Trebiking (Biking + Trekking) to Edukumeri

Crew:
Vineet
Mahesh
Ravikiran
Kiran (Vineet's Friend)
Jagadish

Date of Journey:
29-Apr-06 To 01-May-06

Kee..Kee…Keee..Keeeeeee…Some sound was coming from nowhere…with difficulty I opened my eyes and looked around. I saw the time and it was 5.00 AM. Then I realized the source of that sound..yes baba..it was my mobile alarm. I saw a new SMS from Jagga saying ‘Wake Up’ which came at 4.45 AM. How I can get up from a mere SMS??..Idiot…The reason for getting up so early is we (5 Boyz) had planned a biking trek (confused??...Go on reading!) to Edukumeri Via Bisile. And we are supposed to meet at 6.00 AM sharp Opp. to ISCKON temple. So I got ready and kick started my bike at 5.30 AM..and Zoom. I was the second one to reach there, Mayya was already there. By 6.30 AM everyone arrived on their bikes. We filled petrol full tank and started our journey.



We crossed Bangalore at almost by 7.15 AM and hit on NH-48 road. Nobody was in mood of hurry to speed the vehicles. Believe me….The NH-48 is awesome road for bikers. It’s like tasting ice cream in middle of summer. After crossing Kunigal, at certain gap of drive, we came across “Hebbagilu” on the right side. Opposite to that, to our left side, one road was visible. We hit that road on left side and even though road was rough, muddy and with potholes, we drove with great enthu to out first destination. The Marconahalli Dam.


We parked our vehicles outside the gate at 9.00 AM, crossed a park which had trees standing tall and we started climbing with our luggage to the top of the Dam. When we reached top of Dam…..I was dumbstruck with its beauty…I shouted “Wow Man”…..In front, the entire scene was filled with water 60 feet deep and fresh cold air blowing to our face. Backside, the scenery was very beautiful park but not maintained clean. I guess very less attention is paid to maintain it as visitors to this dam are rare case and also there is no publicity. There are lengthy chairs (similar to present in railway stations or parks) present to sit and watch the view on top of the dam. There was man who maintained that Dam showed us how the dam worked, how they leave water on other side. There was huge metal covering standing on top of dam with metallic pillars on four sides with letters ‘England’ inscribed on it. I guessed it could be made in England and on same time I wondered how they brought it here from England. Then there was display board of all statistics and measurements related to dam.



We climbed down and we went to bottom side of Dam at the Park side. There were 2 big holes to release water from other side. We left Dam at 9.30……and hit the rugged looking road which took back to NH-48 and continued our journey.

We reached Yadiyur at 10.10 AM and we came across yet another “Hebbagilu” on left side. Here, we took left turn into the town and went straight until we reached our second destination “Mahabalashwara Temple”. Vineet and Jagga went inside the temple while other 3 were waiting. Mean time, I saw a Chariot (“Ratha”) standing opposite to temple. It had some beautiful carvings on all its sides. One elder person of that town who was watching us (Me and Mayya) came near and started explaining all the figures carved on the chariot. The carvings which surprised me were of intimate scenes with one or more persons and more of surprise, it included intimate scene with animals also. I was shocked and was not able to digest this. How could they carve such things on chariot which carries God on festivals?

After Vineet came back, we made our bikes to stand in line horizontally..and did pooja and hit the coconut in front of our bikes for our safe journey. Later we drove back to NH-48 and continued our journey to next destination “The Gorur Dam”. On the way we came across green patch of grass and then we took rest for few minutes under a tree.
On the way to Hassan, you come across 4 way junction which takes to Sakleshpura to right side and Gorur to left side. We took left turn and reached Gorur at 2.30 PM. The Road from NH-48 to Gorur was too good with curvy paths and trees planted alongside the road, thereby experiencing AC effect through out the journey. With this type of road, all 5 drove like crazy at 80km/hr in single bee line. It looked like some bike race is going on.


After reaching Gorur, we came near to the gates of the Gorur dam. The security asked to bring permission letter from authority person whose office was 1km back from where we came. Since it was lunch time, the security told officer would have gone for lunch and we have to wait until he comes and get permission letter. But later, he decided to allow us to see the dam and asked us to tell inside officers that we could not get permission since it was lunch time only if they enquired. We parked our vehicles inside the gate under beautiful tree which had red flowers all over. While walking near to the dam, we were able to see letters “Narmada dam” carved in huge size on either side, one in English and other in Kannada. We climbed steps to reach the top of dam to have lovely sight of water flowing and hitting the dam. The walls towards the water were in sliding shape covered with large square like stones… with few stones blocks protruding at a certain distance at regular intervals. We climbed down and took some snaps on these stone blocks.

