Dakshin Mahayatra

A long drive today after a few days of short driving - 420 km to the edge of Hyderabad. We reverted to our old routine of leaving by 7.00 am after a cuppa. The early morning chill was very welcome and it suddenly reminded us that winter was almost upon us. Temples at Aihole (8.00 am) We were driving out past Aihole once again, and since we missed out on a couple of temples during yesterday's visit, we decided to stop by and complete our coverage. Such dedication, no? The Ravana Phadi was once again a rock-cut temple like the Badami ones, though the cave was much smaller in size, and not...er...cavernous. There were some beautiful carvings of the forms of Shiva and Parvati inside the temple. In fact this is the oldest of the Aihole temples, being 6th century Chalukya. No idea how Ravana came into the picture, though. Shri Hucchimalli temple was another Shiva temple, like in the complex we saw yester...

And so starts our north-eastward journey, roughly towards home. Just as sailors breathe a sigh of relief when the captain gives the order to adjust the mizzen and trim the topsail to catch the wind that will turn the prow of the ship homeward, the timbers creaking with the sudden twist in the hull, so did we, in our trusty Tata Punch, set the GPS towards Badami, 265 km from Gokarna, the first port of call on our homeward journey. Departing from Gokarna (7.15 am) We left early, bidding farewell to the Arabian Sea, the waves playing tag with each other. We walked over the squishy sand to where our car was parked 200m away, and drove off. NH66 towards Mumbai was a smooth ride for 30 mins, but then we turned right towards Hubbali, and this NH52, which took us almost upto Badami, was a piece of bad news - a badly maintained road full of potholes. There was heavy goods movement upto Hubbali, which is half the run, and road improved only marginally afterwards. However, the natural...