Weekend Travelogue: Sangam, Ranganathithu, Gaganchukki

akroy · 28th February 2008, 10:22

Sangam – Ranganathithu - Gaganchukki

Route: Bangalore – Ramanagaram – Channapatna – Maddur – Mandya – Srirangapatnam – Mysore – Bannur – Malavalli – GaganchukkiFalls – Malavalli – Maddur – Bangalore (401 km)

Members: Abhi & Sis, Pachhu (Ashish) & Sis in my AltoLXi

I had to undergo some hectic 4-5 months both in office and home that I could not even think of taking the road. As many of you are aware that the primary reason being this (http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifti...kroy-papa.html) followed by some serious nightout sessions. Two weeks back I was temporarily relieved from all the responsibilities of a new dad as the baby, her mother and her grandmother returned to Kolkata leaving me and sister behind (Yes, she has recently joined a job in Bangalore). Wife and kid will be off for the next two months.

First free weekend went by in arranging a felicitation to our fellow Alumni Mr. R.K. Mishra who won the Lead India program and I was fortunate to meet the Indian Captain too in the same hotel.

Saturday: 23 Feb, 2008

Finally I thought I will sleep the entire weekend and plan some drives in subsequent weekends. So comes the boring Saturday, I was dozing off since morning. Suddenly the phone rings, My friend Pachhu was on line,
Pachhu: ”Kya Kar rahe ho”
Abhi: “Kuch nahi yaar, bachhe ki yaad aa rahi hai aur bore bhi ho raha hoon”
Pachhu: “Chalo Gari uthao, kahin nikla jae, dono bahano ko Karnataka ki sair kara dete hain”
Abhi: “Thik hai, Sunday morning nikalte hain Mysore ke taraf, ek din mein jitna ho sake ghuma dete hain dono ko”
Pachhu: “Thik hai”

Ok done, although I was not so interested for a Mysore drive but went ahead for the sake of the sisters.

Sunday: 24 Feb, 2008

We get up at 4:15AM and after a nice bath, start at around 5AM to pickup Pachhu and his sister Shikha from his house in RT Nagar. It took me another 30min to reach there. Finally we start our journey at 6AM and soon hit the Mysore Road flyover after Corporation Circle.

Early morning drives are very refreshing and thankfully there was not much traffic on SH17 and soon we start to zoom on Mysore Road (SH17) and car starts to hit 100kmph. We were enjoying every moment. While passing Ramanagaram, everyone was hungry so we decided for an early breakfast at Kamat Lokaruchi where we reached by 7AM. As always had the special idlis and tea and while coming out say a series of R1s and Hayabusas. This was the first time I was seeing those bikes and these were indeed very tempting. At the same time I wonder whether we can utilize these powerful bikes in India (I mean, where are the roads?)

It was around 8AM we start again from Kamat and pass Channapatna and Maddur in no time. I like the Mandya – Srirangapatnam stretch except for those 2 bumps just after the downhill, guys please watchout, those are axle breakers. Anyway I was already aware of those, so no problem; I hit 140kmph in this stretch. Pachhu was amazed by the car’s cornering ability and performance since he was traveling for the first time in my car on highways.

Sangam: Reached Srirangapatnam by 8:45AM, took left turn for Sangam. Sangam is another 8km from there passing Tipu Sultan’s Summer Palace (Dariya Daulat Bagh) and Gol Gumbaz. Sangam. It is the place of religious importance where the river LokPavani meets Cauvery and it was nice to reach there in the morning. Last time I went there during the monsoons and the river was overflowing. This time the level was low and we could see the two shiva lingas at the junction of the rivers. We took a coracle ride and went past the lingas and took some pics as well.

Ranganathithu Bird Sanctuary: We spent a few minutes in serene environment at Sangam car park. After a few rounds of cakes and chips we started again. This time we headed straight to Bird Sanctuary. We took left towards Mysore on SH17 and immediately after a few kms there is a right turn (Hunsur / Coorg Route). After taking the turn RBS is about 4 kms from there which we reached by 10AM. Reaching early in the sanctuary helped. We could experience the chirping of birds. We spent sometime sitting at the bank of cauvery and chitchatting. Also saw a bunch of crocs roaming around and a few of them resting on the rocks in between the river. We walked around the bank and took some pics.

