It was one of the few weekends in Bengaluru, where I was staying completely idle for the whole day. Not knowing what to do, I thought of going on a ride. It was around 3 in the noon, that I took my bike out and headed towards north of Bengaluru.
I was riding past Chikkaballapur, when a small board grasped my attention. The name of the board was Gudibande. There was something unique with this name. The name when translated to Kannada means a small gudi/hut/temple on top of a hill/rock. The name had made me curious to explore the place.
As I decided to take this road, I remembered that I had already been here. This is the same road that leads to Avalebetta. Avalebetta was hardly around 20 kms from here. Given that there has been some restriction on climbing the rock of Avalebetta lately, I decided not to go there and headed straightly to Gudibande.
Just before reaching Gudibande town there is a huge lake which welcomes you. The lake, known as Bhiarasagara lake, as the name suggests, is spread quite vastly. The entire lake was very peaceful, and hardly had anyone in that lake. I could also sight few birds, both local and migratory, trying their luck in catching fish.
From the lake I could see a hilltop with a fort, which caught my attention. From the lake I next headed towards the fort.
From the lake I could see a hilltop with a fort, which caught my attention. From the lake I next headed towards the fort.
Talking about Gudibande, Gudibande is a small town located north of Bangalore, near Chikkaballapur, approx 100km from Bengaluru. The town hosts a lake, few temples, a couple of hills and a fort. The fort is popularly known as Gudibande fort. The fort was build by was built by local chieftain Byre Gowda some 400 years ago. The fort has striking similarity with the Madhugiri Fort, located in the Tumakuru district.
The entry to the fort starts with small road, deviating from the Gudibande main road. From the parking there are well laid steps which gradually leads to the top of the fort. There are around 900 steps till the top. Once you reach the top, there is a small temple located. Apart from the temple there is also a small pond , mostly made from the rainwater.
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| Steps leading from the parking lot to Fort top |
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| Main entry gate of the fort |
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| The layers of fort |
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| A narrow passage |
The fort overall has seven levels, each level raising higher than the previous level. Though few parts of the fort have broken over time, the place is still view-able. The fort was very calm and hardly had a couple of other visitors apart from me.
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| Bhairavasagara lake from fort top |
Since the time I had reach was in the evening, I decided to wait and witness a beautiful sunset over the fort. The sunset was equally beautiful as the fort.
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| Post sunset Scene |
After enjoying the beautiful sunset, I headed back to the parking, riding off to Bengaluru.
