Continuing the West coast ride story

“Is there a temple up there?”, the old lady asked pointing towards the bunch of college students who were running up & down the stairs which takes one to the Sunset view point at Agumbe.

“Oh! Yes. There is one. And he is the God’, Srikanth pointed towards the late afternoon Sun. The old lady was bewildered. We both exchanged smiles & went towards the view point.

We were at Agumbe, the Chirapunji of South India, the Malgudi of Swamy & his friends. En route view point we briefly stopped at the Agumbe town trying to find the school which Swamy attended in the Malgudi days series.

It was 4.30 in the evening and we had another hour & forty five minutes for the Sunset (6.15 PM) as per the guy at the handicrafts shop. It was too late for us to reach Udupi to catch sunset at the beach. Hence we decided to witness the Sunset. We parked our bikes & roamed around. The place was bit noisy because of the two groups of tourists, both being college students. Their chatters, pranks took us back to our college days. We climbed up to the view point & back couple of times. And then we tried to explore the dense trees above the viewpoint for a better view of Sunset, but had to come back as there was no visibility. We walked up & down the road, sat on the roadside discussing on the plans for next three days, and then sat silently enjoying the surroundings.

Some 15-20 minutes before the sunset we moved to the viewpoint. It was an amazing experience watching the Sun changing colors every moment. I tried to capture the sunset in my camera & then I realized that I was missing the live action. I decided to give a break to the camera & enjoy the view to the fullest. We sat silently watching the Sun going down inch by inch. Those moments, though of shorter period, are impossible to describe in words. We said good bye to the Sun and were back on the saddles.

Daylight was reducing quickly & we had another 50+KMs to ride. It was fun riding down the narrow Agumbe ghat road. Though of shorter distance, it has 14 hair pin curves within a distance of 7-8 KMs & the height drastically reduces. By the time one covers 8-10KMs from the viewpoint, he will be at almost sea level from a height of 826 meters above sea level.

With Sun down, darkness glooming, tired souls, droopy eyes, we rode down the narrow roads towards Udupi. After 75 minutes; by 8PM, we were roaming in the alleys of Udupi, lost searching for the Udupi bus stand. Due to construction work, we had to detour, ride around aimlessly just following the flowing traffic. Next was the tough task to search for a hotel, then Rajesh Naik (a fellow travel blogger, an avid traveler & an amazing personality - more details on him in a separate post :)) came to our rescue. We dumped our luggage, freshened up & had a lazy dinner (stretching 3.5 hrs) with Rajesh & Srikanth (Srikanth #2, another fellow blogger).

And so was our day one, covering 440KMs, visiting couple of heritage & pilgrimage centers, spending time at a water reservoir & an unforgettable sunset.

Route taken on day one:

Bangalore - Kunigal - Hassan - Belur - Yagachi - Chikkamagalur - Balehonnur - Jayapura - Sringeri - Agumbe - Hebri - Udupi

Continuing the West coast ride story

It was few minutes over 2.30PM when we reached Sringeri, my second visit in a month’s span. Late enough to miss the darshana at the temple. We rode up & down the main road of the temple town before settling down for lunch in a small hotel. We spent an hour’s time having food & discussing the next plans for the day. We thought of visiting either Hariharapura or Kigga, but decided to visit those two places during our next visit & headed towards Agumbe.

The journey from Yagachi to Sringeri tooks approximatey 2 hours. It was around 12.30 when we started from Yagachi dam & our next stop was any place on the way, we had plan of stopping when hungry. Till Belur we had enjoyed the wide, straight, well laid roads. From Belur onwards it was narrow, not-so-good, but scenic, twisty roads. We crossed Chikkamagalur & then Aldur and lo we were amidst the mountain range of western ghats. It was pleasant riding throught the high mountains & the ghat sections.

Soon we were in Balehonnur and were hungry. Searched for a hotel for lunch. After riding down up & down without finding one, we went ahead. Next big town is Jayapura. Since we were very near to Sringeri, we decided have to have lunch there itself. After 15-20 minutes along the narrow road, we reached Sringeri.

We left Sringeri around 3.30-3.45 with stomachs filled. By 4.30 we were at Agumbe, the same Malgudi town which Shankarnag introduced to the world, the same place also called as Chirapunji of South India. I was there at Agumbe after more than 14 years. It took me 14 years for the second visit, hence we decided to kill 2 hours time & catch the beautiful sunset and then head towards Udupi.

The ride: Start - Belur - Yagachi dam - Sringeri - Agumbe - Udupi

Continuing the West coast ride story

Yagachi river backwaters

Just less than 10 KMs from Belur while going towards Chikkamagalur comes a huge water body on the left side of the road. In my previous journeys in that route, I had assumed this place as just another lake, a huge one. Very recently I came to know that it’s Yagachi dam (or reservoir) built across river Yagachi (one of the important tributaries of river Kaveri).

Yagachi dam is relatively new to the list of reservoirs in India, which was dedicated to the nation in 2004. The main purposes of the dam are irrigation for thousand’s of acres of land in Hassan & Chikkamagalur district and source of drinking water for Belur & Chikkamagalur cities.

Another view of the reservoir

We parked our bikes near the front gate only to see couple of policemen sitting in the shade & the words on a board which said ‘No entry to visitors’. While we were contemplating whether to continue with the ride or to speak to them, one of them waved at us. They were bit curious looking at us, our bikes & the luggage. Like it happens most of the times, they were surprised to hear our ride plan. When we inquired about entry to the dam, we were told that due to security reasons no one is allowed to enter the dam premises, but can go till a place where they had placed barricades. We were more than happy to listen to that. We roamed around the place looking at the blue water collected in the reservoir. View was amazing. After spending almost half an hour, we bid adieu to the cops & caretakers of the reservoir and were back on the saddles.

Ganapas

While we were there couple of tourist vehicles stopped by. They also paid a visit to the dam & were gone in 5 minutes. Wonder, why to visit a place if you don’t have time to enjoy the place for few moments!

The ride: Start - Belur - Yagachi dam - Sringeri - Agumbe - Udupi

The stone sculptures

Nowadays when you visit a well known tourist place; even if it’s you first visit, every nook & corner looks familiar. That’s what happened to me when I was in Belur (though it was second visit for me, after a long gap of 13 years). Thanks to the amount of information & photos available on the internet.

Birds and the temple gopura

It was 10.30AM when we reached Belur & had an hour’s time. Hence decided not to take a guide. Instead roamed around the temple premises aimlessly. One hour we spent there is not at all sufficient. I plan to go there some time soon - visit both Belur & Halebidu.

The Silhouette of Manasthambha

The temple and the manasthambha

The stone pillar

Few places nearby places which I’ve not yet visited & plan to visit when time permits -

Halebidu
Halmidi - place where Kannada’s oldest shaasana was found (kannada script on a stone)
Hanuma Devara gudda - a small hillock between Hassan and Belur

The ride: Start - Belur - Yagachi dam - Sringeri - Agumbe - Udupi