Day 0: Bengaluru – Shimoga
23rd June 2017 Route Map - Bangalore to Shimoga
The day of the trip had come and I was little worried about the traffic since this was a long weekend. Dr. Vidyadhar started early at ~3:30PM, the plan was to reach shimoga as early as possible and start the next day as early as possible. I got delayed at my work and left office only by 4:00PM. By the time I reached home wife was ready with all the baggage and started our yet another adventures journey. On the way picked my sister and brother in law at Nayandhalli metro station and soon we made an exit from PESIT Nice road towards Tumkur at 6:50PM. First I wanted to take Hassan NH75 route to avoid the traffic (since this was a long weekend thought there will be big jams near tolls) but got a call from Dr.Vidyadhar who had already reached chitradurga told me that there is less traffic on Pune NH48 and recommended to take the same route. Hence we took the same route as Dr.Vidyadhar and reached Shimoga home by 11:30PM, we finished our dinner and off we went to sleep.
Day 1: Sirimane waterfalls
24th June 2017
The next day as planned we woke up early and we all were ready by 6:30AM. The plan was to drop the two cars(Laura and City) and take my cousins Ertiga so that we all can enjoy and travel together. We loaded all the luggage into the Ertiga and started by 7:15 AM.
First Selfie of the Trip
On the way stopped to fill diesel, and asked the guy to check the pressure of the tires but a shocker was waiting. Gosh! there was no stepney in the car,
so what next? We did not want to take risk as the tires were 40K kms old. So immediately decided that we will take our cars, at least we are sure about the condition of the cars. It was already 8:00AM and we were already behind our schedule, Me and Dr. Vidyadhar dropped rest of the members at Meenakshi bhavan to have break fast and left to bring our cars. It was 9:30AM by the time we left shimoga after having breakfast.
Hanumangundi was our first destination
Route Map - Shimoga to Hanuman Gundi Falls En route to Hanuman Gundi Falls we stopped for few pictures
There is a check post around 20~25kms before Hanuman gundi falls where we were told that the falls is closed now and they are not allowing anyone to visit the falls.
When checked with locals they confirmed the same and suggested to visit Sirimane falls. It took us another 50 minutes to reach the Sirimane falls.
Route Map - Hanuman Gundi to Sirimane Falls Few More Pictures en route Sirimane Falls Vishwajith trying his hands on Camera Narrow Bridge en route Sirimane Falls Sirimane Falls Entry Fee: ₹10/adult & ₹5/ child.
Parking Fee: ₹5/car
Entry Time: 8am - 6pm
Few shops in parking area proving snacks
Public transport available till Kigga
There is a changing room for both men and women in the Parking area with toilet which is not so hygienic.
Sirimane waterfalls is at a distance of 12 kms from Sringeri Sharadamba temple. The road is in good condition and there is marking all the way to the falls. if you are using Mobile GPS, then be careful as you will not have network. The drive to the location is scenic, especially during post monsoons. This is one of the easily accessible waterfalls of this region as it requires only to descent a few well laid steps to reach near the waterfalls. Be careful while entering the water as there are many rocks near the falls which are slippery.
If you chose the right time you can enjoy the waterfalls. You can go right up to the waterfall. A lovely place for quiet contemplation.
If you visit Sringeri, don't miss this water falls. It really lived up to all our expectations and more.
We all had a great time enjoying the falls, specially Vishwajith who enjoyed playing in the water. It was 4:00PM when we left the place. All were hungry and we found a school ground in Kigga which seemed to be opt place for having lunch. It was cool and quite, we had our lunch which we packed from home.
Route Map - Sringeri to Kundhapura
Since we had to pass through Sringeri, we made a quick visit to the Sringeri Sharadamba Temple. All was good till we made a call to the hotel in Kollur where we had booked for our stay. We just called the hotel to confirm the booking, but a shocker came from the other side saying no rooms were booked in our names and no rooms available for the day. The mistake we had done while booking was we had selected July 24th instead of June 24th. We had to change our destination to Kundhapur since we hardly found any rooms available in Kollur to stay. We booked hotel Shivprasad in Kundapura and confirmed the same with the hotel.
It was around 9:45 PM by the time we reached the hotel. We settled in our rooms and soon left to have dinner and that was the end of the day.