25th April, Tue, 2000
Shivaganga, Devarayanadurga, Namada Chilume, Tumkur

(Photos/pics for this travelogue might be available on My Tourism Photo Album)

This was an all alone trip to north-west of Bangalore.  I had no problems being alone with My friend's Splendour with me though.  First stop was at Shivaganga, a famous hill-top pilgrim centre.  To reach Shivaganga, one has to take a detour from Dossabet town to the left of Bangalore - Tumkur Road (National Highway 4).  From that diversion, Shivaganga is about 8 kms.  From Bangalore, Shivaganga is 56 kms. Home to beautiful, ages- old temples, some of them underground ones, its known as Dakshin Kashi, or Varanasi of South.  There is also a natural spring between the two monolithic rocks.  You have to climb all the way to the top, if you want to visit all the temples.

Next halt was Devarayanadurga, again a famous pilgrim center sitting atop a magnificient hill.  The difference from Sivaganga is that here you can go to the top with your vehicle and you have to climb only a few stairs.  There are two temples situated 2 kms. away from each other.  Very scenic way to the top.  While coming down, you can turn the engine off and just glide your way down (not recommended though for safety reasons).

Ten kms. away from Devarayanadurga and on the way to Tumkur, is a pocket of dense forest.  A beautiful park called Namada Chilume sits pretty amongst that wilderness.  The park is located at the bottom of a huge rock face which can be climbed by rock-climbing enthusiasts.  This place offers a lot of trekking and hiking opportunities along with rock-climbing.  One can hire Forest Department Bungalows situated in the park.  The booking can be done either at Tumkur or Bangalore but not at the park itself.  Also there's a bamboo park which also houses some pretty birds.

Next, I was feeling pretty thirsty (It was a pretty hot day), so I decided to go to Tumkur to have some beer.  On the way back to Bangalore (NH4), I decided to take a longer route.  From Dobbaspet, I diverted to the road to Dodaballarpur.  I wanted to follow the train line from Delhi to Bangalore and I knew that this train line passes Dodaballarpur.  Therefore, from Dodaballrpur to Yelahanka and then to Bangalore, I was almost with this train line.  On the way, visited 'North West County' and 'Ramanshree California' resorts and also Jakkur flying club where they had organized Joyrides.
 

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 Last updated: Nov 21, 2005