Turahalli Forest – The Forest Cycle Ride Begins
I bought my cycle to go on trailing around Bengaluru, and the place I wanted to started with was Turahalli Forest. Putting this idea out with my friends they got excited too, but they had no cycles for them. So we rented them out from the cycle store near our house. We were all set for the next morning to go to this trail.
The Turahalli Forest is located 20kms from where I stay so it was going to be a 40kms ride back and forth. And this was going to be my first time riding for so long. The maximum I have ridden was just 10kms around the streets of Bengaluru at night when there is no traffic. Sort of getting ready for the long rides. I bought the cycle mostly because I wanted to travel around hassle-free through the jams of Bengaluru. As when you are in a jam you can either walk with it or take the footpath when possible.
The Turahalli Forest
It is one of the famous trails for cyclists around Bengaluru as everywhere I read they had this trail mentioned on their list. It is the only surviving forest of the city located off the Kanakapura Road. A place for some fresh air in the city, walks, cycling, running, rock climbing or maybe a picnic with your friends. You can drive your car till the entrance as we saw some parked there. And also vehicles are banned inside the forest. I wonder though how will someone take the vehicles inside as its properly fenced with huge holes cut around maybe for drainage during rains. And then walk till the boulders where there is a big banyan tree. And the beautiful viewpoint for you to take a glance at, carry a binocular just an advice for you to have a closer look.
Even it is famous among the bird watcher, some of the spotted birds include Oriental Skylark, Common Kestrel, Green Sandpiper, Peafowls, Babblers. Another need for the binocular share in the comments if you spot some.
The Ride to Turahalli Forest
We started very early in the morning I can’t remember the time, but it was around 4:30 AM when we left our house. As we wanted to be there before the sunrise from the viewpoint. I don’t know if its also a sunrise point, but it will be awesome to see the city wake up from here.
The roads were less crowded after we crossed Silk Board. With some street lights around for us to see the road. We stopped at a milk-shop just after the sunrise. As we missed it with some more km left to reach the forest. It was the first time all of my friends were riding too for such a distance. Except we were enjoying the morning ride even though most of us had no sleep the previous night.
The Forest Ride Begins
The actual beauty of the ride begins after you cross the fences carrying your cycles in your hand. We were in the forest and the ride till the top of the forest was underestimated by us. The path inside was not that great, but a good one if you are on your MTB’s racing inside. They had a proper trail through the forest to reach the viewpoint, We had to choose either the left/right path to take and we took the left one which leads you to the top. It was really amazing riding surrounded by the trees, finally, it was happening the cycle ride which I bought my cycle for.
It is tough to ride the last 100m as you have to go uphill so we walked that part of the road. As we were tired too after the long ride. We reached the small temple crossing which we reached the viewpoint, with the cool breeze welcoming us at there. We were happy that we made it to the top, sat relaxed with the beauty of the city in front of us. Photographers if any reading this, head over there during the golden hour as you can get some great pictures.
The other side of the viewpoint had a huge banyan tree with a lake like water body made maybe of the rainwater. Was an awesome area for you to ride on those boulders and take some pictures. We were there for 1-2 hours, after which we started our way down the hill it was awesome too. Racing down the path would have been quite amazing, but the pebbles and broken path can be dangerous so be careful.
We had our breakfast on our way and later got stuck in the city. Yeah, the city was awake and the ride to our home wasn’t that fast as we reached the forest.
So that was my first trail on my cycle planning some more such rides soon. And everyone is welcome to join us for the rides. Comment down below and we will contact you for my next ride. Till then don’t forget to subscribe my blog for many such adventures coming your way.