Yaathra:Belur,Mullianagiri,Sringeri,Akumbe,Kuthiremukh,kemmengundi

it was on one fine busy week...........got a call at 11pm on thursday night...immediately decided to go for the trip....was told the trip s to kemmengundy .....two days trip ....i didnt know the remaining things at the time of starting ......friday evening after a busy schedule ...i escaped from office and caught ashoks car at btm arnd 6.45pm ......planned to go earlier but late by few hrs ....heavy traffic jam till iisc ....murali sir was the next person on the trip ...arnd 7.15 at iisc .....i wanted to meet roja there and raj mohan also came to see off us .....few mnts brain was ....raj mohan s inside the box ......4 people on the way to north karnataka....vehicle M800 ...athayathu maruthi 800 Then comes the qn of dinner ....we were on the way to hassan .....took food from some hotel ...it started raining heavily ......slow driving ....after some time rain s over ...and plan was almost clear ....stay at hassan ....next morning trip to mullianagiri .....trip thru sringeri ..for ..evening sunset at akumbe .....after that stay at the valley ....Morning drive back the hair pins to akumbe ..sringeri ,...direct to kemmengundy ....(never knew at this point of time that this is physically impossible)



Night after some time had tea ...Only two drivers ...murali sir and ashok ..slow/fast ..mixed speed ...!



things went fine we reached hassan arnd 12-1 am next day ....took room there .....slept quickly ....and next day morning had brkfast there itself ...and started arnd 8.30 am target was mulliana giri..........we were moving thru Belur ....planned for a stop for 15 -20 mnts at Belur ....nice old Hoysala temple ...similar to lepakshi ...Many people there to see the temple ...guides are there to help and explain things ....



Finished Belur and Next location is chickamangalore ....District capital ...from where the road to Mullana giri and kemmengundy starts. Arnd 1 pm we reached chickamangalore ...petrol ...food ..water .....Mullanagiri is arnd 30 kms from chickamangalur ....MuLainagiri is the highest peak in Karnataka and happens to be one of the topmost heights between Himalayas and the Nilgiris ....road was not good after some time ....one the way i/we realized that kemmengundy is also on the same road arnd 40 kms more on the same route if you are coming from the chickmangalur side ....



Dangerous drive to the top of the hill ....Maruthi has made such a nice vehicle so that we could cllimb with out any probz .....up to hill ..and then down ...few Z's ...going on .....finally we reached the top of mullianagiri .....two mountains ....near the spot ...arnd 6000ft height



Rest on the top ...the coolant of the car got boiled and we wondered is it really a coolant ....!

...nice view ...after few hrs on the top and chit chat ......planned for the next location .....Sunset at akumbe was the target but ...this was a in a sense mistake in terms of time ...but it was a bless n disgrace .....



travelled back to chikmangalur ,...had masala dosa ...then to akumbe 95 km south - west of Chikmagalur town

Situated at an altitude of 826 m, in Shimoga district, Agumbe provided the perfect setting for R K Narayan to film his novel 'Malgudi Days'. ...



it is famous for sunset ....saw many fotos is flickr .....facinated ...reached arnd 5.45 at akumbe..there were few sunset points .....we were moving thru a plain suddenly at the sunset poing we saw that we are at a peak ....landscape is like that ....other side is a valley ......i think its more towards sounth......



many are waiting for the sunset ...one family with few small girls were also eagerly waiting for the sunset .....! calculations went wrong ...! clouds every where ,,,nothing s visible ....sun is opening thru few windows and closing down ....he didnt show his face .....had many nice jokes ..there



" ashok planned to go to kodaikanal to see sunset at 2 pm" "even sunset was there at 5 pm " ! crazy frogs .!

by 6 15...once we could see the red face of the sun .....raj mohans ultra camera could observe few snaps



Muralli sir was njoying the view point ,,,,by 7.30 we were there ... driving down to valley ...7 kms only we quickly reached bottom ...we had a feeing that driving up in the morning wont give much pleasure .....as it is too short ....thinking for while ...somehow we got a feeling that mangalore is nearby and we could reach there in around some 2 hrs ...planned for a beach trip at mangalore ....



called ps and made arrangements for the stay ....we planned to have food at karkkale ...10.30pm reached karkkale .....found out Mangalore is 40more kms away ...next day our target is to kemmengundy ..rethinking ....60km travel on a waste ,,,,mangalore plan aborted ....planned to stay back in karkkale to same time ...

