[chethan.ram]

Every time I talk about a trip, it’s always on by Bullet. Our friend Chandan who is not part of our Bullet group always wanted to go for a drive and has been telling us for quite some time. Finally we decided on a drive in his(Chandan) car.

Destination : Kemmannugundi
Date : August 7th and 8th, 2010
Car : Hyundai Verna CRDI
Gang : Chandan, Vathsa, Hari and myself.

Day 1

It was 4:30am, Vathsa, Chandan and myself met in front of Dell in Koramangala Intermediate Ring Road. We headed straight to Vidyaranyapura to pick Hari from his place. We picked him up, had a small break for coffee and left the place at 6:00am. I was enjoying sitting at the back seat. I hardly get to sit there in my car as I would be driving most of the time. We decided to take the Hassan route, which turned out to be a bad decision. We stopped in Kamat near Channarayapatna for breakfast. Our next stop was at Chikamagalur to ask for directions to Kemmannugundi. Once we reached the ghat section, it was nothing but heaven. It was already 11:30am and no way we could feel it. It looked like it was just 6 or 7 in the morning. We kept stopping as and when we found a beautiful spots to take the pictures. As we proceeded further the roads got worse and it was a driver/owner’s nightmare. The roads were so bad that we could reach Kemmannugundi only by 2:30pm. We enquired few places for stay and everything was full. That is when we realized that we need to book the rooms well in advance. We had no options but to leave, we had lunch there and decided to go to Abbey Falls. But we were advised not to take our car as the roads were very bad, but we were asked to hire a jeep and we were also told it would take 3-4 hours for us to go and come back. We could have done that had we got the staying option in Kemmannugundi, but we had to go and search for a hotel in Chikamagalur which we were not sure of getting. We were told by few locals about Kalatti Falls which is found on the way to Chikamagalur and hence decided to go there. This place was so nice that we spent close to an hour playing in the water. The water was freezing cold and we got used to it after few minutes. There was a Ganesha temple next to the falls, we went there straight out of water, prayed and left to Chikamagalur. We were lucky enough to get a decent room and we all had a sound sleep as we all were really tired.

Day 2

We all got ready by 8:30am, had breakfast and left the place. The first stop for the day was at Belur. We visited the temple which speaks about the art and architecture of the Hoysala Empire. We took the temple tour, took pictures, had tender coconuts and left the place. We headed towards Halebeed which is also a historical place. The artistic walls of the temple were treat to the eyes and the green grass around the temple was so inviting that we couldn't stop ourselves from going there. We all relaxed on the grass and we got so lazy and we didn't want to get up from there. We managed to leave and reached Hassan by 1:30pm. We stopped for lunch, filled fuel and headed towards Shravanabelagola. This place needs no introduction. The monolithic statue of Bahubali says it all. We had to get to the top of the hill to be able to see the statue. We started climbing the hill and believe me, climbing 700 steps after a heavy lunch is not an easy task. With couple of breaks in between, we managed to reach the hill top. The 57 feet statue speaks for itself and it was really mind blowing. We took a much needed rest for few minutes and climbed down the hill. Climbing down was easier and was less tiring. We all had tender coconuts and left the place by 5:00pm. Once we reached Bangalore, we all got down according to our convenience and finally reached home at 9:00pm.

[rjstyles69]

chethan you went all the way to Kemmungundi and never visited Hebbe ? Here's what you missed, check this link .

The roads were so bad that we could reach Kemmannugundi only by 2:30pm

Looks like you took the route which leads to bababudangiri and drove further on to reach Kemmungundi. Here's the route we did

Route taken : Chikmagalur--Aralaguppe--Thogarihankal--Lingadahalli and take a left at the Petrol bunk.This detour is easy to spot,simply watch out for the pertol bunk. From here on its 21kms roughly to Kemmungundi.

[chethan.ram]

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

chethan you went all the way to Kemmungundi and never visited Hebbe ? Here's what you missed, check this link .

