[neoranjit]

Originally Posted by chel

Thanks Laluks.
mpksuhas-> We are going to stay in Belgam on 8/31 and 9/1 monring we will take a cab to reach Castle rock to start the trek.
Thanks for your tips on inside tunnel. We will follow the same.

Chel, assuming you start the trek in the morning and reach the falls by 2pm -3pm, how do you plan to return back ? Is there a way to come back the same day ? is there a train back ?

Laluks mentioned that there is a train that reaches Castle rock at 1730. How do we board this train ?

[Fiest@DuraTec]

Originally Posted by neoranjit

Laluks mentioned that there is a train that reaches Castle rock at 1730. How do we board this train ?

It doesn't reach castlerock at 5:30 pm, rather it starts from dudhsagar at 5:30.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

^^
Would like to add to what laluks mentioned:
1. Wearing covered footwear will help in avoiding leech attack to an extent. However the drawback is you wont notice it easly if it does. I had been bitten by around five leeches in a time frame of around half hour eventhough I was wearing shoe/ sock / jeans. So you can not avoid it, only may be minimize the count. Carry salt with you and apply the same on leech to remove it. Also, stop and check every ten mins or so if you are walking through wet land.
2. King Cobras are the only snake that make nest, they do that by pulling together dead leaves on floor by their body. They lay egg in that and protect those with their life. First tip on avoiding an encounter with King Cobra is to avoid heap of dry leaf which is on floor. However I dont think Cobras will nest around railway tracks frequented by train and people due to vibration. But yes, better to be on lookout.
3. My colleague travelled to Dudh Sagar last weekend and they (group of 8) stayed at a place called as Dudh Sagar adventrue club. I had seen the picture of place and its a dormitory type place with bunker beds in two rooms each having capacity of 12. They serve food too. The place looked neat, however it is not suitable only for family travel I felt. May be you can check with them for having a food only option if you dont need a place for night.

Thanks a lot for your thoughts. If you were wearing covered footwear, where were you bit? Did they reach your knees? Sometimes they go as high as the shoulders. Here is my tentative schedule for the DDS trip I plan to undertake with a cousin and a friend:

• Friday night - Leave Bangalore(YPR) to Castle Rock by Chennai - Vasco Express
  
• Saturday, 9 AM reach Castle rock(as per train timings)
  
• Enquire whether same train will stop at DDS. If yes, we shall continue in the same train. Else, get down and skip the next point. If no, make alternative arrangements.
  Out of the alternate arrangements,
  1. Take the train that Lalu has mentioned(leaving castle rock at 1030hrs)
  2. Else, enquire with station master if there are any other trains, or even a freight train would not be a problem.
  3. Last option will be to trek till the falls. Considering the possibility of the above, I dont think this stage will be reached. Still, not a problem as we are youngsters and five six hours of trek will still leave two hours for enjoying the falls.
• After reaching the falls, we can spend time there, how long depends upon time of arrival.
  
• If we are able to catch a train and reach by 1100hrs, we can stay there till afternoon and return to Castle Rock or reach Kulem by a passing train. From what I researched, we can ask for a lift from passing locomotives and trains. Being a railfan, I would love this method.
  
• Return tickets will be booked in the Vasco-YPR link express. This train arrives at DDS at 1730hrs and we can directly board this train. However, I feel its better to reach either Kulem or Castle rock(preferred) and get something to eat. Another reason is that the train is a link express, and hence, its difficult to search for our coach within the one minute stop at DDS. However, the train will detach from the banking locos at Castle Rock. This halt will be a minimum of ten minutes and hence, we can get some time to search for the coach and get settled.
  
• This train reaches Bangalore on sunday morning, ie Arrival at SBC at 0700hrs. Even if that is delayed, it is not much of a problem. We still have a day to take rest before starting the next week.

Possible changes are, in the Trains. We can make some more free time by taking the Vasco-Yeswantpur Express which is a couple of hours after the Link express. Also, in case we do not take Chennai Vasco express and take The hubli IC Express to Hubli and then another train to Castle rock, we shall arrive at DDS at 0400hrs, which is way to early. So, deciding between various combinations for now.

Any suggestions, and tips from people who have previously taken this trip is welcome.

[mpksuhas]

^^ most of the bites were near ankle. Some were through socks. Head inside and body outside the socks. Those were the toughest ones to remove. Yes, they crawl high sometimes. Few people in our group were bit almost near waist.

[chel]

All,
thanks a lot for the information. We did the trekking sep/1/2012. Here is the quick info:
(1) We reached castle rock by cab (from Belagam) at 9:30 a.m
(2) We got tempted (+ got apprehensive by seeing the downpour) by the Vasco-chenni express standing at the station. so we bought tickets from castle rock to dudh sagar and return journey too at castle rock station.
(3) train started around 10:15 a.m and reached Dudh sagar station by 10:45 a.m.
(4) We went to the falls(1 km walk from station) and spent an hour
(5) We decided to trek back from falls to castle rock.
(6) We started at 12:00 p.m and reached castle rock by 4:00 p.m. last 3 kms iwas heay rain fall.
(7) Total distance 16 KM, 11 tunnels crossed(tunnel number 2 was longest 400 meters)
(8) Somewhere got one leech bite near ankle. but luckily some railway folks working on the way spotted and removed :-)

Some info for future trekkers:
(1) Train starts from castle rock at 10:15 a.m. Return train starts from falls around 4:30 - 5:00 p.m
(2) Sometime goods train can take you if they are nice.
(3) Saturday and Sunday you will have lot of folks doing this trek.