Our plan is to go by early morning to akumbe ...then sringeri ...then direct kemmengundy ....! we asked few auto/car guys at karkkale for the kemmengundy



Every bdy says Chikmangalur ..! murali sir njetti ..yenthu ,,,,Raj got frust ...As i dont know the way ....i took some water ...!Finally we came to a conclusion that there s not a road from Sringeri to kemmengundy. second we have to go back to chikmangalur again ....third the same road to mullianagiri we have to catch ....fourth ,,,we were 40 kms away from the kemmengundy yesterday ....now arnd 150-200km ...!!



Fyakaram thanne ...!



Every action is for good ...we want to avoid chikmangalur ...there was a route through shimoga ...but road status unknown



....New plan came drive thru Kuthiramukh.....This turned out to be good .....which i liked most in the trip.

We started early at 4.45 am in the morning from karkkale....



ABT Kuthiremukh

Kudremukh is well connected by road to Chikmagalur, Mangalore and Sringeri. The State Highway-66 passes through the park. The nearest town to this Park is Sringeri. The distance to the park by road from the various places are Kalasa ( 20 Kms), Karkala ( 50 Kms), Mudigere ( 75 Kms), Mangalore (130 Kms) and from Bangalore 350 Kms. The park is approachable from Bangalore via Chikmagalur, Hassan or from Mangalore via Karkala.



we got a gate pass at 6.10 am to the national park....40-60 kms inside 2 hrs to travel ..no stops allowd ......fully misty cold climate ....no ac can catch the freshness ...dense forest ....saw moonset ...and sunrise ....!

after some time nothing was visible full mist .....and sun s shinging thru ... there was one hanging bridge and a nice river on the way ...Ion ore mining factory was there n the way ...there was only one town inside the national wild life santuary where people live ......there was a dam ...we saw it from far .....with mist ...and sunrise at the other end .....some tea plantaions in between.....

we covered the path just before 8 ...Had brkfast and then to the "Chikmangalur again " and we have decided that next time when we come we will take some flight to avoid this place ...



Target Kemmengundi



same route as that of mullianagiri ,,,,then some diversion ....road was that much bad ...but there were much of good places to see ...53 kms we took almost 4 hrs ......again some dangerous drives ...Maruthi 800 Proved its performance



if you consider the path from bangalore National Highway NH-48 till Hassan and then taking the Hassan - Belur - Chikkamagaluru - Kemmangundi road (330 km)



but we were different .....!



On the top of the hill again, there were much to see ...it was 1434m above sea level. also known as s Sri Krishnarajendra Hill Station. Ringed by the Baba Budangiri Range



Z point was a good trek ....at 3 pm we went to the top ...had the same feeling ...wind was blowing ...nice time on the top ......better than mullianagiri any way



next target is to see the Hebbe falls it was arnd 4.30 falls was around 8 km away but the jeep guy asked for a huge money.....we decided to go by car....muddy steep road ...after few hairpins we realized the following path is dangerous ....and somebdy told it is some 2 kms away .....done ...stopped the car n the middle ...started walking .....15 mnts walk is over and we saw some people they said the falls is arnd half an hr walk only ...



damn it ...our initial plan is to start by 5 pm and reach early ...but now time was arnd 5.30.........one jeep guy finally saved the situ .....Mahindra has the power to drive on mountains ....where no road is present....falls is arnd 168m height ...am seeing



this much big falls for the first time ....as the stones are falling from top along with the water ...we avoided the bath over there ..also time was less ...........



On the return journey athi sahasikamayi car karaykkaduppichu ......Nice full sunset we could see ......this time it was wonderful ....immmediately after sunset wee started



Target bangalore : plan to come through shimoga ...but we got a shorter route through birur, kadur, arsikkare and then tumkur nilamangala and Bangalore ...



we reached around 2.30 to iisc ...had tea A/c settlement at "teaboard" !....back to ashoks house ,,,



day s still bright after the heavy trip...it took almost two weeks to settle down and got time after one moth to write this .....



puthiya kalathinte puthiya yathrakal veendum