Looks like you took the route which leads to bababudangiri and drove further on to reach Kemmungundi. Here's the route we did

Yes, we know we missed Abbey, we were told by few people to go soon, otherwise we might not get a stay in Chikamagalur as well. And yes we took the route which leads to Bababudangiri and drove further, which consumed lot of time.

[srishiva]

Abbey (ಅಬ್ಬೆ ) is in Kodagu! This is Hebbe (ಹೆಬ್ಬೆ). Nicely packed 2 days trip.

[chethan.ram]

Originally Posted by srishiva

Abbey (ಅಬ್ಬೆ ) is in Kodagu! This is Hebbe (ಹೆಬ್ಬೆ). Nicely packed 2 days trip.

My apologies. Got confused between Abbey and Hebbe.

Guys, please read it as Hebbe wherever I have mentioned Abbey.

[madhkris]

Nice travelogue and good photographs Chetan(although would have liked you to add a few HD ones)..Beautiful, crisp writeup too. Why don't you plan a trip on your first love -Bullet- to what you missed this time-Hebbe falls (rtstyles's link is very tempting)

[madhkris]

@rjstyles69: Here's what you missed, check this link .
Really liked your thread and wonderful photography there. Full justice to nature.(OT: which camera and lens?)

Mods: Sorry repeated posts back to back.It was intended for different people.

[chethan.ram]

Originally Posted by madhkris

Nice travelogue and good photographs Chetan(although would have liked you to add a few HD ones)..Beautiful, crisp writeup too. Why don't you plan a trip on your first love -Bullet- to what you missed this time-Hebbe falls (rtstyles's link is very tempting)

Why don't we all plan it some time. Since I want to do Goa in November, I do not want to do anything till then, after that we can certainly plan it.

[ampere]

Nice snaps. Looks like you had a an amazing time!
But this time not with bullet!

[chethan.ram]

Originally Posted by ampere

Nice snaps. Looks like you had a an amazing time!
But this time not with bullet!

Yes man, it was awesome fun, especially in the water falls. Can't believe we stayed in freezing water for close to an hour. Yes, not in Bullet this time, but soon will ride in my Bullet to check out Hebbe which we missed this time.

[rjstyles69]

Originally Posted by madhkris

Really liked your thread and wonderful photography there. Full justice to nature.(OT: which camera and lens?)

Thanks. My good ole Nikon D80 and a few lenses from my collection.

Originally Posted by chethan.ram

but soon will ride in my Bullet to check out Hebbe which we missed this time.

Definitely not a good idea if you plan to ride to Hebbe from Kemmungundi. Its a beaten path of close to 8/9 kms that you need to ride and definitely not recommended. Its not difficult to accomplish but then its best done in jeep, get the drift ?

[chethan.ram]

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

Definitely not a good idea if you plan to ride to Hebbe from Kemmungundi. Its a beaten path of close to 8/9 kms that you need to ride and definitely not recommended. Its not difficult to accomplish but then its best done in jeep, get the drift ?

No, we won't be doing that. We'll park the bikes in Kemmannugundi and take a jeep from there.

[maximus.]

We have done the trip to Kemmangundi from office, we had booked stay in Lalbagh before going there.
Roads to Hebbe falls is strictly for 4X4 and route had spectacular views of mountains. and coffee estates.We enjoyed a lot in playing the falls and i can say it is one of the best falls in Karnataka.

[addyhemmige]

Hey Chethan, the title of your thread is the same I posted on my facebook page last week, before I left for a trek to Kemmangundi. But, unluckily I could not complete the trek.

Very nice pics dude. I'm surprised the mist even let you take good pics. But, this is the best time to visit this region,

[chethan.ram]

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

Hey Chethan, the title of your thread is the same I posted on my facebook page last week, before I left for a trek to Kemmangundi. But, unluckily I could not complete the trek.

Very nice pics dude. I'm surprised the mist even let you take good pics. But, this is the best time to visit this region,

The title must be a coincidence. Why don't you share a brief write up about the trek and the pictures if you have any?