This is nature’s special prize of encouragement for waking up this early on a cold foggy morning. That’s what I told my friend who was reluctant to get out of bed and whose eyes now sparkled with amazement observing the activities of our common object of interest – the confident little green spider.
It warmed our hearts to watch the tiny spider busily clean her web with such dedicated patience and loving care. Dew drops scattered all over the silver strands was an immediate threat to her proud artistic home. She walked delicately, strand to strand, through her lacework home, meticulously picking up every single dew drop with her mouth and spiting that out. We had never seen something like this before. It was phenomenal and will certainly count as one of the best things we’ve seen in our lives.
My friend and I had sneaked out at dawn to take a walk right through the coffee plantation. We were at Sakleshpur and had put up at this coffee estate for the night. My cousin sister and brother-in-law, who were with us too, were still asleep. They were visiting me in Bangalore, and we had set out for an impromptu roadtrip along the countryside. We chose Sakleshpur to halt for the night.
Tucked away in the Hassan district of Karnataka, Sakleshpur is a small hill station whose slopes remain covered with tea, coffee, and spice plantations. Just 220 Km. from Bangalore Sakleshpur, with its rolling green hills coupled with its peace and quiet, provides the perfect balm to a tired mind. There are several resorts and hiking trails making it quite a sought-after weekend destination from Bangalore. Most resorts are isolated surrounded by sprawling coffee estates. As a result, the place doesn’t feel crowded at all. The best part for us was that we were the only guests at our resort. Among the various hiking trails of Sakleshpur, the Railway Trek is most famous. However, during this trip we hadn’t planned for hikes and treks.
It was a bright and sunny December morning as we comfortably drove through the smooth roads of NH 75 highway. We had some amazing Mangalorean breakfast at a roadside pitstop, stopped for clicking pictures wherever we felt like, and just enjoyed the drive. As we left the highway and passed through villages, it was the charming traditional houses with Mangalore tiled roofs that stole our hearts and engaged us all through.
On the way, we spent some time at the ruins of the famous Shettilhali Rosary Church, located in a village by the same name – Shettilhali. The church was built by French missionaries in the 1860s and was abandoned in the 1960s after a dam was built on the Hemavati River. Known as the Floating Church, it is a stunning example of Gothic-style architecture. As the water level rises in the dam, the church gets submerged underwater and once again emerges when the water recedes post monsoon. That’s the speciality of this dilapidated church, one that gives it an eerie charm.
It was winters, a time when the church supposedly stands on land. However, we got lucky. Due to heavy rains this year, the church was partially submerged in water. It was almost noon and the blue waters surrounding the church glittered and sparkled. It looked hauntingly beautiful!
It was late afternoon when we arrived at our resort after having roamed around the quaint little market area of Sakleshpur. Soon it was evening, the sun had started moving towards the horizon. We walked up to a particular spot in the resort, which the resort owner claimed as the best place to watch the setting sun. Once we were up there my friend spotted a sprawling green grassy meadow somewhere in the distant. He insisted that would be a better sunset spot. So off we went! My sister and brother-in-law decided to stay back. We gladly left them behind, hoping that they could enjoy some uninterrupted romantic sunset moments.
The meadow was stunningly beautiful. Tall grasses swayed in the mild wind while the sky got busy unfolding its own drama with all shades of yellows, reds, and oranges. Overlooking the meadow lay a deep valley, beyond which soared a tree covered hill that was as broad as it was tall. It was only shades of green as far as the eyes could see. It was the perfect setting for a quiet peaceful evening.
Sadly, I don't have any pictures of the beautiful meadow. My friend's phone broke down, which had all the pictures.
Darkness had fallen by the time we left the meadow and walked back to the resort. We spent the rest of the evening talking, laughing, and sharing our life stories around a bonfire that kept us warm with our favourite music playing in the background. Dinner was quite filling with several items laid out on the table. Our conversations continued well beyond dinner and before we realized it was already late. About time we retired for the night. We needed a few hours of rest. An exciting day, packed with other plans awaited us.
