It’s not a ‘bridge over troubled waters’, but troubled bridge under water.

This one was near the underground tunnel for the outlet water from Linganamakki power station.

The enchanting journey through the western ghats continues.

More winding roads, thick foliage, shrill music of cicadas, gurgling rivers and the works. Adding charm to the rain forests, it was raining today.

From Sirsi via Siddhapur to Jog Falls. Then to Sagar and finally at Shimoga.

Sirsi, a small hill town surrounded by lush green forests, is one of the earliest trading centres of North Karnataka (Uttar Kannada district).

Yesterday night, we halted at Sirsi as we were told there would be no hotels in Siddhapur. It turned out to be true. If Sirsi is a small town, Siddhapur is a tiny one.

Sirsi has 3 hotels. Govind Bhatt of the Madhuban hotel, where we stayed, seemed happy with a reasonably brisk business. 75% occupancy throughout the year seems good. There are tourists, business men and a good number of bank auditors, who stay in the hotel for 2 to 6 weeks at a stretch.

Day 1 was mostly on plains. On Day 2, we had a lot of misty ghats and a bit of forests. And day 3 was mostly forests. Driving through forests is an experience in itself. Winding roads bordered by varied flora. Many rivers and sometimes the concrete structures that dam them.

From the southern tip of Maharashtra, the deciduous /semi-deciduous forests turn to evergreen ones.

After Khanapur, about 25 kms from Belgaum, the landscape changes. The road is flanked by forests.  In between, the woods give way to small villages and large tracts of farmlands.

About 75 km further down is the Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary, 834 sq km of thick forests.

From Dandeli, we headed to Siddhapur via Yellapur & Sirsi. And it is ghats and forests all the way. Of the 240 odd kms we drove today, almost 180 kms were through thick forests. The rivers, streams and valleys on the way made us stop many a time.

In the excitement, we missed the left turn from Yellapur to Sirsi. After another 20 kms, we noticed that all signboards were talking about Ankola. To be on the safer side, we pulled over at the nearest village and our fears came true. We were headed to Karwar instead of Sirsi. We had to return back to Yellapur and take the road to Sirsi. We decided to camp at Sirsi instead of Siddhapur.