Day 3

Very happening day today… Did 200+ kms I think… Super hot day, but the bull didn’t really seem to mind.
Left kasargod at 11am, headed for Agumbe, took a detour to get into kudremukh national park, so turned from mangalore towards Sringeri.

The national park has a 1 hour upper limit for 2 wheelers to cross the 35 km stretch, else you pay a fine ! The beauty of this is that there is a 30 kph speed limit. You don’t need to be a mathematician to figure out that 2 wheelers, on paper, are not allowed to cross the forest, yet they let us in, time stamp a ticket and give it to us, instructing to go at 30kph and cross 35 kms within an hour… Lol !

Forest department – this is a fundamental and shameful mistake that needs to be corrected. Cars get 1.5 hours to cross the stretch.

Anywhoo I wanted to stop somewhere and take pictures, so I was obviously way above the allowed speed limit, to cover time for breaks, and still make the stretch in an hour. Found a track going inside the forest and decided to go in about a km – dense vegetation, but there were muddy road tracks nevertheless.. Took some pictures, and somehow felt that I’m not allowed to be here – there was a yellow board at the entrance, but was in the local language… Forest department – again please take note- if you don’t tell me in English or Hindi not to go somewhere, I will not know ! Anyway, I turned back and headed to the main road, and found another very tempting path going inside, asked someone there and he said you need the forest rangers permission to get inside any of these tracks.

So off I went to the forest rangers office – protected all around with barbed wire and a guy sitting outside surrounded by sacks with a gun in his hand – to ask for permission to go into one of the inroads, take some pictures, and obviously get an extension on my ‘time stamp’.

Once I went in, I was told ‘this is a naxalite area, please hurry up and leave the forest, forget about any such permission’ … So I had to rush out coz there was still 10 kms of forests left and only 14 minutes to go, made it at the last minute, and the moron didn’t even check my time stamp, just took my ticket and let me go…

Once I exited the forest, there was a little suspended bridge over a river, separating the main road from a villlage in the forest, and yes, I was allowed to go there, so off I went, taking pictures everywhere.

Headed back towards my destination, Agumbe. Found a small town just outside the someshwara wildlife sanctuary. Found a beautiful homestay called ‘Dodda Mane’ – a 125 year old huge house, occupied by a family of 4 generations, with room to spare for guests. Asked them for permission to stay, and was welcomed.

This place has a well inside the house with ground water, next to the shower area, has 2 floors, a huge centre open air verandah where people have dinner. On asking them how much they charge, I was told ‘you can pay whatever you wish’ – fancy that ! Anyway, was asked to freshen up, got a home made herbed juice or something, and asked to go visit a sunset point 2 kms away – lovely place showing s beautiful view of the forest below and the sun setting ahead.
Also, No cellphone signal here at all ! So this post will be posted after I leave from here tomorrow morning.
The place is surrounded by forests on all 4 sides, and they get visitors from all over the place, who come, see the house (free admission) and leave. Some decide to stay and get to decide how much to pay as well.
They have maintained the house fairly well for its age, and in the evening the whole crowd sits outside… Family as well as house guests, chit chatting with each other. As of now everybody is wondering what to pay them tomorrow, since nobody has been here before. Almost 15 house guests.
Thanks to Santosh for mentioning this place ! Love it ! It’s a pure vegetarian family, but that doesn’t bother me much, the food was great – traditional, served on a banana leaf.

Decided to take the bike out for a night ride… Did a few kms and came back- nothing worthwhile at night.
Crashing now, headed for sunrise point 17 kms from here at 530 am. Sleeping at 10pm, That’s a new feeling !

Will post this and the pictures tomorrow after I reach a place which has cellphone reception.