The next day, we visited the ancient exquisitely sculptured temples of Belur and Heleebidu. On the way, we also stopped by the star-shaped Manjarabad Fort that was built by Tipu Sultan, which is also located in Sakleshpur. The fort can be accessed after a climb of 150 steps. As we were pressed for time, my friend and I rushed up and hurriedly checked out the fort. My sister and brother-thought they’d rather skip the fort than rush through it. Moreover, dashing up through the steps wasn’t something they wanted to try.
I sure have to visit Sakleshpur once again with more time in hand with the hikes and the treks waiting to be explored.
Seasons of Life! 
That was a lovely post. So often blogs, including my own, feature prominent buildings or outstanding features. Your charming description of the little green spider cleaning its web and the pictures of the highway and homes remind us that things of beauty and interest are all around us.
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That is so true! I still remember your post on the little lake near your home with that tiny bridge over it. It had ducks too, if I can recall correctly. It was such a beautiful thing. I can’t even imagine something like that in the urbanized setting of my Bangalore home. I think you had posted that in 2020, during the pandemic lockdown.
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Interesting road trip. Hadn’t heard of Sakleshpur before, but staying in plantations is an experience I enjoy
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In that case, you must visit Sakleshpur once. It is green overload. I am absolutely certain you’ll love it. It has so many things that would interest you!
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Sounds like a great get away. I’m glad you got to see the Floating Church and shared it with us. It’s an oddly photogenic church 🙂 Maggie
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These small trips usually end up being quite rejuvenating. The abandoned church was a bonus! Thank you for reading, Maggie. 🙂
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Seeing that photo of a wind turbine shot from a highway reminded me of my overland trip from Hampi to Bangalore back in 2015. I don’t recall seeing any wind turbines in Goa, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu — other Indian states that I went to — so seeing wind turbines on top of a hill along the highway is one of my fondest memories of Karnataka. You know, I just realized that a Mangalorian traditional house doesn’t look that different from many houses here in Indonesia! Now I’m curious about its history.
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I’ve seen hundreds of wind turbines in the highways of Tamil Nadu, especially in the outskirts of Kanyakumari. In fact, there aren’t so many in Karnataka. Also, haven’t seen many in other places. Those traditional tiled-roof houses as just so charming. Would love to see a few from Indonesia. They give you the countryside feeling almost immediately. 🙂
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Ah I see. Thanks for clearing that up! I guess throughout my stay in Tamil Nadu I just happened to be nowhere near those wind turbines.
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Such amazing places continue to be unveiled on your blog, Neelanjana! It makes me realise how little I have seen of our beautiful country and more importantly, to such shallow depth…
Keep writing and inspiring me for better, and thoughtfully planned, trips. 🙂
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It’s impossible to know of places, especially ones that are not very popular and those that are located in places away from usual tourist interests, unless you live there. Having said that, I feel really nice that I am able to give a sneak peek into places that you haven’t heard of. In fact, I never knew about some of these places in Karnataka even as recent as 2 years ago!
Thank you so much, Narendra.
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You seem to have had a fun day, the pictures are stunning, esp the church
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Oh yes! it indeed was. The church was certainly the highlight of the drive that day. 🙂
Thank you, Pooja!
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Your recent post has come as a cool breez as my mind is full of virus related stuff that we gathered for the last two years. Your visit to Sakleshpur and your description of nature completely broken the monotony. Cleaning process of the spider is really awesome. Not everybody get a chance like this. Mangalore’s traditional home are so beautiful. All the Snapes are very nice. Keep exploring !
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So good to see you Ramasamy Sir. Happy to know that you enjoyed this post. I hope you also get to visit these places once the menace of the pandemic is done and dusted.
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It is good to see you explore one place after another near your city. I have heard of Sakleshpur but I do hope to visit Chikmagalur and Coorg, first. Treks are always one of the best ways to explore a place differently. Great travelogue, as always, Neel.
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And guess what, I haven’t been to Coorg yet! Other than Mysore it surely must be one of the most visited places from Bangalore. There’s more to do at Chikmagalur that’s certain. I do hope you get to visit these places soon.
Thank you for reading, Arvind!
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Haha..I hope you do, Neel. I will wait for your trip report. I’m so looking forward to explore this topography. It is delight to read your travelogues, Neel. 🙂
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Such a beautiful place. Very nice write up nature places. Beautiful photo. I like.
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Thank you so much for visiting my post and leaving behind this lovely comment. 🙂
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Thank you so much 🌷!
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