Enriching the Mind, Body and Soul

Cycling to office in Bangalore and nearby rides from the city had their time in the sun. This time Pradeep and I wanted to do something different. Something which will take us close to nature which would allow us to explore hills, rivers, forests and beaches. Give our lungs a break from pollution and a treat for our eyes. We knew that the exercise we would get is just a fringe benefit.

We decided to explore the ever-green western Ghats. After reading few blogs from fellow cyclists we identified a couple of routes and finally narrowed down to Shimoga to Sringeri and Udupi.

Our Route

Got the cycle checked for health to sustain the 250Km journey and packed the bags for the trip. We typically travel very light, total of two sets of quick dry attire. No packaged foods. We eat on the go and strictly stick to bottled water.

On the scheduled date 16^th December 2017, we cycled to Majestic bus stand and then loaded the cycles to Airavata bus as luggage to Shimoga.  On 17^th December 2017 at day break (6:30 AM), we started towards Tirthahalli. Shimoga to Tirthahalli is 65 Km. The fog had set in and visibility was moderate, but the layer of fog on the open fields was beautiful. Our first stop was at Gajnur Dam. It’s a small dam where they allowed us to walk down right on top of the gates. We could see vast stretch of reservoir filled up to the brim. Took a few snaps and started cycling alongside Tunga river.

On the way from Shimoga to Tirthahalli 

View of Reservoir from Gajnur Dam

Very quickly we reached Sakrebyle (14Km) which houses an elephant camp. It is considered the best camp for training elephants in the state. We also saw two trucks which were carrying elephants (perhaps to the camp). We were a bit early, so we could not see the elephants bathing. There were lots of kids on excursion to this place. The kids were happy to see Pradeep’s cycle (Firefox RoadRunner) and showed very little interest in mine (Btwin Mybike)

We started towards Tirthahalli. A family in a Maruti Ertiga belonging to Mr Shabbir saw us cycling and stopped for us. He mentioned that they are a member of the Shimoga cycling club. They were very happy to see us cycle and enquired about our itinerary. They were also bit unhappy about many fish eateries that had sprung up on the road till Tirthahalli and were concerned about lack of civic sense and rash/drinking and driving prevalent in that area.

All along the way we enjoyed the natural scenic beauty, lakes, bridges and forest cover. At Tirthahalli we had breakfast at Mayura hotel near the bus stand. We hogged Idly, Vada and coffee. Bought new water bottles, made some calls home and started on towards Kuppalli.

Scenic Beauty on the way to Tirthahalli

Tunga River

The climb to Kuppalli has rolling terrain going mostly uphill. The gradient sometimes went up to 15%. We were hydrating ourselves quite a bit now. We took a slight deviation of 2km from the main route to reach Kuppalli.

  

Kuppalli is the birth place of Rashtra Kavi Kuvempu. The childhood home of Kuvempu has been converted into a museum by Rashtrakavi Kuvempu Pratishtana (a trust dedicated to Kuvempu). This trust has undertaken immense developmental works in Kuppali to showcase Kuvempu and his works to the external world. The ancestral home is beautiful. Its old-school architecture with courtyard is something I wish all our homes should have. You can even buy books at this place. There is a small petty shop where you can get limited food. Poornachandra Tejaswi (Son of Kuvempu) was also cremated at a nearby place. Very rare to find father and son both being great scholars. We had a refreshing cup of buttermilk and started back towards the main road heading towards Koppa. We did not visit Kavishaila.

Kuvempu's House at Kuppalli

Kuppalli to Koppa was perhaps the most difficult stretch on our whole journey. Even though the distance betweekn Kuppalli and Koppa is only 11 Km, we took a lot of time to cover this distance. The Late afternoon sun was beating down upon us and we were staring at relentless climbs which touched 22% gradient. The greenery and breath taking views motivated us to chug along. Our plan was to reach Koppa as early as possible and then have a relaxed lunch. We also wanted to make sure that we reach Sringeri well before sunset. You see, these highways are not well lit.

During a break on the way

We had gone a couple of kilometers into Koppa town in search of a decent restaurant. We had to cycle back to the point where we could turn towards Sringeri. The initial climb was very steep, but after that the route to Hariharapura was mostly downhill. After Hariharapura we again hit rolling terrain where there was a mixed bag of ups and downs. Another last burst from us helped to conquer the climb to Sringeri. It was well before sunset. We roamed around the temple town cycling casually to reach our hotel, Advaita Lancer. Its situated slightly away from the temple but it is nice and clean. We quickly checked in, had a luke warm (would have loved hot) water bath and then walked down to the temple. Had a good darshan, had good food. A day well spent.

