A ride to the age of Vijayanagara period and no doubts this has been declared to be of National importance. First interstate ride, crossing Karnataka and entering into AP.
Madakasira is mostly called as Shivalaya by the people, and was constructed during the 8th Century during Vijayanagara period. At the fort hills stands Lord Shiva Temple which is why Madakasira is called as Shivalaya, and this place come to life during the festive days especially during Maha Shivaratri, almost 500 people gather at the fort hill during the night and pooja will take place at regular intervals all over the day. In other days it is visited by few people mostly by villagers and tourists and it remains as a least visited national importance.
Madakasira fort has lots of cave formation between the rocks, try not to enter and explore them as the caves may be hollow and may lead to a fall. Mentioning this as I came across a situation where the previous night a villager tried to enter one of the caves and resulted in falling down 120 ft, and after hours of crying loud people were able to identify that a person has been stuck. And it was when I trekked the situation was informed to the fire rescue people for the rescue. Be aware.
Better to carry snacks, if planning to spend some time over hill.
8:00 Reached Madakasira village, Telugu being my mother tongue, there is no problem for me in communication, checked with the local about where the trek starts and had a chat about the place.
The trek is straight forward, it is well paved with rocks stacked up like steps, so there will be no difficulty in finding the path. The trek will keep one interesting and for people who love archaeological visits Madakasira won't disappoint.
While trekking came across this boy, accompanying me, it was a good long chat from then. Lucky that I had a person to share the trek with. Learnt that he used to come with his brother to offer pooja to Lord Shiva and also about the history of this temple. Once you reach the fort hill, you can find the Shivalaya (Lord Shiva temple) and adjacent a lake, learn that during raining season it would be completely filled.
Introduced to his brother who was preparing for the pooja, and they offered me to step in the temple and also with their permission took snaps too.
From the temple, far away there was a lantern structure seen, learnt that during festive season a person would climb up and light the lantern that would burn across the day. And he said even I can reach there, but need to climb rocks and advised to be careful.
The way from temple to the lantern it is like walking through a maze. Keeps one wondering always as what could be next. Excellent.
Here's where the entire fort can be seen in a side view. Mesmerising.
A good place to visit and hangout with friends, if you're ready to battle with the heat, considering you're in AP.
Ending Feb with 1 ride, until next time, c u guys. Happy reading.
Welcome readers for the first post of 2018. The Uniqueness of this ride is we have a female rider in the Crew in her Vespa (from being a pillion rider to a rider) and she definitely had our eyebrows raised on her riding skills by exceeding the phase at times, kudos. And of course the proud moment of being the first female rider in TLT. Appreciate it, and I/We encourage more trip with her machine.
It's been a month since anyone had a bike trip and more over being the first ride for TLT in 2018, everyone were excited. After exploring much in Karnataka we chose this time to drive towards Tamilnadu, visit Panchapalli (originally Panjapalli) and return via Bettamugilalam, believe it or not we were clueless till Friday evening on what to explore at Panchapalli, thanks to our friends Anitha and Manjunath guiding us to plan effectively.
5:00 Everyone assembled at EC toll, wishing all a happy new year and off we started towards Panchapalli Dam.
Starting few kilometres on the Hosur NH made us share the thought that weather is not so cold as previous year, but nature proved us wrong, gradually the temperature started to get down and by the time we were in Dhenkanikottai road everyone started to shiver, the cold was piercing, our hands and feet were benumbed, teeth chattered, chilled to the marrow, we reached a place where the fresh and crispy fog started covering like an invisible ghost, zero visibility, our engines were running cold even after the 55 KM run stretch. Stopped and checked the temperature, 13 degree it was waited waited and waited but it kept on freezing. A start that we never expected off, simply superb.
6:30 The artistic golden sun got up like a baby and started painting the dark black sky into a bright blue sky. Reached a village where we had our breakfast, hot and soothing traditional Kuli Paniyaram and Idly, running through plates after plates, so tasty and yummy. Village foods are always good.
A peaceful place to be in.
8:00 Reached Panchapalli reservoir, it was impressive, mountains covering the entire nature in the front, water splashing across the reservoir walls, tree branches dancing welcoming the morning, gentle breeze, it was like an enormous garden in a royal palace.
We also spotted a boat, and also tried to move it to the water, unfortunately we weren't since they were tied on either sides. But managed to snap photos, one seemed to be like we were actually travelling in the boat.
Learnt that the Panchapalli falls is dry, need to drive for a while in the off road and then to trek, localites mentioned as it is good for bird watching. We tried our best, but the muddy off road with loose rocks made it difficult for our vehicles to move further. But we still managed to trek for few distance and find some perfect spots for camping.
