When I trekked the same route for 5 years in a row (yearly once) - TTTT 45

After all this is something which I could proudly write about. It happened for the first time in 2013 and as of 2017 its still on!

I am referring to my participation in the annual beach trek. I had this so called affinity to beaches and it was not very evident until I was away from India. Even more is my affinity to the coastal area of Karnataka, especially Gokarna till Udupi stretch. It makes me feel grounded. It gives me time to contemplate.

Each year there are lots of groups which do beach treks along the coastline. This year too, I am happy that I was a part of another group. Not just that, it completed my 5th year of beach trek.

1. 2013 - Kumta to Aghanashani beach / Tadadi port (boat to Gokarna). (22 members).
2. 2014 - Apsarakonda to Bhatkal (Sri Durga Parameshwari temple Ilvekodi). (26 members)
3. 2015 - Gokarna to Haldipur beach. (28 members)
4. 2016 - Gokarna to Haldipur beach (13 members).
5. 2017 - Gokarna to Kumta beach (13 members)

Apart from one year, where I trekked from Apsarakonda all the way to Bhatkal via Murudeshwara of course, all the years it has primarily been Honnavara to Gokarna OR Gokarna to Honnavara.

Feels so nice to have been doing it again and again. Hope to continue it in future too. Given a choice, of course with the same group too! And guess what I never get bored of this route.

The feeling of being connected to this piece of coastal land is just tremendous, you can imagine, how tremendous, the feeling of me being connected to India is (no prizes for guessing and no sarcasm please)!

Cheers,

When a strange reason ended our trek - TTTT 44

There have been multiple occasions when our treks have ended ahead of time. Each time, it would be the lack of time, rains, tired teams, losing way etc etc. But this time was another awesome reason end our trek ahead of time or rather to not trek.

I recently had been to Gokarna, to take part in this year's beach trek. We managed to walk all the way from Gokarna to Holanagadde beach (after crossing river Aghanashani / Tadai port via a ferry of cours)  on day 1 and camped at a temple.

On day 2, we managed to reach all the way to Kumta beach and there you go we needed some help. There is a place where the sea manages to stretch itself into the town as backwaters and we needed to cross this one. It is a good 15-20 feet depth and needs boat. On all the previous occasions we could manage to source a boat from the nearby fishermen, who would be busy cleaning their boats.

But this time, with no availability of people around, our only option was to walk along the road leading to Kumta town. After walking for half a kilometer we found water to drink and clean ourselves, via a roadside tap after all. The person instructed us that a bus would be available over here any time soon.

And, we managed to reach the main road aka NH-66. Now people were in two minds whether to walk back to the beach or call it over. Lunch and play time in the beach plus Apsarakonda waterfall dip was pending. So this precedence took over, we ended the trek 4 kilometers early. 

But all in all I thoroughly enjoyed the trek, which was overshadowed by some great company, one person of whom had come all the way from Gulbarga!

Cheers,