Sunrise at Sringeri

On 18^th December 2017, we woke up early after a good night’s sleep. Started again at day break 6:30 AM towards Agumbe. It was pretty cold with chill head winds. All this, till the time the body got warmed up. It’s a common route till Agumbe after which we decided to ride to Udupi instead of Kundapura. This decision was based on the road condition information provided by Mr Sridhar who is Pradeep’s friend and a localite. On the way to Agumbe we passed through some breathtaking places. This place has abundance of greenery. Cycling provided us the perfect synergy with nature as we felt that we could not get this level of enjoyment if we were on a motor vehicle. The best view comes after the hardest climb. J We reached Agumbe pretty soon as we had rested well. We had breakfast at a hotel in Agumbe bus stand. The bonda soup was outstanding.

Near Agumbe

As you might know, Agumbe receives very high rainfall and is sometimes called Cherapunji of the South. Its extremely green with great bio diversity. Lot of research on rain forests, medicinal plants are done here. Being a hot bed for king cobras, research on these reptiles are also done extensively. Agumbe is a popular destination for bird watchers and photographers. Many episodes of Malgudi Days were also shot here.

At sunset point, Agumbe

We visited sunset point, took a few snaps, admired the depth of the gorge and started towards Hebri. We saw a check post and alongside it was a vast lake. The lake was beautiful and also had a few boats, but the water was full of algae. The forest guard was thrilled to see us cycle there. It is all downhill till Hebri. The cycle speed had to be controlled very carefully down the hill. Also, we made sure that the rim did not get heated up too much as the brake pads continuously rub the rim.  The view was brilliant. The joy of navigating through hair pin bends is amazing. Thankfully the roads were good even after the heavy rains during monsoon.

Lake near Forest Guard office, Agumbe

We were taking some breaks to check the Gujrat 2017 Assembly election trends and results. We reached Hebri and continued cycling towards Perdur. We had rolling terrain nothing as bad as what we had seen on day 1. We reached Perdur fairly quickly.

There is a famous Anantha Padmanabha Temple in Perdur. Temple devotees gave us a dozen of bananas which was Prasad from their Pooja. The Admin folks from the temple were very accommodative. They allowed us to enter the temple and attend the maha mangalarthi even though we were not in the preferred attire (we were on cycling shorts and T-shirt). It’s a pretty old temple. The temple folks offered us to have lunch and then move along. However, we had other plans. We wanted to reach Udupi and have lunch there. The locals suggested us to go to Udupi via Kalliyanpur instead of Manipal as the road is better and there would be less traffic. As the kilometers to Udupi started decreasing, the energy level started increasing. We went straight to Woodlands hotel. Had a heavy and relaxed meal. It was a A/C restaurant so we chilled down quite a bit. We changed over from cycling attire to something that would be acceptable at the Udupi Temple and headed straight to the temple. There was a long queue to the temple so we decided to go to Malpe beach for sun set and come back to the temple later. It was a flat terrain of about 8 Km to Malpe which we covered very quickly. Relaxed on a bench on the beach, took a couple of snaps during sun set and headed straight back to the Temple. By this time the crowd had thinned down. Made a quick visit to the temple. It was a special day due to Paush Amavasya. The vigraha was adorned with Vajra (diamond) kavacha alankara. We also heard that the sea would be very calm and many devotees take a dip on the sea early in the morning. During this day (once a year) the sea would be like a swimming pool (without waves).

Beautiful water body on the way

Sunset at Malpe beach

We called up our local friend Mr Sridhar who came down and met us at the temple. From there we had dinner together. After dinner, we headed straight to the KSRTC bus stand. Loaded the cycles as luggage and crashed on the seats only to wake up at 5:30 AM on 19^th December 2017 in Majestic, Bangalore. Offloaded the cycles and reached home in next 30 mins. After having hot water bath and breakfast, started to office.

The men

All in all, this was an amazing trip. Total 250 Km. 120 Km on Day1 and 115 Km on Day2. Rest was from home to Bus stand and back. Covering the inclines on this route on a MTB was challenging but very satisfying. The weather was brilliant. The roads were pretty good except small stretches where some bridge work was going on. We saw many animals in their natural habitat such as elephants, peacocks, various rare birds which I could not recognize (but my photographer friends would have), mongoose, monkeys and umpteen number of cows as we approached villages. Saw many lotus covered lakes with crystal clear waters, backwaters, rivers and streams which were a treat to the eyes. All this in one ride. Riding with Pradeep is always a pleasure. I get to learn a lot every time we meet. I need to be thankful for our families and friends to make this possible. Need to do more such get aways! Hopefully there will be another such adventure soon.

Their machines, Firefox Roadrunner and Btwin Mybike