Bangalore to Coorg trip on bike

When : 10th n 11th March 2012.
Destination : Coorg - karnataka.
How and who all are : Myself and Sudhakar on Apache-180 RTR.
Distance : 700Kms.
Route Map: Bangalore - Mandya - Srirangapatna -via Mysore by pass - Hunsur -  Bylakuppe(Tibetan Settlement & Monastery) - Nisargadhama - Madikeri(Abby Falls, Sunset view point(Raja's seat)) - Gonikoppal - Irupu falls - Gonikoppal - Hunsur - Srirangapatna - Mandya - Bangalore

Short n sweet description about trip :     

     Coorg, Worth to step in for its peaceful and heavenly climate. A place called Madikeri is the center of attraction of Coorg for its SUNSET view point from where we can see the shadows of mountains falling on each others. As a traveler enjoyed the place, but as a rider enjoyed the being on road even more..

Plan:
     "Choose a Destination, but don't choose direction to reach that..!! We can find enough paths to reach the Destination"  Yes, this is what has happen to me in this trip.

Friday morning, while I was getting ready to go office, I was thinking about the coming weekend, this time "I don't want the weekend to go into boring days list", Without wasting time I started thinking about the places in the Western ghats.. 

..Place? which place?? which place is better???

Then I just gave a thought like,"which ever place comes to my mind first, will go there".

I just closed my eyes and started thinking.. Coorg is the first one, and then Chikmangalur is next. So as per the deal, I picked up the destination as Coorg.

But going alone on bike....!!
I was sure that, I can enjoy the trip even if I go alone... But I can enjoy even more if I have a Companion. Then I just asked one of my friend Sudhakar whether he can join me or not. Surprisingly he said ok even before I finish the sentence..

That is what I was expecting .. ;) 

The whole day went in Googling about route map, noting down all the places which are must to be visited en-route to Madikeri and in & around Madikeri.

I've got many route maps to reach Madikeri from Bangalore.

One way is via Hassan - Belur - Madikeri , the other one is Srirangapatna - Mysore - Hunsur - Madikeri.

I've preferred the second route and the places we thought of visiting are Srirangapatna, Bylakuppe, Nisargadhama, Madikeri (Abby Falls, Sunset view point(Raja's seat)), Irupu falls.

The plan is cover these in 2 days. Hope you enjoy reading it..

Day 1: 10th March 2012: 
Srirangapatna":(Bangalore-via NICE Road-Maddur - Mandya -Srirangapatna) 140Kms.

As per our plan we've started at 5'0 clock from Electronics city. via NICE road we've reached Mysore road. As it is March, the night temperature was too cold.
What a road...!! My first ride experience on NICE road was awesome.
Plan is to reach Srirangapatna by 6.30AM -7Am (including all breaks).

I am sure every rider will enjoy the Bangalore - Mysore road stretch.
to be precise, after Mandya the road was ultimate. By 7'0 clock we are in Srirangapatna. We're done with the darshan of Ranganatha swamy(Lord Vishnu). After checking with the local guys, we've got to know about a place called "Sangam".

the place where River Loakpavani joins River Cauvery. 
Quickly visited the place and resumed the ride towards the next destination i.e Bylakuppe...

On the way from B'lre - Srirangapatnam

@
Srirangapatnam temple

On the way from Srirangapatnam - Hunsur

Bylakuppe: (Srirangapatna - Via by pass of Mysore - Hunsur - Bylakuppe)

     Post breakfast in the outskirts of Srirangapatna, we've taken by-pass road to reach the Mysore-Hunsur Highway. Even-though the stretch was not so good to ride @ 60KMPH, but I enjoyed the ride as it goes through paddy fields with some landscape views. 
Soon we're on Mysore - Hunsur  - Madikery state highway. Further ride was smooth with decent average speed. after crossing Periyapatna, took a right turn to reach  Madikeri, via Bylakuppe and Nisarghadhama. an hour of journey to reach Bylakuppe. by 11'o clock we are there.
"Bylakuppe" is a Tibetans settled place, the main attraction is Golden Temple(for Buddha). 

Golden Temple @
Bylakuppe

Budha statue in Golden Temple

Onemore snap of Budha

Hardly spent an hour here and the started riding towards Cauvery Nisarghadhama (Bylakuppe - Nisargadhama : 15kms).

Hanging bridge, Boating and Tree houses are main attractions of Nisarghadama. Luckily, as the crowd was not there, able to do boating for almost 45mins (generally it's allowed for 10mins).

Nisargadama

Trying some snaps... luckily got one ;)



In Children's park @ Nisargadama



We've started at 3PM from Nisargadhama to reach Madikeri. As we listed out the tourist attraction places in Madikeri and planned accordingly to that.

The places to visit in Madikeri are
1. Raja seat, A view point, Open till late in the night
2. Childrens park at Raja Seat.
3. Musical Fountain at Raja seat. Normally starts at 7.30 pm.
4. Abbey falls, which is just 8 km far from Madikeri, Allowed till 5pm.

We want to cover Abbey falls asap and come back to Raja’s seat to have a spectacular view of sunset. By 4 we are able to reach Madikeri and by 4.15 reached Abbeyfalls. 

  Disappointment… a big disappointment for us after seeing the Abbey falls. I would say, March is not the time to visit Waterfalls. even height of the falls is also not so great. There is no place to enter into water. Quickly clicked some snaps and headed towards Raja’s seat (Sunset view point),

As we enter Raja's seat could see place is crowded, Some how able to find a perfect place to view the sunset. As some were waiting for sunset, some were arranging the DSLRs to capture the Sunset view. But we both were lost in the beauty of Coorg valley by looking at the road which is taking snake like curves and tracking it till it lost in the valley. 
Meanwhile Sun was about to set. It was spectacular view with the shadows of one hill falling on other the hills in valley.Spent some more time near musical fountain and started looking for a economical hotel for night stay. Luckily able to find a lodge which was within the budget.

That's all about Day-1.

Day 2: 11th March 2012

            Quickly got fresh up, checked-out and started towards the Raja’s seat.

Plan is to start to Irupu falls. But, we felt like, valley might be looking beautiful during early mornings with mist and all. So, just thought of giving a try before leaving Madikeri.

As we nearing the place, could observe the Mist covering the Valley like a "Blanket of Clouds". More than me, Sudhakar was much excited to see that. 

The roads and hills which we saw Yesterday evening were no more visible.

Here I'm standing over the clouds :P
Early morning in Madikeri (@ Raja's seat)

 Ended up spending there till 8'o clock.  Had breakfast near by hotel and started riding towards Irupu Falls.

Irupu Falls(Madikeri - Gonikoppal - Irupu falls):
            Madikeri to Gonikoppal ride was good through mist covered roads. Post that, the road was getting worst and took us little longer time than expected to reach 
Kerala – Karnataka border. Finally, by 12.30PM reached Irupu falls.
Unlike Abbey Falls, the Irupu falls was much better with an access to reach under the water fall.

After spending quality of time, resumed our ride back to Bangalore.
via Gonikoppal - Hunsur - Srirangapatna - Mandya, able to reach Bangalore by 10PM.

Misty Roads

en-route to Irupu falls

Happy Reading 

\m/ Happy Riding \m/