Masingudi

March 29, 2013 Leave a comment

Nestled in the pristine jungles of  mudumalai tiger reserve is masinagudi a off beat weekend getaway. Hectic workload in office made me long for a good break and finally decided to head to masinagudi for a short trip to break the monotony. Accommodation was booked at Casa deep woods masinagudi and i left on Fri morning.

A uneventful journey through mysore with couple of breaks took me to bandipur tiger reserve and I was hoping for some sightings of animals or birds. A leisure drive through bandipur and madhumalai took me to Theppakadu where the road bifurcates. Left goes to masingudi and to ooty via kalhatty ghat and the right takes us to gudalur and to ooty which is a longer distance. We soon reached the resort and were shown our roooms. A well deserved break and it was time to head for the safari.

There are number of organizers at theppakadu asking people if they would like to go for safari’s. We managed to strike a deal with one guy and informed him we were interested in going for evening and morning safari. The forest department also runs safari’s within the reserve, however one would have to go in a bus with lots of other people for an hour. The chances of sighting wildlife would depend on one’s luck whether you would go  in a bus or in a jeep.

As per our agreement we went to masinagudi village and called up the operator who arrived promptly. We set out for the first safari for the day. The route would be via the river bed which according to the operator is a popular place for tiger and other wildlife sightings

Langurs at the start of safari

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The ride continued slowly and we could see plenty of peacocks and deers along the route but no tigers !!. Clicking photos of the wildlife available we continued towards the drive towards the dam. As the ride continued we spotted an eagle sitting on a tree. An hour of driving and we reached a hillock where we could see elephants and bisons at a distance.

Deers and Peacocks

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Jungle @karnataka side

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We spent some time at the hillock before heading to the dam which was very close. Even though the temperatures were soaring there was enough water. Spending sometime there we headed back.

The sun was setting and I could get some good photos of the sunset.

Sunset @ mudumalai forest

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Evening was spent playing games in the resort followed by dinner.

It was an early start to the next day as we had a morning safari to get to. We were hoping for some good wildlife sightings, however as luck would have had it, we could again see only deers, peacocks.

Sunrise

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The two hour ride gave us nothing except the same we say yesterday. The misty morning allowed to me take some nice photos of the roads inside the sanctuary .

Roads within Mudumalai

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With nothing much to do, we came back and headed back to the resort for some rest as the sun was climbing up and the temperature was increasing. Spending couple of hours in the resort we headed to  pykara lake on the way to ooty. The less water level made the place uninteresting. Spending sometime there we headed to botanical garden in ooty. Again the dry temperature made the place not uninteresting. Spending some more time in ooty roaming around, we headed back to the resort.

The resort had organized games in the evening along with bon fire and the evening was spent mingling with the guests and playing tambola.

Bon Fire

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A late dinner and it was time to hit the sack as we had a long drive back to bangalore.

Snaps can be found here

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Bettamugilalam

November 26, 2012 Leave a comment

Bettamugilalam is a small village just of hosur near krishnagiri. Bangalore mirror had published an article regarding it and this made me to plan a drive to this place.

Even though the article was published in 2010, attempts to go to this place failed due to various reasons. This time I however decided to go this around as I had ample free time on sunday.  As usual it was a solo ride, and I zoomed off towards hosur.

Name of the place: Bettamugilalam

Distance : 100 kms

Route: Bangalore-> Hosur->Denkankottai->Ayyur->Bettamugilalam OR Bangalore->Harohalli->Maralwadi->Thally->Denkankottai->Ayyur->Bettamugilalam

The main reason for going to this place was to enjoy the ride in the reserve forests of denkankottai and banergatta. I decided to take the route via hosur when going and come via thally and maralwadi thus enabling me to cover both the reserve forests.

How to reach: Reach denkankottai and continue further towards anchetty. Drive for couple of kms from the bus stand and you’ll get a godown to your left and holy mary high school to the right. Take the road going left of the godown and continue till you reach bettamugilalam.

With roads being empty, i could enjoy the amazing scenary while clicking snaps. Driving on the twisty roads was fun, even though the road surface deteriorates as we move towards the destination. Suprisingly there is nothing to be seen once u reach the end. The place contains a hospital and couple of houses. One can go further towards rayakottai and to hosur via this place. I however couldnt enquire about the route and road conditions as there was very few people present. One person mentioned its a grassland and there is no forest cover.