Now what? I told lets go to KRS / Brindavan Garden. Nobody was interested for KRS but they wanted to see some falls too. So we decided to go to Shivasamudram after lunch. We decided to go to my favourite restaurant Hotel Heritage Shelters for lunch which another 10km enroute KRS. We had some nice lunch of Tandoori roti, Chilli Chicken, Egg bhujiya, Egg Biriyani, Paneer alongwith lassi and softdrinks and also spent some quality time taking pics in the hotel campus. I like this resutarant both for ambience as well as food.

Gaganachukki Falls: After filling the belly with the nice stuffs we headed towards Shivasamudram. I had to take a new route this time. We went past the Infy campus and hit Ring Road and past the Bangalore junction and headed towards Bannur junction. There is a left turn for Bannur from Ring road which we took. We took the following route:
Mysore – Bannur – Malavalli – Shivasamudram

First time on this stretch: I was traveling on this stretch for the first time. The road turned out to be a nice one. Although you cannot do very high speeding because there are bumps within every few kms but there were nice picturesque surrounding and nice curves.

Excellent road on NH209 after Malavalli: Road construction activity was happening in Bannur and after Malavalli. The NH209 from Kanakapura meets at Malavalli. The stretch after Malavalli to Shivasamudram was pathetic last time but it has become excellent now. I was doing 120kmph after Malavalli till Gaganchukki falls on this newly laid road.

Hotel at Gaganchukki: A couple of things that has changed in Gaganchukki. There is a nice hotel cum restaurant has opened up there. I also went and enquired the room rates and checked the rooms. I felt an AC room for Rs2300 was quite expensive. Also the room amenities don’t quality for such a price. We did spend some nice time there. As it was already evening we decided to return back and do Barachukki and Talakad sometime later after monsoons.

After the mad rush in Bangalore, the sisters did enjoy the beauty of Karnataka outskirts.

Return journey: We did the return journey through the Malavalli – Maddur – Bangalore route. We started at 4:45PM from Gaganchukki and did a nonstop dash to Pachhu’s house at 7PM. Mysore Road was choked with traffic. We had a nice dinner prepared by Shikha there and return back to our house by 10PM. It was a nice break after some hectic months and was quite refreshing indeed. Moreover, the sisters enjoyed a lot.

Total distance from home to home came out to be 401km and the car drank 23lit of petrol with 75% AC.

Signing off
Abhijit Kumar Roy

praJEEP · 28th February 2008, 10:29

Its indeed a pleasure abhi to go through your travelouge.nice write up.
how did you conveince anil for your trip ??

dadu · 28th February 2008, 10:31

As usual great writeup with pictures. hows the connecting road between Shivasamundram and Mysore road ??

akroy · 28th February 2008, 12:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by dadu

As usual great writeup with pictures. hows the connecting road between Shivasamundram and Mysore road ??

Dadu, Malavalli - Maddur stretch was ok, although broken at places but not heavily potholed as it was when I went there last time.
I must say that a Safari can cruise on that stretch

.

Shivasamudram - Malavalli is a dream now except for a km near malavalli where the construction activity is on. Only problem here is people made small bumps near villages which may hamper your cruise otherwise the road is freshly laid and is in excellent condition.

Abhi

BlackPearl · 28th February 2008, 13:09

excellent travelogue and nice pictures. Must be an extremely refreshing tour after such a hectic schedule, that too for an avid traveller like you locked up for 4 long months..

rjstyles69 · 28th February 2008, 13:29

Abhi welcome back !! Nice trip log there with pictures.

Now please stop these small trips and come back with some kms on the odo' mate

. You know these small puny trips dont suit you my friend.
You are made for those 1k kms and above.Take offense , just my thought.

