Oct 16, 2007 12:15 PM
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After browsing several blogs, our trip plan expanded out of Shringeri and included Horanadu – this inclusion was accepted post my mentioning about Annapoorneshwari Temple there. The trip was framed for two days to include two places Horanadu and Shringeri with stay at the former. As I can hear you cry loud “Start the blog about ur ing trip”, I do heed. April 27th 2007:
My parents and cousin (she just then completed her stressful 10th Std. examination) joined me in Bangalore for this trip at 7:00PM. April 28th 2007:The route: NELAMANGLA – HASSAN – CHIKMAGALUR – ALDUR JUNCTION -BALEHONNUR – MAGUNDI – HORANADU.We started early in our car (Alto) at 5:30 AM. We reached Hassan at 9 AM. The roads are very good (I heard they are maintained by Indian Oil Corporation) except for the fact that there is no median. You don’t have to touch Belur to reach Chikmagalur – as you proceed towards Belur, you cross a junction where the left will take you to Belur, right to Halebeedu and straight to Chikmagalur. We proceeded straight to Chikmagalur. Just before entering Chikmagalur, approx. 3 Kms., we stopped at Hiremagalur to visit “Kodandaramachandra Temple” For folks who relish age old temples, this is one place to visit; We stopped at Hiremagalur for 30 minutes and then proceeded to Chikmagalur. After reaching ‘Chikmagalur’, we drove for 7 Kms. and reached “Aldur Circle / Junction”. Well as the name suggests it neither is a ‘Circle’ nor ‘Junction’; it is a mere crossroad where we took right to proceed to “Balehonnur”.
Proceeding straight would take you to ‘Jaipura’ – a straight route to reach Shringeri. As we decided to reach ‘Horanadu’ first, we proceeded towards the right at ‘Aldur Circle’. A word on on-lookers through out the route – they were EXTREMELY HELPFUL as is the case with small towns and villages anywhere. Now starts the real driving pleasure – windy, curvy roads and the place is filled with coffee plantations, the roads struggled through small hills and the temperature was 29 degrees at 11:30 AM! A trip that started as a sheer pilgrimage started transforming into an enjoyable drive too. All of us enjoyed the drive from ‘Aldur Circle’ to ‘Balehonnur’. Again you need not enter ‘Balehonnur’ to reach ‘Horanadu’. Just before you enter Balenonnur, we hit a junction where the left takes you to ‘Magundi’ and the right to ‘Balehonnur’. We took left and proceeded towards ‘Magundi’. We were very lucky as the raods were freshly laid and we enjoyed the drive in those hilly and curvy roads at 50~60 kph – a very relishing drive! We stopped to take lots of photos on the way – be judicious to stop at straight stretches although it is very rare to find one and when I say ‘straight stretch’ it means long enough to hold steering straight for 15 seconds. We reached ‘Magundi’ and proceeded forward enquiring for ‘Horanadu’. We crossed ‘Kalasa’ to reach 'Horanadu’. The second stretch between ‘Magundi’ and ‘Horanadu’ was very scenic as it went through thick green vegetation in hills having curvy roads that were freshly laid. We reached ‘Horanadu’ at 1:45 PM – my tripmeter showed 276.5 Kms – the total we clocked from Bangalore. We went straight to the lodge ‘Shivkrupa Lodge’ – One that meets only the very basic necessity and one that is okay for a place where finding a good lodge is rare and once found a costly affair. We knew earlier that Annapoorneshwari temple has rooms (Yatri Nivas) for stay but anticipating vacation time, we had booked our stay at a lodge. After refreshing, we went to the temple. The temple (Shri Annapoorneshwari) provides free food as ‘Prasadam’ and it is believed that devotees having food there will be blessed with food all through their life. Upon hearing the belief, my dad, in his typical cynical style, commented ‘then every beggar can have food here once and be rest assured of his meals’. Immediately my mom gave her typical stare and a typical silence followed suit. The temple resides on a high ground facing a beautiful hill having thick vegetation in lush young green. When we were having food at temple (Prasadam), we witnessed something which we had so far then only heard and read – ‘Forest Rain’.Thanks to the rain as the temperature in that zone straight came down to 23 degrees at around 3:30 PM. When we came out of the temple after darshan, food and repeat darshan (due to my mom), it was 4:30 PM. We reached the parking area to witness a flat tyre in my car. We enquired around to learn that ‘Horanadu’ does not have a vulcanization shop and we have to reach ‘Kalasa’ to get one. I quickly changed the tyre and drove to ‘Kalasa’. ‘Kalasa is just 4 Kms.
From ‘Horanadu’ and we immediately landed in the sole vulcanization shop next to a petrol pump. By 5:15 PM, we were ready with 5 fit tyres. We then visited ‘Kalasheshwar temple’ at Kalasa. When we returned back to ‘Horanadu’, before reaching the temple and lodge, we deviated uphill to reach a ‘Ganesha Temple’. This temple is famous due to the spot in which it quietly resides and we passed-through a dangerously steep up-hill road to reach this place. We reached there at 6:00 PM and learnt that visitors come there predominantly to have a panoramic view of the entire mountain and to witness Sunset than the temple itself. April 29th 2007:We had initially planned to start at 4:30 AM from ‘Horanadu’ to reach ‘Shringeri’. But our plans were disrupted due to no electricity early in the morning and hence no hot water to refresh. We left ‘Horanadu’ at 5:30 AM. It was very foggy and ordinary head lamps provided visibility that was just enough to cruise below 20 kph speed. The Route: HORANADU – KALASA – S.K.BORDER – KUDREMUKH – SHRINGERI. The route took us through beautiful-lazy-dark green tea plantations in Kalasa and en route to S.K.Border. It is a sight that has to be felt through naked eyes and definitely cannot be replicated through words. Roads were definitely far better than those we find within our busy city limits. The road takes you through Kudremukh National Park with a free pass issued by the check post officials. It was a lonely drive as we rarely saw vehicles (probably because it was early in the morning and a Sunday too) but we felt we were warmly being engulfed in nature’s beauty continuously. We were discussing among ourselves the pure air and hustle-free atmosphere nature has provided along with the lack of convenient lifestyle of our city life.
We convinced ourselves that the grass is always greener on the other side. Briskly driving through the thick park of Kudremukh, we reached Shringeri temple at 8:15 AM. We looked out for a room at Yatri Nivas and learnt that we may get one at 9AM. We quickly finished our breakfast and went back to Yatri Nivas at 9 AM only to find that it may take another 30 min. We decided to go ahead with some private lodge in the street straight opposite to the temple. We found one and refreshed. We went to temple at 10 AM and were there till 11 AM. We left Shringeri at 11 AM and straight returned to Bangalore through SHRINGERI – JAIPURA – BALEHONNUR – CHIKMAGALUR – HASSAN – BANGALORE Driving through Jaipura was again very beautiful – it took us through the windy roads but the temperature in that region didn’t let us enjoy the drive. We returned to Bangalore at 7 PM. Caution: Please dare not visit ‘KAMAT’ on Hassan road
