6th October 2009, 13:21
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| Senior - BHPian  | Unplanned weekend trips to Sringeri-Agumbe & Kaginahare This was the time where the long weekends could turn into extended weekends if you could take a couple of days leave. But, no such luck for me. I had to be content with the 3 days (Friday, Saturday & Sunday). Yes, this was the Oct 2nd weekend. Initially, I had this weekend all planned up. Me and a few friends were supposed to go to Parambikulam, Kerala for the famed 'Tramway Trek'. But, due to last minute dropouts, we had to postpone the trip to the next weekend. Went home dejected and wondering what I can do for the next 3 days. Here is what happened over the next three days. Day 1, Friday, Oct 2nd Got up lazily and got ready by 1 pm. Then suddenly my mom calls up (mom & dad were visiting from Hassan, my hometown) and asks me to go with them to Hassan (since they are taking the car). I think, 'why not, what else can I do for the next 2 days?'. Then I see that my grandmother, my aunt & my cousin are also coming. My brother also gets in bunking college on Saturday. We all start towards Hassan at 4pm. I was driving my dad's 2007 Innova. I took the Magadi road (I always take this road to Hassan) and reached NH48 in good time and join heavy traffic from Kunigal onwards. Reached Hassan at around 7.30 with a few breaks in between. During the journey, I get to know that the family is planning to go to Sringeri the next day. It was a good feeling to know that the long weekend would not go to waste. So, we have dinner at home and call it a night. Day 2, Saturday Sringeri is around 160 kms from Hassan. We start at 10 in the morning and are stopped by a roadblock near SDM Ayurveda college in Hassan. Some truck has blocked a bridge under construction. I wait for a few minutes and turn back towards Gorur road and join the Hassan bypass (which is pathetic, btw). I take a right turn from the bypass to join the BM road in Hassan at Tanneeru halla. Fill up diesel and start towards Chikmagalur. The route is Hassan-Belur-Chikmagalur-Aldur-Balehonnur-Jayapura-Sringeri. Hassan to Chikmagalur is around 60 kms and was covered in 40mins. You can maintain high speeds on the Hassan-Belur road. Belur to Chikmagalur is good but it has become rough over the months. We reach Chikmagalur and stop over at the Cafe Coffee Day on Mudigere road for a small break. We hit the road after a few minutes. Mudigere road is pretty smooth until Vastare village where you need to take a right turn towards Aldur. From here on, you encounter all kinds of terrain. Good roads for a while, then suddenly you encounter potholes, again rough roads etc. But overall, it is a decent stretch all the way to Sringeri. Just as we crossed the 'Bridge on the River Tunga' the clouds opened up to welcome us. Although the streets were relatively crowd-free (maybe because of the rain), I had a tough time finding parking. The parking lot was full and to add to the misery, there were pools of water all over  . Somehow parked the vehicle and made it to the temple. By the time we reached Sringeri, it was already 2 pm. The temple had just closed at 2 pm and would open only at 5 pm.So, we all had lunch at the temple and decided to go to Agumbe and be back by the time the temple re-opens. Agumbe is just 24 kms from Sringeri and the drive was awesome what with all the greenery and foggy conditions all around. We went to the Sunset point at the start of the famous Agumbe ghat. It was a very nice place and the only drawback was the amount of litter at the place. The place was stinking like anything. If not for the litter, it would have been a more enjoyable experience. Then we head back to Sringeri and reached there at 5 pm. There was a function being held at the temple premises which was attended by G Madhavan Nair, Chairman of ISRO. I also saw a white Swift VDi, with Team-Bhp stickers on the front and back number plates, parked inside the temple premises. Can the owner of the white Swift VDi with T-BHP stickers on and parked in the Sringeri temple premises on Saturday please raise their hand???  After finishing the darshan, we started off on our return journey to Hassan. It was an uneventful journey and we reached Hassan at 9.30 in the night Here are a few pictures. PS: I apologise for the quality of the pictures. These were taken from a mobile phone. Lush green paddy fields on the way. I also happened to see a peacock in one of the paddy fields, but could not shoot it (didn't have a good camera, you see)   Foggy roads in Agumbe     A small stream flowing gloriously (and sadly polluted by trash)  View from the 1st view point from Agumbe    The fog on the ghat road. You can see the litter on the right side of the pic   A snail giving a damn to somebody's name on the plaque  Agumbe ghat roads, One below the other   View below the viewing platform. Observe all the litter below. It was disgusting, to say the least.   The famous Malgudi Days house in Agumbe  Tunga River in full flow. Pic taken from the 'Footbridge on the River Tunga'   The old Sringeri temple  Day 3 and pics continued...... Last edited by addyhemmige : 6th October 2009 at 13:26. |