OT : howzz fatherhood ?

theMAG · 28th February 2008, 13:51

Abhi - nice travelog. One of those yellow 07 R1s might belong to a superbiker friend of mine. Their group rides towards Mysore every weekend.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

OT : howzz fatherhood ?

Interesting question. Any particular reason ?!

VJ_MAVRICK · 28th February 2008, 14:15

Great writeup abhi , as it was due for some time now as you were lying low these days. Good pics and an amazing writeup and did you ask Anil whether he is considering to join Team Bhp

i bet he would love that

akroy · 28th February 2008, 15:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

Abhi welcome back !! Nice trip log there with pictures.

Thanks Riju

Quote:

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

Now please stop these small trips and come back with some kms on the odo' mate

. You know these small puny trips dont suit you my friend.
You are made for those 1k kms and above.Take offense , just my thought.

True friend, I need to fulfill my 1K appetites soon but this particular trip was for the sisters.
BTW,This was my first so called trip in the last four months after the Ooty Trip

.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

OT : howzz fatherhood ?

Its great so far. Any good news friend?
If reqd, Pls consult me offline how to do long drives with a carrying wife

(My Exp: Bandipur, Ooty, Mysore, Coorg)

Abhi

Samurai · 28th February 2008, 15:08

It was weird to see a travelogue start with a photo of Anil Kumble. Did you slip in a word about Team-BHP?

Finally you can get uninterrupted sleep, is it? Enjoy the brief break. My son still doesn't understand the concept of sleeping the whole night.

Quote:

Return journey: We did the return journey through the Malavalli – Maddur – Bangalore route. We started at 4:45PM from Gaganchukki and did a nonstop dash to Pachhu’s house at 7PM. Mysore Road was choked with traffic.

This is one thing I hated about travelling from Bangalore. As you come back from a trip, the tired mind and body has to face the long crazy traffic before reaching home. This is something really improved for me after moving out. Whenever I come back from a trip, it is quite pleasant to come home and relax.

akroy · 28th February 2008, 15:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samurai

It was weird to see a travelogue start with a photo of Anil Kumble. Did you slip in a word about Team-BHP?

Thought this route/places are so common to guys in Bangalore, atleast the pic of Kumble might add some urge to read it full

Quote:

Finally you can get uninterrupted sleep, is it? Enjoy the brief break. My son still doesn't understand the concept of sleeping the whole night.

Very True !! Instead my wife is quickly learning the concept of Nap(3hrs) - Feed - Nap(3hrs) - Feed/Change clothing and so on...

Quote:

This is one thing I hated about travelling from Bangalore. As you come back from a trip, the tired mind and body has to face the long crazy traffic before reaching home. This is something really improved for me after moving out. Whenever I come back from a trip, it is quite pleasant to come home and relax.

Seriously, and Mysore Road is the leader... the traffic starts right from Maddur and it is like never ending especially that time in the evening. That is the specific reason we always try to have a long dinner in Indradhanush and start at 9-10ish to enter bangalore faster.

Abhi

mobike008 · 28th February 2008, 18:10

Great travelogue report Abhi. You got a signature style of writing the travelogues which so completes the article.

shuvd · 28th February 2008, 18:40

A great travelogue as usual. Nice pictures too! The drive must have felt really good after such a long time.

