Malnad Road Trip: Bengaluru - Thirthahalli - Jog Falls - Goa - Kolhapur - Pune. (Part 3).

Part 3: Thirthahalli - Jog Falls - Goa.

Day4: September 6, 2018. Thirthahalli to Jog Falls.

We got ready to depart from Bananki homestay after having another sumptuous breakfast in the dining hall. Our host Rachan told us to take a route to Jog Falls which bye passed Shimoga. We thanked Arpitha for her hospitality and bid the family farewell at around 10.30 am.

However, we had one more place to visit. Arpitha had told us not to miss seeing the beautiful house and estate of the famous Kannada poet, Late Kuppali Venkatappa Puttappa (29 December 1904 - 11 November 1994), popularly known by his pen name Kuvempu.

We had not heard about Kuvempu before, but found out that he is regarded as the greatest Kannada poet of the 20th century, and the first among Kannada writers to be awarded the Jnanpith Award. 

We visited 'Kavimane', the childhood home of Kuvempu at Kuppali, which was 7 km south of Bananki. It has been converted to a museum by a trust, to showcase Kuvempu and his works to the outside world. We spent about an hour in the museum admiring the old books, artefacts, old furniture, tools and agricultural implements in the well preserved bungalow. The house was located in a picturesque and pristine landscape surrounded by hills, trees and green plantations. The atmosphere was mesmerizing. It is definitely worth a visit and we wanted to spend more time to soak in the serenity and peace.

We had to skip 'Kavishala', on a small hill where Kuvempu's mortal remains are interred, and had to continue our journey onward to Jog Falls.

Kavimane, Poet Kuvempu's House in Kuppali

You can read more about Poet Kuvempu here.

We returned to Thirthahalli and took the route via Ripponpet, Anantapura and Sagar to Jog Falls, by-passing Shimoga totally. It was definitely shorter and better road with less road work in progress. 

Bridge across the River Tunga at Thirthahalli

We reached Sagara at 2 pm, with a few breaks on the way for coffee and taking snaps. We had lunch at Hotel Varadashree’s Chaya Veg. At least they had parking space in the shade of a tree. We ordered alu-gobi masala with roti & naan, and a glass of masala chaas each. 

View from Chaya Restaurant in Sagara town

After Sagara we passed Talaguppa Railway Station which I think is a terminus for tourists coming to visit Jog Falls, as beyond that is the ghats going down to the Karnataka coastline at Honavar. We reached Jog Falls around 3.30 pm and checked in to Hotel Mayura Gerusoppa. The room was better furnished than I had expected. I have posted a detailed review of KSTDC's Hotel Mayura Gerusoppa Jogfalls on TripAdvisor; Armchair View of Jog Falls from our room. 

Nearing Jog Falls

There were a lot of monkeys prowling around outside. They were neither aggressive nor afraid and seemed accustomed to humans gawking at them. But I decided to close the glass window of the room even though there was a gauze window.

Monkeys at Jog Falls

I went for a walk on the walkway outside and did a round of the falls, the dam below, and the KPWD which was located on a hill overlooking everything.

Jog Falls, view from hotel window

Jog Falls, from public viewing gallery

After resting for a while we went for dinner at 8 pm as the restaurant closes by 8.45 pm. We had veg fried rice with salad and dal, and Geeta had a cup of Badam milk. 

Mayura's Restaurant at Jog Falls

Some data from my trip log:

• Bananki homestay..........start..0 km
• Kuppali .................................7 km
• Back to Thirthahalli..............25 km
• Right turn to SH1..................35 km
• Right turn to Ripponpet........70 km
• Anantapur - join NH206.......81 km
• Sagara ..................................106 km
• Talaguppa Railway Station ..123 km
• Jog Falls ...............................137 km

Day 5: September 7, 2018: Jog Falls to Goa (Varca).

After taking an early morning walk around Jog Falls, we went for breakfast to the restaurant. We had to walk in the rain as the restaurant is a little distance away from the hotel rooms. I had idli and Geeta had wada followed by coffee. We checked out at 10.30 am from the hotel.

We were on NH206 which goes down the ghats to Honavar on the coast. The section of the road on the ghats was very bad and we had to go slow. At Honavar we stopped for coffee and then joined NH66 onwards to Karwar and Goa. There was a lot of work-in-progress and very few milestones indicating the places we were passing. As a consequence we missed the turning to go to Gokarna and reached Ankola after passing Kumta. So even though we had planned to visit the temples and beach at Gokara we had to skip it. Luckily there was a Kamat Upchar just 3 km after Ankola, next to a major IOL petrol pump, like all other Kamat highway restaurants. We stopped here for lunch.

Pit Stop at Kamat Upachar Ankola

Kamat Upachar at Ankola

We carried on to Karwar and touched the beach just before 3 pm. We entered Goa from the South. We passed Canacona at 3.40 pm and then I had to refer Google Maps to find the short cut from Chinchinim to Varca. We turned left to cross the River Sal at Orlim, and then took a right turn to reach Varca. The only other way is to go up to Madgaon and then turn back to reach Benaulim. It was much shorter via Chinchinim and Orlim and we reached Club Mahindra Emerald Palms at 4.30 pm, after buying Tide washing powder sachets and two cups of dahi from a ‘mom’ store.

We checked in to our ground floor room at Club Mahindra Emerald Palms and relaxed till evening. I went down for a swim in the hotel pool at 6.30 pm, then came back to the room and had a hot shower. The cool swim followed by the hot shower made me feel really good.

View from our room at Club Mahindra Emerald Palms.

This was our third stay at Emerald Palms. You can read one of my earlier reviews of it in TripAdvisor: Good Place to Experience A Goan Monsoon.

We left after 9.30 pm to have dinner and pick up Komal from the airport. We had dinner at a restaurant & bar on the road to Benaulim beach named ‘Pavilion’. It seemed quite popular as there were a lot of local diners with GA08 number plate cars parked outside. We ordered Fish & Chips for Geeta, and Rawa Fish Fry for myself. The preparation was good with 3 pieces of Surmai fish in each plate, but our choice of salad was not available because they had run out of the main ingredient, pineapple. We ordered Greek salad instead, which consisted of tomato, jalapenos, olives, onions and one other veggie but it wasn’t so good. 

Dinner at 'Pavilion', Benaulim

We left from Benaulim at 11.30 pm and reached the airport at Dabolim at 12.15 and had to wait till 12.55 am for Komal to come out, as her flight was delayed by 2 hours. 

Komal was happy to join us for a weekend holiday in Goa. 

We crashed as soon as we got back to our room at 1.35 am.

Some data from my trip log:

• KSTDC Jog Falls............ start.....0 km
• Gerusoppa..................................32 km
• Honavar .....................................65 km
• Kumta ........................................85 km
• Ankola ......................................120 km
• Kamat Upachar..pit stop............123 km
• Karwar ......................................155 km
• Karnataka - Goa border ............168 km
• Canacona ..................................192 km
• Chinchinim ..left turn off NH66...221 km
• Club M Emerald Palms. Varca..230 km