[audioholic]

Me too going next saturday! Booked Chennai - Vasco express for the 14th. Return via link express. Hope the time gap will be sufficient to experience the falls.

[chel]

audioholic,
(1) You can continue in chennai - vasco till dudh sagar falls station. It will stop.
(2) You will reach by 10:45 a.m and you will have ample time to spend in falls till 5:30 p.m( or you will have time to trek back too :-)).
(3) The 3 engine banking locos will be keep crossing for good train and going back alone to kolem. so you can take that too if the driver( or what you call?) is nice to allow you to get in.

[audioholic]

I have the following queries, hope I am not bothering you too much
How was the water level? Is there any train at around 3PM or so which can take us to Castle Rock or Kulem? I dont want to board the Goa Express at DDS. Searching for our coach will be a problem. Instead, I plan to reach either Kulem or Castle Rock.

PS: Please share photographs. A train engine driver is a loco pilot

[gadadhar]

Laluji, another beauty from you. BTW Sriraj and Rocky had visited the place a week back, saw the snaps in facebook, they trucked the entire way.

[laluks]

Originally Posted by gadadhar

Laluji, another beauty from you. BTW Sriraj and Rocky had visited the place a week back, saw the snaps in facebook, they trucked the entire way.

Thanks Sir. Sriraj spoke to me before their adventure. They have some excellent photos in facebook

[chel]

audioholic,
Amaravathi express I saw from castle rock to vasco around 1:00 p.m or 2:00 p.m(please check the time). apart from that only goods train(that too till 4:00 p.m from Castle rock to vasco and one at 4:30 from vasco towards castle rock) and the banking loco.

[laluks]

The GPS log of the drive

DudhSagarDrive.kml

[jacs]

Hello Lalu,

I was not so active these days and missed this thread.

One fine morning I saw a snap of Laluks's Aria in TATA ARIA's Facebook. Was surprise since no thread or research found on Aria from your side if you had a plan of purchase. Searched your threads and found this TL.

I'm almost sure they would't have recieved such a colorful story from "Experience the Aria" program. Good test-drive anyways .

The best thing I found in you is your urge to coverup locations, kudos to your wifey and PPGs who are your accelerators. With the number of visits you made to Goa, one should get tired reading your TL but here its the getting more and more exciting.

This TL has been reaclly action filled covering the uncovered locations, I felt the weather and terrain as if I was there following you on my Xylo. Good one and thanks for making it so detailed for others to use it for their trip

[laluks]

Originally Posted by jacs

Hello Lalu,

I was not so active these days and missed this thread.

One fine morning I saw a snap of Laluks's Aria in TATA ARIA's Facebook. Was surprise since no thread or research found on Aria from your side if you had a plan of purchase. Searched your threads and found this TL.

I'm almost sure they would't have recieved such a colorful story from "Experience the Aria" program. Good test-drive anyways .

The best thing I found in you is your urge to coverup locations, kudos to your wifey and PPGs who are your accelerators. With the number of visits you made to Goa, one should get tired reading your TL but here its the getting more and more exciting.

This TL has been reaclly action filled covering the uncovered locations, I felt the weather and terrain as if I was there following you on my Xylo. Good one and thanks for making it so detailed for others to use it for their trip

Thanks jacs for the kind words

Yes if my family were not so enthusiastic and supportive in such quick drives, it would never have materialised. We are always ready for Goa

Nice to note you liked the travelogue and I was able to provide the required details to plan a trip in future.

Regarding Aria, it was a nice experience. Thanks to Lukeskywalker for inviting me to be a part of that program. It so happened that the day I wanted to go to DudhSagar I got the vehicle too.

[dezrskb]

Hi Laluks!
Browsing through travelogues is one of my favorite ways to spend spare time as it rekindles many memories. That's how I bumped into your thread. The moment I saw the words "Dudhsagar", it just attracted me like a magnet.
I had been to this place when I was studying in Belgaum, way back in 1992 and again in '93. Both the times in peak of rainy season, without umbrellas. In '92, I went along with my classmates and next year I led the team of juniors.
The railway track was so called "meter gauge" then. Both the times we boarded the train bound to Hubli which goes via castlerock, dudhsagar etc. It reached castlerock by 4am or so and then we used to sit at doors with our feet on the steps. It was a magical sight-early morning light, bridges with rivers flowing way down. We trekked from Dudhsagar stop which was few kms before the waterfall, going through few tunnels in pitch dark. Both the times with the help of tree branches and routes, we could get down to the place where water falls and I swear I never had a more adventurous / scary trek in my life till now. Lots of leeches too. We used to carry some food and after the adventurous climb back, used to trek in pouring rain to next small station (?Sonalim) and catch a train further into Goa - Kulem and then catch a train back to Belgaum, reaching by late evening. Then the route closed for converting track to broad gauge. Nice travelogue, yours and thanks for rekindling memories.