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6th October 2009, 16:23
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| Senior - BHPian | |
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7th October 2009, 18:38
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| Senior - BHPian | Continued Day 3 Day 3, Sunday, 4 Oct Got up late on sunday morning, thinking 'why do holidays get over so early?? It seems that I have to wait for ages for the weekend and when it comes it is over in a split second'. So, what to do now?? Hmmm. After much thinking, I decide to take my grandfather for a drive out in the country and visit our farm. We drive around for a while, visit the farm and come back talking about the bad roads and local politics etc etc. We come back at 1.30 pm when I received a call from my friends. They want me to take them to a place called Kaginahare (called Kagneri in Survey of India Maps). Let me tell you something about Kaginahare. Kaginahare is a village located in between the Shiradi and Bisle ghats after Sakleshpur. There is a small fort next to the village supposedly built by Tipu Sultan with the other forts in the region, the Manjarabad fort (on NH48 after Sakleshpur) and the Jamalabad Fort (near Belthangadi). This is not exactly a fort, all you can see is a small boundary wall surrounded by a moat. I guess this was a small outpost to warn the larger Majarabad Fort in case of any danger. Nowadays there is nothing but ruins there. But it has an excellent view of the surrounding region. It is 7-8kms from Hongadahalla by road. Btw, Hongadahalla is supposed to receive the second highest rainfall in Karnataka after Agumbe. I had trekked to this place in May this year. This was part of a larger trek plan starting from Donigal-Yedakumari-Kaginahare-Hongadahalla-Sakleshpur. For those who know Yedakumari Railway station, Kaginahare is 5 kms from that place. Coming back to Sunday, since I was free the whole afternoon, I said 'Lets go'. So, we packed lunch deciding to have a small picnic on the way and finally left Hassan at 2.30 pm with a slight drizzle falling upon us. We were five of us in a friend's white 1998 Zen. He calls it 'The Landcruiser'. From Hassan we took the following route Hassan-Sakleshpur-Donigal-Byakaravalli-Hethur-Baachihalli-Hongadahalla-Kaginahare. The total distance from Hassan is 90 kms one way. Hassan to Sakleshpur, the route is straightforward. From Sakleshpur drive on towards Shiradi ghat till you reach Donigal. Here you have to take the road towards Bisle ghat. Upto Baachihalli, the road is the same as to Bisle ghat. At Baachihalli take a right towards Hongadahalla (pronounced as Hongarahalla locally). After you reach Hongadahalla, keep going straight for around 7-8 kms and you will reach Kaginahare. You can also visit Mookana Mane Abbi Falls on the way. There are no signboards to Kaginahare or Hongadahalla. You have to ask for directions. The roads are nothing to write about. I will not comment on the NH48 upto Donigal since it has been discussed very frequently. From Donigal to Byakaravalli junction, the road is good and smooth except for a few big potholes. From Byakaravalli, a couple of kilometers of rough roads with potholes and again good roads till Hethur. After Hethur, the road is very very rough couple with potholes. You also get a couple of steep inclines/declines between Baachihalli-Hongadahalla & Hongadahalla-Kaginahare. The road ends at Kaginahare. If you trek about 10-12 kms due west from the ruins, you can reach Shribagilu railway station (on the Hassan-Mangalore line) and from there to the Gundya-Subramanya road. We had a nice picnic lunch on a small grassland near Hethur. By the time we finished, it was already late. So, we scrambled our things and started moving. We finally reached Kaginahare at 5.45pm. The ruins are about 2-3 kms from the actual village. We had to pass large grassland. From there, there is a dirt road leading all the way to the ruins. But, since we were in a Zen, we could not take it all the way up. The track was covered in moss due to the incessant rains. The zen used to slide around the track when we tried to take it up. So, we stopped it and walked the remaining distance to the ruins. As we were walking up the track, I felt something wet below my foot. Upon investigation, I found that there were 4 leeches clinging on to my foot  . But luckily, they still had not started feeding, so removed them with ease. We reached the ruins and spent a few minutes on top. But due to the fog, we could not get good views of the surroundings. It was already getting dark and the fog was setting in. It was a wonderful