[nkrishnap]

May 1st being holiday just put me in a spot of bother, wondering what I would be doing over the weekend with the Friday being a holiday. On a lazy afternoon on Monday the 27th April 2009, my cell phone rang. My uncle had just helped me clearing all the bothering for the weekend. We together planned to visit the places listed below.

· Kollur
· Udupi
· Sringeri
· Horanadu
· Dharmastala
· Kukke Subrahmanya

We decided to start on the 30th evening. Here is how the drive for the next 3 days went about, but before we get into the details a quick list of facts.

Car: Alto LXI June 2008

Odo Reading: 2398 kms (the car is very sparing driven)

Day 1: 30th April 2009 – 1st May 2009

Planned to start at 5 pm, however invariably we got delayed and started at 6.45 pm with the odometer reading at 2398. Set the trip meter to ‘0’ and we set off. A big thanks to our Bangalore traffic, we were delayed even further. By the time we cross the Nelamangala it was already 9 pm. Reached Tumkur outskirts around 9.45 pm were we stopped to tank up. Next stop was for dinner somewhere after Gubbi. Had couple of rotis to ensure that I don’t dose off with a heavy dinner. The road up to Arayur which is about 20 kms from Shimoga is in excellent condition. Here I took the deviation towards Kollur. From here on the roads are ok, but very bumpy and narrow. This route had quite a bit of Lorries carrying the iron ore towards Byandur. We reached Hosanagara at 3.15 am. Stopped for a pee break and continued driving towards Kollur via Nittur. After Nittur the roads are pretty narrow and steep. We reached Kollur at 5.30 am. We took a lodge and dumped all the luggage and I dosed off for a couple of hours.

We got ready and visited the temple and after darshan had breakfast. Vacated the room and started off towards Udupi at 9.30 am which is about 75 kms from Kollur. It was getting hotter as the sun got higher in the sky. We reached Udupi at 11.45 am, had a tough time parking the car near the temple. Not to mention it was seriously hot and humid in Udupi, however the temple (for god sake the temple inside is air conditioned). After the darshan, we had lunch at the temple.

Now the most irritating part was to get the car out of the parking spot. The cars, MUVs, bikes all parked so haphazardly ensured that we almost wasted an hour getting the car out of the place. With the load of 5 adults and AC operating at full blast ensured the Alto was struggling to take even the slightest of inclines. After all the irritating parking woes, another one incident was in store for us. The boot lock spring jumped out of place to ensure that the boot cannot be closed. We searched for a nearby garage who could fix it. We indeed found a garage where we got the spring problem rectified.

We headed towards Agumbe. Agumbe is the Chirapunji of South India. This route from Hebri to Agumbe has dense ever green forest. This made the frustration to just disappear. The ghat section here is pretty steep and narrow. We drove up the ghats and stopped at the sun set point. We had some yummy pineapples here; the pineapples were just too good.


From here we drove to Sringeri. No rooms at the temple lodge in Sringeri, we were scouting around for a room to stay. We finally found one, which was very average. Left with no choice we had to opt for this one. Refreshed ourselves and visited the temple. We had dinner at the temple. I have to mention that the food serving premises at Sringeri temple is huge and it can easily serve food (lunch/dinner) to 5000 people at one shot. It was time to hit the beds for a sound sleep.

Day 2: 2nd May 2009

Got up early, paid another visit to the temple and then headed towards Horanadu via Kudremukh. Here we visited the Soothanabbi Falls; I’ll let the pics do the talking for falls and the Kudremukh road.

Reached Horanadu, we took a room there for a mere 80 bucks. This is the temple trust owned lodge hence the price being so low. Visited the temple and hand yummy lunch at the temple. It was time to dose off and remained indoors to avoid the scorching sun. In the evening it was time again to venture out, visited around the temple. Had the temple pooja related things done in the evening. Had dinner and time to hit the beds again.

Day 3: 3rd May 2009

We started early in the morning by 7 am as we had to reach Dharmastala by 9.30 am max. However the schedule went haywire as the Charmadi route has been closed until June 09. We had to go through Sakaleshpur and reach Dharmastala. We reached at 11.15 am. Now the frustrating part of waiting in the queue took toll on me. A good 4+ hours by the time we came out of the temple. Time to head to Kukke Subrahmanya which is about 60 kms from Dharmastala. The roads where pretty good. We reached Subrahmanya at 4.30 pm, took a lodge and it was time for me to dose off up to 7.30 pm as I had to drive back till Bangalore. Visited the temple for darshan and then the dinner. But at the dinner place we got delayed it was already 9.45 pm when we finished dinner.

Quickly packed up things and started off at 10.30 pm. We had a couple of breaks on the way which lasted for about 45 mins. Reached Bangalore (my uncle’s house at 3.30 am)

A drive completed after quite a break. The reason for the break coming up in the next post.

