Solo ride to Namma Kudla (Mangalore) and Udupi
I don't want to start with About section in this blog, as this trip was totally about visiting the temples :)
So will be explaining about the temples with the blog content itself.
Well to start with, I always had a dream of travelling to my hometown managlore by bike, but due to many circumstances I was not able give a hit. Finally its a day when I watched the Movie Highway, it inspired me a lot to go on a trip to Managlore,I know there is no proper connection with the movie :P but still it made a difference.
How it Went :
It was 28th Feb of 2014, I woke up by 4:30 AM did some pushups to attain the fitness for the long drive and then prepared a cup of maggi as the startup breakfast. By 5:30AM I was all set for my long drive, kept my engine for idealing for a couple of minutes and started via outer ringroad, by 6am I was near Gurguntepalya signal, in another 25min I had crossed the nelmaangala junction towards NH75. The visibility was too poor so I couldnt take my bike above 70kmph till 6.45 or so.
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| @ nelmangala |
The National Highway 75(48) is upto the standard and there are absolutely no bumpers or pothhles in this route, you will not find any hotel owners till 7.30am on this highways, I came across many hotel, but I preferred Mayura Hotel which is near to bellur cross, they are quite high on the price list but should try there dosa and
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| @ Mayura Hotel |
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crispy vada, meanwhile my bike was taking breath while I was having my breakfast, by 7.45am I was done with breakfast, and sticked with my timesheet to reach the next stop, it was Hassan which was supposed to be the next stop, but I continued my journey around 20km away from Hassan and stopped for a tea break and then I had called up my mother to inform about the current location, she was shocked when I told I am near sakleshpur, and I had a nice lecture since I covered almost 200+ km within 3.5hr, I took a long rest at this place and fueled up the vehicle too.
This is the place where the actual beauty of western ghats will be reviled, I had predecided that I wont make any urgency for the rest of my drive and wanted to enjoy each bit of beauty of the nature.
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| near Sakleshpur |
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Its quite easy to maintain around 60-70kph through this section, but I was riding at 50kmph and reached sakleshpur by 9.45am, after this stop the actual western ghats begins and it continues for another 65km till
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| NH 48 |
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| NH 48 |
nelyady, the route is truely mesmerizing, for some distance you will be seeing the tea plantation surrounding the NH then the true turns begins, you will come across many hair pin curves which are pretty much steep and sometime becomes difficult to navigate through. I heard that the view would be much more eye poping when visited during rainy season, but going on a bike would become a challenge then, I have read many blogs where brave hearts had done this route during peak monsoon season.
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| Western Ghats |
Well coming back to my journey, I passed major sections of the western ghats stopping as on when required and I felt like I was on top of the world with the beauty around. Well by 11.30 I reached the nellyadi Junction and finished western ghats core section, I took a pit stop and had a badam milk to get rid of exhausting heat and humid range of sea coast, next stop was puttur I zoomed towards uppinangadi and took left devation to puttur which was 12km from here. In another 15min I was in front of the mahalingeshwara temple,
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| near polali |
had a dharshan of the lord shiva and left the place within 15min, the next deviation point was BC Road which was 30km from puttur, I took around 45 min to reach BC road and took deviation towards state-highway 101 to reach my house in Bajpe. In between I had visited two more temple of Polali rajarajeshwari and ganapathi temple of ganjimath.
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| polali Shanka |
After reaching my home, honked in front of the gate, my cousin sister and mother were shocked to see me with my bike :P . There ends my first day of journey.
Day 2:
The day started as normal woke by 6am refreshed and then helped my aunt in preparing morning breakfast and by 10AM after having breakfast I was ready for second day journey, I had visit one of the function at my aunt place so visited the place had lunch there and left towards udupi which was 50km away,
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| @ padubidri beach |
this part of the road is the one which gives the actual experience to ride in the western ghats, these roads are not as wide as national highway but small enough to fit two passing cars and no railing protection too, well I
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| my bike @ padubidri |
managed to reach the place called padubidiri where I was supposed to stay for the night, myslef and my cousin reached there house by 5pm and the first thing we did was dropping at beach, we were adviced not to get drenched in the beach, but I just wanted to see the coast, the beach was less than 1km from house ad I took my bike to the beach too some snaps and waited to see the beautiful sunset over arabian sea. After spending an hour at the beach we returned back to home and ended my second journey of the day.
Day 3 :
Woke up by 7am jumped on the bike to go the beach for the morning bath spent an hour at the beach playing with my cousins and reached home 8.30 got ready to have the breakfast, by 10AM we were supposed to leave to see the shree krishna of udupi,
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| Udupi Shree Krishna Temple |
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but due we couldn't make it on time and had to start an hour later, udupi temple was 25km from padubidiri, and zoomed by bike at 100s in NH17, by 11.30 I was at the udupi temple, had dharshan in another 30 min and I had to start to another place called palimar, which was around 45km
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| Nagargjuna Thermal Plant |
I could make it to the place in another 1hr had lunch at the temple of palimar and then I reached home at padubidri, slept for hour, and then started to my mother birth place puttige, which was 30km took 1 hour to reach the place and had dharshan of somanatheswara from here I headed to the house at mangalore which was another 30km from here and reached in another 1hour. Took the break for the day.
Day 4:
The second part of the long solo drive began at morning 6am, I got up 5.30 am refreshed and my aunt had prepared nice crispy paddu for breakfast, she was about to pack to have it on the drive, but I asked her to server at home only and also asked her to pack up :P
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| Route after crossing nelyadi |
by 6.15am when there was slight sunshine I started my bike, I didnt wanted to start when its dark as it would be risky in ghat section. I reached bangalore-managlore highway in another 30min took some snaps of the morning sunrise. The next stop was nelyadi, I thought of having a tea, but I wasn't lucky enough to get a tea also even though it was 7.30am. I couldn't stop there for longer time, started towards bangalore, after passing nelyadi
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| kukke sri Subramanya Temple |
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| Route towards Kukke Sri |
I saw the board of kukke subramanya and thought of visiting the temple which was 25km, took 30min to reach the temple and by 9.30 I had darshan ok lord subramanya, by 9.30 I was out of the temple and without wasting the time I started towards my destination.
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| view of Western Ghats |
It was by 10am then I felt hungry in middle of nowhere in the deep forest stopped my bike took out the paddus packed and started having the breakfast :P by 12pm I reached hassan took some break to have tea by a nearby shop, I
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| View of Western Ghats |
thought of reaching bangalore by by 2pm if I havent planned kukk, but now its extended, by 1pm I thought of having lunch and stopped at malgudis restaurant it was 1.30 by then and bangalore was still 100km away, I took my vehicle to its max potential and reached nelmangala in another 30min, and as expected the traffic was full as I started toward the city in another 1hr I reached my house just laid down on the floor slept for 3hr :P had a wonderful drive time..
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| Total Distance |
