My First Ride

My First Ride

Hi all! Sorry it has been such a long time since I posted. I was very busy with work so hardly had any time to write.

This post, as the heading says, will be on my first ride which was in July 2012. Back then, I had a TVS Scooty Pep+ which could barely hold my weight. It was in November 2013 when I bought my Royal Enfield Classic 350 so all the rides that I went on before that was on my friend’s bike.

My friend and I would pretty much be jobless during those days so we’d be riding in and around the city. For those of you who are from Mysuru or have heard of the place would have also heard of Chamundi Hills which was our favourite place to haunt.

One day, while we were returning home from Chamundi Hills, we saw this milepost that said

‘Madikeri – 126kms’. That is how it all started. We instantly made up plans to go to Madikeri which is in Coorg (Kodagu) district, came up with some rough estimates (mind you, this was our first ride and we had no clue what we’d need and we should take), begged for approval at our respective homes and we were set!

Route: Mysuru – Harangi Dam – Dubare Wildlife Sanctuary – Madikeri – Abbe Falls – Mysore.

We packed our bags, I got my camera, water bottles and all the basic necessities were taken. The next day, we left early around 6 a.m. and headed off to what would be one very memorable ride.

We stopped at Hunsur for breakfast around 7.30 a.m., had yummy idlis and hot coffee. Remember, we went on this ride in the fag end of July which was the rainy reason. The roads were covered with dense fog and hot breakfast was a welcome sight. We then went to Harangi Dam which is approximately 50 kms. We covered this distance in about 45 minutes to be met with a disappointing sight. The crest gates of the dam were closed and we were not allowed to go inside the dam as well. With the crest gates closed and no water to be seen anywhere around, we decided to click a few pics. It is when I took my camera out of my camera bag that I learnt a very important lesson that I’ll remember for the rest of my life.

Check whether the damn memory card is inside the camera!

Here we were in one of the most scenic places that I have ever seen and there was no memory card in the camera. We finally had to resort to clicking pictures in our smart phones and we moved on.

The next place in our agenda was Dubare Wildlife Sanctuary which houses a variety of wild animals but is famous for its elephants. Wild tuskers are brought to Dubare to be tamed and it’s the elephants which are trained here brought to Mysuru for its world famous Dasara Procession. The tamed elephants here are very friendly and even pat your head with its trunk if you offer them a coin. Once we were done with Dubare, we went to Kushalnagara which is enroute Madikeri and had our lunch there.

We then headed off to Madikeri and by then time we reached the city, it was nearly 2 p.m. and it was raining hard. Undeterred, we asked a local policeman for the route to Abbe Falls. Abbe Falls is 15 kms from the heart of the city and the road leading to it is pretty steep. Once we were in Abbe Falls, a lady, in one of the many stalls installed there, offered to rent us 2 umbrellas for 5 rupees each. Glad to have something protecting us from the heavy downpour, we took it and started climbing down to the falls.

Abbe Falls in rainy season is a magnificent sight. The water comes thundering down from a pretty high altitude and sprays all over you once it hits the rocks underneath. Realising that the umbrellas weren’t doing us much good, we discarded them and happily let the water spray drench us completely from head to toe.  Once we had our fill, we climbed back up, returned the umbrellas and headed off to Mysuru. We clicked few more pictures, spoke to a few locals there and left. It was still raining hard when we left Madikeri but it made no difference to us. We stopped at a small coffee shop and that was the first time I tasted Coorg coffee. For those of you who are planning to visit Coorg, please do drink their coffee. It is absolutely amazing and warms up your body instantly!

We then rode back to Mysore and reached home around 8 p.m. We managed to visit 5 places covering 330 kms and marked the beginning of my riding journey

So places to visit if you are going to Madikeri?

Do visit the ‘Raja Seat’ which give you a breath taking view of the Coorg District. We sadly couldn’t visit the place in this ride but managed to go there in our next one. Next, you have the Abbe Falls which will be in full flow during July – November. You also have so many coffee and tea estates along the highway but be careful before you enter them as they are private property and you’d be trespassing if you haven’t taken the permission of the estate owner.

You can also visit ‘Mandalpatti’ which is 30 kms from Madikeri. A beautiful place which has a very challenging route leading to it but that’s for my next post! All the pictures were taken on my HTC ONE X+. Cheers!