Chikmagalur – The Coffee Lands Of India | Part II

The Coffee Lands Of India Continued …

Chikmagalur | Day 4

      The last day of my Coorg abode; I woke up to a pleasant, drizzling morning. It was time to bid farewell to Coorg, but had one last thing to do.

      Secured the luggage and on the bike, and had a quick sip of tea with others. Exchanging Instagram invites, left the place by 9 am.

      I had a coffee shop to visit, which a fellow traveler suggested the other night, to grab some fine coffee-powder. It was a small shop with a homegrown coffee 10 mins from Zostel Coorg. Well, 8 packs of Arabica and Robusta 😄, was too greedy for it. ( They courier too. Just get in contact with them if you want one)

      Turned out, the owner was a biker in his young days and we got into stories of his riding and touring competitions which used to happen back in those days. These people rode for 2000 km straight with no sleep, except for pit-stops to complete the race. Well, with the bikes in those days, that must have been a hell of an enthusiasm for riding.

      The guy gave me a few roasted coffee beans to savor while riding. I popped 2 in and left towards Chikmagalur Zostel.

      The beauty en route around Madikeri is too hypnotizing. Soon I was drowned in the taste of the coffee beans and could feel the tiniest flavor it had. It kept me energetic and well, Awake!

      Chikmagalur is 160 km from Coorg, with not much to see around on the way there. I decided to take a longer route to avoid the highways and stayed in the interiors of the estates.

      Not to my surprise, the rains started and had to take frequent stops to change into my rain jacket and pants. Irritated by these frequent stops, the only thing I could feel at large was the coffee beans twirling in my mouth, with a never-ending blast of aromas. Yes, I was all charged up with the caffeine during my entire trip! Some addiction ha ? 😄

      The road to Chikmagalur passes through small villages and crooked paths. With dense trees alongside, I rode over a snake that happened to cross the road at a blind turn. To my relief, it slithered across safely.

      With the least breaks, I had to reach Chikmagalur Zostel, unload my luggage and set out to visit places around.

      I reached the property around 3 – 4 PM. The place is located alongside the road and is huge with Private and bunk rooms available to stay a few hundred meters from the main gate. Checked in to my bunk room where I was the only one staying. It was not crowded and had vacant rooms due to weekdays I guess.

      Post settling in, decided to spend the rest of the day at ease amidst the Zostel estate. Engulfed with pepper, shrubs, tall trees and various other plants, one can take a stroll through it like a walk in a forest.

      Rest of the day was to relax indoors at the Zostel. Spent the time chatting with few people from Mumbai and the caretaker. Zostel Chikmagalur has delicious homemade food at its restaurant.

      The following day, I had planned to visit Mullayanagiri peak, the origins of coffee and Baba Budhangiri peak. These later turned out to be one of the best places I’ve visited till-date.

      Rains had kicked in again a little (which btw is cool when you are in-doors), dried out few clothes and crashed into the bunk calling it a night.

Chikmagalur – Baba Budangiri Range | Day 5

      Amazingly, my morning alarm was the birds’ chirping and the cozy cold. After a sound sleep, I was set to venture out the next morning. Quick into my riding gears, I took off without breakfast.

      Chikmagalur town center, a small hustling place, is about 5 km from Zostel. Surpassing the wee traffic, soon I found myself ascending the hills. There is a check-post with a minimal entry fee once the ascend starts.

      My first stop was Mullayanagiri peak, the highest peak in the Baba Budangiri range. The road up-hill is narrow but well maintained. The Ghats are thrilling with fog catching you off guard now and then. The visibility fades to 2-3 meters with strong chilling winds.

      After parking, it’s about a few hundred meters of stairs to climb. Well, it sounds easy, but imagine strong winds trying to throw you off the path while you climb with a dense fog such that you can only see your next 2 steps with a steep valley on both sides. Piece of cake right?

      After an exhilarating climb, trying not to fly off, you will find Lord Ganesha’s temple at the peak, a very calm place.

      One can walk around and circle the peak with a magnificent view (only if the Fog God lets you).

      Spending about 20 minutes admiring the peace amidst the gusty winds, I started descending with wee steps till I reached the parking.

      The way downwards was lost in the fog with a narrow road ahead. I cruised down steadily on the peak and was on my way to Baba Budangiri mountain.

      Baba Budangiri range is named after the Sufi saint Baba Budan, who, according to the legends, introduced coffee in India by bringing the beans from Yemen. Yeah! The first land of our addictive coffee. (And Yemen! Any Friends TV Show Fan here? :D)

      The view is splendid on the way towards the Dargah. Deep valleys and vast skies with the sun playing hide and seek. Like a paradise, the lush green lands lay untouched by careless and civilized humans. Just drive slow enjoying the place without littering.

