BIKING TO NANDI HILLS
DISTANCE : Around 65 Kms from Bangalore
DIRECTION : ON the HYD Highway. Yelhanka--> Hyd Highway--> chikbalapur--take left
PREFERED TIME OF THE YEAR : JAN to DEC
MODE of travel :TWO WHEELER
FOOD/LODGE :AVAILABLE RATING : 3/5
I always heard of this place ever since i came to bangalore..I decided i will visit this place the moment i get a chance. Well the idea abt going to nandi hills started nagging me ever since i heard abt it from Phani..who said it can be a perfect place to go biking..and now that i have a cruiser bike ..i was justin waitin for the time to come..to watch beautiful sunrise n spend some quality time away from the crowded blr..
Then luckily for me, one of my good old college buddies,Tanima has come down too..to Blr for her project..we decided to go to Nandi hills..one sunday..n thats the begining ...
It was Feb 18th,2007.Sunday. I told Tani to get ready by 8.15 and i went to IIsc to pick her up..We had a backpack with water bottle,some eatsbles n ofcourse a cam to capture the nature.
It was 8.30 by the time we started at IISc.We took left from Mekhri circle to join the outer ring road which eventually is the hyd highway. The weather was perfect, some what cloudy but with breeze around.It infact drizzled for few miutes.Having started early in the morning we didnt find much traffic on the road, or may be due to the cloudy atmosphere,people didnt feel like coming out.In around twenty minutes we were at the outskirts of blr,crossed the Yelhanka airbase.
The Hyd highway is perfect to jet out.I was enjoying the ride driving around 80-100Kmph. Trust me guys there is some thrill n joy in overtaking every vehicle that you see around..some achievement which i am sure only bikers would feel.
We rocketed for around twenty minutes to enter into completely green and hilly neighbourhood, we could see all green fields and faraway hills.THey were appearing spectacular and thanks to Mr.Sun that he has not lost his cool yet.We were enjoying the surroundings,great pleasure you know like some wise man said "a thing of beauty is joy forever" ..i swear you should experience it to enjoy. I was no more racing but maintained a consistent speed of 60..just to get the feel of beautiful panorama..
WIthin an hour we are almost near Chikbalapur, we crossed a railway lane and i started looking out for some wayboard poining us to Nandi hills.I knew that i had to take a left turn some where around and was driving slowly looking for the pointer. Yes, we found the board, took the left turn to enter a straight,little bumpy road thru villages, and on the same road after 2km,we come across a market kind of thing and a junction.I stopped to find out which way to take now,and the warmhearted ppl volunteered themselves to tell us to take a left again for Nandi hills..and we happily followed their directions.
We started seeing the chain of hills to our right,it was so beautiful, there was some marathon takin place and we could see guys dressed in khaki running opposite to us.It is a straight road now till a junction where we have to take a right.There we find many shops and we halted to drink coconut water and bought some chips and biscuits.
From this point started the Ghat road,on to the top of the hill.we paused at some panorama points to take snaps and njoy the terrain. it is out of the world. We finally reached the top of the hill.Parked my bike, n started off on a small trek to reach a place they call as "TIPPUs FALL"
Folks,forgot to tell you,Nandi hills was summer resort of the Great Tippu Sultan, the legend syas that all those who committed severe crime were pushed down to death from that peak and hence the name TIPPus Fall. It was around 10:45 now, and we sat downon the rocks to chat abt our happy college days n then almost evrythin under the sun.
Slowly started again to visit the Nandeeswara temple-Lord SHiva mandir. After that we took a small round around the Garden. There is a bugalow called Nehru Nilaya, it seems the erst while rest house of Tippu has been repaired to make this.SOme SAARC summit took place in the same bungalow in 2004 and that when they gave it a renewed look. By now it was 12.30 and we thought of havin Lunch. Went to Karnataka state tourism restaurant. The food is good and decent price. I should say cheap when compared to blr prices.
The best part is the beautiful view of the valley we could have from the glass walled restaurant, It was amazing,we gave some work for the camera we carried. SOOn after lunch,we started back on our way. It was around 1.30 now, and we took few snaps on the DANGER point, confused what it is..well there is rock which stand apart near the TIPPus fall, on which was painted DANGER in red..may be because the rock might topple down any time.
Slowly we started moving down,and reached the place where i parked my Avenger.we started off around two pm..on the way back we took a shorter route..which somehow we missed out while coming. Actually while coming,on the highway,we missed the first left turn but took the second ( n the last one) which can take us to nandi hills.. Now we are again bak on the highway bak to blr..Both of us had some shopping to do n we drove down to MG road..IT was 3.30 When we reached central..
Thats how our fantastic BIKE RIDE to NANDI HILLS was done.