and eerie experience walking in the fading light with no torches and fog all around us. We came back to the car and started on the return journey and finally reached Hassan at 9.30pm This was a lovely way to finish off an unplanned weekend, wasn't it?? The winding road after Sakleshpur. Notice the surface of the road. It is like this upto Byakaravalli junction  Lush green paddy fields with coffee estates in the background    The place where we had our small picnic   Somewhere near Hongadahalla  Between Hongadahalla and Kaginahare. There was a steep decline just after this place     The Zen negotiating some slush in Kaginahare village. It is truly a Landcruiser  The grassland on the way to the dirt road. a small depression has created a rainwater pond. It looked lovely  Tyre tracks of the Zen next to the pond. The whole grassland was under a bit of water  The Zen could go no further from here. Notice the green moss covering the track. the car almost slipped into the ditch  Views on the way to the ruins           More pics to continue..... |
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9th October 2009, 12:06
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| Senior - BHPian | Final Set of Pics Day 3, Continued Please excuse the quality of these pictures. One of my friend messed with the settings of the camera and they all got messy. The first view of the ruins   Inside the ruins  The same ruins seen in May 2009  Fog all around the ruins       Ready for the return journey  Views around the ruins as seen in May 2009   Kumaraparvata/Pushpagiri peak in the background    These are the last pictures of my trip. I did have a great time during the 'unplanned trips'. Hope you guys did too  Cheerio!!! Aditya Last edited by addyhemmige : 9th October 2009 at 12:08. Reason: changed caption |
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14th July 2010, 13:21
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| BHPian  | Just Stumbled upon this thread. Thanks for the Info about Kagginahara..., Addy. You know what, when i trekked Gundia - Yedakumeri way back in 2002, we had exited the railway track, just after Yedakumeri station (towards donigal). And we climbed up the hill from here, for the next 1.5 Hours. Finally, we hit the peak i guess. There was a clearly at that point, after 1.5 hours of continous steep climb in humid, thickly forested area. Finally we pass through a few farms and estates and hit a tarmac road. There was a residence next to this road. On enquiring them, we realised, we could get a bus to Sakeshpur from here. And likewise, reached Sakleshpur after 2 hours. Now, this place could be "Kagginahara". isnt it?? |
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14th July 2010, 13:29
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| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: City of seven islands.
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14th July 2010, 19:58
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| Senior - BHPian | Quote:
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We probably missed each other due to the dense fog in Agumbe that day Last edited by addyhemmige : 14th July 2010 at 20:00. | ||
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14th July 2010, 21:00
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| BHPian  Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Campus @ IIMA !
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14th July 2010, 23:57
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15th July 2010, 00:17
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15th July 2010, 07:18
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| Team-BHP Support   | Addy, great foggy shots! When is the next "visit" planned? You many a company this time! |
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15th July 2010, 10:26
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16th July 2010, 20:44
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| Senior - BHPian | Quote:
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Actually, even I have tried to dig out info on it on the net, but haven't found anything so far. From what I have heard, this structure used to serve as an outpost to the larger Manjarabad fort which is nearby on the NH48. Quote:
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btw, where is this Mukha Ajja falls? have not heard about it. | |||||
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16th July 2010, 20:51
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19th July 2010, 12:24
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| Senior - BHPian | Quote:
. There are a lot more falls in the region waiting to be explored though and the only way to get there is by trek. I'm planning a trek in that region next month and lets see what I can dig up. | |
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