Koongal Betta

 This off-beat trail is a convenient day-trip hardly 60 kms. from Bangalore. We took the Mysore highway and reached Ramanagara, crossed a level-crossing next to the railway station and drove past thick vegetation and paddy fields till we reached the village of Koongal. As you enter the village, a peculiar rock formation resembling the beak of a bird greets you which has an interesting story going behind it.

Devarayandurga

This popular hill-fort is about 65 kms from B'lore and takes roughly 2 hrs. to reach. We took the Tumkur highway (via NICE road) and turning right under the Dobbaspet flyover reached our destination with all the accompanying thrill and excitement. To our dismay, we discovered it was more of a hill-station and pilgrimage with hundreds thronging the temples that dot its landscape.

Channarayandurga

We started right early in the morning, though a bit late than what we had planned and managed to reach Channarayadurga with some difficulty enquiring all the way till there. There was a small village at the base of the hill where the people were kind enough to help us park our car and guide us as to what our trail should be. The fort perched right on the top of the hill was an awesome sight to behold.

Billikal Betta

Though still confused as to where to go for our weekend getaway, we finally head towards Billikal Betta, which is a not-so-popular trekker's paradise not far from Bangalore. It is also a locally famed place of pilgrimage, as we discovered later. A smooth 50 km ride from bangalore took us to kanakpura, the only big town in the vicinity. From there to Harohalli and past a few villages, the road winding through lush green paddy fields and shrub forest with the Billikal Betta hill in the foreground, we finally reached the base of the hill from where it was a steep ascent. The destination still seemed to elude us with nothing but bushy forest around and no habitation in sight. Yet we carried on taking a few breaks here and there for our photo sessions along the way, giving us some fabulous views of the valley below and the blue mountains beyond.

Arunachaleshwar

The temple of Arunachaleshwar stands bang in the middle of the village of Harohalli in the Bangalore Rural District of Karnataka. This village seems to be of little importance as after repeated searches on the internet i could gather no details of the place barring its name and the census figures. Anyhow, it never really figured in our get-away destinations except as a convenient base for scenic spots around its vicinity like, Billikal Betta among others. Finding our way in towards the temple was difficult, not because of anything but bikes and autos parked in the already narrow streets. Getting off the car, lifting and shifting the bikes every now and then was...one hell of a job! Though, we finally made it to the temple and with that inviting and imposing gopuram or the entrance-arch, we made our way in.

 

the gopuram of arunachaleshwara  temple