Kutch nahi dekha to kya dekha!

2 days of air resistance...to the limit that I had to use the granny. Unfortunately the roads are too good in Gujarat and even the heavily loaded trucks are unfit to pull.
The net connectivity is unstable so blog updates will remain short and irregular.
The terrain is pretty colourful and the heat is good to bake. This is just the entry into kutch. Lots to explore and will cover it well.

Khoobsurat Surat

The western edge of Surat is an interesting chunk of land. Mangrove forests on the map looked fascinating so I set out towards the coast. The islands just had thorny shrubs and could not find a 'convenient' way to reach there so decided to greet them from a distance. I was inside some industrial estate which I managed to trespass. While trespassing, I came across a board that welcomed me to the Das Island. Wonder how and when I crossed... the terrain has changed a bit may be due to industrial activities and it was a low tide at that time. Continued to move south waiting to move till the end and checked my position on the GPS after some time... to find myself deep inside the Arabian Sea. Not for the first time the maps showed me in the water body but for the first time I was way inside the sea ;)
So far no problems relying on these maps.
After a long time I got to see the sandy beach; the Suvali beach.

Some guys from nature club had brought a snake, a lazy one and was fortunate to get a chance to play around with the red sand boa. The beach had sea gulls,  cranes and some other interesting birds as well but I had this chubby snake in my hands.

The Dumas beach is yet another cool beach to visit but way to clayey to wander around.

Lots of sand riding today... truly coastal

Strawberry fields

Today was a rest day for the bike though it hiked on harsh terrain. Got a closer look (from a height) of the saputara dam. Hiked to a peak to get the view of the town and around. The world is fine...
Strawberries are common here and the intake has crossed 1.75 kg so far. Signing off with red fingers for now.

The Gujju hill station

A short ride but took long. Yes it was that good. Golden again yet different. A ride from Nashik to Saputara will show you worn out hills. Some with very steep slopes but flat tops. The climbers might get tempted.

Golden Sahyadhri route

Pune to Nashik sees some ghat sections again but these are the little hills that do not need much struggle. Almost the entire route is golden during this time of the year which would be too green otherwise.
Halting at Nashik and getting an overdose of nostalgia (its the place where I learnt to walk, cycle, explore and get lost ;-) )

Journey so far II: The road to the central

On and off the coastline. (A) to (E) is sticking to the Kerala coast. Having visited the hill stations of Kerala, I decided to stick to the coast on the way up. After the Ideals icecream at Mangalore, I had an energetic and enthusiastic ascend to Agumbe(F). That Malgudi town asked me to stay for one more day. Agreeing, I explored the Mani water reservoir and left the next day(still sticking to the Mani water reservoir) and reached Sagara(G) where Linganamakki water reservoir demanded attention. So once again an extra day for the water reservoir. Rolled off the ghats to the coastal town, Karwar(H) and on the way visited Jog falls and gerusoppa reservoir (small and almost hidden). I was in (I) the day next... i.e. Vasco da Gama. If the small reservoirs succeeded in grabbing my attention, the sea at Goa always had a good chance to have me stay for longer. So did I and then again up the ghats to Belgaum(J). The roads leading to Belgaum are too good(independent of direction). Got the chance to ride on the fastest road of South: Bangalore-Pune highway and with so many vehicles moving fast, I was inspired too and made it in good time.

Belgaum and the highway ride

One such ride of all so far that didn't require sun glasses. It was a clean and green ride throughout. Not very promising detours but got to know that one could go for dudhsagar waterfalls from castle rock by boarding a goods train.
Next foggy morning left belgaum and have reached a place 20kms short of satara and halting at a dhaba. Will be reaching pune tomorrow.

More water...Goa

Not the first time in this journey was I admiring the water but it was the first time I was in the water. Got to see lot many fishes and corals at Bat island. My cameras are not waterproof so will not be able to share this part. To get a feel, go goa :-)

Off the ghats...almost

From sagara I had a lot of ground to cover to reach the coastal town, Karwar and so I left before sunrise (and after breakfast). Had a superfast journey till jog falls which is a bit shy at this period of the year.
The second cool place was a prphibited area, the gerusoppa hydle project. I managed to get a glance of the reservoir and dam after I hid my cycle in the bushes.
Ride till the coast was not expected to be hilly as it turned out to be. So as of now I am at sea level and still among the ghats...the best it can be.

Aqua again

A relaxed day out at the linganamakki water reservoir. It is a great place for bird watchers. Near to jog falls but haven't yet visited the falls.

Malgudi II and the Mani water reservoir

Getting to mani water reservoir made me want to check the other parts as well. But the plan was to reach Shimoga leaving a side the water. Fortunately, two cyclists invited me for dinner at doddamane and advised to skip Shimoga. So I could now go for the reservoir route and finally end up at Sagara near jog falls.
Detouring is always fun and I took one such deserted road which drowned after a while. The submerged road could be followed till some distance after which it was way too deep.
Turning back and taking the usual new road was the way to reach the other side from where I could go to the Mani dam. But crossing dams is now generally prohibitted and I followed the rule.

Malgudi

The image one has in mind of Malgudi resembles Agumbe. Not a coincidence but malgudi days had some of its shootings in Agumbe. A calm village... But I was in high spirits and went exploring the jungle and the Mani water reservoir. I took over 15 deep off routes sometimes even walking trails in the hope to reach the water body...the happening place in a forest.
Managed to hit the water body twice and on the second occassion I met a large rat snake which agreed that it was too scared of me.
Exploring was fun along with amazing trails to ride on.

Kochi-Kozhikode-Kasargod

Leaving Kochi was not an easy task after I decided to take the marine route that borders Ernakulum as well. Prepared for a distance of 200km, an early start at 0545hrs just gave me some more leisure time. By 0730hrs I had covered merely some 17 kms. The later part of the journey reciprocated the start well.
Met some of my friends at Kozhikode and pushed of early next morning.
Enough shore. Plan to get back to mountains and this time mountains of Karnataka...my home state(one of the :-) )