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.
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| Falcon loaded and ready |
The ride continued till Chamrajpete with 1-2 pit stops for chai.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Falcon at rest |
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| 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.
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| A log house at the foothills of the peak |
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| 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.
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| The ride back to the Kalpetta |
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| 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.
Keep Riding :)
