Just cruise

Its almost 2 weeks after doing my bike trip to ooty-coonor that i am
sitting down to write about the trip. I personally feel if you don't scribble your experiences within a week after the travel then its very difficult to put it across.

Anyway my first bike cruising of about 730 km in 2 days was really amazing. The section of drive from bandipur to ooty is really great.

I feel the pictures will speak more than my write up. I have listed photos based on the route traveled which gives a feel of the actual travel.

The route map to the left will give the exact route and distances and will be very handy.




Nanjungud-Bandipur-Mudumalai route :

Nandi Hills makes it to almost every list on 'Places around Bengaluru'. The reason why this happens is because of its proximity to Bengaluru. It is the nearest hill station from Bengaluru and a good option for somebody looking to go for a long drive. The roads are too good till the summit.

To reach Nandi Hills take the Hyderabad highway (NH7/Yelahanka Road) from Bengaluru. After 38kms along the highway, couple of kms past Devanahalli, you can see a road going to the left towards Nandi Hills. There is a sign board there and you should not miss it, if you are careful. After another 10kms you will reach a T-junction, from where you should take a left. 4 more kms, it is one more right turn followed by a ghat road leading to Nandi Hills.The place offers a nice bird's eye view from the top. An early morning or late evening drive to the hills is an exciting option.


Summary:
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Date:
07th Mar 2010

Route: Bangalore - Devanahalli - Nandi Hills

Total Distance covered: about 156 km

Since the very initiation of getting my bike was inspired by Shiva at MM Hills i thought of commencing my bike touring by visiting MM hills.

Place of visit: MM Hills, Gopala Swamy Temple ( KRS), Rangathittu bird sanctuary

Malai Mahadeshwara hills (MM hills also called Mahadeshwara betta in local language, Kannada) belongs to Chamarajnagar district in Karnataka state. A well known place because of the forest brigand late Veerappan. This place was the hide out area for Veerappan for so many years. The famous Malai Mahadeswara temple is seen here. The surrounding is totally hill area and the temple is situated at the center of 7 hills.

MM Hills

This place can be reached from two main cities, Bangalore and Mysore.

From Bangalore, people have to travel towards Mysore. They will reach a place called Ramanagaram (52 Kms from Bangalore), then after 10kms from Ramanagaram, they will get a place called Chennapattana. Continuing in the same route, people will get a place called Maddur after 20Kms from Chennapattana. In this place (Maddur) people have to take a left turn (ask the local people for help) to move towards Malavalli. If you miss this turn, people will travel towards Mysore. After 24kms journey from Maddur (taking left turn), people will reach the place called Malavalli. From Malavalli, people have to travel towards Kollegal which is 35 Kms from Malavalli. Continue the trip towards Hanur (24Kms from Kollegal) and then to Koudalli (16 Kms from Hanur).

Koudalli is the ground level region before starting the hill journey of the MM Hills. From this place, Malai Mahadeswara temple is 30 Kms in ghat/hill section. The total distance from Bangalore to MM Hills (Malai Mahadeswara Hills) is 200 Kms.

People travelling from Mysore have to come to a place called T.Narsipura (Thiruma kudalu Narsipur), also called T.N.Pura. Distance between Mysore and T.N.Pura is 30kms. From T.N.Pura, people have to move towards Kollegal which is only 31Kms. From Kollegal, the route becomes the same for that detailed above while coming from Bangalore. i.e., from Kollegal to Hanur (24Kms), from Hanur to Koudalli (16Kms) and to MM Hills to reach the Malai Mahadeswara temple (30Kms). The total distance from Mysore to Malai Mahadeswara temple is 130Kms.



Gopala Swamy Temple ( KRS )

This place is recent addition to the tourist spots in Mysore and yet to be commercial. During the construction of KRS Dam lot of villages were submerged inside water and one of those temples which went down in water was the above temple. Few years back as the water level in the dam goes down this temple surfaced again and attracted lot of visitors.

And now they have dismantled the whole temple and re-constructed at the back waters of the KRS Dam. The temple is still under construction and very few tourists found and its very quite as of now.

Once you reach Brindavan garden its hardly 5km and easy to find it out.



Rangannathittu bird sanctuary

Migratory birds (like Storks, Pelicans, Cormorants and Herons) arrives in Ranganathittu bird sanctuary as large flocks starting December, lays eggs on the islets and moves out with the little ones in August. Best time to visit the sanctuary is around Feb - March when all the varieties are around and active. Boats are available here to take the visitors for a ride along the river and islets. To reach Ranganathittu, travel along Bengaluru - Mysuru road. Past Srirangapatna, take the road going to the right (connecting Srirangapatna to Mysore - Madikeri road). A couple of kms along this road take another right to the sanctuary. Ranganathittu is a paradise for ornithologists as well as bird photographers. Apart from the migratory birds, one can also spot Kingfishers and Peacocks here as well as crocodiles lying lazily in the river.



Summary:
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Date:
27th & 28th Feb 2010

Route: Bangalore - Mandya - Malavalli - Kollegal - MM Hills - kollegal - T.Narasipur-Mysore - Bangalore

Total Distance covered: about 596 km