      The Dargah is about 25kms from Chikmagalur town. The road is good till here. After the Dargah, it’s a kind of an off-road path with a steep ascend towards Manikyadhara falls.

      About 4 km of ascending through slushy mud and rocks. Also, how can we forget the fog here?! It’s all covered with a dense fog within a few seconds with a little drizzle all along the way till the top.

      With the rear Tyre skidding in the mud, I made it to the top and such bliss out there. With mountains all around, the clouds below make you feel at the top of the world. The view although will be visible only if the Fog God permits you. Have patience, sit back and enjoy and the wind will do wonders eventually.

      After a brief chat with few people there, I started my descend and the rains began pouring heavily. The mud on the road was flowing with the water and the traffic had started moving slower than a snail.

      With extreme precaution and skidding rear tyre, I reached Dargah back and took a chai break. My palms were frozen even with my gloves on.

After having a garam chai, and warming up, I started back towards my abode at a slow pace, taking in the scenic beauty and living the moments among the mountain passes and valleys.

      I reached Zostel by evening after picking up a few things from the town. Freshened up and the first thing I did was approach the Zostel manger to extend my stay by a day. A luxury I could afford only because I was traveling on my beloved bike and was in no mood to depart so early.

      I planned to go to Sringeri on my extended stay. After dinner and late-night chats with other travelers, I crashed.

Chikmagalur – Sringeri | Day 6

      Sringeri is a temple town at a distance of 80 km from Chikmagalur. I decided to rest a little longer and left around 10 am from Zostel.

      The road was perfect for riding, with small villages and forests along the way. I stopped at a homely restaurant for a snack. The best and the most delicious dosa and sambar I ever had!

      Gliding through the Ghats, I reached the Temple. The place has decent parking with the river Tunga flowing just beside and is famous for its clarity and freshness and also many colorful fishes dwell in it. (The entrance is now banned due to huge no. of tourist)

      The new Rajagopuram entrance to the temple is magnificent. This was inaugurated in 2014. The temples have a strong vibe of positivity and calmness. One can spend as long as they want inside the premises.

      Spending half an hour there, headed towards shops to buy some Papads and chips. Yeah, you do get good ones here but again it’s my liking. Often people tend to have a different opinion about it (coming from my mom’s response ;)). This shop named Simhas is like 100 odd meters from the temple and has a huge variety of papad and a whole lot of stuff. They have their website too – https://www.simhas.in/. Got packets of jack fruit papad and different types of banana chips.

      I headed back to Zostel for leisure time. Reached by 4-5 pm, packed my stuff and was out in the commonplace chilling with other travelers. We had a great time there and planned the trip to Bangalore (destined) along with 3 other bikers who were headed the same way.

      After a laughing outburst late night, I crashed into the warm bed.

Chikmagalur – Bangalore | Day 7

      I was up early and stacked up the luggage on Joycy. Bidding farewell to everyone around, we started towards Bangalore.

It was fun riding with these guys and it was Bangalore in the blink of an eye. This is probably one of the things I might miss when riding solo, a companion, a fellow rider. The roads were well maintained and we could cruise at an easy 100 kmph.

      After bidding goodbyes to my partial travel allies, I parted ways and the rest of the Bangalore stay was at leisure meeting friends.

Bangalore – Kolhapur | Day 8

      The next day was a quick morning shopping at Nandini Milk center for sweets and was off to Kolhapur.
Zup zap zup! I covered around 620 km on Bangalore – Pune / Mumbai highway and reached Kolhapur before sunset after a scrumptious dinner from hotel Aaiyaaz.

The next morning visited the Mahalaxmi Temple, one of the most renowned temple along the banks of Panchganga River

Kolhapur – Mumbai | Day 9

      Left Kolhapur at around noon, It is somewhat 390 km to home but usually the longest route (by feel) with an end of yet another memorable trip. Expecting to reach by 8 pm, revved up through the smaller highways of Maharashtra and soon crossed Pune and was on the old Mumbai – Pune highway. Thereafter, it was like a single step to Mumbai.

      Soon entered the inevitable Panvel traffic, Vashi Bridge, Chembur and there I was! After 3098 km, 9 days, Home! Touched down around 730 PM.

      Sighs !! It was one hell of a trip with unexpected off-road adventures, thrilling moments that always had me on my toes. The coffee lying in my bag and taste of the purest beans was all hovering in mind.

      Guess that was most of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu I have been to. It was now time to plan for the only state left untouched in the South! Yes, God’s own country.

      Have you been to any distinct, unexplored places along this route that I might have missed? Do post a snip of your experience for my motivation to plan for it, because I can never get enough of it 😉