The title may be surprising. What's the connection between Neelakuranji ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strobilanthes_kunthiana ), a flower that blossoms once in 12 years in Mandalpatti Coorg which is in South of Karnataka to Badami which is North of Karnataka , a place which is so rooted to Karnataka's rich cultural heritage. The connection is that we rode across the beautiful landscape of this amazing state. The landscape that consists of lush greenery , gushing rivers , cloud touching hills , lip smacking food and more importantly the most loving people.
Me along with Arun on his legendary Orion ( RE Thunderbird ) which has seen the lengths and breadth of India and Deepak on his unbelievably beautiful Honda Africa twin did this 1,400kms ride from 1st to 5th September.The route we took was Bangalore - Channarayaptna - Mandalpatti - Hassan - Davanagere - Badami Aihole Pattadakal Kudala Sangama - TB Dam - Bangalore
Day 1 : Bangalore -> Channarayaptna (200kms)
We started on 1st Sep evening around 6.30pm and stopped at Channarayaptna midway to our first destination Mandalpatti
Day 2 : Channarayaptna -> Mandalpatti -> Kushalnagar (240kms)
The actual ride starts. We started early as we knew that from here-on major part of the ride would be on State Highways. The ride till the foothills of Mandalpatti was good , which then changed to broken roads to complete off road. To make the matter worse it started raining and after a point we decided to park the bike and walk, a wise decision as the rain gradually increased. Though the location was beautiful we could not really enjoy due to rain and party because of our unpreparedness for the same. I could hardly click a few pictures and quicky we rode down to the foothills.
Day 3 : Kushalnagar -> Davanagere -> Badami (450kms)
The second longest distance we coved on this ride but certainly the most tiring. 80% of this ride was State Highway and the condition of the roads was ranging from excellent to good to bad to non existent. The roads till Davanagere where we stopped for breakfast was better but post that at certain places we stopped to think are we on the correct road as we rode through some remote villages where we could not even find a soul for kilometres 😁 But personally I loved riding this route , and definitely we could take this road only because we were on a bike I would not have dared to take my car on that road ( if you can call that a road😁)
Finally after 10hrs being on road we reached Badami at around 4pm and checked into Hotel Rajsangam International , quickly freshened up and went out to see Boothanatha Group of temples ( https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhutanatha_group_of_temples,_Badami)
It was such a mesmerizing sight and we really enjoyed the cool evening breeze sitting on the steps of thousands of year old Agastya Teertha
Day 4 : Pattadakallu->Aihole->Kudala Sangama->Mahakoota->Badami Caves->Badami Banashankari Temple (180kms)
Day 4 was the day to explore the places around Badami , the first of which was the incredible Pattadakallu group of temples.
I entered the temple complex of Pattadakal on the west banks of Mallaprabha river and heard the bells ringing , the virupaksha temple is active , the vibes are active , the prayers are active and so the place is active. All this because the indomitable human spirit is active. I felt so bad that swach bharath has been thrown into winds and people have converted the roads to public toilet. Fortunately enough Badami , Pattadakallu and Aihole are world heritage sites and hence the temple complex is very well maintained
The next on the list was Aihole. Just before entering the Aihole complex we met an armyman who was on his holiday , he saw 3 of us taking a few pictures and came to speak to us , he also got us into the Aihole complex. The extraordinary Chakra Gudi of Aihole
What is it that a 1400 year old beauty stands tall after all the tyranny which our great country has gone though.
This temple complex was built on a grant given by Vikramaditya 1 son and successor of the great Chalukyan Emperor Pulakeshin II , which possibly dates this temple dedicated to Durga to 640CE.
after Aihole we visited Kudalasangama the sacred place for Lingayats , the Krishna and Mallaprabha river meet here and flow towards Srisailam in Andra Pradesh.
We had our lunch at the Kamat Yatrinivas in Kudala Sangama and came back to Badami visiting Mahakoota on the way. Mahakoota is a sacred place and there is a pond which is believed to be sacred and also has medicinal value , I and Arun wanted to take a dip however seeing the crowd decided against it , we reached our room and Deepak decided to stay back and after a quick break I and Arun went to see Badami Caves and the Badami Banashankari Temple
the architecture of Badami Cave temples just blew my mind , it must have taken hundreds of finest sculptors to make this magum opus which has stood the test of time.
Day 5 : Badami -> TB dam -> Bangalore (485kms)
Though this is the longest ride of the roadtrip the last 350odd kilometres was National Highway and we knew we would cover the distance in good time. We visited the TB Dam and the breathtaking backwaters of TB dam , it was a visual treat to see the Tunga Bhadra dam and the Backwaters. We had our lunch at chitradurga and reached home by 4pm. What an amazing ride!🏍️
See you on the next one until take care.
Superb santhosh....please continue to write since most of the people travel but very few people capture memories of the place and experience. Great going and stay safe.
ReplyDeleteHappy to see this comment Pattar sir.. 🙏
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