After doing the Kabini Ride in May, we were planning for a ride circuit which can give us a good riding expereince. Gopinattam was on my hitlist for a long time and it is a small village in Satyamangalam Forest Range. This place was often covered in news and was dominated by Forest Brigand Veerappan. Since Gopinattam was the primary target, we decided to make the ride more meaningful by covering Forest, crossing River and cross State Boundries. I shared my ride plans to all our riders gang and finally Jeevan and Pinto Respended. Eventhough it was a small team we wanted to make this ride happen and does not wanted to cancel.
Here is the Ride Circuit
Route : Bangalore - Hosur - Anchetty - Billgundla - Gopinattam - Male Madheshwara Betta - Kollegal - T-Narsipura - Mysore - Bangalore (Total 460 Kms)
Riders : Me on my Thunderbird, Jeevan on his Electra, Pinto and Ritika on their Thunderbird
Inputs on Road : Roads till Billgundla via Anchetty Route in Tamil Nadu is very good. The forest route from Anchetty to Billgundla is very good and you would enjoy riding in the forests. After you cross the Border and enter Karnataka, the roads are pathetic from Gopinattam to MM Hill
We all decided to meet near Brigade Road on 1Dec2012, Saturday early Morning 6.00AM. As per the schedule everyone assembled and we had some Tea to beat the morning cold. We started immeditely and we did not wanted to waste time because we had a long road ahead. As usual we started slowly and in Highways we used to rip to cover Kms, so that we can ride slowly in the Forest Range. We reached Hosur by 7.00 and we decided to have breakfast, we know we dont have any food option till we reach MM hills and its all forest range. We had heavy South Indian Breakfast having Idly, Dosa, Pongal and Poori ( I guess that was a heavy Breakfast :) )
Forest Route near Anchetty
Then we started riding further towards Denkanikota and it was a single lane SH which was quite peaceful with Trees on both side. As we started riding further we reached Anchetty and roads were amazing and it was the start of Forest Route. The Forest route was as usual fun to ride and we were riding slowly to njoy the Mother Nature and stopped couple of places for pictures. We started riding and this route would connect to Cauvery basin just before Hognekkal and it was beautiful to see Cauvery River getting wider and completely unexplored.
Ghat Roads on the way to Billgundla
Here we need to cross Cauvery to reach Gopinattam and it was thorugh Coracle. We were really scared and doubtful if the boatmen can ferry the Bullets as these were heavier, but the boatman said " Vanga sir, Naan Harley and KTM yellam kondu poirukken, unga Bullet Enna perisu". After listening we did not have any words to say and we accepted to ferry our bikes. We had to first put the bike in Coracle and then we had to sit on the Bike to avoid shaking. Wow it was a good experience.
Bike on Banks of River Cauvery
Loading the Bike to the Coracle
Ripping on the River Sands
After we crossed the river, we had to ride on water and river sand to reach the land. Here we ripped our bikes and this took a toll on the Chain which was full of mud. We parked to clean the Chain and then lubricated the same. We continued riding further and it was forest range with the dirt road. We did not bother about the road and we were enjoying the forest sceneries and at last we reached Gopinattam. It was very small village and nothing great to say about this place, just another livelihood.
View from MM Hills
We continued riding towards MaleMadheshwara Hills, from Gopinattam we need to climb the hills and it was very pathetic road. There was mutiple hairpin bin bends with good ghat section, but due to worse road conditions we did not enjoy the ride. Finally reached MM hills by 4.00 PM and we had some Tender Coconut and Buttermilk. We continued riding further down the Male Madheshwara hills towards Kollegal. After reaching Kollegal, we had our late lunch and was wondering which route to take. I decided that we go to Mysore via T-Narsipura and stay in Mysore.
The Road from Kollegal to Mysore Via T-Narsipura was breathtaking with Paddy Fields on both sides of the roads. This route remains one of my favourites. Finally we reached mysore by 7.00AM, stayed that night to give rest. The next day morning we stared from Mysore to Bangalore and finally reached Blore by 1.30PM.
Breathtaking views of Paddy Fields
Paddy Fields on either side of the Roads
This was another great ride because it covers Highways, Forest, Water, Mountains, Paddy Fields etc.
