[pravdr]

details of the pictures seen above
pic3 indianoil pump at baindur

pic4 beautiful road to kollur

pic5 lush green mookambika wildlife sanctuary

pic6 wooden chariot in mookambika temple kollur

pic7 temple arch kollur temple

pic8 mookambika wildlife sanctuary at jadkal vandse

pic9 road thro mookambika wildlife sanctuary

pic10 signage indicating way to agumbe

pic11 signage indicating way to agumbe

[pravdr]

1 signage to someshwar and agumbe

2 beautiful road in dense someshwar forest approach

3 beautiful stretch in rain green someshwar wildlife sanctuary watch for the treacherous shoulders

4 at some times it is darkness at noon in someshwar as thick canopy of trees makes it difficult for daylight to penetrate

5 another of those lovely green sections with good tarmac the green canopy sheds water on the tarmac making it gravely /potholed.

6 some places should have bad roads making it difficult for picknickers to litter. some places should remain as someshwar is.

7 beautiful crunch of gravely road the hum of nhc engine and occasional raindrops hitting your windscreen. yes it was bliss!!!!!!!!!!

8 start of agumbe ghat

[pravdr]

1 agumbe ghat

2 agumbe ghat had one beautiful patch of good newly laid road and covered it very fast to cut time.

3 agumbe ghat concrete section

4 agumbe as quaint as ever

5 diversion to sringeri

6 beautiful stretch on sringeri road

7 nice corner with mellow sunlight

8 temple town of sringeri blessed by adi sankaracharya

9 sringeri mutt

10 beautiful sringeri environs

11 agumbe ghat

[ampere]

The snaps look wet and very nice ! They bring out the feeling of rain into the snaps all over! A La Ruskin Bond in Dehra !

[pravdr]

Originally Posted by ampere

The snaps look wet and very nice ! They bring out the feeling of rain into the snaps all over! A La Ruskin Bond in Dehra !

thanks ampere for your comment,

actually we experienced less rains than usual in aug 2009 but in sep there was a deluge which broke many records and which was in the news.we were lucky to have completed our trip.it rained in short bursts with ferocity at initial stages at jog falls and murudeshwar.
these snaps after a long hiatus are bringing back old memories of beautiful coastal karnataka.

the ruskin bond comment is apt!!!!!

thanks

[pravdr]

route: udupi agumbe tirthahalli shimoga honnali harihar hubli belgaum kolhapur

woke up early in the morning after late night dinner at hotel karavali after that gruelling night drive from agumbe to udupi.

as i opened the window of hotel karavali fresh moisture laden air greeted me. in the distance i could see sunrise with the nh17 running in front with truck horns blaring. i couldnt resist the scene and took a snap which was quite wonderful.

we became ready for darshan at krishna temple by popular demand we were having breakfast at mitra samaj opp krishna temple only !!!! and nowhere else.

we had a wonderful darshan of the lord with all the interwoven stories about lord krishna. the idol with its gems itself is very beautiful. i felt very humble in front of lord as one has to take out your shirts and take darshan without your shirts.

the tank behind the temple and its "chinese teahouse" like setting in the middle of the tank made for a wonderful view. it was in bright sunshine we did all this.it was really a divine day the monsson aftershwoers were happening with bright sunshine.(see pic) our car already had recd a good morning bath at hotel karavali and the bright sunshine was allowing it to dry nicely.

at mitra smaj we tasted the south indian delicacies like idlis meduvadas i had "outlook dosa" made popular by outloook magazine.it is a jumbo dosa and i liked it.the waiters here can teach a lesson or two to others in hospitality. one of the oldest waiters appeared to be almost 65 years!!!!!
its a small palce with an extension across the street for lunch.

after mitra samaj we started back on our return journey from mumbai udupi was our farthest point.