28th February 2008, 10:22	#1
akroy Senior - BHPian Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: San Francisco, CA, USA Posts: 2,424 Thanked: 85 Times View My Garage	Weekend Travelogue: Sangam, Ranganathithu, Gaganchukki Sangam – Ranganathithu - Gaganchukki Route: Bangalore – Ramanagaram – Channapatna – Maddur – Mandya – Srirangapatnam – Mysore – Bannur – Malavalli – GaganchukkiFalls – Malavalli – Maddur – Bangalore (401 km) Members: Abhi & Sis, Pachhu (Ashish) & Sis in my AltoLXi I had to undergo some hectic 4-5 months both in office and home that I could not even think of taking the road. As many of you are aware that the primary reason being this (http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/shifti...kroy-papa.html) followed by some serious nightout sessions. Two weeks back I was temporarily relieved from all the responsibilities of a new dad as the baby, her mother and her grandmother returned to Kolkata leaving me and sister behind (Yes, she has recently joined a job in Bangalore). Wife and kid will be off for the next two months. First free weekend went by in arranging a felicitation to our fellow Alumni Mr. R.K. Mishra who won the Lead India program and I was fortunate to meet the Indian Captain too in the same hotel. Saturday: 23 Feb, 2008 Finally I thought I will sleep the entire weekend and plan some drives in subsequent weekends. So comes the boring Saturday, I was dozing off since morning. Suddenly the phone rings, My friend Pachhu was on line, Pachhu: ”Kya Kar rahe ho” Abhi: “Kuch nahi yaar, bachhe ki yaad aa rahi hai aur bore bhi ho raha hoon” Pachhu: “Chalo Gari uthao, kahin nikla jae, dono bahano ko Karnataka ki sair kara dete hain” Abhi: “Thik hai, Sunday morning nikalte hain Mysore ke taraf, ek din mein jitna ho sake ghuma dete hain dono ko” Pachhu: “Thik hai” Ok done, although I was not so interested for a Mysore drive but went ahead for the sake of the sisters. Sunday: 24 Feb, 2008 We get up at 4:15AM and after a nice bath, start at around 5AM to pickup Pachhu and his sister Shikha from his house in RT Nagar. It took me another 30min to reach there. Finally we start our journey at 6AM and soon hit the Mysore Road flyover after Corporation Circle. Early morning drives are very refreshing and thankfully there was not much traffic on SH17 and soon we start to zoom on Mysore Road (SH17) and car starts to hit 100kmph. We were enjoying every moment. While passing Ramanagaram, everyone was hungry so we decided for an early breakfast at Kamat Lokaruchi where we reached by 7AM. As always had the special idlis and tea and while coming out say a series of R1s and Hayabusas. This was the first time I was seeing those bikes and these were indeed very tempting. At the same time I wonder whether we can utilize these powerful bikes in India (I mean, where are the roads?) It was around 8AM we start again from Kamat and pass Channapatna and Maddur in no time. I like the Mandya – Srirangapatnam stretch except for those 2 bumps just after the downhill, guys please watchout, those are axle breakers. Anyway I was already aware of those, so no problem; I hit 140kmph in this stretch. Pachhu was amazed by the car’s cornering ability and performance since he was traveling for the first time in my car on highways. Sangam: Reached Srirangapatnam by 8:45AM, took left turn for Sangam. Sangam is another 8km from there passing Tipu Sultan’s Summer Palace (Dariya Daulat Bagh) and Gol Gumbaz. Sangam. It is the place of religious importance where the river LokPavani meets Cauvery and it was nice to reach there in the morning. Last time I went there during the monsoons and the river was overflowing. This time the level was low and we could see the two shiva lingas at the junction of the rivers. We took a coracle ride and went past the lingas and took some pics as well. Ranganathithu Bird Sanctuary: We spent a few minutes in serene environment at Sangam car park. After a few rounds of cakes and chips we started again. This time we headed straight to Bird Sanctuary. We took left towards Mysore on SH17 and immediately after a few kms there is a right turn (Hunsur / Coorg Route). After taking the turn RBS is about 4 kms from there which we reached by 10AM. Reaching early in the sanctuary helped. We could experience the chirping of birds. We spent sometime sitting at the bank of cauvery and chitchatting. Also saw a bunch of crocs roaming around and a few of them resting on the rocks in between the river. We walked around the bank and took some pics. Now what? I told lets go to KRS / Brindavan Garden. Nobody was interested for KRS but they wanted to see some falls too. So we decided to go to Shivasamudram after lunch. We decided to go to my favourite restaurant Hotel Heritage Shelters for lunch which another 10km enroute KRS. We had some nice lunch of Tandoori roti, Chilli Chicken, Egg bhujiya, Egg Biriyani, Paneer alongwith lassi and softdrinks and also spent some quality time taking pics in the hotel campus. I like this resutarant both for ambience as well as food. Gaganachukki Falls: After filling the belly with the nice stuffs we headed towards Shivasamudram. I had to take a new route this time. We went past the Infy campus and hit Ring Road and past the Bangalore junction and headed towards Bannur junction. There is a left turn for Bannur from Ring road which we took. We took the following route: Mysore – Bannur – Malavalli – Shivasamudram First time on this stretch: I was traveling on this stretch for the first time. The road turned out to be a nice one. Although you cannot do very high speeding because there are bumps within every few kms but there were nice picturesque surrounding and nice curves. Excellent road on NH209 after Malavalli: Road construction activity was happening in Bannur and after Malavalli. The NH209 from Kanakapura meets at Malavalli. The stretch after Malavalli to Shivasamudram was pathetic last time but it has become excellent now. I was doing 120kmph after Malavalli till Gaganchukki falls on this newly laid road. Hotel at Gaganchukki: A couple of things that has changed in Gaganchukki. There is a nice hotel cum restaurant has opened up there. I also went and enquired the room rates and checked the rooms. I felt an AC room for Rs2300 was quite expensive. Also the room amenities don’t quality for such a price. We did spend some nice time there. As it was already evening we decided to return back and do Barachukki and Talakad sometime later after monsoons. After the mad rush in Bangalore, the sisters did enjoy the beauty of Karnataka outskirts. Return journey: We did the return journey through the Malavalli – Maddur – Bangalore route. We started at 4:45PM from Gaganchukki and did a nonstop dash to Pachhu’s house at 7PM. Mysore Road was choked with traffic. We had a nice dinner prepared by Shikha there and return back to our house by 10PM. It was a nice break after some hectic months and was quite refreshing indeed. Moreover, the sisters enjoyed a lot. Total distance from home to home came out to be 401km and the car drank 23lit of petrol with 75% AC. *Signing off* *Abhijit Kumar Roy*
	() Thanks