There was one deviation on the way and i was told the path leads to a small area which is frequented by elephants. Due to lack of time and proper mode of transport, I couldnt explore the place. A short break at the deviation and i headed back to denkankottai where i stopped for some snacks.

Bettamugilalam

With the snack break over, it was time to head towards thally also calle Little England.  The road which was initally good, turned bad after driving for some distance. Repair work done on the road has caused the deviations to be put up and the with heavy vehicles passing, there is lot of dust and debries.

Stopped for another short break and asked for directions for kanakapura road.  I was asked to go the bus stop and take a right there and keep following the road going right till you reach maralwadi.

The road is littered with pot holes, however the empty roads and twists compensate for this. The road snakes through the BNP firnge and it was a pleasure to ride on the empty roads.

Empty roads@BNP

The journey continued through the fringe roads before exiting at harohalli busstop. A short stop for lunch and it was a non stop ride back home thus completing a long pending drive.

Snaps can be found here

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Anchetti and Around

May 16, 2012 Leave a comment

With the jayamangali trip complete on sunday, I was planning for another long drive on 1st as it was a holiday.  This time around I was intending to go to pennagaram located just after hognekkal.

Instead of taking the highway I decided to drive via anchetti as I wanted to experience the thrill of driving on the winding roads again. With the places and the route mapped out, I asked the regulars prashant and rama to join who gladly agreed.

We began the long drive after picking up rama and prashant at Central and headed off towards denkankottai. Empty roads meant it was a smooth journey till hosur. A short stop for breakfast and after refueling we headed towards denkankottai. After going for a couple of kms we were stopped for a random check at a checkpost. A couple of questions and looking at prashant who was sleeping in the back and the camera gear he deduced that he was the cameraman, when we told him we were goin towards anchetti he asked us to proceed.

The roads were excellent and the cool weather made the drive even more pleasant. The twisty curvy roads presented a good oppurtunity for some photography which we did as we tried experimenting with various angles.

Street Photography

 

The drive continued till anchetti through the winding curves and we reached anchetti after a short while. We spotted couple of statues of local idols near a non descripit village, upon inquiring the person sitting there told these were the village gods and they were built recently. They were yet to be painted and we were offered to take a few photos of it which we did.

Village Idols

The next stop was hognekkal for which we had to take a left at the fork which would lead us to hogenkkal. The sun had oame out in full force and the temperature was hotting up. The roads which were good till then had start to deteriorate and we could see more potholes than the road itself. A couple of kms and we saw the same statue that we had seen earlier. This however was fully painted. A couple of snaps and we headed off. The bad roads lasted for few more kms and we were soon back on smooth tarmac.

We reached hognekkal and looked to stop by the river for a while before heading for pennagaram. However upon seeing the huge crowds at the banks with people getting into the same waters where vehicles were being washed we decided to head to safer ground and look for another spot if it was available. This however wasnt the case as we could see rows after rows of cars coming in. It was getting too hot and we saw a shop selling ice creams and we decided to take a break and refill our stomachs and the car with water and other essentials.

The lines increased as we went ahead. We could see buses and cars coming in one after the other. With no place to park the car we decided to ditch our plan to stop by the river and instead head to pennagram. We were suprisingly caught in a mini traffic jam when heading out of hognekkal. The steady stream of cars continued and we were lucky not to have stopped.

Pennagaram proved to be a disappointment as we couldn’t find the river source that was mentioned in Bangalore Mirror. Another visit is required to search for the place mentioned in Bangalore Mirror. Prashant had mentioned about Mettur dam which is a short distance from pennagaram after checking google maps and also a unkown road which would lead back to anchetti. We decided to visit mettur dam as we still had enough time left. The route to the dam passes via mecheri and the smooth roads was a treat to drive on. Zipping past the ghat sections we continued on our way. The humidity was still high and the drive continued with the AC on in full blast. We soon reached mecheri and asked for directions to the dam. The dam was 20 kms from 20kms from the junction.