Route:

Bangalore – Nelamangala – Tumkur – Arasikere – Bhadrawathi – Shimoga – Arayanur – Hosanagara – Nittur – Kollur – Kundapura – Udupi – Manipal – Hebri – Someshvara – Agumbe – Sringeri – Kudremukh – Kalasa – Horanadu – Kalasa – Kottigehara – Mudigere – Sakaleshpur – Dharamastala – Gundya Post – Kukke Subrahmanya – Gundya Post – Sakaleshpur – Hassan – Kunigal – Nelamangala – Bangalore
Total Trip Distance – 1188 kms

[lohithrao]

Krishna, its a nice travelogue... and guess you are a regualr traveler, as you took the hosnagara route at night

now let us know the reason for the break

[mobike008]

Roads in the 1st and 7th pic is absolute divine. Would love to be on them one rainy day

[nkrishnap]

Originally Posted by lohithrao

Krishna, its a nice travelogue... and guess you are a regualr traveler, as you took the hosnagara route at night

now let us know the reason for the break

Thanks Lohith. Yep i'm pretty familiar with the routes in Karnataka except for the north Karnataka (the dry region)

The reason for the long break is in the below post

I had a very similar thing happen to my right hand about 7 months back, but not to one finger, all the 4 fingers on my right hand.

Let me narrate the incident. I have a bike with the open chain. the bike was put on a ramp and the bike's engine was running with the first gear locked in. I have no clue as to how I tripped over, but my right hand landed up in the rear chain sprocket. The end result being, the 4 fingers of my right hand chopped off exactly half way from the knuckles.

I was bleeding profusely. Picked up the fingers with my left hand, and rushed to the nearby hospital for the first aid. After the first aid, took the ambulance to rush to HOSMAT Hospital. I was all alone till I reached HOSMAT. In the mean while informed my family members. They reached there shocked and by that time I was already going through the pre-operation tests.

Had to undergo the Micro-Vascular Surgery which almost took about 6 hours. Lucky me, Have all fingers back in place except for the little finger, where I have lost the nail part. Have been going through the strengthening the fingers.

Now the fingers are all operational with the sensation. But the movements and folding the fingers are still a hinderence. However, working on to get the fingers moving and folding normally.

I do have a pic of the fingers when it was midway through recovery, not sure if I can post that on the forum.

I'm really thankful my family, the doctors and my company to help through this tough time.

Sorry about my poor explanation.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/1262022-post7.html

[hillram]

I have done Blr-Mangalore few years back and the roads,terrain,forests of Sakleshpur are simply beautiful.I remember a river flowing through alongside of the road and st times there was a cascading waterfall on to the road.

[nkrishnap]

Originally Posted by hillram

I have done Blr-Mangalore few years back and the roads,terrain,forests of Sakleshpur are simply beautiful.I remember a river flowing through alongside of the road and st times there was a cascading waterfall on to the road.

Yep, thats after Donigal when you are going towards Mangalore there is a mini Hydel project. The river flow right next to the highway upto Gundya Post. The western ghats during rain is just too good.

[snaronikar]

Nice travelogue dude. Sorry to note what happened to your fingers. But your determination has to be appereciated. You got all your fingers back (except the little one). Post some more pics.

[akroy]

Nice travelogue and pics.
I sincerely wish your fingers back to the same old glory (as if nothing had happened). Your courage is really appreciable!!

Abhi

[nkrishnap]

Thanks all for the wishes! Indeed I've recovered pretty well. I will start back with cricket as well in a few days.

By the way how do I post a video on to the thread, do I need to upload on youtube and then embed the link here or is there a facility to upload directly.

Will post more pics and the video later in the day.

Cheers!

[akas_chauhan]

Nice write up. Good to know some scenic religious places. May be i'll take my parents next time.

[sada]

Nice Travelogue! Finger incident brought back the memories of losing my forefinger upto the nail portion back in 1998 in a lathe accident. We reached St. Johns Hospital within 1/2 hour of the accident, but the doctors attended me only after 3 hours to tell me that it cannot be attached. Though we had passed thru Hosmat to reach St. Johns, we had completely forgot that Hosmat existed there. I have heard many negative opinions about St. Johns after this incident. Luckily, u have gone to the right hospital.

BTW, how is the road condition presently in Shiradi Ghat? - have been postponing the Dharmasthala trip because of the road condition.

[nkrishnap]

Shiradi ghats are in pretty good shape except for a few rough patches here and there. But I wonder as to how it will fair when the rain start bombarding the region. It might get to the nightmare condition again

[sanjaymugur]

nice trip log Krishna, you should get that LINEA which are so planning for & starting traveling even more...

[HappyWheels]

A good one, Krishna!

You seems to have had everything planned out well.

I was going to ask as to why the night drive with family, but then when you posted that you were very comfortable with the roads, I guess it explains the timing.

Originally Posted by mobike008

Roads in the 1st and 7th pic is absolute divine. Would love to be on them one rainy day

Woah Mobike! Same thought! Driving thru such a road when you have a rainfall is definitely an experience I would also love!

[nkrishnap]

Also one of the reasons for the night journey is lack of leaves at work, rather too tight at work to take leaves.

Also I have done these routes quite a bit of times on my bike. A few of them are on the blog (PS: my signature)

Will post more pics tonight.