A month had passed by from our previous bike ride which was towards yercaud, and still our next bike ride had not been planned. One fine day, at office, i was watching a video of ride towards himavad gopalaswamy betta, which i had dreamed of going, for years. I talked to asim about the place and even he too felt the place would be good and informed atul about the place which he too agreed. Date was finalized to 20th of September 2015 which was a Sunday. We decided to start by 6 in the morning. We also included Masinagudi in our itenary just to have a ride through Bandipura forest.
Ride Planned to : Himavad gopalaswamy betta and Masinagudi.
Date : 20-Sep-2015
Route : Bangalore - Kanakapura - Kollegala - Gundlupete - Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta - Masinagudi - Gundlupete - Kollegala - Kanakapura - Bangalore.
Route Map - https://goo.gl/maps/mim3thNg7C52
Total Ride amounts to - 500 Kms
It was 20th of September. Woke up at 4:30 got ready by 5:30 and left home at 5:50 reached konankunte cross at 6:00 AM sharp. Atul and Asim arrived at 6:30. We left at around 6:45 after discussing about our pit stops.
Kanakapura road(NH-209) was not that great till kanapura. After which it was really well maintained.
We could easily ride at 80 to 100Kmph. There were small but deep potholes which come out of no where. We were cautious enough to avoid that. We had our first pit( pee ) stop near shivanasamudra which is around 100km from Bangalore.
We reached Kollegala at around 9AM, had breakfast at a hotel opposite to bus stand, It was really superb. (Forgot the hotel name. Will update the name once i remember).
Now we still had 100km to go. En route Asim used to capture some beautiful photos, so he used to stop a lot of times. Me and Atul went ahead. But immediately after kollegala we had to continue on NH209 itself, instead unknowingly me and atul took a diversion towards the Mooguru road. This road was simply superb, lush green all around.
Me and Atul stopped for a while, Clicking Pics and waiting for Asim. He didn't show up even after 10-15mins. We called him, he said he's 20kms before Chamrajnagar. Then after seeing maps we realized we were out of course. We decided to meet at Gundlupete itself.
After 45min of riding..
We reached gundlupete and the place were Asim was waiting. Took a break of around 10min and started our journey towards Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta.
Just before Gopalaswamy Betta checkpost, we stopped for sometime as the view of the hills were just incredible from here. This was the point where i always wanted visit.
We continued towards the checkpost bought entry tickets. From the checkpost till the temple it's the worst road possible. Couldn't even drive at 15-20kmph. After driving for around 20min we reached the top and the time was around 11:00AM. There was a empty area just 50m before the temple. We parked our bikes there and thought of taking some pics. In the mean time few forest officials came towards us took our bike keys and started accusing us for entering the forest. They were asking us to pay a fine of 1000rs per bike! We tried to talk it out, but in vain. Finally after lot of negotiation they told us to pay 500 for all three bikes together. With no other option we paid and continued towards the temple.
I visited the temple while Asim and Atul told they would be waiting outside. Took around 30min for darshan. Finally we left Gopalaswamy Betta at around 12:00PM, heading towards Bandipur forest and finally Masinagudi, We decided to have lunch there.
It was my first time riding though a forest. Few places Elephants were on both sides and also on the road. It was a scary but awesome experience riding in between them. I wont forget this anytime sooner.
Karnataka side of Bandipur roads were superb but Tamil nadu side had a lot of pot holes. We reached Masinagudi at around 2:00 in the afternoon. Our stomachs were rumbling, we went to a nearby hotel and had meals, food was not that great.
We left Masinagudi at around 3:15PM and were out of bandipur by 4:00PM. Had a tea break as we had planned not to stop any where after this. After having around 2 cups of tea we left for bangalore.
We didn't stop anywhere for any break until shivanasamudra were we had to stop as there were lot of insects on our visors and it was becoming tough for us to see the road. Cleaned the visors. Had some water, and planned our next pit stop at kanakapura for dinner. Driving on NH209 at night was a nightmare for us due to the amount of high beams. But few patches of the road were there used to be no traffic looked like a haunted place. As planned we reached kanakapura by 8:00PM. Had dinner. After this it was just 60Km to bangalore. We'll reached our respective homes by 11:00 PM.
