Day 1:
Saswata, Supraja and me started around 6:30 AM from Banashakari bus stand, on the way met with Arun, Ambika and Santhosh.We first rode to the Vadeerahalli lake through the beautiful Kanakapura road, had a good time at the scenic and peaceful lake. The morning weather added more beauty to the nature.. After having some fun time and photography, we decided to move to the next location and find my bike got a flat. Quickly fixed and started riding.. In google earth, i had noticed a foot trail from lake to the TK falls, which are 5km apart. But that route is inside the Bannerghatta forest and guarding by forest check post. So finally we rode back to the Kanakapura road and then started towards TK falls.
We had brake fast on the Kanakapura road and then entered the beautiful village routes..Most of the route is down hill and all are zooming towards the falls. After some confusing deviations, we confirmed the route with the locals and finally reached the TK falls. Parked our cycles near the temple and headed towards the falls. Due to less rains the entire water fall is dried up, but we noticed the stream is flowing with little bit water. Reached the base of the falls and find a small section of the fall is active :). Had a refreshing head massage under the fall and some fun time. Suddenly it started raining and we started ride back to the kakapura road...
By the time we reached back to Kanakapura road, It was 11:45 am. Short distance riders started back to Bangalore..
Nagraj had half day office on Saturday and he was supposed to join with me by 2:30pm. I have lot time so started riding to the yogavana hills. Yogavana hills is a special place for me, My cycling passion started from the ride to this place organised by Bangalore Ascenders. In this 1 1/2 year i rode around 14,500km on bicycle :).
On the way to sathanur, i had noticed mulberry crops and silk warm cultivation. The adult silk warm leaves eggs on the mulberry leaves and those eggs turn into silk warm larvae. The farmers will distribute silk warm larvae on this mat in cirular way... After feeding those larvae for 15 -20 days, they will start producing silk and finally become cocoons. This beautiful silk cocoons will be boiled to kill the warm inside :(. Around 50000 of warms will be killed in order to get a silk saree :( . There is another way with out killing silk worms, farmers needs to wait until the insects move away from cocons.. this is time consuming and more expensive process.
Nagraj finally joined me at Santhanur. We rode together with more confidence on the Highway and finally reached Malavalli by 8pm.. Finished dinner and started heading towards Sivasamudra water falls, After 45 mins riding we reached the deviation point.. Where one road leads to the Gaganachukki water fall and another leads to the Bhar chukki water falls.The road to the falls was through the elephant and leapord's region.. Local villagers suggested not to venture at that time,But we dont have any other option. So we decided to move carefully, Scanning each corner of the road make ensure everything is alright.. Luckliy the forest guard at the check post is sleeping and so we could able to enter the region with out any troubles..
After reaching the 5kW solar power station, the security warned not to go further as elephant herd encountered near his check post in the evng.. On the way the road is under repair with bridges under construction.. carried the cycles to cross all the hurdles.. Finally reached water falls view point by 10pm and then camped
Day 2:
Woke up in the morning and felt very happy to see the beauty of the falls.. Only me and Nagraj, (Generally after 8am, big crowd will be there).. The pics will give more abt the falls
We had breakfast at the falls and we decided to explore more places, finally started ride to Talakadu. The ride is through the scenic village routes, long down hills :), Villagers offered free coconut water, sugarcane and food. Had yummy fish fry before heading to the swim :)
After having some fun time at the Kauvery river we started ride to Bangalore. Coming all the way from Bangalore and going back with out having proper fish meal... We find a nice military hotel and inquired about the food. They just got the fresh river fishes and started preparation. We had waited for one hour to have yummy yummy fish meal. Vegetarians please excuse :(. I had ate around 1kg of fish on that day :p, The taste was amazing.
I wish IISC randonneur plan brevets around this place, so that we can fun filled brevets :P. Later we started ride to Malavalli.The route is next to the cauvery river with awesome scenic locations..
The route between Malavalli and Maddur was worst (Not the highway). Killed all the fun, Surprised to see Nagraj was riding slow.Later we noticed slow leak flat.. Back to back he had multiple flats.. Finally his tube valve gave up and we changed new tube and started riding Maddur. Had a small break at Maddur tiffanys..
On the way we decided to catch a train and reach Bangalore by 10pm. To our bad luck bike transport cant be done at Maddur.. Either we have to go to Mandya or chennapatna.. We have just 1 hour time for the Bangalore train and the chennapatna is 20km away from Maddur.. We decided to race and catch the train.. Team time trail starts.. Riding 33+ km/hr speed after doing 250km ride on MTB :). Finally reached chennapata just 10 mins before the Bangalore train. The luggage booking section denied our request and asked us to take the 9pm passenger :(. Finally agreed to that, relaxed at the station, hydrated well and did relaxation stretching's. The Station master(veerayya or narasayya.. forget his name) is a beggar, he demanded Rs.80 bribe for booking the luggage.
Finally we reached Bangalore by 10:30pm :)
Here are the complete set of pics
