I seem to have gotten into a nice, 1-ride per month routine and am thoroughly enjoying it! This ride was also planned in advance, but there were two unique things about it:
1. Stay was neither booked nor researched, a first for the BoP Bangalore chapter, but something that I'm very much used to. A large chunk of my rides have been like that.
2. We actually did 'nothing' at the destination! But again, BoP's 'nothing' has a different meaning.
Read on to find out more!
Dates: 24-25 April, 2014
Places covered: Sakleshpur and Hanbal
Route taken:
Bangalore-Nelamangala-Hassan-Sakleshpur-Anemahal-Hanbal (same route on the way back too)
Riders:
1. Varun Doegar: Royal Enfield Thunderbird (Half Sledgehammer, escort service)
2. Nishant Khanna: Royal Enfield Thunderbird (Life adviser)
3. Krishnatreya Brindavanam: Royal Enfield Electra Twinspark (Elaichi winner)
Total distance traversed: 557 kms
We were considering Red Hills near Ooty as a destination, but Doegar suggested we explore a new area. We hadn't been on the Bangalore-Mangalore highway, so Sakleshpur was chosen as the ride destination. Doegar had to back out due to some personal reasons, but he agreed to meet us up in the morning and escort us till the city outskirts. Personally, I think he had had a glimpse of our navigational skills in the Masinagudi ride and wanted to make sure we are on the right road. Always the gentleman!
We got stuck in early morning truck traffic at the railway junction near Yeshwantpur, but went off the road and reached the railway crossing. Here, we witnessed a rather funny sight of a huge, fat guy on a modified Avenger who ducked underneath the barrier, crossed the tracks and tried to repeat the stunt on the other side. We were sure the bike would go through, but had our doubts about the guy fitting underneath the barrier. It took him quite some time, but he made it through safely.
After this, it was a super smooth ride. Doegar said his goodbyes and took the NICE Road back into Bangalore while we continued on the Tumkur Road and eventually turned into the amazing Bangalore-Mangalore Highway.
The riding was relaxed, as it always is with us. Khanna was having some issues, as his engine kept 'missing' and wasn't delivering enough power at inclines. Thus, we stuck to a comfortable, cruising speed of 70 kmph. Around 90 kms into the ride, we stopped at a place called Dosa Corner for breakfast. Khanna, ever vigilant, spotted a pretty girl in the other section of the restaurant, but I was too hungry to pay attention to her. I had my favourite ride-breakfast of masala dosa and coffee. The food was average and the service abysmal. I went to wash my hands while Khanna lounged around. He looked towards the girl again and got a shock when he spotted me chatting amiably with her. When I came back to our table, he was virtually fuming. It so happened that I knew the girl; she was my classmate from Christ University and was going towards Chikmagalur and Sakleshpur with a large group of her friends. It's a small world full of funny coincidences!
For this ride, we hadn't researched much about the destination. We just knew that Sakleshpur offered good trekking opportunities, but had not knowledge of the lay of land. The weather was amazing, with the sun playing hide and seek among the clouds and a cool breeze that made the riding really enjoyable. Around 3 kms before Sakleshpur, we stopped and started calling homestays and hotels in the area. We didn't have much luck, as almost all places were fully occupied or weren't responding. One of the not-responding guys called me back and told me he had 2 rooms vacant, one for Rs 2200 and another for Rs 1750. He spoke only Kannada, but I managed to get the rough directions from him. His homestay was called Makkithitta (which Khanna referred to as 'Maakiteri') and was located near the village of Hanbal, around 15 kms from main town of Sakleshpur. On the way, we came across a couple of lodges and small hotels but decided to skip them and stick to Makkithitta.
The last 7-8 kms to the homestay was dirt-track riding. It was not very challenging (compared to the off-roading I had done in Munnar), but a lot of fun. The homestay is a big place, situated in a shallow valley and surrounded by coffee estates, fields and low hills. We were told that the room rent told to us was actually per person and not for the entire room, as I was made to believe earlier. Nevertheless, we loved the place and decided on the spot to stick to it. The caretaker, Ranjan, told us that the rent included a couple of meals and since we'll have only 2 of them (lunch and dinner), the owner would knock down the price.
The first important task was securing alcohol supplies. Ranjan told us that they had a jeep and would go get the alcohol for us. We ordered some 'child bears', planning to have a beer each after lunch and save the rest for the post-dinner BBB session. While he got the beer, we went to the lunch area. It was a pleasant and fulfilling meal. The rotis were particularly good. The beer arrived in the meantime. It wasn't very cold, but we didn't care. Ranjan and the other caretaker, Rangaswamy (Khanna thought he was Narayana Swamy, for God knows what reason) got us 'snakes'- salted cucumber slices and namkeen (called 'mixture' in the South). We had a nice time, drinking beer in the gazebo, staring at the green fields below us and discussing the lives of the bulls and cows that were grazing around lazily. Ranjan claimed there was a 'river' at the edge of the field, but we weren't too keen on exploring; from our viewpoint, we could just see a small irrigation canal.