To summarize, this was one of the most memorable ride for me as i always wanted to visit Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta and it was a dream come true.
Signing off
The Duke Man
Ride Planned to : Himavad gopalaswamy betta and Masinagudi.
Date : 20-Sep-2015
Route : Bangalore - Kanakapura - Kollegala - Gundlupete - Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta - Masinagudi - Gundlupete - Kollegala - Kanakapura - Bangalore.
Route Map - https://goo.gl/maps/mim3thNg7C52
Total Ride amounts to - 500 Kms
It was 20th of September. Woke up at 4:30 got ready by 5:30 and left home at 5:50 reached konankunte cross at 6:00 AM sharp. Atul and Asim arrived at 6:30. We left at around 6:45 after discussing about our pit stops.
 |
| Sunrise at kanakapura |
Kanakapura road(NH-209) was not that great till kanapura. After which it was really well maintained.
 |
| NH-209 after kanakapura. |
We could easily ride at 80 to 100Kmph. There were small but deep potholes which come out of no where. We were cautious enough to avoid that. We had our first pit( pee ) stop near shivanasamudra which is around 100km from Bangalore.
We reached Kollegala at around 9AM, had breakfast at a hotel opposite to bus stand, It was really superb. (Forgot the hotel name. Will update the name once i remember).
Now we still had 100km to go. En route Asim used to capture some beautiful photos, so he used to stop a lot of times. Me and Atul went ahead. But immediately after kollegala we had to continue on NH209 itself, instead unknowingly me and atul took a diversion towards the Mooguru road. This road was simply superb, lush green all around.
 |
| Green till the end of horizon! |
Me and Atul stopped for a while, Clicking Pics and waiting for Asim. He didn't show up even after 10-15mins. We called him, he said he's 20kms before Chamrajnagar. Then after seeing maps we realized we were out of course. We decided to meet at Gundlupete itself.
After 45min of riding..
We reached gundlupete and the place were Asim was waiting. Took a break of around 10min and started our journey towards Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta.
Just before Gopalaswamy Betta checkpost, we stopped for sometime as the view of the hills were just incredible from here. This was the point where i always wanted visit.
 |
| Peace! |
We continued towards the checkpost bought entry tickets. From the checkpost till the temple it's the worst road possible. Couldn't even drive at 15-20kmph. After driving for around 20min we reached the top and the time was around 11:00AM. There was a empty area just 50m before the temple. We parked our bikes there and thought of taking some pics. In the mean time few forest officials came towards us took our bike keys and started accusing us for entering the forest. They were asking us to pay a fine of 1000rs per bike! We tried to talk it out, but in vain. Finally after lot of negotiation they told us to pay 500 for all three bikes together. With no other option we paid and continued towards the temple.
I visited the temple while Asim and Atul told they would be waiting outside. Took around 30min for darshan. Finally we left Gopalaswamy Betta at around 12:00PM, heading towards Bandipur forest and finally Masinagudi, We decided to have lunch there.
 |
| View from temple |
It was my first time riding though a forest. Few places Elephants were on both sides and also on the road. It was a scary but awesome experience riding in between them. I wont forget this anytime sooner.
 |
| Towards Masinagudi after deviation from Teppakadu |
Karnataka side of Bandipur roads were superb but Tamil nadu side had a lot of pot holes. We reached Masinagudi at around 2:00 in the afternoon. Our stomachs were rumbling, we went to a nearby hotel and had meals, food was not that great.
 |
| View of Madhumalai hills from Masinagudi |
We didn't stop anywhere for any break until shivanasamudra were we had to stop as there were lot of insects on our visors and it was becoming tough for us to see the road. Cleaned the visors. Had some water, and planned our next pit stop at kanakapura for dinner. Driving on NH209 at night was a nightmare for us due to the amount of high beams. But few patches of the road were there used to be no traffic looked like a haunted place. As planned we reached kanakapura by 8:00PM. Had dinner. After this it was just 60Km to bangalore. We'll reached our respective homes by 11:00 PM.
To summarize, this was one of the most memorable ride for me as i always wanted to visit Himavad Gopalaswamy Betta and it was a dream come true.
Signing off
The Duke Man
