Bangalore a whole 1hr late according to our schedule.Traffic was bugging me till Nelamangala,even after this the roads had good amount of Traffic which was unlike during my previous drives and the 4 laning work makes the matter a litle more worse.We hit for a tea break at kamath at 10:15am.Left kamath and reached sakleshpur at 11:30.Then we hit Shiradi Ghat section,we loved the sceneray especially my friend from Raichur where they get rain occationally.The negative part was the roads which was recently laid during june has gone bad. .
We reached Subramanya at 1:30pm.The temple had closed by then,So had food and Went to Dharshan at 3:30pm.Next we visited the Adi subramanya temple which is 5 min walk from the main temple.

We started to Dharmasthala at 4:30pm and reached there at 5:30pm.Roads were good except the NH48 section which was bad.
We spent some time at the jain temple as the main temple opened at 7:00pm.When we went to the main temple at 6:30pm I saw a long quoue for dharshan which would take atleast 2 hrs,So called up my cousin who has contacts there and got Special dharshan.We had dinner in the temple itself and came out at 8pm.

We decided to go and stay at chikmaglur which was 90km from Dhramasthala.
I thought it would be a 2hr drive.As we left Dharmasthala it started to rain heavily and to make the matter worse my stock wiper started to give up.Dense fog started building up at Charmadi Ghat and the visibility was very poor.To my rescue I tailed a Chikmaglur registered Fusion who knew the roads very well and was avoiding all the potholes with ease,I suppose he was a regular on this road.We reached chikmaglur at 10:45pm and called it for the Day.

From Kunigal To Hassan




Starting Of Shiradi Ghat







At Shiradi Ghat




You Can have a Look at the potholes


Jain Temple in Dharmasthala


Me tailing Ford Fusion

[romyeo4u]

Nice pics and a precise travelogue,thanks for sharing maite, keep uploading more pics, love the small stream of water picture.

[akroy]

Bhat, Nice pics and travelogue. Hope to see the rest of the log soon.
So, you came to the meet after this long trip?

Abhi

[mjothi]

Nice pics zooming.
Yes, he was straight to the meet after this long travel. Thats the spirit
And that was the reason I was asking basu to drive or accompany his car.
The 4th picture is very good. Excellant shot. Turning, long trees etc do good justice to the picture. I like that.
Waiting for more...

[ravibhat]

Its good that you had good experience, Waiting for the rest of the details,

Regards,

Ravi.

[btirthankar]

I like the spirit

These pictures makes us feel proud of our country

[snaronikar]

Nice pics and travelogue Bhat. I do hope you also zoomed there, just like you did in our t-bp meet on 09/08 (overtaking the cars in front of you).

BTW, your last photo of trailing fusions is too dangerous. Were you able to see the roads? It is covered with fog (I assume).

[anujmishra]

Nice set of pictures of mostly unexplored territory by most of the tourists. Even I have aspiration to travel and explore once the serene environment of western Karnataka region.

Really the immaculate beauty of western Karnataka specially during Monsoon season is incomparable. We already witness few travelogues (Samurai's Augumbe Ghat Jeep testing travelogue and many others).

We are waiting for more.

[hrag]

Nice. Coastal / Western Karnataka is truly beautiful.

For those of you who haven't been there yet, I recommend the road from Sirsi to Kumta via Devimane - simply superb.

[akroy]

Originally Posted by hrag

Nice. Coastal / Western Karnataka is truly beautiful.

For those of you who haven't been there yet, I recommend the road from Sirsi to Kumta via Devimane - simply superb.

Ya I second it. It is awesome and the road is the best among all the other ghats at the moment.

Abhi

[lohithrao]

Nice travelogue and pics...

One from side will be coming soon

[VJ_MAVRICK]

Nice pics there with neat concise report Zooming! The shiradi ghat section i believe will always have those pot holes thanks to the overloaded mining lorries that ply on this road. Anyways keep the pics coming and it was nice to see you @ the meet even after this trip.
No offence just a brotherly advise as i know you personally now: Please don't drive zooming all the time brother and be careful and ofcourse drive safe.

