Start: Thirthahalli (0800 Hrs)
End: Agumbe (1700 Hrs)
Distance: 50 Kms ( ByCycle - 50 Kms)
Terrain: Moderate except Kundadri Hills
Today was the journey which Sid would remember for his lifetime, the journey which changed the definition of uphill for him, the journey which reminded me Kalhatti Ghat. An amazing ride in the western Ghats from Thirthalli to Agumbe
The early morning visit to "Thunga River" for getting fresh was the right decision in the morning. We could hear musical flow of the river in the early morning with very few people around. It was time for us to make our hands little dirty to get back the bikes in shape. After a quickie for the cycles, we were all set to start our journey towards Agumbe.
Quickie for the Bikes
Temple Stay
Today journey would be a very relaxing one as the distance we were to cover was 50 Kms. And every one had hopes of reaching Doddamane @Agumbe for lunch. Had a quick and heavy break fast @ a restaurant. The fresh "Mangalore Buns" at the restaurant was as fresh as morning breeze of Malnad. The pic below speaks the quality of the breakfast.
Unimited BreakFast
The fresh morning breeze gave us an extra energy to reach the Guddekere where we need to take deviation towards Kundadri hills. The route was amazing with small villages and nice landscapes. Many warning for Sid to drive slow in junctions never helped. He was in full zoom with his pretty baby. Since we had a must plan to visit Kundadri, we used traditional method of "communication" with help of villagers to get him back, the mobile phones without network was of no use. He had to ride an extra 10 km. After around 40mins of waiting for Sid, we were all set for the journey towards Kundadri.
Village Route
Landscapes Enroute
The distance from Guddekere to Kundadri was 5km and we assumed it would be a pretty
easy ride to the top of the hill. Sid was the only Bisleri baby in our team
and he has filled up enough water for the uphill climb. After pretty descent uphills we reached Kundari which was actualy 5KM from
Guddekere. We only then realized the top is almost 4km from Kundadri
Village. Not to waste too much of time we continued towards the uphill. 800+Mts - 4km journey didn't found to be too tiring during the start of
it. Sid started getting the real feel of the uphill by now. The hill
started slowly showing its dominance, making Sid redefine uphill. The
ride started becoming tougher with incline of almost 60-70 Deg in some places. It just started reminding me of the "Kalhatti Ride" as part of the Training ride for the Himalayas. I didn't wanted to break my rythm, until a 4 wheeler coming downhill took a steep turn and there was no option for me to get down of the bike to be safe. Now the real stuggle started with climb. At some point we looked at each other to check if any of our mind would say lets start going back. But the determined mind never gave up and encouraged us to continue the journey to the Top. The motor cycles and cars were stuggling uphill, except some machos like Pajero. We ran out of the water and energy in our body. It was the dry fruits and Glucose which gave us some energy to push the cycles further. By now it was all decided that it wouldn't be possible for us to ride until top, but just push it. The requirement for Bisleri was out of scene for Sid, he just wanted some drinkable water.
Dead snake during the Uphill
At the start of the Climb
Mind v/s Determined Mind
Never Giveup
What ever it takes
We will make it
After all the hard stuggles reaching the top was a great feeling of passing a critical job interview. After a big cheerup to each other and locking up the cycles we started walking to wards the temple which is futher 300 mts from the parking lot.
 |
| We made it |
Spider Web
I really thank Rahul for giving me an hint about this place. You can get a very good view of Malnad from this place. The best part is you can see both Sunrise and Sunset from this place. If you are around Agumbe, never miss a visit to this place. The struggle of the tough ride was a really worth this view. The photos speak the rest.
View of the Malnad from Kundadri Hills
Jain Temple at the Top
The Green Malnad view from Kundadri Top
Selfie with the Jain Priest
Group Selfie
Pond which never dried in Ages
We had a quick chat with the jain preist of this temple and understood some of the important facts. This place has a 17th century Jain temple which is very beautiful. He also explained about the Jain Thirthankara who has given up his life meditating at this place. There were very few visitor until recently road was constructed. The preist was very sad that the people come here and are making this place very untidy. There is nothing [food,water] avaibale at the top of the hill. The only source of water is the pond for which the source of water is rain, and surprisinggly the water hasn't been dried since ages. It may not be fit to drink for the current Bisleri generation, but the priest is very healthy and uses this water every day for all the purpose. No one stays in the night and it will be deserted. Also its dangerous to stay is the night as there will also be wild animals around.
Chat with the Priest
GoGreen @ Green backdrop
Buddha Staute inside the Temple
After relaxing for quite a long time in this secluded hill we started descneding back. It was a quick rush and we were down in the next 10 mins and started looking for an hotel to fill in our belly. The hungry stomach was making the smaller uphill look huge. We found a shady hotel in Kendal Bailu. Never expected the food to be so good in this small place. It was very homely and very satifactory after UpHill ride of Kundadri. The food was so good we started looking for shade to relax before we head towards Agumbe. But in interest of the famous Sunset of Agumbe we started riding towards agumbe.
Home or Hotel
Fresh'n'Pure malnad Neer
Selfie Sid
After the tougher ride of the day, the uphills of Malnad never felt us to be an uphilll. We were able to quickly reach Agumbe. A small tiny little place, so calm and quiet. It wasn't tough for us to reach "Doddamane". Since it was getting late for Sunset we quickly off loaded our luggages and started towards the Sunset point. The sunset point is in the Ghat roads of the road heading towards Udupi. There was huge Rush at the sunset point, but the sunset was really beautiful sending every one back with big smile on their face.
Riding back we stopped for some time at a residential school and played Ball Badminton, Volleyball with the Kids. We did discuss with them about the nature and the things they do to keep it secure. After almost spending and hour with the kids we were back @ Doddamane.
We were very happy to meet a cyclist couple travelling from Mysore to Agumbe. After a quite long discussion we realised they were from NIE college and the discussion went on for longer time. We all had a heavy dinner, so clean, the banana leaf looked new for the next batch. Sid comment "this is the first time i had so much rice in my life" gave us the true picture of the taste of "Doddamane" food. As the name says, Doddamane is really big, with big heart staying in. An amazing uphill ride, a beatiful sunset and a tasty dinner gave us the perfect setup to slip quickly to sleep.
 |
| DoddaMane |
@ Sunset Point
Sunset @ Agumbe
No comments:
Post a Comment