Note:The trek is through forest, draining your energy, better to carry ample water, people also warned about presence of elephants. So beware, apart from that, this place has lots of ware bouts and camping spots, all you need to do is be patient and explore.
Bettamugilalam – Aiyur Forest may not be known to most of the riders, yes it is a secluded area, but in riders perspective it is a heaven.
I bet you guys, it is a must drive through destination for a biker. The drive from marandahalli to bettamugilama is through the forest and to make it more interesting it is a mixed ghat section of off road and tarmac. It has all the twists and turns, narrow curves, number of hair pins, and the "W" curve, this had me feel nauseous as I was a pillion facing opposite direction recording Castro and his RE conquering the curves. My head was like taking a 180 and a reverse 180. God. Driving with a pillion facing the opposite direction that too in the ghat section puts an extra pressure on the rider since the pillion will be moving in opposite direction to that of the rider on curves and it's the riders responsibility to balance, and Harish just mastered it out.
Then came the drive through bamboo forest, the location was picturesque that it made us to stop every 5 minutes. It is a treat for photographers.
Note: For all the riders and photographers out there, do visit this place, it will never disappoint you.
And the pleasing vocal from Castro, that made the scene more lively. We also found a perfect rest place for a power nap, instead it turned out to be chit chat moment, discussed on future rides, on the 2018 milestone too (will be updated soon), managed to bring down a jack fruit too and trying to hide it from the villagers , an hour of resting and back we started to Bangalore.
With all the fun Panchapalli and Bettamugilalam provided with, a perfect start for 2018, all we wished is for a safe, successful and fun exploring season ahead.
Bored? Lets drive to OOTY <- This here is an old trend. Bored? Lets drive towards Kerala (Palakkad) <- Is the new trend. Second week of December in Coimbatore, and Friday night my brother returning from office and sharing the thought, bored, shall we drive to a waterfall called Meenvallam at Palakkad, there will be no second thought when it comes to ride, yes was my answer.
Things to carry: Water Bottle(S), salt and match stick (prone to LEECHES) be careful with the match stick in forest.
9 Dec 2017 6:00 alarm goes off, it took 30 minutes for us to get ready, this time not carrying my DSLR and our phone camera had some tiresome job to be done for the day.
Fresh windy cool and crispy air started whistling like an invisible ghost on reaching the Palakkad highway, a butter smooth ride being in RE 350, we could see the odometer dial gradually moving from 70 to 80 to 90.
7:45 Reached Palakkad, our tummies showed the sign of being hungry, time for some authentic Kerala breakfast. Checked in a hotel, ordered a plate of Appam, 3 appam in each. Soft and delicious with sambar and chutney . Sharing the comic things in each other workplace we had the 3 appam for nearly 30 minutes, even the waiter came and asked how about Tea, we acknowledged get it but we are not finished with Appam yet, get 3 more pieces.
8:30 Towards Meenvallam, 15 KM from Palakkad city, after which the rest 6 KM is a combination of offroad and normal tarmac. To our surprise we reached a place where river stream was flowing, not sure was that the way, just let the RE in. Few meters good, but the rocks were loose enough on the river stream resulting in no friction on the tires to move on, failed. But it was good to ride a vehicle on the river stream. We didn't stop, went again came back and again and again, it was like a child playing to and fro in an escalator.
9:00 Reached meenvallam, officials told water is low, on reaching yes they were right. We were the only two in the entire surrounding area. What next let's climb to the waterfall, nearing the waterfall, the rocks were damn slippery that we started to slide on the rocks, 0% grip, we were crawling like a baby.
Should be cautious, though these are of less harm when it gets attached to arms or legs, not much of a damage than causing a puncture wound and sucking pure blood. In case if you come across a leech on you, remove the leech and the wound will continue to bleed, just clean the affected area and apply a bandage if you have one on handy, but remember try not to scratch the wound.
Time for nature bath. Moved away from the falls, trekked to find the clear water and off into the water. The entire forest had number of ways for the water stream, we found a way and it was like a private space, clear, icy chill water. 1 hour in the water before leaving Meenvallam.
Yes you read it right it's Dhoni Falls, my brother and his friends came here last year. Since I haven't been yet and still half of the day left we decided to try it out. One should trek 4KM through the forest to reach the falls and when they went it was heavily raining and it was leech ground. We reached Dhoni falls and the notice said batch starts by 14:00 hrs, on enquiring it was told they allow in batches 150 to 200 members a batch, it takes 4 hours to trek, a guide will be accompanying and its 100 rs per head. My brother was what's this S***? When they visited, no guide, no restrictions in timings its all on our own till the falls. And the official also mentioned water flow is very less, will not allow people to enter in the water. WHAT?? It's like treating a child, so we both regretted the idea of trekking with a guide, so Dhoni falls dropped. Waited for a while and started to Coimbatore.