We had lunch at around 3.00 PM there itself. We went to temple which is situated opposite side of the dam, residing nearby a river.

We took our bikes near to that river, washed our faces, took some rest and continued our journey to Bisile. Instead of going back, we just took the road from Gorur Dam and continued further towards Shanivarasanthe via Mallipattana.

On the way we came across a road where it takes to Sakleshpura on right side and Bisile to left side. So we hit the roads on left side and continued towards Bisile. Our main aim was to see sunset at 6.00 PM at View point. The path was not smooth, it was muddy road with pebbles around. We came across a circle with 4 roads which again takes to Sakleshpura (32kms from there) on right side. One road was towards Bisile which was around 14 kms. The Nut in the metallic cover for chain socket got loosened in Jagga’s Bike and fell down somewhere on the road. So near the circle, there was repair shop where the repair fellow did some stuff to keep the covering. Meanwhile we all had rounds of Tea and Badam Milk. Then we kicked our bikes towards Bisile. After reaching Bisile, We have to cross police check post and continue further to reach the view point. When we reached view point at 6.20 PM, last visitors were leaving the place. We scouted on top of the view point for some time until 7.00 PM .and then we climbed down to our bikes. Luckily the main gates were not locked. So we took the advantage by opening the gates and rode our bikes to view point itself and parked on left side where there was flat area suitable for parking. We later closed the gates as it is after we got inside.

The black clouds were there on top of our head hence we could not see sun set. Alas!! From view point, the scenery was ultimate as good as painting. We could see Giribetta which was highest peak along with Kumara Parvatha to its right. There was display map of all mountains which were visible along with their names. We pitched tent there and we laid down our sleeping mats. We rested our backs on the mat and ate our snacks while we chatted. We had our dinner (chapattis with Chutney powder) and we slept at 9.00 PM.
It was very hot inside the tent and nobody was ready to sleep outside as we had heard some rumors that cheetahs frequent these places. We had taken candles to light them whole night.

We got up at 5.00 AM after having bad night (Could not sleep properly because of Kiran’s loud snoring L which was similar to Tiger….may be this effect was due to tiger biscuits eaten last night). We removed tent and packed our entire luggage. Vineet told there is one more view point at some distance. I was not interested as sun was hiding still even thought it was 6.00 AM. As rest of 4 were enthu to go there, I stayed back while they went to the view point and returned at 6.30 AM. Then we took our bikes down the view point onto the road, closed the gates as it was when we arrived, and moved on.

We had travel back on same road as we came through Bisile to a village called JagaTa. We came across lot of 2 road junction on the way…and we had to ask the villagers for the right direction. The journey was not an easy one. We have to go through muddy track initially, and then road full of pebbles which are waiting to make your bike to slip and slide. It was not a plain road track; it was full of ups and downs. I felt as though we are doing some cross road race without any audience. On the way we came across a triangle like path, where we got stuck as we did not know which one to take. So we rested there as Vineet took right turn and went ahead to confirm the road with any villagers who may come across. Then he came back and told left road takes to Kurkemane village while right road takes to JagaTa village. So we continued the ride after taking right turn. As we are coming down near to JagaTa village, we had to cross small channel of water which was flowing into farm where it was used to water the plants I guess. After crossing that, immediately we came to a halt. We could see JagaTa village in front of our track. But there was one big hurdle which we rode all this way to experience this. There was river flowing between us and JagaTa village and we must cross this now to continue our journey.

We walked across the river leaving the bikes on the bank to test how much deep it is. Luckily, it was coming to little less than our knees which was safe for only 150CC bike silencers (Mine and Mayya). Jagga inspected left side where their bikes could go without any problem to the silencers as it wasn’t deep that side. So first we all removed our shoes and took our entire luggage to that side of the road. The villagers saw us and they were happy to help us out of that river. They told us the stories of first bikers (7 to 8 ppl) who came in spite of pathetic roads. There was huge tree fallen on their path it seems and they had to lift their vehicles over that and come here. The water was also very much deep that time it seems and villagers were really surprised and shocked to see these people cross this river with their bikes. We then took our bikes one by one through the river. The river was full of pebbles of various sizes so we had to carefully cross the river without falling.

