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The Route:
Bangalore-Ankola-Belekeri by bus
Belekeri to Belambaara – trek
Belambaara to Manjugoni to gokarna – trek
Gokarna to Bangalore by bus.
Important Note:
During the trek if you think you are lost, or if you find split pathways, you can always wait for some time and find some people to ask the route. But, 95% of the people will ask you to take the bus and go to Gokarna. People there, think we are crazy that we want to walk to Gokarna. Very few people showed us the route. Most of them said that there is no route to Gokarna. (Alli gudda untu. Daati hogabeku. Sari daari illa – means there is a hillock and you need to climb that. There is no clear path). You need to ask everyone until you can find a person who can show you the route.
But the bottom line is: THERE IS ROUTE AND YOU CAN TREK.
The Team:
This time we said “boys should be boyz.. so lets have an all boys team” and there we were…
Santosh (babu), Natesh (nata), Madhav (juicy), Mayesh (ma-esha), Harsha (shudi), Raj Gopal (raju) and me (vijay). All seven set to trek on the sand.
The dates:
Thursday, July 23, 2007
Left Bangalore to Ankola – VRL bus that departs at 8:15 pm from Anand Rao circle.
Friday, July 24, 2007
Reached Ankola at around 7:30 AM.
Friday, July 24, 2007
Reached Belekeri at around 10:00 AM
Friday, July 24, 2007
Reached Belambaara at around 5:00 PM
Saturday, July 25, 2007
Reached Manjugoni at around 11:30 AM and left for Gokarna at around 12:30 PM
Saturday, July 25, 2007
Reached Gokarna at around 4:00 PM
Sunday, July 26, 2007
Reached Bangalore at around 8:30 AM
The route picturised:
The Story:
We had booked the tickets for a VRL bus and the bus was to leave at 8:15 PM from Anand Rao Circle. We were all there at 7:45PM and boarded the bus. Babu had brought 3 sets of playing cards and we had fun playing cards. The bus stopped at the Kamat hotel after DabasPete at around 10:30 in the night. We had a very tasty dinner, it was a buffet for Rs. 50/-. Then again in the bus, we had fun for some time and slept off and when we woke up we were in Honnavara. The bus reached Ankola at around 7:30 AM. The bus stand toilet can be used for the morning ablutions and girls can use the Church. (courtesy: bharata at sulekha.com). We actually went to Mr. Bhat’s house. He is a relative to Nata. He is a nice person. We finished our morning ablutions at his home and Mr. Bhat served us with some Avalakki for the breakfast and also hot coffee. It was raining outside and a hot cup of coffee was just what we wanted. We saw to it that no coffee was left and then left for the Ankola bus stand.
We took a bus to Belekeri. It’s a 30 minute bus ride. We started off our sojourn from here. It’s a port and the sea is calm with small waves. We asked someone there about the route – just to get confirmed, but the answer was obvious: “you cannot go like this to Gokarna. Take the bus”. We then asked a person by name Venkatesh. He showed us the route. We then headed towards Belambaara. Bharata at Sulekha.com writes some names for the villages but when we enquired every one said that the place is Ankola. We thought we could have started the trek from Ankola rather than coming to Belekeri and starting the trek from there. We crossed a couple of villages and hit a hillock. We had our ‘lunch” on top of the hillock. Lunch was 3 slices of bread and jam. Then again as we climbed down the hillock, we hit the sea again. As we were walking, we found that a part of the sea was very clean. We decided to have fun there. Babu had got a Rugby ball and we played foot ball in the sea. We teased each other and had good fun. Mayesha and Shudi were the two who didn’t get in to the waves. We spent around an hour in the sea and then started off again. After some time we hit another hillock crossing which we hit a stream. The depth was about 3-4 feet and a boy there doubted it could be more. The boy actually helped us crossing but the water was too deep to cross walking. It was around 1:30 PM and the boy said the water level would come down by evening. It was a kind of a backwater. In the night when the tides are high some water would flow in and during the day the same will get back into the sea. Me nata and a couple of us tried crossing it but the water was too deep. The boy got us a small boat and we crossed the river one after the other. After that, we had to cross another hill and a person by name Baba, showed us the way for some distance. The view of the sea from there was awesome and we took some snaps. It started raining but we never bothered. We again hit the sea and after a small distance there was a hillock. There were two paths here – one along the sea over a rocky terrain and another climbing the hillock, the usual way. We asked a person there and he said you can go in either ways. We all decided to take the path along the sea. We traveled 80% of the distance there and then found that the rocks were too slippery to walk on. It was very risky. To add to that a guy said that there is no route there. After crossing the hillock we were expecting a river and the guy said there the water is too deep and there are no boats a well. He also insisted upon taking a bus. I said to myself, I will not take the bus until I see the river. We went back and asked another guy and he said that its possible. He took us till the river and the river, at a point was just a couple of feet deep. We crossed the river and there we were... in Belambaara.
It was around 4:30 PM. We went to the school there. Requested the authorities and they obliged. The next day was a Saturday and the school starts early on Saturdays. Its called “morning school” on Saturdays. We convinced them that we will be leaving very early in the morning. They were very nice people. Me and nata played some cricket with the kids there. We put up our tents there in the play ground and children there were curious to see the tent. They asked us so many questions like anna idu manena? (is this a house), male bandre? (what if it rains). Baabu, Juicy, harsha and nata put up the tents with very little help from me, raju and mayesha.
There was a small tea shop right in front of the school and we got some hot water from there after having some tea. With the hot water we had some cup noodles and MTR ready eat stuffs.
Next day we got up at around 5:30. We finished our morning ablutions in the school toilet which was very clean. We had some tea and then had some bread and jam and some milk as well. We were all set to leave at around 7:30 and again had some tea. We started off at 8:00 am. We reached the hill there and that was really awesome. Its was raining and the hill was covered with clouds. As we were getting puzzled with the route we found a house and went there to enquire. Sandeep who had seen us earlier on the day before identified us and showed us the way. The path was along a small stream and it was awesome. We were walking on the stream. It was very narrow. The shrubs had thorns and it was challenging to avoid them. Few of us had to bear some bruises and cuts. As we went on top of the hills we could find a proper path way. An old lady was more than happy to show us the ‘safe’ way from there. She guided us into an agriculture field. From there we walked for quite some time and we hit a road. After walking in the road asking every one we come across we finally reached Manjugoni at around 11:00AM. We had some tea and snacks at a hotel there and boarded a boat to cross the Gangavali River. The river meets the sea there and the view of a big river meeting the sea is spectacular.
Afer crossing the river, we had to meet the sea shore to go to Gokarna. It was a long route and we finally met the sea at around 1:00PM.
From here when we enquired, people said its 4 to 5 kms to Gokarna. The last piece was very good. Its was raining intermittently. One side its sea and other side its greenery. We could not see the destination as well. That was very good. Turn back you could not see the place you started from and in the front you could not see Gokarna. That was awesome. We Finally reached Gokarna at around 4:30 PM and quickly found a hotel room. We refreshed ourselves and had some snacks. We visited the temple and boarded the bus at 7:30 PM.
- Vj
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