It was November end Srinandan had asked me, if I could arrange a trek to Yedakumari, But I was not very sure how safe it is and did not bother much about its possibility.
24-12-13
I was in Pune last week and suddenly he called up stressing how madly he wants to do it. I said "YES, Lets do it then" I started looking up blogs and info. Found one of the oldest documented trek dating back to 1988. Then it got me inclined towards it. By then Suraj had also said ok for the trek. As soon as I came back to Bangalore, did more research on it, and asked Suraj to get everybody on group chat for a quick discussion about the plan. Kiran and Chandan joined for it.
I explained what we need to do, who will bring what, where to start and end and so on. everybody gave their inputs and accordingly we agreed and jotted out a plan, called it "Mission YDK"
26-12-13
So day came, as decided, Me and Kiran got on to train from Bangalore [SBC - 20:45 ]. It was almost like Touch and go for Kiran. Suraj boarded the bus late night. Srinandan and Chandan joined us in train from Mysore [MYS - 23:50]. With all the PJ filled chit chats, we disturbed the whole coach, and reached Sakaleshpura [SKLR - 003:00, 27-12-13]
27-12-13
There we waited for Suraj to come. Took nap, and finally he arrived at 04:00.Immediately we started to walk towards Highway, hoping to get any vehicle to drop us to Donigal, our starting point for the trek. As we were walking we thought how about visiting Manjarabad Fort?? Damn, why not, it is on the way. we stopped at tea stop, and took a nap again! :D we all had a steamy hot coffee, which boosted our morning. some of us did have twice!! :D From there we marched towards Manjarabad Fort. witnessed a mystical and beautiful sunrise, and finally reached our 1st point. We took a lot of photo, spent a good amount of time. Wondered about how people of that era whould have lived there. After walking 6.23km, we were very hungry. Srinandan had got Chapathis and an amazing "GOJJU", it was truly out of the world, we finished our breakfast and realised we are losing time, and headed off to reach Donigal [DOGL]. Not very far did we go [4.2km], Kiran and Chandan used their talents to stop a 4x4 min truck, and the driver offered a lift to next convenient point to start our trek [7.6km-drive]. He rolled a bummpy road and dropped us at a point [10:00] few km prior to Kadagaravalli [KGVL]. We thanked him, and started our long trek on the railway track. We slowly walk passed tunnels and bridges, it was a thrilling experience every time and should we not capture those moments! The light from the end of a tunnel, or the depth of the bridges, or the ever green mountain ranges of Kagenari State Forest, just made us very very lucky to have been there.
As we were walking on the track, a engine, a Petroleum Goods train, and passenger train Zoomed themselves at frequent intervals.Fortunately no trains came when we'er crossing the long bridges and tunnels.We hogged on food items we had brought every now and then. We stopped often, to take rest and continue with a standard pace.
We met local people who encouraged our journey and also updated about the distance we had to cover. And finally we reached Yadakumari [YDK 17:10] after covering 19.9km, 16 tunnels, and over 20+ bridges.
It was hard for me to digest the fact that we walked almost 30km on a same day!! :D Never in my life had completed a trek within one day!
By the time we reached, A goods train carrying Coal arrived at Yadakumari station. We were tired and exhausted and we decided to get on to the goods train and reach sakaleshpura. We pleaded the station master and the engine driver to allow us on the train, initially they declined our request but later allowed. A couple of trains crossed, and we left KGVL at 20:15 and reached SKLR by 21:20. How that one hour passed nobody has clue as we dozed off in the train. We sneaked out of Railway station and reached Bus stand, finished filling dinner. Boarded bus to our respective places, ending the adventure with lots of cherishing memories and experience.This was more like a farewell for 2013.
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