Devbagh, Christmas Eve 2020

Renting a bicycle in Karwar.

I rented out a fine pair of wheels from Mangesh Cycle Shop (near Dilip complex), Konekar Wada, Karwar at ₹10 per hour. ID proof is mandatory. Open till 10pm.

Only these “old” style models were available. Technically correct term for this model is Roadster. These bicycles have probably the most comfortable seats in the business as they’re spring mounted. I doubt if any of the modern bicycles have seats as comfortable as this.

Canopy hills, Vattakanal, November 2018

I trekked to Canopy hills, Vattakanal on the 3rd and 4th of November 2018. Vattakanal is situated very close to Kodaikanal (at night the glow of Kodaikanal’s lights can be seen from Vattakanal).

This is easily the most beautiful hillside I’ve ever been to. The trek was organized by Bangalore Mountaineering Club and lead by Shamanth. This happened to be the anniversary of the first BMC trek to this site.

The trek route was unusual in that we started the trek at the base of the hills and arranged for the transport to pick us up on the other side i.e. this was a point-to-point trek. We trekked to a village called Vellagavi (accessible only on foot, no motorable roads) where we had our lunch after which we continued to our camping site overlooking the valley. Dinner was by campfire and we slept in tents. The next morning after a filling breakfast we trekked to Vattakanal.

Took a break here
Small waterfalls along the way.
This leads to Vellagavi village. No motorable road goes there. We saw several Ponies carrying luggage over the trail.
At Vellagavi. Wearing footwear considered taboo here.
Day 2
That’s where I slept
Breakfast
Dolphin’s nose. The resemblance is… mostly imaginary.

And as if that wasn’t enough, on our way back to Bangalore we stopped at the original Thalpakatti Biryani in Dindigul.