So after the ride I took of for Chitradurga which is around 200 km from my home. With an extreme good highway it took only 3 hours to get there, including the Bangalore city part. This was an experience that i didn't have yet. On the way back I put on the cruise control (100 km) and could keep it with minimal disturbance on till Tumkur. Almost only the toll posts where stopping me, all others (3 I believe) were when multiple trucks were together on the "same" piece of road.
But the main target was Chitradurga and the local fort which was mentioned already a lot of times as possible trip destination. The distance means that it was my first weekend trip staying the night at a local hotel. Not a high end hotel but one that is clean and gives me the needs for the night, a good bed and the possibility to shower/take bath.
Also had a small restaurant where I could have lunch and the next morning breakfast after coming back from the fort.
Wanted to have a quick look at the fort to see what I would need to do next morning, but according Kavya it was way to warm to go to the fort in the afternoon, looking back she was right. So we went to the Ankali Mutt caves close by. These were used as hiding place and temple area.
Many directions and "doors" so losing the way would have been quite easy. But everything was available, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and living space. Even there was a secret place to store the money. Realising that the lighting of the place was done by clothes drenched in oil makes you question air quality. It didn't feel like a well ventilated place.
But nice to see even with the gymnastics it took.
After a nice dinner at Kavya's place went back to the hotel to have a good night sleep as the fort would open at six for visitors.
Expecting they use the money in a good way I payed and went in, took he offer of the guide to show me around and tell me in very fast Indian-English the history and details of the fort. Showing me the 5 gates that are part of the current remainders of the fort, the two others are (or were) located in the city.
After the top walking around the rest of the grounds seeing the man that showed me the way up after the guide handed me over. He is coming here daily for the last 21 or 25 years without a break.
Feeding the monkeys, exercising for an hour and after that 30 minutes swim. At the pool there were more people that would come daily and do their exercises and have a swim.
This is different from me still trying to find the rest, peace and motivation to have my daily bike ride.
The buildings slowly vanish as there is no protection from the rains and other weather influences. It just gets washed away as the top layer is gone it is just the mud walls that remain.
Tried to catch some birds nesting in one of the walls, but didn't succeed. Waiting there for the birds resulted in several people coming around and talking to me. Result was that I needed to make some pictures.
Ride home was smooth and fast as mentioned at the start.
For the full set of photos see the photo page Chitradurga