Following up to the last article, on Nandi Hills, which was 140 kilometre of round trip, I thought why just we don't graduate to a 200 kilometre trip? If you thought riding to Nandi Hills was fun, you are just in for a treat! Fortunately Bangaloreans are lucky enough to have so many hills in such close proximities. And just one more enchanting place is Devarayanadurga, in short DD. Around 100 Km (one way) from our Garden City College, it's the next closest hilly destination you would love to ride to.

How to Reach:

The distance from the college to the hill counts to almost 100Km, for us we have to take the ring road to Tumkur. Once you leave the city limits, the road is wide and clear. It's a good idea to start before 7 in the morning so that you can avoid all the city traffic. You will encounter the toll road, for which you really don't need to pay any toll, if you are on less than 3 wheels! There are many eating joints and fuel pumps, in fact there's even a “Cafe` Coffee Day”, en route. So, there are not exactly any problems of stoppages, if you want to take one. To the top is exactly 100Km, and still steep climb and bad roads on the hills make things worse for you and multiply the time, but thankfully the total climb is not more than 15Kms. It's even a easy road easy for scootrets, but would be stressful for smaller capacity engines.

The Place:

This is a hill station perched at a height of 3940 feet. Devarayanadurga is famous for the natural water spring called 'Namada Chilume' which is considered as the source of Jayamangali River. The rocky hills are surrounded by forest and the hilltops are dotted with several shrines including the temples dedicated to Yoga Narasimha and Bhoga Narasimha. To the adventure seeker, it is an ideal place for trekking. There are two temples, one is Bhoga Narasimha, which is at the foothill this is a temple with kalyani etc. Then there is a road which takes us to another point at a higher altitude to the Yoga Narasimha temple. This is a 600 hundred year old structure, but well maintained. Climb further up from the temple to the rocks to get a breathtaking view. The winds at the peak are imposing but cool...there are lots of monkeys...good place for rock climbers. There is also a police signalling centre. This is only place where we can get mobile signal (all carriers) to make any calls to Bangalore.

Preparations:

Although you will encounter lots of villages and small town like Dobbspet, a small niggle with my bike left me frustrated. As the Murphy's Law goes, when you are not prepared for it, then only you will have a problem, and certainly enough my chain cover's screw got loose and the cover itself came down. Thankfully not a major problem and we continued after getting a spare screw, from other parts of the bike. Thus the moral of the story is that even on short trips it's always advisable to carry some extra screws, especially the ones which are prone to heavy vibrations. And certainly carry some extra tools; don't solely rely on the tool kit provided by your company. But then strangely enough even on a round trip of 700Km my bike proved to be extremely reliable, may be just because I was prepared for any kind of eventualities. And remember, safety is always paramount. There's no ban on your speed limits but be sensible on roads and always wear a helmet even if you are driving at 10Kmph. In fact even while travelling such a short distance, we witnessed two accidents. Also you may be riding safely, but there would

be many other nut heads, out on the road who would like to greet you in hospital after colliding with you, so be alert! And yes look forward to even better road trips travelogue and far destinations in upcoming issues.

Rahul Devnath

B.A (Journo, Psy & Eng)