After
completing my Kodagu- Mysore trip I had planned to make Hassan trip but main
problem is it’s impossible to cover whole district within a day, so decided to
shorten the route and planned for Belur and Halebidu of Hassan district, on Sunday.
Hariprasad and Sanath
On 25th of December 2011 at sharp
0315hrs I got a call from Raviraj, Santosh and Sanath started from
Mulleriya and hRaviraj, Hariprasad and Prasahant joining them on the way, So I
took my Black bird and went from house, my plan was join them at Puttige
junction at Perla.
Water evaporation
Raviraj
Sunrise
Around 0345hrs they reached, and continued our
journey. Our first stop was at Vittla
from there we headed towards Charmadi via B.C Road and Ujire. After crossing
B.C Road chill wind start to interrupt our speed, till there it was very hard to
trace the tail lamp of GS150R . On the way we got an opportunity to shoot
beautiful sun rise scenery.
After crossing 11 Km from Ujire reached a
village called Charmadi, from here onward on has to climb steep ghat section to
reach Kottigehara which is located at the top of the Ghat section. It also
connects Dakshina Kannada to Chikmagaluru District. Winding narrow road between
green western ghat really enchanting to the mind.
Charmadi ghat section
Scenery from the top of Charmadi ghat
My Black Bird
Around 0830 hrs reached Kottigehara and took a break for Breakfast. Everybody is shivering with cold atmosphere. After eating couple of hot Idli, vada and Neer dose (thin dosa made out of rise), headed towards our next destination i.e. Belur.
Village Road
En route to Belur
Belur temple complex
Kottigehara to Belur road is a plain straight
road, road condition also reasonably good except few meters of bad stretches at
some places which was going under construction. When we reached near Mudigere Ravi was talking
about lack of pick up in his pulsar.
So we swap our
bikes till Halebeedu. Actually this pulsar tuned to lean mixture, so gives excellent fuel efficiency but does not have the grunt generally it has, once it
slow down it's very difficult to bring it on normal pace. Total
distance between these places is 48KM., so without much fatigue reached Belur
aroundt 1015hrs.
Belur is located in Hassan District; it was early capital of the Hoysala Empire, the main attraction is Sri Chennakeshava temple complex, with excellent architectural style and attractive carvings. In this complex another small temple called Kappe chennigaraya temple apart from this Veeranarayana temple, Ranganayaki (Andal) temple also located inside this complex. Lamp post in front of the temple is very attractive and small Kalyani (tank) also there.
Inside the temple
Lamp post
Tourist posing to the photograph
Kalyani inside temple complex
Our next
destination was Halebidu around 1145hrs we started from Belur, road condition
is good and just 16km distance covered within 20 minutes. As soon as reached
Halebidu fresh tender coconut attracted us and it’s very cheaper they sell it
for just Rupees 5 to 10. I don’t know how can they manage. Hariprasad start to
enquire about the source of coconut, vender told they are locally cultivated. at
another side Santosh asking about money back guarantee because he got only
coconut water and it doesn’t contain pulp insde! Bad luck .
Statue of Nandi (Bull)
Ganesh Idol
Halebidu was the regal capital of the Hoysala
Empire in 12the century. The temple complex comprised two temples Hoysaleshwara
and Kedareshwara temple. A big Nandi (bull) statue also built there. After
spending an hour came out side of the temple complex. We decided to take lunch at Hassan so took
some fruits to curb our starving and headed towards Hassan.
Halebidu Circle
Halebidu town
Lake
As soon as cross the main circle of Belur a
superb huge lake was found. Here I must say one thing when I was sharing my
trip experiences with my friend, she asked me “Did you noticed the big river
behind temple?” ….? I hope now you definitely got the idea of how big it
is.
After taking some of the snaps we continued our
journey towards Hassan. On the way a unique red colored farm was found, we
stopped our motorcycle and get inside the farm after crossing some of the Jowar
field reached near that farm which
consists small red coloured flowers, drip irrigation also provided for that we are
unable to recongise it,
Jowar field
took some
snaps and back to the road. After crossing few kilometer again we saw another
unique field it consist of full of violate flowers when we enquired about those
flowers with some of the natives they told it was a herbal flowers used for
medicine. It’s seeds cost Rs. 5000 per Kg.
En route to Hassan.... finishing the fruits
Around
1430hrs entered Hassan city and search for a good hotel and succeeded to found
one. I and Hariprasad took typical Hassan lunch “Mudde Uta” rest of them took
rise and chapattis. Lunch was very tasty, it consists Rice bowl, Sambar,
Vegetable sabji, Ragi ball. Pickle, a glass of buttermilk and chili bonda.
(Mensinkai bajje)
Mudde Uta
Near Sakleshpur
After lunch
took one hour rest and started our return journey via Sakleshpur, Shiradi ghat,
Uppinagadi. Kalladka, Vittla route, took dinner at Uppinangadi and reached home
at 2250hrs. 
