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| Siddle Kallu Betta Trek in Ramanagara |
- Place: Siddle Kallu Betta Trek (Ramanagara)
- Difficulty: Easy - with a few tricky stretches.
- Distance: 50 km x 2 = 100 km.
- Directions: Bangalore > Bidadi > Ramanagara > Siddle Kallu Betta (12.71, 77.3)
- Krew: Madhu (Simha), Karthik (Sp).
- Bikes: Xpulse.
- Previous Visit: Mookanur Malai Trek.
- Budget: Rs 235/head (Petrol = 270/2; Breakfast = 200/2)
IN LESS THAN 50 WORDS:
Alright, the grand finale of the dream of completing 52 treks within a year, narrowed down to a fresh hillock in the backyard - Siddle Kallu. Siddle Kallu is a pristine and peaceful climb, yet intense. It's one of the BIG FOUR of the east alongside the mighty Handi Gundi Betta and Muthurayaswamy betta. Rather than going big and large, we kept it small and tactical :)
And this marked 334 days, 52 treks, 11.5 months, non-stop, since Oct 12th, 2025. This was our 40th trek in 38 weeks for 2026, with 37 first ascents and zero repeats :)
INTRO & PLAN:
Well, the Grand TN expedition was in full roar (Rayakottai, Anchetty Durgam, Ratnagiri Malaikottai, Udedurgam, Mallapadi, Jagadevi Fort, Thattakal Fort, Ankushagiri, Periyamalai, Virabhadra Fort, Maharajakadai Fort Trek, Musattu Malai Trek, Saanarappan Malai Trek, Sanjeevarayan Malai Trek, Arulagiri Fort, Mookankur Malai Trek).
And for the grand finale of the 52nd trek, a lot of them were not in town, as it was around Ganesha Chaturthi. When postponing the whole ordeal was lingering in mind at work, Madhu just showed up and said he would be out of town for work from next week and was ready to trek that weekend. He has always been a green card holder of the club. And it was he who spearheaded the 2024 expeditions. So had to be a good one :)
TIME: 18:00 (11 Sep, 2026)
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| 52 done, 0 left. Phase A ends. A new phase is cooking; stay tuned! |
ASSEMBLE & LEAVE:
Yeah, was up at 3 AM sharp, the usual time. Stretched a little, got ready, had a sip of coffee and went down and sat on the footpath listening to some slow doom metal, watching the vehicles glide by. The past year, we had this wild ambition of hitting the club's best of 52 treks within the year, and here was the crescendo of it. At around 5 AM, Madhu arrived; he had travelled from KR Puram. Formally greeting each other, Madhu took a breather, and then we set off from Bangalore on his Xpulse.
TIME: 05:00
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| Shiv Sagar Bidadi Tatte Idli |
RIDE 1: (Bangalore > Bidadi > Ramanagara > Siddle Kallu)
Well, with the strict NO GOOGLE MAPS rule in place, we cruised comfortably in the dark, chatting about various topics that ranged from the boiling Sep temperature of Bangalore to "Teach you a lesson " the K-drama. Without any hassles, we reached Bidadi to find the hotel yet to open.
We peeped into the window, where the cooks were still preparing. Looking at us, they smiled as we were regulars at this place. They said it would take another 20minutes. And 20 minutes did not matter at all. We just went out and sat on stone tables cross-legged, relaxed and continued the discussion about other topics. We were in no hurry. There was something very tranquil about that moment :)
Once the first Idlis of Bidadi were steamed, we chowed down on them and felt fueled and ready for the trek. We thanked the hotel people and left towards Ramanagara. Here, things got tricky; we had to ride into the interior roads of Ramanagara to reach the base. And the last part of it is completely off-road and through Mango fields. It was beautiful. Parking our bikes near one of the silk extraction from cocoon factory, we awoke the lizard's spirit and were set for the climb :)
TIME: 08:15
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| Siddle Kallu, ready or not, here we come! |
SIDDLE KALLU BETTA TREK
ASCENT:
Well, this hillock is simply beautiful. When I began researching it, we knew about this hillock, but had never actively pursued it. And it was not in the radar for the next 10 runs. But somehow it squeezed its way into the 52nd, and we loved it :)
It is a triple-top hill, meaning it has three sub-hillocks merged. And climbing each one was absolutely exhilarating. The view surrounding this hillock is something out of this world. We could spot the complete array of the hillocks of Ramanagara - Achalu Betta, Handi Gundi Betta, Muthurayaswamy Betta, Jala Siddeshwara Betta, Aadinagudde Betta, Cheluvanarayana Swamy Betta, and Kunagalu Betta. We took about 25-30 minutes to ascend and rested, as the beauty of the surroundings was just too good.