Finally all our bikes were parked opposite to the bank of river. The villagers were very helpful to us. They showed the hanging wooden bridge on the left side which they used to cross when the river rises to high level. They offered us drinking water which was very clean and sweet. They asked us whether we required breakfast. As we had already taken bread and jam for breakfast, we did not go for it. We had our breakfast under a shadow of big tree at around 9.30 AM. I took some beautiful of snaps of flowers in that village. Vineet was trying to capture photos of Swan flying on trees with his analog SLR camera while Mayya and Jagga were nagging him that he cannot use his camera properly.

After thanking villagers, we were set to ride to our next destination “Nagarhole Railway Bridge” which comes near Edukumeri Railway station (Regular trekkers would know this name). This journey was toughest one compared to whatever we did until now. To tell how the path is, I can say my bike fell 4 times on the way without any damage to myself.We were riding bikes on the route which are supposed to be for trekking. So obiviously, it will be difficult. The route was asphalted road until we reached Hongadahalla village and continued our journey further towards track.

I hate this type of roads which was full of palm size pebbles and with ups and downs. But risk has its own value that’s why we were ready to take this as challenge. The distance was some 15 kms but the journey took long time. While going down, we had to go inch by inch applying back and front breaks. While going up, we had to be in first gear and full accelerator. This was our regular routine drive on that path. On the way we came across flat road with tall trees surrounding and some cut woods lying on left side of road.
There we took some snaps and we continued our journey. We came across beautiful scenery on the way where we would stop our vehicles and take snaps.

By 11.30 AM, we came to final destination where we could see Railway Bridge on right side. We parked our vehicles nearby and walked towards Railway Bridge. There were tunnels on either sides of the bridge. Jagga was very happy as he was doing trekking first time on this Edukumeri track by crossing bridges and tunnels. We did not know which one takes us to Nagarhole Railway Bridge. So first we took left side of bridge and walked on the wooden planks of bridge. My legs were shaking as I was very much afraid of heights. Gradually, I became used to walking on the bridge. We crossed the bridge and all others went inside the tunnel except me as I had already been there. It was 2.00 PM already so we decide to move on. We had thought initially there could be path to Gundya which comes on the highway. Vineet took his bike, crossed the railings with great difficulty by using few slabs in slanting position. He went to either side where there was road visible to check whether it leads to Gundya or not. Later he came back and told there was no road. There came few railway workers who told us there is no way to Gundya and to visit Nagarhole Railway Bridge, we have to take right side of tunnel. While we prepared to leave, a single open carriage with some trekkers sitting on it passed on the track. May be they were going to Edukumeri railway station which was some 4 kms away to our left. We crossed the tunnel on right side and crossed one more small bridge. Then we had to cross longest tunnel existing in that track which is of 572mts. We switched on our torches and went through the tunnel to reach our destination Nagarhole Railway Bridge. The bridge was longest one and was at great height with Nagarhole River flowing underneath it. We walked across this bridge and then we climbed down to Nagarhole River with the help of passage like road on right side of bridge.

We enjoyed taking bath in the flowing water. Mayya, Vineet and Kiran swam for some time. At around 3.30 PM, we had our lunch on the rocks nearby river. We looked up the bridge and we saw a group of 8 to 9 trekkers crossing the railway bridge. After finishing our lunch, we came back to our bikes. May be those trekkers would have got surprised to see bikes standing in this type of area. While we drove back the same route as there was no alternative. Those trekkers were having bath near some small flowing water next to our bikes. They may have thought we were crazy to drive these bikes on this type of terrain. On the way, my bike again fell down for 5th time and this time along with me. I got some bruises on my elbow, but was able to manage it. We came to same place (near Hongadahalla village) where there was full of tall trees standing at around 5.00 PM. We decided to hook the tent there itself as there was good air blowing up. Vineet and I went to left side of mountain to get Sun Set View Point while others rested on their mats. We both climbed on right side also to mark Sun Rise View Point to get good snaps in the early morning.

