We were a group of 14 members,the day before the trip. On a chilly Saturday (April 12 2015) morning at 3:30 am I woke up to the tone of my alarm. It was a sleepless night "The night before the ride". My friend called me up to say one of the guys is dropping out. We all started off with smiting him big time. ![Photo of Ride to Gopalswamy Betta 1/4 by RUTHaka350]()
As decided the ride was to Himavad Gopalswamy Betta. It is a temple on a hillock in
Gundlupet, Chamarajnagar district of Namma beautiful Karanataka. We started off at 4:15 am exactly, after a quick smoke. We took the
Bangalore Mysore highway. Oh am sorry so it is called. Had a nice breakfast at Up South
![Photo of Ride to Gopalswamy Betta 2/4 by RUTHaka350]()
We got into the
Nanjangud road through Mysore's outer ring roads.One suggestion to all you biker friends.Don ever loose patience on this bloody road as the road by itself is split into tiny fragments of Hell,and KSRTC buses will be your Lord Yama.
So approaching Gundlupet,the road is wide but to our surprise a million deviations as the road was under reconstruction in certain places.My friend's 220 made him 'uncomfortable' in special places.My
Enfield went on and on.So did the duke and a star city too. The loose gravel made it hard for the tyres.On top of all this the scorching sun.The marks it left behind on our rear made the trip much more Close to heart.We called it 'saddle sore'.
You have a very good road from gundlupet to himavad gopalaswamy betta 'til you reach the checkpost. And I want to alert my dear friends,Don't think of carrying alcohol,the checkpost is quite strict and will make you shell out a lot if in case you still wanna carry.The climb is very beautiful.Across the approach road you have fields and can spot peacocks if it's your lucky day.As the slope increases you can find the chill in the air around you and the view above all,will make you feel like you are in heaven.
![Photo of Ride to Gopalswamy Betta 3/4 by RUTHaka350]()
The epicness of the temple so to say is the dew which constantly falls on the idol of the God with no artificial interference absolutely and the temple is genrally filled with crowd who are going to sabarimalai and so many other visitors but you can get the darshana in half an hour spend sometime in the corridor and take a numerous selfies with the background of the thick Chamrajanagara Jungle.The forest road to the jungle is closed always.And tresspassers will be heavily fined and maybe fired too. The temple and the approcah road opens at around 8 am and is closed by 4pm.The place is known for the ruthlessness of wild elephants.If at all you can spot elephant dung on your way which looks 'fresh',your definilety not alone.So please be careful and try to make it to the foot before 4pm.
Downhill,all the Enfield guys be careful applying your Disc brakes as you pretty much know about the Brakes of Enfield. My brakes actually failed and the Brake lever was moving free.And it made me think of all the bad deeds I have done till now to receive such a punishment.
Yes, it was alright by the time we came downhill.We left around 1 pm and had fresh tender cocunts to beat the heat. We left for Mysore and had fresh parota and biryani in a
Kerala style restaurant and left to Bangalore.
As we approached
Ramanagara it started drizzling.Now,am a guy who has 4 eyes.The rains irritate so much and those small droplets on the specs almost kill me. It was nothing but zero visibilty, the full stretch back to Bangalore. We reached at 11 that night and finished it with the final smoke of the day.
So, everyone especially those bikers who are craving for a one day ride. Go ahead ride safe. It is a beautiful place. Not to be missed. 220 km from Bangalore. A bit of a challenge on the hill road but totally worth it. So keep thumping guys.
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