Like always, have divided the trek into phases, so LET'S GO \m/
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| To the first hillock :) |
Phase 1: To the First Hillock
The first phase involves the climb over the first hill. This is really uplifting (metaphorically and literally). It is a climb on a incline rock face with open skies above you. The incline is pleasant and offers excellent grip. Open skies mean you cannot do it on a rainy day.
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| To the Second Hill :) |
Phase 2: To the Second Hillock
Now, things got fun and challenging. To ascend to the second hillock, there are steep vertical walls all around. Here is where it really became fun and interesting. We had to go around and check where there were a good amount of undulations in the rocks. And upon spotting it, we climbed our way to the second hill and took a 5minute breather after it.
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| To the Third Hill :) |
Phase 3: To the Third Hill - The SUMMIT.
To be frank, from the base we had thought the third part was detached, and it could not be summited. Upon climbing the second hill, we did a quick reconnaissance of the place and found there was potential of a way up via the forest line. We took a short breather on the second hill and then began the forest line ascent into the third and final hill. This stretch is tricky with loose gravel. It was not long before we had reached the summit of Siddle Kallu Betta :)
TIME: 08:45
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| Peaceful summit of Siddle Kallu Betta. |
TOP:
The view from the summit was so mesmerising. And the air was cool. Waving a big HI to all the neighbouring hillocks, we felt full. We sat down and rehydrated. Then we absolutely crashed for about an hour. With silence lingering in the air, heavy, sleep came upon us fast. It was a very serene atmosphere; something about the whole hill and the air made us feel very light. After waking up, we rehydrated and decided to head back down :)
TIME: 09:45
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| Thank you, Siddle Kallu :) |
DESCENT:
Well, the descent was clean and tactical. Done at a much slower pace with extra caution. We took enough breaks to admire the surrounding hillocks. And finally we went ahead to the starting point to explore the strange dolmen that rested there. Like I said, this is a strange, beautiful and serene hillock. And oh yeah, we made another plan - Madhu promised me he would take me to his village where we could spend a couple of days just taking sheep and goats to the forest hill nearby and spending our lives as shepherds. This is something I am looking forward to the most :)
Upon reaching the base, we visited some silk extraction firms to see the cocoons being boiled and the silk being extracted out of it. We interacted with those people and thanked them for taking care of the bikes, and before we left, we looked back at the hillock and thanked her for the experience and, more importantly, "LETTING US GO".
TIME: 10:30
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| Thanks for being there for the 52nd :) |
RIDE 2: (Siddle Kallu > Ramanagara > Bidadi > Bangalore)
This was a 50km simple formality ride. We cruised along, really happy with the trek. As we glided, we could see the Bidadi hotels crowded with lots of cars. The cruise was peaceful, no hurries again, just allowing the bike to take us back home. Madhu dropped me home and went further to reach his home at KR Puram.
TIME: 11:30
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| Madhu and Sippy after the trek |
CONCLUSION:
Well, Siddle Kallu popped out of nowhere and made its way to become the grand finale of 52 treks. It offered a good climb and amazing views with extra serenity. This is just what we ordered for the icing on this massive undertaking. Past 52 treks have moulded us into different humans.
In the past 334 days, we have pulled off 52 treks, ~10,375 kms in total, 11.5 months, non-stop. The Flame lives on \m/
KREW:
Sippy: Very happy with this find. Siddle Kallu (Lightning hill) struck me hard with its beauty actually. Fallen for it. And with this I conclude the Phase 1 of this project - 52 treks done within a year, and for Phase 2 we are back on the FLYING NIMBUS \m/
Until next time, Ta-da Cia \m/
Oh yeah, if you want to read about the past 52 treks, here is the link: 52 NON STOP TREKS.
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| Sippy signing off. See you on Phase 2 :) |
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