Cheers

[zoomingbhat]

Day 2:

Places covered:

Chikmaglur-->Mullainagiri-->Baba Budangiri-->
Manikya Dhara Falls-->Kemmangundi-->Kalhatti Falls-->Kadur-->Birur-->
Badra Dam-->Shringeri-->Karkala-->Udupi-->Kundapura

Total Distance covered:Around 400kms

We started our day at 5:00am and checked out from the lodge at 5:30.
Our plan was misguided by the lodge manager.He advised us to view the sunrise from Mullainagiri hills and visit Baba Budangiri soon after it.
As we left to Mullainagiri from Chikmaglur the roads were covered with dense fog the visibility was becoming low.There was not even a single vehicle on the road at this time.We started climbing the hills of Mullainagiri,It was a 8km drive uphill.Traffic was nill,Fog was becoming denser,It started raining on a whole Had an experience of lifetime.Finally we reached the top,Forget the sunrise we couldnt even see the roads properly.But this was a new experience for us and we enjoyed it.
We spent some time there and next we started on to Baba Budangiri.Roads became worse.We reached Baba Budangiri at 8:15am.We wanted to see Manikya Dhara Falls and started from Baba Budangiri its just 2km from there but beware the last 100m cannot be covered by car and the road is single lane,Had a tough time reversing the car.We couldnt even enjoy Manikya Dhara Falls due to fog.
At 8:30am we set to Kemmangundi.Its around 35kms from Baba Budangiri(Not fully sure).It took us 2hrs for this drive,The roads were the worst I have come across.We had to cross a forest range(BR forest range).Roads were single lane,There was opposite traffic of tempos which was carrying workers to coffee estate I think,So had to reverse my car about 4 times to give them them the way.We reached Kemmangundi at 10:30.Here we were advised against going to Z point due to leaches.Next There was only 1 jeep available to take us to hebbe falls,Taking advantage of this he was charging us 1200rs for a trip to hebbe.My friends decided against it.Now We were heart broken as why we came here.Next we visited Kalhatti Falls,Its 12kms from kemmangundi.I feel the place had just a water stream and nothing as such to call it a falls.
We stayed in the falls till 12:00,Next we were headed towards Shringeri.We took the locals advice and took the following route Kadur-->Birur-->Tarikere-->Bhadra dam-->Shringeri.The roads were better here.
Reached Shringeri at 4:15pm after visiting Bhadra Dam.We were in shringeri till 6:00 and Dropped out agumbe as it was raining Heavily.
From here we left for Udupi,Roads were average in the kudremukh ghat.Reached Udupi at 9:00pm after a snack break in karkala.Roads from karkala to udupi was excellent.Visited the Sri Krishna temple and came out at 9:30.Had dinner in a nearby hotel,Meanwhile my friend booked a room in turtle bay beach resort in kundapur.We left to kundapur at 10:00.We hit the National highway asked for direction and continued I found the roads were good.Was crusing at 80 when suddenly I found a board displaying distances to Mangalore,Suratkal,Bajpe airport.At this point of time i realised i had come in opposit direction.40kms and moreover 30mins wasted.We then reached Kundapur at 11:45pm and came to know the Turtle Bay Resort was near Maravanthe.So went there to see that resort people are sleeping and no one's picking up the phone.Then We came to Kundapur,Again 30kms and 30mins down the drain.Got a good hotel at Kundapur.Called it for the day at 12:30

At Mullainagiri








At Baba Budangiri


Kalhatti Falls


Badra Dam With gates Closed

[dkamath]

Nice pics, zoomingbhat! So, the Viva is the secret of your energy (was curious to know what vehicle you possess, during the recent team-bhp meet)

Planning a trip to Mangalore and Puttur sometime?

[VJ_MAVRICK]

After going through your report continuation and looking @ the pics, could not hold back in commenting and definitely its very foggy there and nice pics you captured there and keep them coming.