Kemmangundi --> Serve Chilled PART II

DAY 2: 31-Oct-04

The plan was to get up early and go to Z-point where you supposedly get a fabulous view of the sunrise. The place was still covered in fog early in the morning so this plan was cancelled and luckily no-one woke me up until around 7:00. Sleep had become a very precious commodity to me. We woke up lazily and finished our morning duties and headed off for breakfast. After breakfast it was off to Z-point which is the highest point in Kemmangundi.We reached halfway to this place and were about to turn back, since the cloud cover was still thick. Luckily ( as in most of our trip), the cloud cover disappeared and we had a fabulous view of Z-point. Looking at it we made up our minds that we just HAD to go there. We trekked up to the end and boy was it worth it? The view was absolutely fantastic and you can see for miles and miles and miles.. The locals told us that this was the plae the maharaja's used to visit on their horses for a view of the sunrise.

By 12:00 we got back to our guesthouse for we had to vacate it by then or we would be charged for 2 days.Next on the agenda was the Habbe Falls.This had a very trecherous road which ran for 10 kms. There was no way our bikes would survive this road, so we hired a jeep to take us there. This road was the worst I have ever seen. I truly admire the jeep for being able to take us there. On the way we saw a Safari, and the ease with which it moved on this road was amazing. Habbe falls was a treat after this ride. We had to trek for about 15 minutes through an estate to reach it.The falls is just awesome.. I know I am using such expletives throughout this piece I am writing. I just can't help it that all the places we visited had so much to offer us that we could not help but be overwhelmed by the beauty of nature.

We had a good time clicking snaps and just taking in the full splendour of the falls. We had to hurry back as we had to get back to Kemmangundi soon and start off to Davangere. our plan was to reach Davangere by night which was already a distant possibility. By the time we were back in Kemmangundi again it was 4:00 pm and it was then that we realised that none of us had any lunch and we would not be getting any for some time. We had to make do with some bananas and start preparing for the next leg of our journey.

Around 5:00 pm or so, we set off from Kemmangundi. There was promise of rain in the air and we were expecting to meet it at some point in our journey. The next 20 or so kilometres were just potholes but it was a descending road and the twilight made the view of the valley below just too irresistable to ride away without stopping and savouring it. After our descent we came in contact with the rain, we had been lucky to avoid so far. This lasted for a good 10 minutes, but as luck was on our side, it was not heavy enough to reduce visibility and we pushed onwards. Our next stop was a place called "Tarikere". Here we had a long stop for refuelling our bikes as well as our stomachs. After the delicious Dosas we had to prepare for the night. This part was something I always enjoyed. We would clean our Helmets and then wrap ourselves in our warm gear. We set off at around 7:00 or so from here and our next port of calling was "Shimoga". The road for another 10 kms was unexpectedly bad from here and the darkness made it more difficult to avoid the huge craters in the road.

In this stretch Jaggi was my pillion and I was making good progress on my bike as my headlight was pretty good. After some distance we found that we were alone on the road and the others were not anywhere near us. Jaggi and me waited for nearly 10 minutes and still nobody showed up. We beagn to get worried and took our mobiles out to call the others and realised that both our batteries had died out. We had no choice but to backtrack. After about a Km we found the others. They had stopped to help two guys who had just had a fall. Luckily our group was alright. We moved ahead at a reasonable pace after this, as the road also improved. Jaggi knew this road very well and so we did not have to rely on any signboards.So we could travel even faster.

Davangere was still 50 km away, when we reached Murgesh's and Jaggi's Aunt's village. We were to visit them and also finish our dinner there. They were a very hospitable family and we had a hearty meal. The downside was that there was no power and the whole house was in semi- darkness illuminated by a candle here and a candle there. So, I doubt if they will recognise me if I vist them again. I seriously doubt this.After dinner we clicked a few snaps and it was time to set off again.

We entered Davangere limits at around 11:00 pm. We were stopped at at-least 3 places by the cops. They would check whether we had been drinking, queston us for some time, check our licenses and then ask us to go on. They would even take down our vehicle numbers. This was the first time I had seen such an exercise and was wodering if there were somebody these cops were after. Jaggi informed me that this was normal practice for vehicled entering the city after 11:00pm. The nice part was that the cops would give us funny looks when we told them that we were biking all the way from bangalore. One cop even started chatting about the weather up in Kemmangundi, but al of us were too tired to get involved in his discussion.

At Davangere we got a room at a place called "Shanti Comforts". It was a vrey good room hich could accomodate 5 people and it cost us only about 400 bucks for a day. As we were settling in one of Uday's and Murgesh's old friends paid us a visit. It was around 12:30 by now. We all got talking and were looking at the pictures taken so far. It was nice to see a reunion going on. We hit the sack by around 2:00 in the morning. It was the end of a veru loong day, and we had a wedding to attend and also to get back to Bangalore by the next evening.