Group rides are always fun and exciting, especially when you have a new bike yet to complete her run in and your hand is itching to see what she can do. Yes, I had bought a CBR 250R and I was itching to take her out and show her the world where she would live and roam free. Now that I have broken the new born part, before you wonder what is with the warrior in the title and what wars, over work your brain; let me break it down too. This was a group ride which we did to Sakleshpur and Belur to witness a submerged church and an architectural marvel. Group being 5 of my colleagues and couple of my classmates which accounted to 8 members.
We started early on a Saturday morning, grouped together at Yeshwantapur and started our journey to our destination The Rappa resort Sakleshpur. There are no words to describe the Bangalore Mangalore highway. It is straight, smooth, 4 lanes of tarmac with a handful of toll gates. Of course we the bikers being a privileged class don't have to pay the tolls. The group which seemed sedate and slow till we hit this highway at Nelamangala junction, seemed to suddenly change mood and start ripping their rides, all cylinders blazing! We stopped at Mayura which I guess is the default stop for travellers heading on this stretch to fill up our hungry tummies. Gobbling up Idlies and vadas to fill, we headed back to hit the road towards Sakleshpur.
While we took a small butt break, and others went to get some drinks for their bikes
We headed on towards our destination cruising at very comfortable speeds on the unending straights, wading our way through the sea of dead dogs which were a common sight on the road! We reached Belur cross in no time, where we had to take a deviation to reach the resort. We took a wrong turn and carried on, only to find about the mistake later and take some villagers help in reaching our destination. This was a big mistake as the road was in very bad shape in this stretch and we got a good spanking on our bums from the unforgiving roads.
All was agony until we sighted this. A bridge connecting habitable land between backwaters of dam built across the majestic Hemavathi river. While this meant a compulsory stop to soak in all the beauty and serenity of nature, this also meant the end of our ride and our destination was within our hands reach.
We were staying in cottage in the river banks. How cool is that to have a view of a river when you wade out of your room! Though the cottage seemed shabby and poorly maintained, the accommodation was comfortable enough. And who wants to stay in a room when you are out there to enjoy and have fun. We had lots planned in front of us.
We lazed around in the river banks for a while, so that the tiredness from the ride if existed would come down. We gobbled the up the food at lunch like a pack of hungry dogs before heading out to the island formation due to the back waters in a coracle.
Explored around the forest in the island before hitting the waters for a swim. We spotted this monster of a spider which seemed like it could gobble up one of my fingers with ease.
Calm river banks of the island.
Swimming races, acting like kids, splashing water, pulling each other down, dragging reluctant Harsha to water, we forgot all the stress and strain from work.
It was time to head back to the other side and have some more fun kayaking.
The sky was changing colours to dark orange, and we witnessed a very beautiful sunset.
Loaded up with fun, making merry, it was time to drink eat and celebrate. Ate one of the best capsicum pakodas while emptying a fine bottle of Glenfiddich, dancing to the tunes of music with few of the guests who were staying in the resort. This was followed by sumptuous dinner which marked the end of day hitting the bed, making plans to visit the warrior in our story early in the morning to capture his glory with the beaming sunrise in the form of photos.
Shettihalli Rosary church, one of the structures that went down as an effect of an effort to stop the flow of majestic Hemavathi river. It still stands tall submerged in water with all the might it can muster. The structure is accessible in summers when the water level goes down, but nonetheless this submerged church is a beauty to watch.
Given the background, we woke up at 4 as we had plans to see this warrior with the sun rising behind at its most glory. Teeth chattering, hands shivering, we readied ourselves, leaving few lazy bums behind we hit the road to the church. Guess what awaited us? If you thought a beautiful sunrise with amazing pics, you are wrong! Clouds, brats had different thoughts and decided to show up, not letting us witness the sunrise. However, beauty of this warrior can not be hidden even by truck loads of these clouds.
Awestruck we watched as the sun rose higher and higher. It was time to head back and fill up and meet our next warrior, Belur.
We headed back to the resort, rested for a while, had our fill of breakfast and bid adieu to the very friendly owner and very cute puppies and the knee pecking geese.
We hit the tarmac, much smoother road this time as we took the proper route, hit Belur cross in no time. Boy, this is one road where you can easily do a knee down and scrape your foot pegs in the high speed twisties, or you can go down under steering or over speeding and break your bones. Everyone was in high spirits, even I decided to do a speed run as my run in was almost done. Reached Belur in no time and the average speeds maintained were in high 90's.
One of the architectural wonders stood in front of us. With delicate carvings in the stones to beautifully and painstakingly sculpted idols, this place is a feast to the eyes of historian and architecture enthusiasts. We went around looking at this masterpiece, snapping photos of every possible idol and statue which made me end up with 300 photos.
We started heading back to Bangalore with a heavy heart as it was noon and we did not want to ride in the night. Captured these beauties on the way back.
