A Bike trip to the Highest Peak of Karnataka - Mullayanagiri

Started from Bangalore around 6:00 AM, we followed the NH 75 towards Hassan City.

Reached Shravanelagola, after taking a slight diversion from NH 75 near Channarayapatna and around 18 KMs on State Highway.

The roads were good and we reached around 9 AM, had our breakfast at Hotel Raghu and then we started our trek up to see the 58-feet tall monolithic statue of Lord Bahubali, which is located on Vindyagiri Hill. It is considered to be the world's largest monolithic statue.

We started our ride towards Belur which was around 90 KMs and after 10 Kms on state highway we got back on the NH 75.

After one and half hour ride we reached the Chennakeshava Temple, a 12th century Hindu temple remarkable for its architecture, sculptures, reliefs, friezes as well its iconography, inscriptions and history.

Around 3 Kms from the temple and on the way to Chikmagalur this Dam built on yagachi river was a peaceful place to spend some time.

From the dam we started to ride towards our stay at Zostel, Chikmagalur. The place was well into the woods and is a great option for people travelling alone.

We had our lunch at The Coffee Bar, located inside the Zostel and took rest for around 2 hours.

At around 5:30 PM we got up and decided to take a tour of the chikmagalur city we started with Kodanda Ramaswamy temple located in the center of the city around 8 Kms from Zostel.

From there we went to the most famous coffee shop of the city, Panduranga Coffee Works situated at the MG Road, we tasted there coffee at a restaurant near by there shop and then we bought a few packets of coffee for us.

Around 06:00 AM we started to from zostel to Mullayanagiri. It was a 50 min ride to the highest peak and the way was surrounded by dense and beautiful forests, Scenic views of many hill tops, a lot of fog around the peak and a lot of curves and hair pin bands.

On our way back towards Baba Budangiri there was this beautiful waterfall with a small temple not much water due to the season.

From the water falls we continued our journey towards the Datta Peeta, A Dargah on top of the baba budan hills. The hills are named after the Sufi saint Baba Budan. It is said that Baba Budan brought 7 coffee beans from Yemen and had planted and raised them here. He is credited with introducing coffee to India.

Slightly above the Datta Peeta the baba budan giri peak was there providing a fascinating view of the near by hill tops and the lush green forests.

On The top after around 3.5 Kms drive on a rough patch with red sand we reached the Manikya Dhara Water Falls, Locally known as Nellikayi Theertha, this waterfall is considered as a holy site by Hindus as well as Muslims. Manikya Dhara, which literally means a string of pearls.

From the falls we came back to our hotel had lunch and took rest for aroun 2 hours.

Around 4:00 PM we started a 18 Kms journey to The Estate Cafe, located in the hills and the best place to enjoy your coffee with peace and a scenic view.

After spending half an hour at the cafe we headed towards the Hirekolale Lake situtated between the hills and the perfect spot for enjoying the picturesque sunset.

The roads from the cafe to the lake went through various coffee estates with huge cedar trees on both the sides providing panoramic views.

Next day morning we started our journey towards sakleshpur from chikmagalur at around 7:30 AM with our first stop at Hanbal Falls.

There was less water in the falls resulting in no crowd and a very peacful environment providing us the perfect time to capture the beauty of the falls sorrounded by the dense forests.

We then headed towards the Manjarabad Fort, located on the outskirts of Sakleshpur built in the form of a Star.

From the top of the fort one can see a lot of hill ranges around forming a beautiful view.

After having our breakfast at a hotel near the fort, we started our return journey to Bangalore on the Bangalore - Mangalore highway luckily with awesome weather and really good road conditions.