We took a short nap after this. Well, my nap wasn't so short, as I woke up at 5.30 pm. Meanwhile, Khanna had gone down into the fields, taken some photographs and had met the bull that was the subject of our BBB session. I joined him in the gazebo after the nap. I wasn't interested in exploring at all, surprisingly. I guess the idyllic charm of the place had taken over me. We were just sitting there and chatting when one of the other guests approached us. He told us he came with a group of his friends who gone off to look at the 'river' and asked if he could join us. We didn't mind and the conversation flowed smoothly, until I mentioned a particularly pretty girl that I'd spotted in the lunch area. Fortunately, I hadn't gone into the details, because the girl was part of this guy's group. It looked like he got a little offended, so Khanna changed topics and started talking about mechanics. This attempt to mend ties with the guy failed when the guy asked us about good bike mechanics in Bangalore. Khanna replied that unless the bike owner knows some basic stuff about the bike, there is no use searching for a 'good' mechanic. Thus humiliated and offended, the guy beat a hasty retreat when his friends came back from their walk.
The sun had set and we were debating whether to drink before dinner or afterwards, when the owner of the homestay appeared and asked us all to gather for a small game. He spoke only Kannada, but I managed to grasp the bare basics. It was his 50th marriage anniversary (or birthday, I am not sure) and he had just returned from a function. He wanted to celebrate it with the homestay guests by playing this game. The first prize was a packet of coffee powder (Rs 180), second prize was a packet of elaichi (Rs 150) and third prize was a packet of tea powder (Rs 55). The game was simple- we count from 1 to 60 and replace 2 with 'car' and 5 with 'bus'. 12 is thus 'one car', 25 is 'car bus', 55 is 'bus bus' and so on. It is a game of concentration and BoPians are all-round achievers. There were around 15 people in the game and everyone who made a mistake got kicked out. The owner was a very jovial man and kept changing the conditions in between to keep people on their toes. For e.g. the counting had to be done backwards, then backwards with alternate numbers, then the pace was increased, etc. etc. The guy besides me would count in Kannada, trying to throw me off, but little did he know that I could count from 1 to 100 fluently in 4 languages and semi-fluently in 1 language (French). Khanna and I weathered through and were in the top 5, though the only girl in the group (the one I had spotted earlier) got an extra chance and Khanna lost. I came through, but lost in the one-on-one and came second, thus winning my elaichi packet. It was good fun. Afterwards, I negotiated the room tariff with the owner in my broken Kannada, and managed to get it down to Rs 1400 per person. It turns out that the room is actually for Rs 2200 and not Rs 1750, so we had managed to get a decent discount.
We had dinner afterwards, and the BBB session started in earnest. Khanna, being 10 years older than me, gave me some sage, brotherly advice on how to live life. We discussed a lot of other important things like career, girls and the day's events, before calling it a night. We settled the bills, as the plan was to start off at 5 am the next morning.
Surprisingly, we both got up at 4.30 am. It is very rare in BoP for the ride back home to start on time. We dressed up and got on our bikes, when Rangaswamy appeared with a flashlight to open the gate. Khanna got so excited on seeing him, that he dropped his bike, breaking his right rearview mirror. His bike engine continued to give him trouble, but we had time on our side and rode at an easy pace. We stopped for breakfast at the White Spot Restaurant where the food was delivered late but was very delicious.
It was an uneventful but smooth ride back. We decided to skip the Yeshwantpur nightmare traffic and got onto the NICE road. It was a longer route but virtually had no traffic. I reached home at 11.30 a.m, culminating a supremely relaxing ride, made better by the joy of winning something (however small it is!).
Until next time!
Cheers and Jai BoP!
1. Stay was neither booked nor researched, a first for the BoP Bangalore chapter, but something that I'm very much used to. A large chunk of my rides have been like that.
2. We actually did 'nothing' at the destination! But again, BoP's 'nothing' has a different meaning.
Read on to find out more!
Places covered: Sakleshpur and Hanbal
Route taken:
Bangalore-Nelamangala-Hassan-Sakleshpur-Anemahal-Hanbal (same route on the way back too)
Riders:
1. Varun Doegar: Royal Enfield Thunderbird (Half Sledgehammer, escort service)
2. Nishant Khanna: Royal Enfield Thunderbird (Life adviser)
3. Krishnatreya Brindavanam: Royal Enfield Electra Twinspark (Elaichi winner)
Total distance traversed: 557 kms
We were considering Red Hills near Ooty as a destination, but Doegar suggested we explore a new area. We hadn't been on the Bangalore-Mangalore highway, so Sakleshpur was chosen as the ride destination. Doegar had to back out due to some personal reasons, but he agreed to meet us up in the morning and escort us till the city outskirts. Personally, I think he had had a glimpse of our navigational skills in the Masinagudi ride and wanted to make sure we are on the right road. Always the gentleman!