The journey back was again smooth. Apart from one flat tyre on the way back, there were no incidents. We reached back by 8 and went to bed with fresh memories of fun and amazing beauty of nature we had witnessed. They say riders don't pick destinations, it is all about the ride that matters, but this was one such ride which I got to witness a wonderful destination and a wonderful ride.
We started early on a Saturday morning, grouped together at Yeshwantapur and started our journey to our destination The Rappa resort Sakleshpur. There are no words to describe the Bangalore Mangalore highway. It is straight, smooth, 4 lanes of tarmac with a handful of toll gates. Of course we the bikers being a privileged class don't have to pay the tolls. The group which seemed sedate and slow till we hit this highway at Nelamangala junction, seemed to suddenly change mood and start ripping their rides, all cylinders blazing! We stopped at Mayura which I guess is the default stop for travellers heading on this stretch to fill up our hungry tummies. Gobbling up Idlies and vadas to fill, we headed back to hit the road towards Sakleshpur.
While we took a small butt break, and others went to get some drinks for their bikes
We headed on towards our destination cruising at very comfortable speeds on the unending straights, wading our way through the sea of dead dogs which were a common sight on the road! We reached Belur cross in no time, where we had to take a deviation to reach the resort. We took a wrong turn and carried on, only to find about the mistake later and take some villagers help in reaching our destination. This was a big mistake as the road was in very bad shape in this stretch and we got a good spanking on our bums from the unforgiving roads.
All was agony until we sighted this. A bridge connecting habitable land between backwaters of dam built across the majestic Hemavathi river. While this meant a compulsory stop to soak in all the beauty and serenity of nature, this also meant the end of our ride and our destination was within our hands reach.
We were staying in cottage in the river banks. How cool is that to have a view of a river when you wade out of your room! Though the cottage seemed shabby and poorly maintained, the accommodation was comfortable enough. And who wants to stay in a room when you are out there to enjoy and have fun. We had lots planned in front of us.
We lazed around in the river banks for a while, so that the tiredness from the ride if existed would come down. We gobbled the up the food at lunch like a pack of hungry dogs before heading out to the island formation due to the back waters in a coracle.
Explored around the forest in the island before hitting the waters for a swim. We spotted this monster of a spider which seemed like it could gobble up one of my fingers with ease.
Calm river banks of the island.
Swimming races, acting like kids, splashing water, pulling each other down, dragging reluctant Harsha to water, we forgot all the stress and strain from work.
It was time to head back to the other side and have some more fun kayaking.
The sky was changing colours to dark orange, and we witnessed a very beautiful sunset.
Loaded up with fun, making merry, it was time to drink eat and celebrate. Ate one of the best capsicum pakodas while emptying a fine bottle of Glenfiddich, dancing to the tunes of music with few of the guests who were staying in the resort. This was followed by sumptuous dinner which marked the end of day hitting the bed, making plans to visit the warrior in our story early in the morning to capture his glory with the beaming sunrise in the form of photos.
Shettihalli Rosary church, one of the structures that went down as an effect of an effort to stop the flow of majestic Hemavathi river. It still stands tall submerged in water with all the might it can muster. The structure is accessible in summers when the water level goes down, but nonetheless this submerged church is a beauty to watch.
Given the background, we woke up at 4 as we had plans to see this warrior with the sun rising behind at its most glory. Teeth chattering, hands shivering, we readied ourselves, leaving few lazy bums behind we hit the road to the church. Guess what awaited us? If you thought a beautiful sunrise with amazing pics, you are wrong! Clouds, brats had different thoughts and decided to show up, not letting us witness the sunrise. However, beauty of this warrior can not be hidden even by truck loads of these clouds.
Awestruck we watched as the sun rose higher and higher. It was time to head back and fill up and meet our next warrior, Belur.
We headed back to the resort, rested for a while, had our fill of breakfast and bid adieu to the very friendly owner and very cute puppies and the knee pecking geese.
We hit the tarmac, much smoother road this time as we took the proper route, hit Belur cross in no time. Boy, this is one road where you can easily do a knee down and scrape your foot pegs in the high speed twisties, or you can go down under steering or over speeding and break your bones. Everyone was in high spirits, even I decided to do a speed run as my run in was almost done. Reached Belur in no time and the average speeds maintained were in high 90's.
One of the architectural wonders stood in front of us. With delicate carvings in the stones to beautifully and painstakingly sculpted idols, this place is a feast to the eyes of historian and architecture enthusiasts. We went around looking at this masterpiece, snapping photos of every possible idol and statue which made me end up with 300 photos.
We started heading back to Bangalore with a heavy heart as it was noon and we did not want to ride in the night. Captured these beauties on the way back.
The journey back was again smooth. Apart from one flat tyre on the way back, there were no incidents. We reached back by 8 and went to bed with fresh memories of fun and amazing beauty of nature we had witnessed. They say riders don't pick destinations, it is all about the ride that matters, but this was one such ride which I got to witness a wonderful destination and a wonderful ride.
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