Dhudsagar Falls

On Sunday 8th February George, a taxi driver, took us for a walk in the forest to the very top of these falls. We drove from OffTheGrid along forest tracks in his 4x4 Mahindra. After about 60 minutes we emerged and started hiking downhill. We waded across a river and continued till we came to a small waterfall with a pool below it. No, this wasn't the end of the trek... We continued alongside the river clambering over enormous boulders. After about two hours we could see a distant view across the hills. Creeping along to the edge we saw a train moving slowly up the hill from Goa. 58 goods bogies needed two engines in front and two pushing from behind. Tourists far below were admiring the waterfall. Up on the top Some  rock pools were large enough for a chilly dip. 

Sylvia had organised a picnic for the six of us which was eaten with relish. George was most helpful, in his flip flops, leaping agilely over the rocks and lending a supporting hand where needed. 

Our six hour adventure was made complete by a dip in the rock pool beside OffTheGrid. An added bonus is a free, foot pedicure by small fish living in the water! 

On Monday we were pleased to get a train from Castle Rock to Margao.

I thought you'd like to see this poster pinned to the wall of the station. 

Although we purchased a 50 rupee Standard Class ticket we ended up in 3 AC sitting beside a group of educated young folk from Hyderabad. One of the girls works for Amazon as a software engineer and the others worked at call centres. They were on their way for a five day holiday in Goa. 

The ticket inspector studied our cheap tickets and compared the price we had paid with the correct price in his book. We ended up paying IR530 each but it was worth it to sit in cool air and relative comfort. 

At Margao  we caught a bus and TukTuk to Palolem where we have flopped down exhausted after 6 hours of traveling.