Ramnath Kamat

The abandoned Rosary Church of Shettihalli was one of my longest pending bucket list. This gorgeous Church was built by French in 1860. In 1960, the construction of Hemavathi dam and reservoir submerged this Church.

Even today during the monsoon this Church gets submerged in water, In summer when the water retreats, it rises above like a phoenix.

This Church is about 25 km from the Hassan city. On Bangalore- Mangalore highway you have need to take left after Hassan and go inside the country road for about 25 km.

Yes, thats me at the Church

Falcon rests in front of Shettihalli Church

Pretty much dried reservoir

Well, I plan to visit this place again in Monsoon just to canoe through its glorious arcs.



Things to take care:

Ooty can be reached by two routes from Bangalore. One is via the usually crowded Mysore road, Gundlupete and Bandipur. I prefer the Kanakpura road. Even though it is two lane road, you encounter less traffic and more scenic than the Mysore road. You join the Gundlupete and carry on towards Bandipura.

Never miss a sunrise

Always leave early in the morning to skip the traffic, especially during the weekend. There is no fun riding in the traffic.

Resting after a morning of ride

Zostel at night

Host was kind enough to make me veg bbq

Next day morning I rode to the top of Doddabetta. Its is about 15 km from Ooty. The gates open at 7 am. Doddabetta is the highest point in Southern India.

View from Doddabetta

Nilgiris on the way back

Happy Riding.. :)

From here goto Cafe Xtasi for delicious pizzas. Details are given later in the article.

After lunch you can visit to Paradise beach.

Paradise beach:

Paradise beach is an island beach about 20kms from White town. You need to take a ride in the boat to reach the beach. The beach is well maintained and very scenic. DOn't expect here anything much except a small cafe for refreshments. During low tides you can walk a long way along the beach.

Pondi Museum

Botanical garden:

The Botanical Garden is located south of the New Bus Stand. The gate leading to the garden is reminiscent of French architecture and it stands out from its immediate surroundings because it is in the middle of the old Tamil town. The Botanical Gardens were laid out in 1826 in the ornate French style, with pruned trees, flower beds and gravel lined paths and fountains. The garden also hosts a toy train.

Church:

Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, situated on the south boulevard, is an oriental specimen of Gothic architecture. It contains rare stained glass panels depicting events from the life of Christ. This church was supposed to have been erected in the 18th century by French Missionaries. Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is a Catholic church and is a white-and-brown structure

Places to eat:

Cafe Xtasi:

One of the best rated places for pizzas in Pondi. Pizzas here are yummmm.

Zuka:

The morning was misty. It had just rained. Kalpetta town was just waking up and so were we. The morning breakfast Appam and Egg curry were a boost as we bid adieu to Wayanad.

We were in our rain suits above the riding gear, prepared for anything to come. We passed through Padiri reserve forest and Begur reserve forest before cruising through the road sandwiched between Nagarhole NP and Thalpetty WS(Wayanad WS).

Thalpetty WS

Tiny planet

Vadya cruising

As we headed out of Jungle we were invited by a board that said "Irupu falls, not so far". Tempted us to take a detour again through a coffee estate. The waterfall had already invited quite a lot of visitors. Hiking 1km with riding gear did not sound attractive. So, we kept all the riding gear at the ticket counter. The guy happily agreed to it.

Irupu waterfall full view

Irupu waterfall

The Paris Peacock.

From Irupu falls, we headed towards the land of typical mustaches aka Coorg. We were taking the route via Madikeri to reach Sulya and from there to Kasargod. We reached Virajpete by lunch. After searching a goodrestaurant for about half an hour we finally settled for an ugly one where he offered only meals.

And we put on the rain gear again as the clouds emerged from the north western side. Soaked us for some time while we passed through coffee estates and forests. We took a bypass to Madikeri   and directly joined the Mangalore Highway. The downhill ride with twists and turns definitely made the day.

10 kms downhill, you can see Devarkolli waterfall on your left side. There are some tea stalls for a quick refresh.

DevarKolli waterfall

We reached Sullia by evening 4 just in time for a cup of tea. The road from here goes to Jalsoor and you need to take a left towards  Sullia from here. Ah! This road definitely has been the highlight of the day. It was about 4:30 but felt like its too dark. The forests were thick and the twists and turns tested our flexibility. And we  touched Kerala, no! Karnataka, no Kerala again! Yeah! That's right, we crossed states 3 times within a span of 5 kms. As we approached the urban land, it started drizzling again. And we rode to Vadya's uncle's house.




