Sivanasamudram - bike trip

I have been to Sivanasamudram twice. Despite this I was of the opinion that one of the two waterfalls, Gaganachukki, alone was two falls due to the fairly large island in the middle. It was only this time that I realised that Barachukki, the other fall, was a totally different set of water falls and there was a substantially large island, also referred to as Madhyarangam (the middle island, with Srirangapatna and Srirangam being the non-middle ones).

Coming from Kanakapura and Malavalli, Gaganachukki is the one that comes first. And it is the higher and more majestic one. As a result, getting close to the water here is a difficult task. We did not even attempt it. I had gone up to the water here (up meaning before the water falls) in both my previous visits. On talking to a coconut water vendor there (pretty cheap coconut water at Rs. 5, but not too tasty though), he said that we could get down to the water at the other fall.

Barachukki is some 15 kms from Gaganachukki. And there are steps for one to go down to the water. And a dhoni (the round boat that seems to be a fixture on the Kaveri (Hogenakkal and Talakkad too have these)) ride took us just beneath one of the falls. 60 bucks the cost for both of us. Here, one can also attempt to have a bath right beneath the waterfall. But as we hadn't made any arrangements, we refrained. Crossing the river to get to the bottom of the waterfall was a good experience though.

An island on the Kaveri meant there had to be a Ranganatha Temple. But by the time we were leaving, the sanctum sanctorum of the small Ranganatha temple was closed, so I decided that it was not worth paining Vamshi and taking him to the temple.

We took the route that I thought was the shortest, via Kanakapura and Malavalli. The first 80 odd kms is good road, the next 40 kms or so around Malavalli is really bad, and the last 20 kms are again well paved. Thanks to the bad roads, this has been the most tiring drive that I have undertaken. Ended up with a slight niggle in my right calf due to the numerous times that I had to brake. And the longest too, some 160 kms each way. Another bad thing about this road is that between Kanakapura and Sivanasamudram, there isn't a decent place to eat. We had to make do with some mixture, cream bun and dilpasand at some bakery on the way.

Pics.