Started off, a little late for a long drive, and a little too early for lunch. Took the outer ring road from Banerghata road and continued straight till Mysore road (SH17). Uneventful till here. The next idea was to get out a little bit and locate a place to eat. There was one pre-condition, it should be a new place and not some place we have already dined at. Sounds simple enough. The SH17 is a paradise for road lovers. Very little traffic being the yearend, we were nearing Maddur in almost little or no time. The Cafe Coffee Day near Maddur has been my favorite pit stop for a long time now. For a few reasons:

• It has a well allocated large parking space.
• It has other adjoining places to eat regular desi stuff.
• It has a petrol pump nearby.

On the ‘cons’ side, it’s on the wrong side of the highway so you will have to follow the directions, pass Cafe Coffee Day, take a U-Turn avoiding vehicles coming at you at ludicrous speeds, and then get to the coffee.

Map of the roads taken.

We did the coffee bit, it’s become like a OCD to stop there. We did not eat at the adjoining places like Kamath (a few kilometers down), or the one right to it, MTR. We have eaten there a million times.

So we went on, take a U-turn and back towards Mysore.

As we were reaching Maddur town, something terrible came up. There was some political disturbance in Mandya and it was a Bandh. Which meant we could either turn back or take the road from Maddur to Malavalli (on Kanakpura Road, NH209) or head back. Took the first option and went on. Reached Malavalli after battling the traffic which was diverted from the wide Mysore road to this narrow by road. From Malavalli turned towards Mysore and went on till we touched Mysore ring road. Now that this is not a major highway, there were obviously very little places to eat here. Except for one, but we had stopped there once and did not want a repeat. Mysore came up fast, ring road was empty in the afternoon, we started back towards SH17 just in case if we do not find a place, we will head back to Kamath.

Take the KRS road from SH17 onto SH88 and avoid getting into Mysore

Cities in Karnataka have the best of signage, at least Bangalore and Mysore do have. A nice large green board came up which said Madikeri straight, turn right for Bangalore. This was crunchtime, had been to Madikeri earlier but did not drive till there. We had taken a bypass right after Srirangapatna on KRS road connecting SH88 (Mysuru to Madikeri and beyond). Did the right thing, did not want to waste anymore time on a wasted day, when the light turned green, went straight ahead towards SH88. Soon we came at a junction west of Mysore with SH88 pointing right, took that and found a reasonable Dhaba about 10 Kms into the ride.

Ate.

Rain washed roads near Kushalnagar on the 2nd trip

Went on, passed Hunsur, passed Kushalnagar, and we were in Madikeri by about 5 PM with the sun fading out on the december sky. Now its a day away from New Years eve and almost all the places in a place like Madikeri are booked. Had a large tea, ate some more, and found a small little ‘Home Stay’ to spend the night. Parked the car and went about on foot checking out the place. We actually got to see 90% of the places while we were hunting for the Home Stay. Ate, slept, paid the chap as I intended to leave as soon as possible in the morning, what with all the pending work in Bangalore. Got up at 4 AM, now all the places to sea were empty, plus the weather was a lot better off than a polluted evening. Started out of the city by about 630 AM. Faced a little fog, a little of Kushalnagar and the tricky ‘One Way’ in the middle of the town. It was morning and I could reverse out in next to zero traffic. (why is later?)

Way out early in the morning with the sun rising

Morning Fog after Madikeri

Honsur came up very soon. We stopped for chai and I asked in my broken best Kannada, “Tea, Place to See, Good”, the guy smiled, then laughed, then said (in Kannada) “Don’t miss Nagerhole, Irpu”. Out came “52 weekend getaways” book from the glove box and we were charting new roads. Turned into Hunsur town, filled up gas and went right through Nagerhole National Park (Also called Rajiv Gandhi National Park). This is truly a beautiful road. A narrow snake, not so well finished, and almost never travelled, snaking tile a python / anaconda though thick forest. Its also a staggering 30 – 40 Kms through the forest. Occasionally one can spot a deer, small bear, and various other wildlife that I may need a picture dictionary to recognize. In one word lovely.

Nagerhole National Park, somewhere in there is this forest officer's office.

Crossed the National Park, they checked the bumpers at the gate, to verify weather we played a ‘Salman Khan’ on a Black Buck.

In one word, pure hell was unleashed soon after. The road became narrow, we could touch boundary walls on both sides of the road with our hands stretched out of the vehicle. It became a little worse. Then we got some good food. Then it became it’s worst possible and we reached Irpu falls. Walked up the falls, saw it, great view. Also, to all those people who take their clothes off and wear an underwear and jump into any waterfall they find, “Guys, you are neither Mandakini, nor is it cool to wear an underwear in public, unless you are Superman or David Hasslehoff (from Baywatch). Also, you need a physique to do that, not a potbelly which hides the only piece of clothing you are wearing.”

Falls was good, situation around was pathetic.

People bathing at Irpu Falls

We headed back. Did not take the Nagerhole Route Back as vehicles are not allowed to ply through the forest after 6 PM. Took the road via Ponnampet. Potholes were larger, so large that bandits can hide in them and rob you. We were tailing an Optra at this point which was increasingly getting slower, and slower and slower. I don’t blame them, I could see the car bottom at every pothole that they crossed, ouch!!. At this time we decided to pass him, honked, blinked, while passing he stopped us and asked if there was another option other than this road. Gave him the bad news and my sympathies. Once you pass Ponnampet, the road improves and becomes a part of the SH88B. What a relief, followed the rest to the route back till SH17 and back to Bangalore.

Part Deux

Abbey Falls

Exactly a year later, took the same roads and landed up at a home stay (pre planned) right after Suntikoppa, near Madikeri. Vindhya’s. They have great food, and enough place for 6 people. We were 4 plus 1 toddler and 1 infant. Worked fine. The idea was to stay, see the elephants at Dubare, eat Momos near Bylakuppe and head back the next day after seeing Abbey Falls.

Some Map (approximate) of the detour taken. Good detour. Ask for directions to Suntikoppa once officially on SH27

The story of wrong turns starts right after we had visited Abbey Falls. We were to take a left on reaching SH88, but we managed to take it a little early on SH27. See in Google. But this was a mistake I would like everyone to make, as SH27 is a much more beautiful and winding road than the SH88 can ever be. Only problem was, we were fast running out of Gas. Both the cars (WagonR and Fusion) were nearing fuel zero, a stop soon made it clear that we were on a long wrong way around to Suntikoppa where the next pump is. Fuel crisis aside, this is one of the best roads to take to get to Abbey Falls instead of the truck infested SH88. Suntikoppa came up after 50 + kilometers, and insane amount of good winding roads. Filled up the cars and headed to Bangalore.

Places to stay near Madikeri

Forest Flower. Nani Estate, Horoor Post, Sunticoppa Telephone No: 08272- 239332

Honey Pot Homes. Email: enquiries[AT]honeypothomes[DOT]com, Website

Jade Hills. Kaloor Road, Galibeedu Village, Madikeri – 571201. landline: 08272-651268

Vindhyas. Kedakal, Sunticoppa, Kodagu District, Telephone No. : 08272-239145