Drive to Aanegudde, Murudeshwara and Apsarakonda

20 Sep 2013,

It has been year long since we visited Aanegudde siddhi-vinayak temple near Kundapur. We do visit the temple every year. There were so many hurdles which prevented us to visit the temple. This time, father was adamant to visit and seek blessings of Lord vinayak. I requested him if we could extend till Murudeshwar :D. He agreed under condition that I alone would be driving. Thats fair deal except for I cannot shoot landscape while driving. We planned to start around 8AM from Kaup but as always turned out be late by an hour. Murudeshwara is 115kms from my hometown and really great place to visit. I love the ambiance, landscape, shiva statue as well roaring Arabian sea of Murudeshwara.

It all started with heavy monsoon rain early morning 6AM. It was so thick droplets and I enjoyed the rain with raincoat ;-). Also visited full flowing streams down coconut plantation. Good thing is myself and father are both experienced monsoon drivers and wipers of ritz add smoothness to journey by clearing windshield perfectly. Around 8:30AM, rains started receding but when I looked at Satellite pictures, thick clouds had covered entire coast which indicated further rains. Even father was OK to drive despite of heavy rains. We started exactly around 9AM and drove towards Kundapur.

Anegudde temple is around 40kms from our hometown. Wonderful temple site with beautiful nature. Also shiva temple beneath the hill is constructed around a lake which makes it delightful to watch. The journey was smooth however the uneven roads added delay. 10:30AM, we were in Anegudde temple and unexpectedly there was crowd despite being odd time. This temple is visited by many people from all over Karnataka and consequently is crowded most of the times. We had darshan of Lord Vinayaka and it started to rain heavily again. We also visited the Shiva temple beneath. Not many people are aware of this temple but it is really worth visiting the lake temple. Here are some pictures from both the temples.

AANEGUDDE VINAYAKA TEMPLE

LAKE TEMPLE BENEATH

We started our journey towards Murudeshwara around 11:30AM. There comes bad roads after Kundapur. They were really craters. It seemed like recently some meteor hit the highway :(. Also water filled pot-holes made it difficult to judge their depth. Still drove carefully and most of the time 1st or 2nd gear (too much fuel consumption). After nearly 5kms of hell, there starts the heaven :-). The beautiful rivulets along the highway were magnificent to watch. We could not stop anywhere due to time constraints and heavy traffic. Especially I missed Mabukala bridge and Hatti kudru. Both the rivulets were flowing with full vigor. Those sites were absolutely stunning to watch with full muddy water :-). Thats the real indication of heavy rains! After sometime, we reached Maravanthe beach :-). I requested father to drive till end of beach and he agreed to drive :-). I shot some videos and many pictures including panorama bracketing. It was also drizzling and Arabian sea was fully showing off with great energy. Also powerful winds tended to push us off the road to river :D. It seemed like Sea wanted to take revenge on river for teasing it ;-). Never dedicated time here, some day will spend full evening in this marvelous site. Enjoy some pictures!

THE UNIQUE BEACH OF INDIA ;-)

THE DELIGHTFUL SOUPARNIKA RIVER

After nearly 20 minutes of delight, I started driving again towards  Murudeshwara. In contrast to what predicted, it seemed there was heavy overnight rain but not during day. It was only drizzling which was managable. After few kms of joyous ride along beautiful Uttara Kannada landscape, there starts one more stretch of hell :-(. The stretch between Shiroor to Bhatkal was completely tortured with craters bigger than the previous one. Our car again slowed down to 2nd gear most of the time. This time it was long tough drive which was around 12kms :-(. Both the stretches added almost 30 minutes of delay. After Bhatkal, the roads are once again smooth till Murudeshwara. At around 1:30AM, we reached Murudeshwara. The town is 2kms interior from main National Highway. We were aware that temple would be closed from 1PM to 3PM and hence I drove to apsarakonda waterfalls which is 17kms from here. The roads were again very good and we reached in matter of 10mins. It is believed that apsaras used to rest in this tiny waterfall site during mythological times. Last time we visited the place, it seemed like tap water but this time it was showing off with full glory ;-). The main source of water seems to be from nearby hillock and hence only alive during monsoon times. As we neared the place, the beautiful sight of Kasarkod beach attracted me. Few snaps here, we neared apsarakonda waterfalls. It started raining torrentially as we reached the waterfall site. Oh my god, that was so thick. I thought those droplets would pierce my old umbrella :D. I shot some videos under the heavy rains :-). After sometime, we reached the parking lot again. While downhilling, we came across many seasonal water streams which were beautiful to watch. This stretch of Uttara Kannada (Bhatkal to Gokarna) receives torrential rainfall during monsoon season. Despite the inclement weather, the sight looks so beautiful during monsoon season.

THE BEAUTIFUL KASARKOD BEACH

APSARAKONDA AT ITS BEST!

THE MILKY WAY ;-)

THERE ARE LOT SUCH EN-ROUTE :D

It is now time to head back towards Murudeshwara. There was fierceful rain for about 30 mins and I enjoyed the drive in heavy monsoon rains for sometime. The rains receded after some distance. On the way, we prayed lord vinayaka of idagunji from distance itself. We did not have time and hence skipped the temple visit. 2:30PM, we were in Murudeshwara town. We had lunch in one of the hotel and by that time temple had opened. The best thing during this time of year is absence of crowd. Due to heavy rains, people barely visit the place and people like me enjoy to full extent ;-). We easily had darshan of Lord Murudeshwara in matter of few minutes. We skipped walk to hill statue instead went all the way to 18th floor of pinnacle to have aerial view of town and shiva statue. A nominal fee of 10Rs is levied to reach the top floor of pinnacle. Having had good glimpse of aerial view, we started back to Udupi.

THE PINNACLE!

OM NAMAH SHIVAYA

VIEW FROM TOP OF PINNACLE

THE GLORIOUS MURUDESHWARA BEACH

It was required to start early due to bad roads. We encountered Mangalore-Mumbai Matsyagandha express near National Highway. I felt like boarding the train and travel all the way to Karwar :-). Konkan Railway as well as Sakaleshpur-Subramanya train journeys are the most beautiful train journey I ever had but I do not have snaps of former one. Never miss the mesmerizing Konkan railway journey from Mangalore to Goa during Monsoon season! My next target is travelling along the Briganza ghats from Castle-Rock to Panaji which passes through the Dudhsagar waterfalls. On the way we enjoyed the beautiful sight nearby shiroor where one could see Sea and western ghats closeby. Due to lack of time, I had to skip many places :-(. We again enjoyed energetic Maravanthe beach and rivulets nearby Kundapur. Also to our luck, the rains had receded completely but there was thick cloud cover. At around 7PM, we reached our home. We could not visit many places including Idagunji temple, the glorious sharavati river basin, top of apsarakonda hills as well as could not stop nearby beautiful rivulets all along. Still, a great day of travel it was :-).

The routes to these places are mentioned in my 2 year old blog.

There is bunch of HDR and panorama trials done which documented here.

There were lot things to capture as timelapse especially the storm raising from Kasarkod Beach. No time and no timelapse eventually this time :-(.

Two videos this time and full HD too ;-). One is aerial view of Murudeshwara temple and other is from apsarakonda waterfalls. Watch and Enjoy!