Day 1 Ride: Kalpetta -> Irupu -> Virajpete -> Madikeri -> Sullia -> Kasargod

Route Map:







National Parks covered: Padiri Reserve forest, Begur Reserve forest,Thalpetty NP, Pushpagiri WS, Brahmagiri WS
Waterfalls covered: Irupu
Total distance traveled: 270 kms


Ramnath's happiness index: 7/10.

The trip was actually planned last monsoon. But because of unavoidable circumstances I could not go for the ride. This year, I had decided I will either go for Spiti or if by any reason Spiti is cancelled I will go on a Monsoon ride in Southern India. Due to Nepal earthquakes, it wasn't advised to visit Spiti due to frequent landslides. So, I decided the Monsoon ride.

Instead of writing one giant blog, I am going to split this up to 6 daily blogs recording all the places I covered on this 6 day monsoon ride.

The first draft of the plan had many subsequent alterations. Finally, we settled down to cover Wayanad and almost all National Parks in Karnataka. The preparations were all in place with Kinshuk helping me out with saddlebag and rain covers.

We started early in the morning at 5:30 and took the Kanakpura road to avoid the irritating speed bumps on Mysore road. Morning time we encountered very less traffic and reached Kanakapura by 7 for breakfast in some Sagar restaurant.

Falcon loaded and ready

The ride continued till Chamrajpete with 1-2 pit stops for chai.

Neatly cut Banyan trees on the highway

As we were heading towards Gundlupete, we thought why not visit Shivanasamudra which is on the way. And we turned the handlebar. The genius person in me had kept the tripod inbetween the saddlebag and the raincover. The tripod came out of it and went into the wheel. I could hear the intense sound of spokes. So I stopped my bike and turns out the tripod is inside the spokes and one leg of the tripod is broken and stuck inbetween. I took it out and threw it before starting the journey again.

Gaganchukki waterfall

The Shivanasamudra did not have enough water but still it was a treat to watch. We spent 15 minutes there before leaving to Gundlupete.

After crossing Gundlupete, my bike petrol ran out. I was lazy to fill it at Gundlupete and lazier to go back after I found out about it after crossing Gundlupete. The next station was at Suthan Bathery in Kerala, around 60kms away. I did not want to take the risk in the Bandipur forest. So, got a litre of petrol from a local shop.

And soon enough we had reached the Bandipur National Park. That was some time for photography. Stopping the vehicle in Bandipur NP is not allowed because of wild elephants.  So, we had to finish our session soon. We saw deers and stags roaming around in the forest.

Falcon at rest

That's me, that's me.

We reached Sulthan Bathery by 1 for lunch. The whole trip was planned on the fly. So, we decided to goto Kalpetta and ride to the foothills of Chembra.  As we left from Suthan Bathery it started drizzling for 10 minutes. That was a perfect welcome to God's  own country. We had the blessings of the rain God.  We decided to dump our belongings to the hotel room. Found a hotel Misty hills.

After freshen up and a cup of tea we headed to the Chembra peak. The ride to the peak goes through tea estates.


We need to take a right turn and Meppadi to join the Chembra peak road. The road is narrow and the asphalt has come out. So, the bumpy ride of 6-7 kms in the tea estate begins. The Chembra is closed for trekking since there is a washout of the road inbetween. So, we had to take a diversion on roughly made steep climb. Two locals hitchhiked our bikes till midway and showed us the route.

A  log house at the foothills of the peak

Falcon at the foothill. Behind on right corner you can see the Chembra peak.

We spent some time at foot hill until the rain clouds gathered and warned us with a drizzle. The sun was about to set. Its always wise to enter man's land from noman's land before dark.

The ride back to the Kalpetta

Rainbow in the tea garden

As the sun settled we were nestled in the room with dreaming of the next day ride :)




Day 1 Ride: Bangalore-> Gundlupete -> Bandipur NP -> Sulthan Bathery -> Kalpetta -> Chembra peak.

Route Map:



National Parks covered: Bandipur NP
Waterfalls covered: ShivanSamudra
Total distance traveled: 325 kms


Ramnath's happiness index: 7/10.