Sakleshpur Trip (18th April 2019-21st April 2019)

It was the long weekend after a long time we thought of planning for a trip with our 2 year old rockstar. It was the voting day in Namma Bengaluru followed by good Friday and weekend. We decided to exercise our vote very early and then start our trip, but as ususal due to some dependencies we couldn't start till 2 PM after exercising our vote. We thought of covering few spots on the way to Sakleshpur, but as we are already late we have negated that option and decided to visit only Shettihalli Rosary Church and then ride to our hotel Ashrita in Sakleshpur, which is located just a shout away from the Sakleshpur bus stand. We didn't book any resort as we would like to cover as many places as we can around the place rather than just chilling in the stay. This is a nice hotel within our budget and comfortable enough as we have a restaurant attached.

Shettihalli Church has two ways to reach and one way that shows on the google maps is very scary road as our car was moving on just 3 wheels for a distance of 200mts. I would suggest another road which is just few yards after the one suggested by google maps and there is a board also showing the direction to the church. That we got to know after checking with locals. Some times cheking with people is better than depending on the devices. 😊 So we have reached there around 6:30 with couple of breaks in between and we just missed the sunset 😞. But never the less the view of the church and the surrounding area is so breathtaking that we couldn't leave from there till it is completely dark. There is water body very next to the church and there is a small boat too. May be we could have tried boating, if we were there in the morning. After taking a bunch of pictures we headed towards sakleshpur. There were multiple pre-wedding and modeling photo shoots happening during that time, so we couldn't explore the church to our fullest satisfaction. But with few decent memories we left the place. There is a bridge once we leave the church and google maps will suggest you a right there don't follow that you continue on the same road so that you can join the State highway that connects you to NH75. The route that google maps suggest will take you through some villages where the roads are not that great and they are completely empty roads without any lights. We continued on the same route and finally joinined the StateHigh way. After that experimental drive we finally reached our hotel by 8:20 PM and just dozed off. The food in the hotel is just ok. Just 3KMs from our hotel towards Mangalore you can find another hotel Sagar Grand, where the food is awesome (This is as per my taste buds, you may explore as per your taste.) We were very tired of the drive and just gulped some food and dozed off.

Day2 we were planning for Dharmastala and Kukke subramanya and the surrounding places. Our hotel guys were suggesting us not to go as those places may be overcrowded as usual we said ok and headed to the same places around 8:30 AM. The drive way to Dharmastala is awesome, with great roads and awesome views. But the weather is so hot by 9AM itself that we decided to finish our darshan and then explore the places around Dharmastala. We took one break for break fast just 3 KMs away from Dharmastala temple called Udipi Dosa counter, the place is very simple but the food is fantasic. If you are expecting a posh place you may avoid it, but if you are ok with ambiance and want to try tasty food don't miss it. We have tried Neer Dosa and Kashaya for the first time and they both are superb. We were in a hurry to finish our darshan, so forgot to take the picture of the hotel. Finally we could get into the darshan queue at 10:30 AM for special darshan (200/- Per head) and the queue is so long so many people moved out of the queue, as it is so hot and people are unable to stand in the queues for so long. We left our water bottles also in the car (That's so stupid I know), so requested someone outside the queue, to buy us some water. After almost 2 hours we have a place in the queue itself to buy some water and biscuits for our little one. It was so humid in the queue and we took almost 2-3 baths with sweat in queue :P. It took almost 4 hours 15 minutes to complete our darshan and we were so tired and dehydrated that we couldn't have any energy to try the famous dharmastala Annapoorna dining hall food. We were just on water for the whole day and all of us are completely tired and decided to retire for the day.

But some how we pushed our self to our next destination Kukke Subramanya which is around 54 Kms from Dharmastala and we have reached there around 5 PM to Kukke and we rushed to the temple as were scared of the queues due to our dharmastala experience, but subramanya is kind enough to finish our darshan in just 5 mins. We again had some lime sodas and watermelon and headed to Our hotel around 6:30PM. We couldn't explore any other places near dharmastala or kukke as we were completely drained and we have no time as well. But there were some very good places around Dharmastala you may try if you have some time. Finally we reached our hotel by 8:15 PM and freshed up and jump to sleep.

Day3 we have completely recharged and planned for the local places in sakleshpur, as we per our plan. We left the hotel after breakfast around 9 AM and headed to manjarabad fort and there are around 100+ Steps to go there and our little one has decided not to climb those steps and sun has decided to brighten up as much as he can. So I was completly discharged just to reach to the top and this time we didn't leave our water bottles (Learning from mistakes 😏). After taking a break for 15 mins then took some bunch of pictures and we have headed down and this time we met a couple who forgot their bottles, so gave our bottles to them as we know the pain and reach down had some water melon and tender coconut. Daivik, who will run away when we ask him to drink water is continuously asking for tender coconut water, you can understand the amount of heat.

We came back and headed towards magajahalli falls around 10:30 AM which is around 21 KMs from the fort and as expected the flow of water is very less there but we still had fun by playing in the little water falls.

Then around 1 PM we have headed to visit bettada byraveshwara temple which is around 14 KMs the road is not so great but you can drive till the temple gate with some crazy off road drive. But the templet timings is closed (timings are only 6AM-8:30AM), but the view is awestruck. We can see jenukallu gudda, the famous trecking spot from where we can see this temple. We couldn't try that as we are running behind our schedule.

In return we have tried a different route to reach our hotel back and we spent some extra time as there is no signal and we were on offline maps and tested our guessing skills. We reached hotel Sagar Grand and its already 3 PM. I think we have spent much time in bettada byraveshwara temple than we expected as the viewes were great and the it was very cool at 2PM in the scorching sun. So we have hurried up our lunch and started to wards Bisle view ghat which is around 50 KMs from there and its already 4PM. We don't want to miss the sunset this time so we rushed our drive on the scenic ghat roads and reached the spot by 5:30 PM. Luckily there were no much steps to reach the view point, its just a few meters of steep way to walk. It was completely cloudy from the view point and we have spent a quality time of 1hour enjoying the breathtaking visual and headed to our hotel, while coming back we could capture some pics of sunset pics finally.

We have reached our hotel by 7:15PM and thought of vacating the hotel and headed to Bangalore, but wife and kid are pretty tired they don't want to start so we have decided to stay back in the hotel. So finally we have spent some time just relaxing watching our trip pictures and watching TV.

Day4 we left our hotel by 8:40AM and we have visited the temples Shri Sakleshwara swamy temple after which the town got it's name. We also visited Anjaneya and ayyappa temples near by and had our breakfast and hit the roads again at 10AM towars bengaluru. The sun is again shining at his full force, so we filled our bottles with coconut water and some cucumbers on the way. When you are coming from Bangalore towards sakleshpur after crossing hirisave cross you can find a 32 feet White sai baba statue on a black stone, which is spellbounding it may look much better in the evening it's a must visit. With couple of breaks we reached Namma Bengaluru, and the typical traffic welcomed us which I didn't expect as I thought it will start only in the evening. Never the less Finally reached our home at 2PM with lot of memories and sun burns. But the trip is worth of it and we completely enjoyed to the core. Total number of KMs travelled is a magic number: 888 KMs. 😍

Few Trips before we start the trip:
1. Most of the places in sakleshpur we won't get phone signal. Please make sure that you download the offline maps upfront.
2. Please be prepared for scorching heat. Don't expect the place to be cooler in midsummer though it is in western ghats.
3. Most of the places we have ghat roads, so if anybody is not comfortable travelling/driving in ghat roads please be well prepared.