Devarayanadurga On Bikes

Thanks to Payaniga for the wonderful photoshots of Devarayanadurga which made us enthusiastic to conquer that hill fort also, after the successful Nandi Hills trip. With the help of Google and fellow bloggers, we were able to find some info about how to reach that place.

As wiki says -

Devarayanadurga is a hill station near Tumkur in the state of Karnataka in India. The rocky hills are surrounded by forest and the hilltops are dotted with several temples including the Yoganarasimha and the Bhoganarasimha temples and an altitude of 3940 feet.

9th Feb 2008, Saturday:
Started at 4.30 in the morning and made our customary visit to nearest ATM (pockets total empty without any money even for petrol) and petrol bunk. This time the enthusiasts number increased to 7 - myself, laddu, hafeez, satish, compsri, raffi and the last moment entry naresh. And we were on 4 bikes - Pulsar 180, Unicorn 150, Gladiator 125 and Passion Plus 100, a great mix I must say.

We started sharp at 5AM for NH4 via Yeshwantpur - Peenya - Dasarahalli. We couldnt enjoy the ride on first few kms of NH4, the roads were narrow and dusty with lotsa trucks and buses. The roads got better but our luck went bad as the rain god decided to play a small game with us then. With the increasing downpour we decided to take a break in a petrol bunk when our trip meter started showing 40 kms. We didnt realize that the rain god was snickering at us when we ended our break after the rain stopped. The rain started again - may be a test of determination by the rain god and we succeeded. We dint take any break this time and went straight (rain ended after a short time) till the Toll Booth on the Tumkur road (NH4) and reconfirmed the route to our destination. The revised and nearest target was to reach Dobbaspet Bridge. On the way to Dobbaspet we had few photographs. And then people showed their talents on bikes by reaching 90-110 kmph as per their bikes' capacity. After a tea break at Dobbaspet, we enquired to find 2 different routes to Devarayanadurga.

• Route 1 - Take a right turn from under Dobbaspet Bridge.
• Route 2 - Go straight from the Bridge for few kms and take a right turn near Siddaganga Mutt.

We went ahead to take Route 2 - better roads - as per the suggestions of Dobbaspet lokis. But I still am not sure whether we took the actual Route 2 suggested by them or not. We took a right turn from NH4 (dont remember any landmarks on NH4), it was a very small road but a neat one. And on that way to Devarayanadurga, we explored a rocky hill with Jain stupa on top of it. After taking the diversion from NH4, we drove for around 15 kms via Urdegere. Roads were pretty cool, but be careful else you'll end up in sudden surprises (mud pits). It was a 5 kms drive from the foot of the hill to reach the hill top - roads well maintained not too many hair pin bends - where vehicles can be parked. Trip meter: 90 kms.

We had to take steps from the point where we parked our bikes to reach the flat surface on the top of the hill. On the way to hill top, we found one board "View point", a carving of ram-hanuman-Garuda, lakshmi narasimha temple with a pond just opposite to it, a few rock arches, breathtaking views and lotsa monkeys. Through out the way to hill top our cam was making continuous sounds of clicks and whirrs capturing the locations as well as our creative poses. The view from the hill top was awesome - those greeny fields and small water bodies, rocky hills all around, the clouds and the humble appearances of the sun once in a while. Soon did we realize that we weren't still at the peak of the hill. On the peak of the hill there was one stony mantap like structure and a lamp post on a huge rock; and there weren't any steps to reach that place. We crawled, hopped, jumped and finally reached the peak. The feeling was ineffable; the view fantastic. Few more whirrs from the cam and we headed back. On the way down, we thought of visiting the temple but it was closed then (we waited till 10.30AM near the temple, though its supposed to open at 10AM everyday).

At around 11AM we started back on our bikes. Driving downhill was pretty thrilling, but dangerous too. Return drive was pathetic. We travelled more than half the distance without any issues. Later, we saw a crushed motor bike not sure what happened to the driver. After few kms there was a huuuugggee traffic jam and after reaching Yeshwantpur I missed the route and drove extra 10 kms amidst heavy traffic. It was 2.00PM by the time I landed up in CMH road for some food. All in all the bike ride was a success again, and the trip meter showed 170kms.