At 6.30 PM, as the sun was coming down, we all 5 went to Sun set view point to take snaps. There were huge boulders standing on that place. We sat on that rocks and waited for our precious catch of Suns image. We took several snaps as the sun was going down.
I asked Mayya to stretch his hands in front and I took a snap of him which looks like he is holding sun on his palm. By 7.00 PM, Vineet and I drive down to nearby village 2kms away to get some food as we heard there was one hotel in that village. But when we reached there, the hotel was closed down and there was no curds packet available to eat with our food. We tried asking one more shop but it was in vain. We met a man who called himself as Secretary. He said he wanted to help but told his assistant is not there to cook food so was unable to. He said if we want, we can cook food ourselves in his room. And he said he will arrange room for sleeping. We told him we had brought tent so we would be sleeping in that. Then to try our luck again, we went to back to that same hotel, where the hotel fellow was standing. Initially he said there was no food available and after some discussion, he agreed to give rice and sambar if extra is present in his house. Later on he gave sufficient amount of rice and sambar to us. He warned us from not to sleep outside as there was elephant attacks recently in surrounding villages. We went back to our tent and rest were also ready to leave the place as one of passerby told them it would rain in the morning. So with reason of rain and elephants, we decided to go for a room in HongadaHalla village. So we kick started our bikes and drive down to this village to reach at 8.00 PM. The villagers were very helpful especially Head Master of the school. He gave us room initially, but we settled for “Ranga Vedhike” which was in open space as we required some cool fresh air.

We had our dinner at 8.30 PM and slept on our mats. We did not use tent this time. We got up at 5.30 AM morning next day and by 6.00 AM we were on the roads towards Sakleshpura. 5 kms before Sakleshpura, we came across our one more destination “Majrabad Fort” also called as “Summer Palace” at around 9.00 AM. This is situated near to the highway so it is hard to miss. We had Badam milk and Tea at hotel and started climbing up towards the Fort leaving our bikes near the hotel itself. While walking up, we came to series of steps (around 200 I guess) which lead to Fort. We reached the fort to be amazed by its beauty.

We hired a guide to tell about its history. This Fort was built by Tippu Sultan. There are 3 Doors to the Fort. It was mainly built to collect and store revenue taxes. Instead of taking all money to Mysore, Tippu wanted to have central place to store the money, hence this fort. The fort is in the shape of stars with 9 sides, each side having watch tower to watch enemies entering. There is huge channel on all sides of fort which was earlier filled with water and crocodiles and poisonous snakes were let into it to avoid enemies. Other than 9 watch towers, there is one extra watch tower which is in front of the fort and looks magnificent with sculptures. The fort has swimming pool at the center in the shape of Plus sign with steps all around it. We went inside the Watch Tower to have experience how the guards watched the building. We stood on top of tower and took some beautiful snaps. The guide showed us the place where Servants room, the kitchen, Bath room were located which are already destroyed by British. He showed us Tippu’s Toilet place which also had separate corner for his bodyguard to watch any enemy entry. He showed us Horse stable, Tippu bedroom, the storage room to store all grains and the storage room for arms. There was escape route to outside on top of the fort. The most thrilling monument was there were 2 escape routes near the swimming pool. These are underground passages used to escape on their horses. The left one leads to Mysore and right leads to Srirangapatna. These escape routes are cured by Govt. of India to protect them from climate changes. The Govt. has blocked the escape routes as there was some rape incident 12 years back in that secret passage. He showed us how the walls of the fort
Keep cool climate even in summer. Hence it was called Summer Palace as Tippu used to come here in summer to have cool climate.


Near to first entrance, on the ceiling we can see the map of the entire fort with star shape with 9 sides including the channel that surrounds the fort. The secret passages are not depicted on this. We came down to our bikes and started towards Bangalore on the NH-48 highway. On the way, we come across 4 ways junction, left road takes us to Hassan and while straight road takes to Bangalore. We continued towards Bangalore with full speed 100Km/hr. Now the bike race actually started. Of course nobody can beat Mayya on Highways. We took left turn towards place called Nuggehalli 2kms after CR Patna. We biked 15 kms towards our final destination “Narasimha Temple” built by Hoysalas. We went inside the temple to find doors closed. We hired a guide there again and he took over all the idols carved on the temple explaining each one of them. The idols start with ‘Brahma’ god and ends with ‘Surya’ god. The other idols consist of Ganesha with eight hands, Harihara, Krishnavatara, Vamanavatara, Parvathi, Kaali, Lakshmi, Saraswathi, Rama, Sita, Lakshmana, Hanuman, Garuda, Vishnu sitting on snake etc. the Polari came and opened the door for us. Inside there were 3 god idols including ‘Ugranarasimha’ god. He did pooja and gave us teertha. At around 2.00 PM, we started to leave to Bangalore. On the way we went to my Aunty house at Mullukere 5kms from Nuggehalli. We had curd milk, tea and then left to Bangalore.

On the way, I saw a man driving a bike standing on the pedals of his bike with his hands folded. I was shocked to see that and I gave thumbs up sign and he acknowledged by bowing down. We reached Bangalore at 6.30 PM. And at last we had Lemon Tea at 7.00 PM at Kiran’s favorite hadda to mark our successful journey. Cheers!!!!...