Upon goin a short distance we had a discussion whether to continue onwards or return back. Rama said there is no chance of returning back as we have some so close we might as well cover the dam as it was an unexpected detour from our original plan. Another half hour and we reached the dam. Parking the car we went inside. We were initially skeptical about entering the dam as dams as generally off limits to general public however upon speaking with the gaurd we found that we could enter the dam. A couple of shots of the distant mountains and the we were roaming around the dam for a while. Entry is forbidden after a certain point and we had to turn back. It was already 2 by the time we left the dam and our stomachs were rumbling.

Mettur Dam

It was time to head back and a couple of hrs of travelling on the highway we had another stop in A2B to feed to stomachs and it was a non stop ride back home where another detour as us go to decathlon to pick up some sports stuff and then to CH for some ice cream to complete the ride.

Snaps can be found here

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Krishnagiri Dam, Shoolagiri and Chinnar Dam

November 7, 2011 Leave a comment

It had been a long time since I had gone for a proper photoshoot and this made me search for a few places nearby which offered good views and also some relaxation. With the usual surfing came across Chinnar Dam and Shoolagiri and Krishnagiri Dam. Decided to go here on Nov 1st which was a holiday but couldnt, hence decided to push it to the weekend.

My friend Prashant also had a SLR, and since he was also into photography, asked him if he was interested in coming for a photoshoot, which he agreed. Srikanth also wanted to get out of the city, so told him to get the car so we could go to yelagiri which was our first plan. We had decided to cover these enroute or while coming back.

With the rough plan we set out of bangalore at 7.30 which was already late. After picking up prashant we headed to hosur road. It was  already quite late by the time we reached hosur road, and yelagiri looked doubtful. Hence we decided to cover shoolagiri hill, chnnar and krishnagiri dams n then head back home

Our first visit was shoolagiri hill which looks like a trident. The hill can be seen from chinnar dam which supplies water to hosur and nearby areas.We reached chinnar dam asking for directions and the place was empty except for a few kids who were at the dam

Chinnar Dam

We got to the bottom of the dam and clicked a few snaps. The trident hill is clearly visible which can be used as a good background. Trying out various compositions we spent some time, since there was nothing else of interest there we headed back to the car

Shoolagiri and Chinnar Dam

Our stomachs were rumbling and the fuel was also coming down, our next stop was A2B near to krishnagiri, in order to fill up the fuel and also our stomachs.

A short stop for snacks and we were of to krishangiri dam. It was quite hot by the time we reached the dam. A few customary shots and we headed  to the park to relax and wait for the sun to go down

Krishnagiri Dam

An hour of relaxing and we headed back to the dam as the sun went down a bit. The reflections in the water provided a good visual and myself and prashant were busy in composing various angles

The reflections

Spending some more time at the dam, we headed back to the car and back home. A short detour and a couple of rounds in E-City and a visit to an ice cream parlour I went back home, concluding a enjoyable outing

Snaps can be found here

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Anchetti

March 14, 2011 Leave a comment

It had been a long time since i had gone for a drive, and this made me to search for places which could be covered in one day .  Came across anchetti which is a small village nestled within the mountains. Further research showed me this place is ideal for biking. One can also go to hognekal falls through this route

Bangalore->Hosur->Denkankottai->Anchetti->Hognekal

Instead of going to hognekal I decided to take a deviation at anchetti and proceed to kanakapura and then back to Bangalore thus completing the following loop

Bangalore->Hosur->Denkankottai->Anchetti->Kanakapura->Bangalore

With the place decided, I decided to head out on sunday. As usual took the hosur road which was light on traffic and soon reached hosur soon. A short stop at a tea shop and I was on the way to denkankottai. With traffic being thin, the drive was enjoyable. Stopping for a few photos I continued my journey

The road to anchetti

Reaching denkankottai bus stand, I asked for directions to anchetti and I was asked to keep going straight.

Scenes around denkankottai

There was a village fair going on and the village enroute to anchetti had a festive look. People from nearby places were heading to the fair.

Crossing the forest checkpost, the roads became narrower and twsity.It was fun riding on those twisty curvy roads

Twisty Curvy forest roads

The ride continued for some more time and after a short while I reached the other end of the forest and soon I was in anchetti. There is a board indicating the directions to hognekal and to urigam.