28th February 2008, 10:29	#2
praJEEP BHPian Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Bengaluru Posts: 537 Thanked: 8 Times	Its indeed a pleasure abhi to go through your travelouge.nice write up. how did you conveince anil for your trip ?? Last edited by praJEEP : 28th February 2008 at 10:33.
	() Thanks

28th February 2008, 10:31	#3
dadu Senior - BHPian Join Date: May 2007 Location: Bangalore Posts: 3,803 Thanked: 462 Times View My Garage	As usual great writeup with pictures. hows the connecting road between Shivasamundram and Mysore road ??
	() Thanks

28th February 2008, 13:09	#5
BlackPearl Team-BHP Support Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Calcutta/London Posts: 3,616 Thanked: 17,086 Times View My Garage	excellent travelogue and nice pictures. Must be an extremely refreshing tour after such a hectic schedule, that too for an avid traveller like you locked up for 4 long months..
	() Thanks

28th February 2008, 13:29	#6
rjstyles69 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Bengalooru.. Posts: 4,344 Thanked: 845 Times View My Garage	Abhi welcome back !! Nice trip log there with pictures. Now please stop these small trips and come back with some kms on the odo' mate . You know these small puny trips dont suit you my friend. You are made for those 1k kms and above.Take offense , just my thought. OT : howzz fatherhood ?
	() Thanks

28th February 2008, 14:15	#8
VJ_MAVRICK Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Sydney Posts: 1,239 Thanked: 34 Times View My Garage	Great writeup abhi , as it was due for some time now as you were lying low these days. Good pics and an amazing writeup and did you ask Anil whether he is considering to join Team Bhp i bet he would love that
	() Thanks

28th February 2008, 18:10	#12
mobike008 Distinguished - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 11,756 Thanked: 15,086 Times View My Garage	Great travelogue report Abhi. You got a signature style of writing the travelogues which so completes the article.
	() Thanks

28th February 2008, 18:40	#13
shuvd Senior - BHPian Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Calcutta Posts: 1,081 Thanked: 7 Times View My Garage	A great travelogue as usual. Nice pictures too! The drive must have felt really good after such a long time.
	() Thanks