Tryst with Trekking - Back to Bheemeswari

So, we wallowed in the waters for a good 3 hours or so. We then calculated how much time we'd need to trek back to Muthati, so Gandalf thought of going back and asking Muthu to start hoping he would have finished his lunch by then.

Gandalf found Muthu on the way, he was coming to meet us as planned. After getting out of the waters and drying up, we headed back to Muthati.

This time, the trek was along the banks of the Cauvery. The terrain was different from what we had taken during the trek to Bheemeswari.

This trail was "by the river", not some distance away from it. The terrain was rocky, there were sharp jagged multi hued rocks with razor sharp edges jutting out which can cut your skin neatly in half if you are not careful.

Climbing a tree on the way among the other points on the trail

There were broken branches to be stepped over, dry leaves to be walked over, mounds of ant hill to be circum-navigated carefully, low lying branches to be ducked to avoid being whacked by them, mossy stones to be treaded with a lot of care otherwise you'll slip and fall into the fast flowing river below, checking and re-checking if the boulder will hold still when you shift your weight on to it, etc. etc. It was a different trail altogether.

Muthu sharpened Gandalf's staff in between. We took 3 breaks in all on the way back, Gandalf changed clothes in between, he held on to his staff all along, the backpack got shifted from one shoulder to another, the distance never seemed to reduce corresponding to the effort we put in, our water supply got exhausted, Reji and Gandalf climbed a tree on the way, Manas missed his step, slipped and fell into the water, he disconnected his brain from his legs halfway in between because of pure exhaustion and no water to quench our parched throats.. Wow, so many wonderful memories of the way back.

Took some photographs on the way

We posed for photographs on the way back. There were a lot of spots we just could not miss to snap.

Cauvery was resplendent in the evening sun, the water continued to flow gently at places, the leaves and branches continued to sway in the evening breeze, the crickets continued with their noise unabated, it was just mesmerising to trek along the banks of the river.

Treading carefully on the treacherous terrain

As we neared Muthati, we saw numerous people enjoying their picnicks on the bank, most of them were drinking and littering the nice serene environment. Plastic Bottles, Beer cans and broken bottles, plastic bags, leftover food, the place was a mess.

We travelled on the main road during such stretches.

Reached... finally... back at Muthati

When we finally reached Muthati, Gandalf had beads of sweat on his bearded face and everyone was pretty much exhausted. Manas managed to connect his brain back to his legs, we all washed up, got to our car, paid a nice tip to Muthu and thanked him profusely for coming with us, and left from Muthati with memories of our first ever successful trek very clearly etched in our minds.

Gandalf got his staff back with him, as a souvenir of his trek.