Nandi Hills / Nandidurg – An amazing bike trip

I have been staying in Bangalore for past two years and have never been to Nandhi hills till very recently. Couple of weeks ago one Saturday, just I was talking about Nandhi hills with my friends; unexpectedly everyone was willing to visit Nandhi hills and we planned to depart on the next day.

This time, we could able to pick up 2 of my close friends, but missed Karthik and Kutti. We started hitting the road around 6:20am from BTM layout (Bangalore) and reached Marathahalli in next 15 mins for picking up Sunil and Mani. Mani was joined with Ravi in blacky pulsar, Sunil was with Suresh in red bull pulsar and my favorite Kolandhai was with me in my beauty disco.

Once we were about 10kms from Marathahalli, we felt the road was exceptionally well and we started raising our throttle. We were riding like hell at the speed of 95kmph-110kmph. Soon I noticed my speedometer was not working after riding my disco in the speed of 105-110kmph consistently. We stopped our bikes beside of the road and checked my bike’s speedometer cable. It was not damaged, but came out from one end. See the snap aside.

We again started hitting the road in next couple mins after splashing few snaps and reached Nandhi hills around by 8.30am. As my speedometer was in problem, I could not able figure out the exact distance from BTM to Nandhi Hills. We parked our bikes and started climbing up; we got completely engulfed in clouds. The visibility was not even 5-6 meters. The experience was awesome and we excited a lot (Specially Sunil). When we reached the top of the hills, the whole place was covered by clouds, looked extremely beautiful with natural effects which we like most. See few snaps below. Almost after an hour, the sun came out completely and the scene changed completely at top of the hill. We began walking inside the garden. It was too clean and we enjoyed the beauty and calmness of the place around, splashed some snaps too. We were there almost for 4 hrs. Once we felt it gets very crowded, we started our head back to Bangalore.

It was really nice experience and we enjoyed a lot. We plan to visit again soon.

For folks who plan to visit Nandhi Hills:
It’s a place to be enjoyed at anytime of the year. If you want to enjoy the moment at max, you have to be there before 7am and one more thing be careful with the stray dogs and monkeys on the hill.

Stay at Nandi Hills:
Mayura Pine Top Hotel, started by KSTDC, is a good option to stay. But again, don’t expect much.

Direction:
After reaching Devanahalli go ahead a bit to find a turn on your left with a board showing "Nandi Hills 26 Kms". Marathahalli Outer ring road > KR Puram > Devanahalli > take left turn as mentioned above > Nandhi Hills – aprox. 80kms one way. Anyway have a look at Wikipedia’s travel guide.

A ride to Hogenakkal falls with my beauty disco

I love my bike. I love to go for a long ride with my friends. I have some cool dudes who also have the same mindset.

A day we decided to go on a bike trip to Hogenakkal falls. We started from BTM layout (Bangalore) at 7.45am. Ravi and Kutty were on black Pulsar150cc. Suresh and Kolandhai were on red Pulsar150cc. I was on my disco135cc. We reached silk board in few minutes and called up for another friend Karthik. We saw him luckily, standing at end of the bridge and said Hi! Hello! And off we go! I picked up him, started on to Hosur road.

As there was not much traffic, riders’ heaven opens up!!! Yes, does my throttle. Suresh keeps cool head and was around 90kmph-100kmph. We were almost together on the way. Soon we reached Hosur and filled up petrol tank, of course for us too. We started from Hosur around 9.10am. We took immediate right cut which comes in few meters after getting down the flyover and we cruised along.

As we ride out of Hosur town, again our paradise opens up. Suresh was the one who used to pull other guys for race ride. Yes we began. 80, 90, 100, 105, 108kmph... yes I could able to reach 105-110 in my speedometer. It was really nice ride. We blasted well. Once we reached Rayakottai, we gave few mins rest to our bikes. We had some thunder coconuts. We started blasting again. At some places, the road was being repaired. Still we managed to ride at around 50-80. As we were about to reach Palakottai, few guys were on kind of race. I think, it was Pulsar150 and Splendor. Yes, we did, raised our throttle. My disco does well. I could able to cross splendor in seconds and also pulsar in next couple of seconds.

Around 11:30 we made it to Hogenakkal [my trip meter showed 151.4]. Hogenakal Falls is a beautiful water falls in the state of Tamilnadu, is a good Picnic spot and also its waters are supposed to have curative powers. It is sometimes referred to as the "Niagara of India".

The moment we reached, we were mobbed by people – some by advising us to take massage, some by telling us to follow for boat ride. People will be asking you Rs.100 per head for boat ride. You have to be really very careful on fixing the cost. You can easily bargain the amount. We made it for Rs.300 for six of us. Soon after few minutes of coracle ride, we had to walk for about 100 meters. It was nice sceneries and we took some snaps. It was a time for dip. We had nice time splashing around and took bath. The boat man was really funny and we enjoyed the trip at the max. At some places he had to carry the coracle nearly 600 meters on his own. Finally we reached back at origin. We decided and gave him Rs.400 for boat ride. He was really very happy.

You can get different kinds fish fry. It was time for Suresh who made it. See the snap aside.

We had lunch before we start our head back the way we came. We reached Bangalore around 9pm [My trip meter showed 310.x]. We were very tired.

Though, it was very, very pleased and nice trip. Can’t wait for the next trip!!!

For folks who plan to go Hogenakkal:
The best season to visit is soon after the monsoons, when the river is in full spate. But some tourists prefer to visit during off-season to skip the crowd. The temperature in summer varies between Max 34 Degree Celsius to Min 23 Degree Celsius while during the winter it is still pleasant and ranges from Max 27 Degree Celsius to Min 13 Degree Celsius.

There are two popular places where one can stay overnight:
• The Tourist Bungalow run by the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation
• Hotel Tamil Nadu

Directions:
1. Bangalore - Hosur- Krishnagiri – Dharmapuri - Hoggenakkal - approx 190-200 kms one way.

2. Bangalore - Hosur - Rayakottai - Palakodu - Hoggenakkal - approx 150-155 kms one way.

3. Bangalore - Attebelle - Mathigiri - Denkanikottai - Anchetty - Hoggenakkal - approx 130-140kms.(Road is not good)

Thanks to Google and Wikipedia.

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