Trekking @ ಶಿವಗಂಗೆ (Shivagange)

9:00am 11, October 2008

The quick planning on Friday night and we were heading north this time on the Tumkur Road.

Vidyarthi Bhavan
Our schedule got changed on Saturday morning as we woke up late ;) We planned a breakfast at Vidyarthi Bhavan on Gandhi Bazaar, a typical Udupi style hotel, the morning crowd was showing its popularity! It was a hotel of its kind, in the way the waiters bring the masala dosa. Stomach full we were on our bike and started the journey forward at 9:00am. The speciality of this trip was addition of a Honda Activa to our riding club and it was comparable in performance to our Bikes!! After a lazy start on the Bangalore traffic we were off to the Nelamangala(10:30am 42km). The toll road between Nelamangala and Tumkur is the drivers delight. My pulsar touched 95kmph without much effort!! We reached Dabaspet(53km) and finally Shivagange (60km) at 11:30am.

Lets the Trekking begin

Small gopura welcomes you to Shivagange, a small sleepy village with few houses. There are few temples on the way as you start climbing the hill. Honnadevi temple, Olakal Theertha (Where you have to put your hands inside a small hole and if you are lucky enough, you will be able to touch the water!! Strange Myth). Till here it was very easy climbing. Our trekking started from here. Halfway it is mud and granite hill and the other half is only large granite boulders. A mother carrying her small son on her shoulders, inspired us to complete the climb. The final ascent is really mind blowing with a 90° climb on small granite carved steps. At around 1:00pm we were on ground zero. There is a small temple of Giri Gangadhareshwara. There is another single stone Nandhi carved out of the granite. It looks like it is being placed on a granite pillar :) People of all age groups could be seen climbing the hill. You will be accompanied by monkeys on the whole trekking. Juices(water) and snacks available en route in many spots. The cool breeze on the top made us to forget the tiredness of the climb. The descent was quick and we were at the base camp in half an hour. Bidding adieu to Shivagange at 2:00pm we were on our journey back and had lunch at a roadside Daba.

The NICE road...

We wanted to avoid the traffic on Tumkur road and took the NICE road instead. The newly constructed 4 lane road took our breath away. The drizzling rain multiplied the riding experience on the express way. Highlight was my Pulsar touching 100kmph. We had to criss cross Magadi Road, Mysore Road, and finally the Kanakapura road(Total distance 30km). We got off at the Kanakapura road and joined the melee called B'lore traffic. We reached room at 5:30pm

ನಮ್ಮೂರ ನೊಡಲು ಚಂದ.....

We: Avinash, Girish, Naveen, Santhosh, Sathish, Shashidhar
Transport: Activa, Pulsar, XCD
Distance Covered - 150km