Monday, August 09, 2004

Abandaned Railway track Trek

gone for trekkin on the abandaned meter guage railway track with bridges and tunnels in a mountain range between donigal and yedukamuri.



check the following links below.

http://www.dreamroutes.org/dreams/nitin_greenroute.html
http://www.dreamroutes.org/dreams/nitin_greenroute.html
http://ajain.t35.com/travelsakleshpur.html
http://ajain.t35.com/travelsakleshpur.html

of sudden plan by arun on friday at around 4 decided to go for the trek. i joined arun along with vineesh and lijo and started from bangalore on friday night at 11.45 for 220 KM bus journey. we bribed the bus driver to let us down at a place near to our trek point. it was 4.30 AM and we were dropped in middle of nowhere luckily the driver dropped us right in front of a tea stall, which had some shelter, we planned to move from there by 5.30 but it was raining slowly all the while. i had carried all the rain gear, rain jacket, rain pants, and water resistant back pack. (these thing are not really water proff when it rains more).

we carried the food and water for the day. finally we left the stall at around 6.45, it was still raining lightly and our trek point was 3 KMs from there, no truck wala gave us lift. finally we reached the donigal station at 7.15 am. it was already away from the main road, the path was small and some covered with land slides. we finally
started of the trek, on the railway trak. we had to be careful about the leachess. we forgot to carry salt with us to get rid of them. any we walked for about 2 KM on track, mostly on the stone gravel, as the track and planks were slippery due to the rain. one of the gyes bitten by a leach. well they are not painful unless u pull them of. the place was lush green fed by monsoons. it was nice feeling. then came the first bridge about 20 meters. it was i guess around 100 feet above the ground, some tree tops were below the bridge, well we started walkin on it. not exactly walking as we were scared shit as the metal planks were slippery due to the rain, and in between u could see the depth below. and there was no hand support, the planks were 40-50 cms apart. altleast there was a 8 inch metel sheet right in the middle, but was very slippery. the 4 us crossed that bridge with out any damages. it was a really great feeling after we crossed that one. now there is no turning back as the an exit was only after crossing a more scary bridge. and to go back also we had to cross the one we just did. was scared of slipping more than the height of the bridge. then we walked about 2 KM further all the while gettin away from civilisation. then came bridge number 2. boy was it scary, cos there was water flowing below and we could see it between our steps, after crossing the 3/4th of the bridge the gaps became big and the planks a lil small, i thought i will slip so i bent down to take support of my hands, and crossed it. it took a lot of effort and i got big cramps in my legs, should have walked as it would take less effort. the other gyes crossed it straight any way. we thought of taking the exit from there. but we had to rest for some break fast. it started raining slightly. we decided coming this far we will go till the next bridge and come back as i did not want to cross one more as i had got bad cramps in my legs.

then around a KM later we got a 200 meter tunnel, we need tourches there that we took along. in between the tunnel there was a opening to go out side and there was a small place with absalutly breath taking view. one side so very deep with water gushing and on the on the other side was steep hill. we took many pics. we went back in and came out the other end. only to find one more tunnel though small one. after that we met some villegers there who were cooly waking on the bridge as if it was land. even the dogs were crossing them. we were novice any way. one villeger said that from the trek endpoint to go to the main road we had to cross a river which we could not as it was in full flow. any way we went to see how far we could go. then came a bridge luckly there was a way to cross in from the side on land, i took it but the other gyes crossed on it any way. the view was gettin more and more great and rain was getting well more rainy. we were chekin our legs in between to see if we had some leaches on. to my horror one leach had climbed up on my socks had it fill and left also. since the leave anti coagulent at their bites, the wound does not clot soon. same way we went for around 5 KMs looking for a 600 meter tunnel but found some 5 bridges more in the way. there was still not sign of the tunnel. so we decided since it was too rainy we turn back.

we were fully drenched and exhausted till we came back to the second bridge. we took the exit below it. thouht the road would be near. but the kacha road it self was long trek. and steep. one villager came by he said road is about 2 kM. after walkin the steep upclimb kacha road, met one more villager he said the road was 3 KM more. these dont know the distances well. on the way we saw a maruthi car and to cops. (it was tresspassin to walk the track) we were scared and the other gyes pointed towards me as i was the only one who knew kannada. those cops asked where we were comming from. i said we had just come to see one bridge. after that they just left us. we hurried so as to go before the cops change their mind. reached the main road at about 3.30 after noon, removed our shoes as it was wet for 5-6 hours and our foot was white and pink. cought a jeep to near by town. had lunch and cought a bus for bangalore and reached home by 10.30 in the night saturday. we walked about 20 KM in rain and on the bad tarrain and the whole sunday i was sleeping. it was really nice fun. wished we could have gone the whole way. if only it was dry.

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