Exploring Chikmagalur Day 2: Muthodi and beyond.
Extra time
Even though we had to check out of the hotel at 12 noon, we still had time till 4 pm to return the scooter back to the Royal brothers renting agents. The morning was well spent on the mesmerizing routes of Mullayyanagiri and Mahal. We decided to utilize this extra time by exploring the Chikmagalur from the other side. We requested Hotel Giri Inn staff to park our car inside the hotel parking after checkout till 4 pm. The hotel staffs were courteous enough to agree to our request. we quickly checked out of the hotel and had lunch at Udupi Grand hotel present at the north end of RG road.
Towards Muthodi
It was a pleasantly cloudy day and at around 1 pm we started towards Muthodi. The plan was to proceed towards Mallanduru then Kolagave and join Attigundi Kaimara road which we rode in the morning. This time we reached Mallanduru through Chikmagalur-Mallanduru main road. We didn’t stop anywhere as we had already seen this route on the previous day while returning from Mallanduru shooting point. After the Mallanduru route gets scenic and lonely. Forest gets denser and the road gets narrower. It starts to drizzle and add more beauty to the surroundings. We saw minor landslides along the narrow stretch towards Muthodi.
Around Muthodi
Muthodi welcomes you with the arch of Muthodi wildlife sanctuary. It was only here we were able to spot a bunch of humans after a long time of riding through the forest route. We didn’t stop for safari and rode further ahead in the same route.
After a few km of well-laid concrete road, road condition reduces to broken tarmac and then some muddy patches and later into even worse to the extent that it looks like a private road to an ancient haunted house.
The struggle and the surprise
enroute we came across glimpses of villages like jagara and kolagave. At Kolagave we took the road going slightly right and from there it is bit of off-road till you reach halasina khan estate. From Halasinakhan estate elevation starts and road turns into zigzag loop. Surprisingly our scooter did really well in ascending those hefty elevations.
There was one problem amid of this happy ride. Fuel guage of the scooter was almost touching the empty mark and we were in kind of far from the city limits. forget about petrol pump, there were hardly any human establishments till our eyes can gaze. We knew next pump is present only at Chikmagalur town which was atleast 40+ kms from the place we were in. Just hoping for the good we rode on. once after crossing winding roads of Halasina khan estate, we were literally in heavenly place. To the left of us was green cliff and to the right beautiful view of the valley all along. Clouds were just starting tjeir journey feom the deep down valley. We stopped to greet them.
After spending some quality time we got goimg towards the town. Joined attigundi Chikamagalur road (Bababudangiri road) near CNR home stay and praying that fuel tank wont get dried up we rode cautiously till the petrol pump near chikmagalur town. One of our most memorable trip ended with returning the scooter back to the Royal brothers and heading towards Bangalore by our car with the heavy heart and lot of memories to cherish.
Live the Experience
Isn’t watching the video best way to explore the place yourself?