We got stuck in early morning truck traffic at the railway junction near Yeshwantpur, but went off the road and reached the railway crossing. Here, we witnessed a rather funny sight of a huge, fat guy on a modified Avenger who ducked underneath the barrier, crossed the tracks and tried to repeat the stunt on the other side. We were sure the bike would go through, but had our doubts about the guy fitting underneath the barrier. It took him quite some time, but he made it through safely.
After this, it was a super smooth ride. Doegar said his goodbyes and took the NICE Road back into Bangalore while we continued on the Tumkur Road and eventually turned into the amazing Bangalore-Mangalore Highway.
The riding was relaxed, as it always is with us. Khanna was having some issues, as his engine kept 'missing' and wasn't delivering enough power at inclines. Thus, we stuck to a comfortable, cruising speed of 70 kmph. Around 90 kms into the ride, we stopped at a place called Dosa Corner for breakfast. Khanna, ever vigilant, spotted a pretty girl in the other section of the restaurant, but I was too hungry to pay attention to her. I had my favourite ride-breakfast of masala dosa and coffee. The food was average and the service abysmal. I went to wash my hands while Khanna lounged around. He looked towards the girl again and got a shock when he spotted me chatting amiably with her. When I came back to our table, he was virtually fuming. It so happened that I knew the girl; she was my classmate from Christ University and was going towards Chikmagalur and Sakleshpur with a large group of her friends. It's a small world full of funny coincidences!
For this ride, we hadn't researched much about the destination. We just knew that Sakleshpur offered good trekking opportunities, but had not knowledge of the lay of land. The weather was amazing, with the sun playing hide and seek among the clouds and a cool breeze that made the riding really enjoyable. Around 3 kms before Sakleshpur, we stopped and started calling homestays and hotels in the area. We didn't have much luck, as almost all places were fully occupied or weren't responding. One of the not-responding guys called me back and told me he had 2 rooms vacant, one for Rs 2200 and another for Rs 1750. He spoke only Kannada, but I managed to get the rough directions from him. His homestay was called Makkithitta (which Khanna referred to as 'Maakiteri') and was located near the village of Hanbal, around 15 kms from main town of Sakleshpur. On the way, we came across a couple of lodges and small hotels but decided to skip them and stick to Makkithitta.
The first important task was securing alcohol supplies. Ranjan told us that they had a jeep and would go get the alcohol for us. We ordered some 'child bears', planning to have a beer each after lunch and save the rest for the post-dinner BBB session. While he got the beer, we went to the lunch area. It was a pleasant and fulfilling meal. The rotis were particularly good. The beer arrived in the meantime. It wasn't very cold, but we didn't care. Ranjan and the other caretaker, Rangaswamy (Khanna thought he was Narayana Swamy, for God knows what reason) got us 'snakes'- salted cucumber slices and namkeen (called 'mixture' in the South). We had a nice time, drinking beer in the gazebo, staring at the green fields below us and discussing the lives of the bulls and cows that were grazing around lazily. Ranjan claimed there was a 'river' at the edge of the field, but we weren't too keen on exploring; from our viewpoint, we could just see a small irrigation canal.
We took a short nap after this. Well, my nap wasn't so short, as I woke up at 5.30 pm. Meanwhile, Khanna had gone down into the fields, taken some photographs and had met the bull that was the subject of our BBB session. I joined him in the gazebo after the nap. I wasn't interested in exploring at all, surprisingly. I guess the idyllic charm of the place had taken over me. We were just sitting there and chatting when one of the other guests approached us. He told us he came with a group of his friends who gone off to look at the 'river' and asked if he could join us. We didn't mind and the conversation flowed smoothly, until I mentioned a particularly pretty girl that I'd spotted in the lunch area. Fortunately, I hadn't gone into the details, because the girl was part of this guy's group. It looked like he got a little offended, so Khanna changed topics and started talking about mechanics. This attempt to mend ties with the guy failed when the guy asked us about good bike mechanics in Bangalore. Khanna replied that unless the bike owner knows some basic stuff about the bike, there is no use searching for a 'good' mechanic. Thus humiliated and offended, the guy beat a hasty retreat when his friends came back from their walk.
We had dinner afterwards, and the BBB session started in earnest. Khanna, being 10 years older than me, gave me some sage, brotherly advice on how to live life. We discussed a lot of other important things like career, girls and the day's events, before calling it a night. We settled the bills, as the plan was to start off at 5 am the next morning.
Surprisingly, we both got up at 4.30 am. It is very rare in BoP for the ride back home to start on time. We dressed up and got on our bikes, when Rangaswamy appeared with a flashlight to open the gate. Khanna got so excited on seeing him, that he dropped his bike, breaking his right rearview mirror. His bike engine continued to give him trouble, but we had time on our side and rode at an easy pace. We stopped for breakfast at the White Spot Restaurant where the food was delivered late but was very delicious.
It was an uneventful but smooth ride back. We decided to skip the Yeshwantpur nightmare traffic and got onto the NICE road. It was a longer route but virtually had no traffic. I reached home at 11.30 a.m, culminating a supremely relaxing ride, made better by the joy of winning something (however small it is!).
Until next time!
Cheers and Jai BoP!