Scenary enroute to anchetti

One needs to take right at the signboards and drive another 60 odd kms to reach kanakapura. The narrow roads continue till kanakapura and so does the fun of driving. A short stop for lunch in one of the highway dhabas and it was again a non stop ride till I reached JP Nagar. Another stop for a cuppa and reached home thus concluding another eventful ride

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Snaps can be foundhere

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2011 The Season Opener — Ride to OOTY

February 27, 2011 Leave a comment

After a two month break from my last trek to Thadiyandmol and Nishani Motte I was ready to hit the road again. I had visited a couple of places when I was in mumbai, however when CAM announced the ride to ooty I immediately signed up.

With the usual formalities completed, we headed to ooty. We reached gundulpet in the wee hours of the morning, after refreshing , we got ready to head to bandipur. As usual, ,the support vehicles were ready with the cycles. The bus and the support vehicles reached bandipur-mudumalai border and the riders got ready to embark on an arduous climb after unloading the cycles and having breakfast.

Mudumalai Entrance

Day 1 – The Ascent

The initial part of the ride was through mudumalai forest and all the riders were enjoying zipping along the empty roads in the forest,  however the joy was shorlived, when we reached gudalur. The steep ascent to ooty was about to start, which also meant the fight against gravity was also about to start.

The ride begins

TFN 2010 was concluded recently and the route was marked with encouraging messages for the 100 cyclists who had particapted in that.

Never Give UP

The climb was slow, and the rising temperatures made the climb even more tough. Stopping after few kms we continued the climb. As we went up the climb became more steeper. A few of the riders decided to climb the support vechile and ride a short distance while the rest of them were slogging it out in the heat. Depleting water levels also meant the support vechile had to stop frequently to replenish the water for the tired riders.

Scenary enroute

Myself and a few others took a ride in the support vechile for a short distance . Frrquent stops to supply water for the other riders, also meant we could have our lunch also before we could start the climb again.

With 30kms to go to reach ooty, the riders in the support vehicle, including myself began the climb again. The climb was slow and we began to cover good distance. A short break for tea and we were off again. It was almost 4.30 and we were 6 kms away from reaching ooty. Time was running out and the support vechile was sweeping everyone and we had to reach ooty by 5. Another ride in the vechile and we reached ooty by 5.30. Accomodation was at YWCA. Rooms were allotted. A short rest and we headed out for dinner and it time to hit the sack and the thrilling downhill ride was waiting everyone the next day

Day 2 – The Descent

It was a delayed start as the many of us had opted to ride downhill though there was an optional ride to doddabetta which was done by a few expert riders. Since the ride was downhill we decided to take it easy. Stopping for photos we continued our ride. A short detour to pykara boat house and a short boat ride we were back cruising downhill again. We met a german couple who were cycling from mumbai to germany over a course of 1 year covering almost 25k kms. Pretty amazing stuff.

Lake enroute to mudumalai

A couple of hours of a thrilling downhill ride and we were at gudalur. A short stop for lunch and we were back riding to bandipur where the bus was waiting. Another couple of hours with short breaks and we were in bandipur-mudumalai border, thus concluding an amazing and wonderful ride.

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Filed under Cycling, Cycling in South India, South India, Tamil Nadu, Travels Tagged with , , ,

Panchpalli Reservoir

January 29, 2011 Leave a comment

While going through bangalore mirror I came across an article regarding a reservoir which was 100 kms from bangalore. The place looked serene and was also ideal for a one day drive

With republic day approaching,  I decided to go the reservoir, and as usual srikanth and kiran joined in.

Panchpalli Reservior is 100kms from bangalore and it lies just outside of Denkanikottai. To reach the reservior

Bangalore->Hosur->Denakanikottai->Panchapalli Arch->Reservior

We left bangalore at 9 and reached hosur by 11. The roads are good till the reservoir and we had a good drive.