[pravdr]

route: udupi agumbe tirthahalli shimoga honnali harihar hubli belgaum kolhapur

we took a halt at indian oil at manipal. ensountered less traffic jams on our way out of manipal than previous night.

we made steady progres towards hebri and agumbe. the someshwar jungle and sitanadi made its presence felt along the way. some beautiful plantations made us stop and absorb the silence.

we were climbinmg the agumbe ghats twice in a period of 24 hours. thsi tine it was much clearer as we were approaching noon. at the higher end of agumbe ghat we did encounter dense fog.

we left agumbe behind and started towards tirthahalli. 2 kms later bright sunshine erupted and the fog disappeared.it was magic!!!! agumbe was like a natures shroud keeping its secrets to itself.

the road to tirthahalli was excellent and we made staedy progress.last 20 kms before shimoga along the tunga backwaters was dreadful but this made us enjoy the dense foilage. im sure this area must have tigers can somebody enlighten me on this.

at shimoga we had lunch at hotel ashok close to the junction. at INR28 it was unbeatable.it has a coupon system and i could hardly finish it.

we lazily came out and reversed the car from the narrow adjoining lane and sought out the shimoga honnali harihar road which will take us to golden quadrilateral and onwards to kolhapur.

theroad to honnali and then onwards to harihar was dreadful with the help of locals we took a less hardous bypass road which took us a little beyond harihar as the road towards harihar was very bad.

we reached harihar bypass at 4.30pm and still thought we made it in good time as the roads were bad.we had a good cuppa of hot steaming tea before we started for kolhapur.

the weather gods obliged us till ranibennur thereafter it was stady drizzle all the way till belgaum. but with some outstanding twilight scenery we didnt mind the distance.

the road till ranibennur was bad and it improved beautifully thereafter to the regular nh4 pattern.

we reached kolhapur nonstop from(4.45pm) harihar at 9.30pm. at kolhapur end there was lot sof work on appraoch roads to gq and with no markings and heavy rain it was a hellish experience getting to the town centre.

finally after much asking w ereached raisons residency our favorite haunt in kolhapur only to find it jampacked with sat evening revellers. was surprised that a tier 2 town like kolhapur has such evening life.

we came down late to the restaurant and were served hot sumptuous dinner which lifted our spirits.

our alst leg of the journey was kolhapur mumbai tomorrow morning after darshan of "kolhapurchi ambabai" the presiding deity of kolhapur and our family deity.

[pravdr]

pictures udupi to kolhapur

[pravdr]

udupi to kolhapur pics en route hosahalli tirthahalli shimoga honnalli harihar bealgaum kolhapur

[pravdr]

agumbe to shimoga

beautiful countryside from agumbe to shimoga. as osoon as we burst out through the fog cover at agumbe the countryside burst forth with a green color which is seen only in monsoons.

it was like nature lifting its veil.........

[pravdr]

golden quadrilateral upto kolhapur covered partly in twilight partly in darkness.

it lasted till hubli thereafter it was the gq at night till kolhapur.

[ampere]

The Shimoga-Agumbe stretch looks very nice. Has it been recently tarred? This is the NH13 right?

[pravdr]

Originally Posted by ampere

The Shimoga-Agumbe stretch looks very nice. Has it been recently tarred? This is the NH13 right?

stretch from agumbe to tirthahalli was excellent. last 20 kms into shimoga along the tunga backwaters was bad.

my observation in these forest stretches where there is a tree canopy the drain of water droplets cause road erosion finally leading to destruction of newly tarred roads.better drainage/bitumen may be the need of these roads.

however partially bad roads keep picknickers away from such areas making them inaccessible to littering picknickers.

regards

pg

[pramod]

Thats a lot of ghat roads u have covered. Nice detailed snaps.

Its a irony to see the rainy snaps in this hot summer days

[pravdr]

Originally Posted by ampere

The Shimoga-Agumbe stretch looks very nice. Has it been recently tarred? This is the NH13 right?

nh 13 route is from karkala to tirthahalli

agumbe to tirthahalli is sh65

pg