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Have you ever felt the real meanings of the words thrill, excitement & joy? Well, I used to think I know it, but after my recent ride, I actually felt them all.
Taking the advantage of 5 days Diwali vacations, we decided to have a west coastal as well as western ghats ride of Maharashtra, Karnataka & Goa. After spending tremendous time on google maps to fix our exact plan, a final route was planned, which consisted of 6 days & 1 night journey across various places of Karnataka like Dandeli, Agumbe, Halebeedu, Mysore, Udupi, Murudeshwar & back. Revised the plan multiple times before leaving, & finally, 4 riders were left on 2 bikes (Pulsar 220F & Enfield Bullet Thunderbird ) to the most memorable ride of our life till the date.
Night 1 / Day 1 : Mumbai-Pune-Satara-Kolhapur-Belgaum-Mellom-Savardeyn-Karwar-Gokarna.
2 of our riders (Sagar & Jayesh) left Mumbai at 5.30 pm & joined us (Me & Nikhil) at Khed Shivapur toll naka near Katraj at 9.00 pm. The ideal plan was to ride all night on NH4 & reach Dandeli in the next morning by 11.00 am. As per that, post dinner, we left at 11.00 pm & reached next 2 stops in defined time intervals including LSPB (Loo Sutta Photography Breaks) (2 stops were Satara at 12.30 am, Kolhapur at 2.30 am). After a long break at Kolhapur macD, we were off for our next destination Belgaum at 4.00 am. In this way, a sudden collision of fox with my bike caused rear break lever to twist, & also delayed our plan & we reached Belgaum at 6.00 am. That was the spot from where our “so called” plan started to shatter. A petrol pump guy told us not to go to Dandeli as there is nothing to see & it will be waste of our time.
So, we decided to end our day at Gokarna, which was in our plan on day 4. So we moved ahead. Taking multiple small photography break during the way, we reached Savardeyn (goa) at 12.30 pm, had lunch, & moved forward. Crossing the Goa border, we entered Karnataka in Karwar at 3.00 pm & further to Gokarna at 4.30 pm. TRemendously tired by excessive riding of almost 20 hours, everyone rested for some time. Evening was spent on beach, followed by dinner & sleep.
Day 1 ended with 20 hours, 610 kms riding.
Day 2 : Gokarna-Yana-Jog Falls-Sagar-Tirthahalli.
Day 2 started with a decision that we wont change our plan for some advices given by localites. So, after making few changes in plan, we left for Yana, a spot 55 kms away from Gokarna. The spot is really fantastic, but poor condition of road with very steep climbing gradient delayed our schedule by approx 2 hours.
After visiting Yana, next destination was Jog falls, where we reached around 12.30 pm. We took a small halt of half an hour for photography, & left for Agumbe, our end destination of the day. In between the way, we hardly covered 25-30 kms & reached a village Sagar, & adding worse to our delay, heavy rain started. We waited around 2 hours for rain to abate. But as it didnt seem to stop, we decided to move. From denims & jackets & shoes, we transformed ourselves into jerseys, shorts & slippers.
The next part of road went through jungle with very poor condition. The rain caused us more trouble to ride. So, by discussion, we altered our plan again. We dropped the idea of going to Agumbe, & halted at Tirthahalli.
Day 2 ended with 12 hours, 260 kms riding.
Day 3 : Tirthahalli-Mudigeri-Bellur-Halebeedu-Hassan-Somwarpet-Manikeri (Coorg).
Thinking same as last day to reach our planned destination Mysore at night, we left Tirthahalli in the early morning. Via Koppa, Shringeri & beautiful tea & coffee estates in the way, we reached Halebeedu, the spot famous for ancient Sri Kedareshwara Temple at 1.30 pm. After stomach filling lunch & mind filling photography of the temple, we left at 3.30 in plans of reaching Mysore. However, as it was of no use to reach Mysore in the night, we changed our track again, & decided to end up at Manikeri (Coorg).
& believe me, this decision ended in most thrilling riding session of the whole trip. From Hassan, complete road upto Coorg goes through a dense Elephant sanctuary. We entered the sanctuary at 6.30 pm, & keeping faith on God, we rode on another worst patch of road for next 3 hours to reach Coorg at 9.30 pm.
Day 3 ended with 14 hours, 420 kms riding.
Day 4 : Coorg-Kasargod-Mangalore-Udupi-Malpe.
We started day 4 by some sightseeing of Coorg. Abbey falls, one of the most beautiful spot during entire ride, was visited. Post breakfast, we were out of Coorg at 9.30 am. The next plan was to touch NH17 in order to reach Udupi. From google maps, the shortest route we found was to reach Kasargod via SH88, n take the NH17 from there. This part of ride turned really interesting & enjoyable because of superb condition of the road. The distance of 60 kms through ghat was easily covered in less than an hour.
As we reached Kasargod, it was another fantastic surprise for us to know that Kasargod comes in Kerala. So, totally out of our plan, & though for very small distance of 150-160 kms, we got a chance to ride through most educated state of India. The highest level of education really reflects in every small thing we came across in Kerala. Earlier in Karnataka, where maximum internal roads are in very poor condition, with no lane markings & almost all sign boards written in Kannada, in Kerala, the picture was completely contradictory. Even the state highways are butter smooth, with proper lane markings, & most important, every road sign board is written in English alongwith Malyalam, making it easy for us to read.
Riding on NH17 from Kasargod, we reached Mangalore at 4.00 pm & further ended at Malpe at 5.30 pm.
Day 4 ended with 11 hours, 260 kms riding.