Panchpalli Reservoir

We spent some time there clicking snaps and enjoying the views before heading back. There are no hotels in the area and we had to come to hosur to have our lunch, before heading back to bangalore

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Snaps can be found here

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100 cyclists to tour across the beautiful ‘Blue Mountains’ range

October 13, 2010 Leave a comment

Bangalore, India, Wednesday, October 13, 2010: Tour of Nilgiris (TFN), a flagship event of RideACycle-Foundation (RAC-F) and India’s original bike tour, closed-in 100 registrations for the year 2010. TFN 2010 (popularly known as TFN Ten) is in its third consecutive year where it has seen a 60% increase in the number of riders from its first tour in 2008. TFN has grown to be India’s premier cycling tour which trails across the beautiful Nilgiris Mountains in South India. It is a mass participative cycling event for professional, amateur and the casual cyclist.  RAC-F intends to promote the cause of cycling and bring awareness about the various benefits of cycling. The ride is stretched across eight days starting from the 16th to the 23rd of December, flag-off of which will happen from Bangalore.

“What started as a casual cycling trip amongst 40 friends in 2008, has now grown be the most recognizable and enduring sporting brand in India with a total of 100 riders, who were selected out of nearly 350 applicants for the year 2010″ said Ravi Ranjan, Co-founder, RAC-F. He further added “TFN has now grown to be an event for the cycling community. It is challenging yet non-competitive. The riders are in to enjoy themselves and not compete”

TFN is doing everything under the sun to keep up the fun factor as well. One such initiative is introducing a fictitious character named ‘Jack Lee’. Jack Lee has grown to be a character that is revered and hated alike for his impartial selection of riders for the tour. Jack Lee makes sure that his identity remains concealed until the start of the tour so that all cyclists stand a fair chance of being in the tour. And because of the growing popularity of the tour, it is a challenging task to choose the riders. Jack Lee also helps the riders plan and prepare for the tour.

When asked how Jack Lee selects the riders, Ravi told us “To make sure that the selections are impartial and fair, and in keeping with the vision of RAC-F, Jack Lee chooses riders based on first- come, first-served basis. In case a rider chooses to opt-out of the tour due to unavoidable circumstances, the slot gets vacant and the next person in line is invited.”

“Each year a person is chosen among the organizers and the identity is kept a closely guarded secret until the start of the tour, when Jack Lee is finally revealed in a fun filled party during the tour”, added Ravi.

As TFN Ten gets bigger and better, it leaves the participants waiting with bated breath for the show to begin!

To know more, visit:
http://www.tourofnilgiris.com//

About RAC-F

The RideACycle-Foundation (www.rideacycle.org) encourages cycling as a form of recreation, sport and as a means to commute to work. The foundation actively works for the rights of cyclists and for laws that offer protection to cyclists through dedicated cycling lanes as well as through support for safety regulations. They hope to work with the government administration to bring about change aimed at encouraging cycling in all cities.

Several fun events like cycle treasure hunt, off road rides for children, dirt track races, and bicycle maintenance workshops are the various activities undertaken by RAC-F.

However, one of the first campaigns that RideACycle-Foundation has undertaken is to promote responsible and safe behaviour cycling within the cycling community.

Filed under Cycling, Cycling in South India, Karnataka, Kerala, South India, Tamil Nadu, Travels Tagged with , , , , , ,

St Thomas Basilica

August 15, 2010 1 Comment

St Thomas Basilica is one of the three churches built of an apostle of Jesus. The other two being St Peter’s Basilica in Rome and Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela built over the tomb of St.James in Spain.

This ancient church was the place of my visit along with santhome beach

The shrine of st thomas is built on the tomb of st thomas who came to chennai in 52AD. The church is rebuilt over the years and now there are two buildings

One is the church itself and other is the museum, which contains various artifacts and books written in latin and portugese.

A few snaps of St Thomas Basilica


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Elliot’s Beach

August 9, 2010 Leave a comment

The vibrant city of chennai would be my home for the next month, as I was sent here on some official work. After checking in to my hotel and relaxing for a while, I headed to elliot’s beach which was closest to my hotel.

A short bus ride took me to the beach in 1o min. Asking for directions I went for a stroll on the beach. As it was a sunday, the beach was ultra crowded. There were numerous stalls, selling various items ranging from ice creams to fast food.

Opp to the beach, there are plenty are plenty of hangouts such as barista, java green etc where one can spend time chatting with friends and relaxing. After spending an hour roaming the beach and clicking photos, I returned back to the hotel

A few snaps of elliot’s beach

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