Agumbe, the name sounded very familiar at first to me. The place where the famous drama 'Malgudi days' was shot. It rains heavily and records the maximum rainfall in karnataka. No wonder its called the cherrapunji of karnataka.
Friday 5PM arrived the hiwayrebels are ready to rock and roll. This time the gang included Rajan, Addi and ofcourse me(huez). As usual when we crossed Bangalore city limits it was 7:30pm due to heavy traffic(this is the painful part of the whole trip!). The plan for the day is to reach chicmagalur and stay there for the night and start towards Agumbe the next day morning. The 250km odd ride was very good especially as we drew near Chicmagalur the weather got colder. We reached the town by 12pm and hit sack in a local lodge.
Its Saturday, 7:30AM in the morning when Addi's moblie blew its alarm. We refreshed ourselves had a cup of hot tea and left Chicmagalur. At Mudigere town we had breakfast in a small village hotel run by a family. They treated us with the best hospitality which reminded me of my mom, that I would never forget. The roads from here are very bad. Our speed was 20km/h on these neck breaking roads. We were praying for a better road. All of a sudden the vegetation got thicker with green lush everywhere. Its time for a photo shoot. From here its all full of ghat sections with thick vegetation feasting the eyes. We had a stop in Sringeri where our god fearing Rajan and Addi went to the mutt for a darshan.
From here the greenery got all deser and bright green everywhere! As we entered the Agumbe town rain started to pour heavily welcoming the bikers. Luckily Addi found a shelter in a village house's verandah. We shared the shelter with a few cows in there. After an hour the pour stopped, we went out in search of a place to lay our heads. We got a village house for a rent of 100/day. The house had two bedrooms with attached toilets. It rained again till evenning as we had some snack and tea in the tea stall which is the bus stand for the village. Visited the sunset point that evenning and then rested for the night.
Sunday arrived, time to trek to the Onake Hebbe falls its a 3km treck to the falls. The way was all filled with leaches which we anticipated. Rajan freaked out when he saw the blood thirst crawlers sucking his blood. He called the trek off and decided to go back. Latter we learnt that the leaches had sucked lots of blood from him(courtesy Rajan). Addi and I continued our trek through the woods. There were streams crossing the path. At one point there was a huge tree that collapsed on the way there was no clue of the route. However we figured it out around the mess. As we went closer to the falls the sound of the falls was inviting. We had a bath in the falls to refresh ourselves. On the way back we had few photo sessions inspite of the leaches climbing our shoes. The overall 6km trek was very enjoyable.
Post lunch we planned to visit another falls there Jogi Gundi. This required no trek. This falls was also great. Unfortunately it was raining we didnt spend much time there. The next place to visit was a view point in Kundadri Betta. Rajan and I raced through the beautiful windy roads of the ghatsection and missed the left turn which Addi recognized. Addi went to the view point and we reached a Thirthahalli where the river thunga runs. Though we missed the viewpoint we had a nice chat with local kids and ofcourse not to forget the foot peg scraping ride through the ghatsection. It started raining again, we went out walking in the dark equiped with rain gear in the dim moonlight. Agumbe one of the best place to unwind! Gumbe Gumbe Agumbe!!
Monday 6AM we rode our bikes through dense fog towards jog falls 140 km from Agumbe. By 7AM the fog got lifted uncovering the beautiful hillocks, the dense trees all around. The road were bad in few places which was a pain in the neck. Once reaching the highway it was a blaze till jog falls. The final road leading to Jog falls was amazing. it was very steep and windy. To make things tough its raining heavily. The trek to jog falls was rally testing the stamina. It was 1km steep down through the rocky steps which disappear occasionally. The falls was breathtaking. There were a huge crown in the base of the falls. At 4pm we left Jog falls. The ride back to bangalore was great through the rural karnataka. I love Biking, I love nature, I love Karnataka.
Onward Route: Bangalore, Nelamangala, Hassan, Chicmagalur, Mudigere, Sringeri, Agumbe Distance: ~450 Km
Route to Jog falls from Agumbe: Agumbe, Sagar, Jog falls
Distance: ~ 100km
Return Route: Jog falls, Sagar, Shimoga, Birur, Arsikere, Tiptur, Tumkur, Nelamangala, Bangalore
Distance: ~490km
