A quick little travelogue :-) - This was not a 'Xing' drive, but a TT-trip & a weekend trek.
We started from Bangalore at around 8.30pm on the evening of 6th Nov 09 and came back into Bangalore at around 5.30am on the morning of Monday the 9th Nov 09.
Trip outline: Trek to Dudhsagar falls:
We reached 'Castle Rock' by around 7.00am the Saturday 7th Nov 09; Freshened up, reached Castle Rock railway station by around 10.00am and started walking along the tracks towards Dudhsagar falls.
It was a 14km trek and we reached the falls by around 3.30pm.
Spent some time around the falls and walked back to Dudhsagar station to catch a train back to Castle rock.
Trek to Kavala Caves:
The next morning we headed towards a place called 'Kavala caves'; which are located on a hill-top in the forest near the Supa PowerStation.
There are two routes to the caves, the longer (3+ kms) but easier route which is used by most pilgrims. The guide took us via the shorter (1 km) old route which is a much steeper climb.
It was around 12.00 noon by the time we came back from the caves and drove back into Dandeli.
Water sports:
Our original plan was to go rafting on the Kali River, but luck wasn’t on our side and the dam authorities had not released water into the river that weekend. So no rafting :-(
Instead of just turning back, some of us wanted to try their hand at Kayaking and the rest of the evening was spent in the river close to the dam, paddling around in Kayaks and a safety raft.
We started back towards Blr at around 7.30pm, stopping only at Dharwad for dinner. After an almost non-stop drive, we entered Bangalore at around 5.30am, reached home by 7.00am, freshened up and headed to office to start off the week.
Route:
After an overnight journey, we reached Castle rock by around 7.00 am; since we had a 14km walk ahead of us, we tried to get as much sleep as possible; and dozed off for most of the night.
Castle rock is a quaint little place, close to the KA-GA border...
Mr.Chandrashekar's friend, who happened to be the Manager of the Canara Bank in Castle rock, allowed us to use his quarters to freshen-up and even got breakfast arranged for us...
Dumping all our excess baggage in the van, we headed towards Castle rock railway station and started walking along the tracks towards Dudhsagar...
Remains of the old Castle rock station...
The tracks wind their way up into the hills...
The route is fairly busy with passenger and goods traffic. This was the Kacheguda-Vasco express...
IIRC, there are around 11 tunnels enroute to Dudhsagar. The longest one is a little over 400 meters long. This was the first tunnel we passed through. Since it gets quite dark inside the longer tunnels, we had carried along torches with us...
The first tunnel was quite short...
Abandoned stations along the way...
This tunnel, dating back to the British / Portuguese days, is built like a castle!
The second tunnel was the longest one, at 409 meters...
Even while we were in the tunnel, we heard a train coming in towards us. No problem though; there is enough space on both sides of the tunnel to stand aside and let the train pass. But it surely is a very noisy experience!
There are small streams cross the tracks at several spots along the way...
The water is quite clean, cold and refreshing!
Some tunnels are concrete lined and those drilled through solid rock are left unlined...
Along the way we came across these small falls alongside the tracks...
A small break for a few mins!
One of the several bridges along the route...
Not sure what is the origin of the name 'Castle rock'; but this rock formation does resemble a Castle... could this be the reason?
Crossing over to Goa!
A funnel-web...
More trains...
Contd...