My Karnataka trip - stage 7

I got a late start from Raichur, since I had to get my bike serviced in the morning, and took the route via Manvi and Sindhnur, and arrived Siruguppa about 4:30pm. I should have stopped there for the night; it seemed a very pleasant town; but instead I pressed on to Bellary, arriving just before sunset. Some of the roads in Bellary are dreadful, more pothole than pavement. The first few lodges I looked at were either above my budget, below my standards, or full, but I finally got a decent room at about twice the price I thought it was worth. All the more reason I should have stayed in Siruguppa.

Continued south the next day on very good roads via Halakundi, Rampura, Hanagal, Molakalmaru, and Chailakere, arriving Hiriyur about 4pm, where, having learned my lesson the day before, I stopped for the night. It's much nicer to stop with a couple of hours of daylight left, rather than press on till sunset or later.

I wanted to avoid the heavy traffic on NH 4; the smaller roads are much more pleasant to drive, as long as the paving is good. My route took me via Huliyar, Chiknayakanhalli, Turuvekere and Maisandra; and just as I was thinking about where to stop for the night, not wanting to push on to Mysore that day, I saw an enormous temple complex just off the highway, and went to have a look.

It was the Sri Adichunchanagiri Mahasamsthana Mutt, and they have a large guesthouse, so I took a spartan room for Rs 200, and climbed up the broad steps to explore the temple. It's newly built, officially inaugurated earlier this year, although the older temple further up the hill has been there for centuries. There was a special puja that evening, so there were lots of visitors, plus many of the 3,000 students from the school and college hostels which are also part of the complex.

The next day I climbed up to the old temple, and then continued to the very top of the hill. For the last stretch there are iron pegs set into the rocks to help you scramble up, and the view is spectacular. I stayed at the summit for a few hours, and was joined briefly by a school group on a day outing. Since it was late afternoon when I climbed down, I stayed another night at the guesthouse. A most interesting place to visit, and I'd like to go there again some time.

Then on to Mysore via Nelligere, Nagamangalla, Pandavapur and Shrirangapattana. I stayed in Mysore for a couple of days, then returned home to Tamil Nadu on Christmas Day after a wonderful month exploring Karnataka.