Day 5 : Malpe-Murudeshwar-Margao-Panjim-Porvorim.
As we had minimum riding on day 4 on comparatively better roads, everyone of us left with a fresh mind for the further ride. We started heading towards north from NH17, & reached Murudeshwar temple at around 11.30 pm.
Our earlier plan was to stay at Murudeshwar & leave next day. But as we were much before time of our plan, we thought why not end up at Goa? After finalizing the plan, we left at 1.00 pm & via Canacuna, Margao & Panjim, we reached Porvorim at 7.00 pm. We were warmly welcomed by my native friend of Goa, Aldrin & his brother Angelo, & cousin Jason. Needless to say, Goa life was enjoyed to the max at that night.
Day 5 ended with 10 hours, 370 kms riding.
Day 6 : Porvorim-NH17-Panvel-Home.
We spent all the morning on Baga beach, looking some beautiful chicks roaming around. After final packing for the last day of ride, we left Goa at 1.00 pm. Crossing konkan via NH17, we were at Khed at 8.30 pm. The most challenging part of NH17, Kashedi ghat was waiting for us. Somehow, the hurry of reaching home was so much to us that even Kashedi was crossed in just 15 minutes. Finally, in completely exhausted condition, we reached home at 1.00 am.
Day 6 ended with 12 hours, 580 kms riding.
All the ride was a refreshing & challenging experience, across all types of terrains, from butter smooth highways, to badly damaged potty roads & from western ghats to sea side roads.
1. Cameras -
i. Canon 60D
ii. Canon 550D
iii. Kodak Z990 Max
iv. Nikon coolpix L24
2. Laptop : Sony Vaio - to transfer pics.
3. Tripod, Mini tripod, Gorillapod
4. Nokia N8 - to find the way via google maps & to capture 720p HD videos while riding. .
Taking the advantage of 5 days Diwali vacations, we decided to have a west coastal as well as western ghats ride of Maharashtra, Karnataka & Goa. After spending tremendous time on google maps to fix our exact plan, a final route was planned, which consisted of 6 days & 1 night journey across various places of Karnataka like Dandeli, Agumbe, Halebeedu, Mysore, Udupi, Murudeshwar & back. Revised the plan multiple times before leaving, & finally, 4 riders were left on 2 bikes (Pulsar 220F & Enfield Bullet Thunderbird ) to the most memorable ride of our life till the date.
Night 1 / Day 1 : Mumbai-Pune-Satara-Kolhapur-Belgaum-Mellom-Savardeyn-Karwar-Gokarna.
2 of our riders (Sagar & Jayesh) left Mumbai at 5.30 pm & joined us (Me & Nikhil) at Khed Shivapur toll naka near Katraj at 9.00 pm. The ideal plan was to ride all night on NH4 & reach Dandeli in the next morning by 11.00 am. As per that, post dinner, we left at 11.00 pm & reached next 2 stops in defined time intervals including LSPB (Loo Sutta Photography Breaks) (2 stops were Satara at 12.30 am, Kolhapur at 2.30 am). After a long break at Kolhapur macD, we were off for our next destination Belgaum at 4.00 am. In this way, a sudden collision of fox with my bike caused rear break lever to twist, & also delayed our plan & we reached Belgaum at 6.00 am. That was the spot from where our “so called” plan started to shatter. A petrol pump guy told us not to go to Dandeli as there is nothing to see & it will be waste of our time.
So, we decided to end our day at Gokarna, which was in our plan on day 4. So we moved ahead. Taking multiple small photography break during the way, we reached Savardeyn (goa) at 12.30 pm, had lunch, & moved forward. Crossing the Goa border, we entered Karnataka in Karwar at 3.00 pm & further to Gokarna at 4.30 pm. TRemendously tired by excessive riding of almost 20 hours, everyone rested for some time. Evening was spent on beach, followed by dinner & sleep.
Day 1 ended with 20 hours, 610 kms riding.
Day 2 : Gokarna-Yana-Jog Falls-Sagar-Tirthahalli.
Day 2 started with a decision that we wont change our plan for some advices given by localites. So, after making few changes in plan, we left for Yana, a spot 55 kms away from Gokarna. The spot is really fantastic, but poor condition of road with very steep climbing gradient delayed our schedule by approx 2 hours.
After visiting Yana, next destination was Jog falls, where we reached around 12.30 pm. We took a small halt of half an hour for photography, & left for Agumbe, our end destination of the day. In between the way, we hardly covered 25-30 kms & reached a village Sagar, & adding worse to our delay, heavy rain started. We waited around 2 hours for rain to abate. But as it didnt seem to stop, we decided to move. From denims & jackets & shoes, we transformed ourselves into jerseys, shorts & slippers.
The next part of road went through jungle with very poor condition. The rain caused us more trouble to ride. So, by discussion, we altered our plan again. We dropped the idea of going to Agumbe, & halted at Tirthahalli.
Day 2 ended with 12 hours, 260 kms riding.
Day 3 : Tirthahalli-Mudigeri-Bellur-Halebeedu-Hassan-Somwarpet-Manikeri (Coorg).
Thinking same as last day to reach our planned destination Mysore at night, we left Tirthahalli in the early morning. Via Koppa, Shringeri & beautiful tea & coffee estates in the way, we reached Halebeedu, the spot famous for ancient Sri Kedareshwara Temple at 1.30 pm. After stomach filling lunch & mind filling photography of the temple, we left at 3.30 in plans of reaching Mysore. However, as it was of no use to reach Mysore in the night, we changed our track again, & decided to end up at Manikeri (Coorg).
& believe me, this decision ended in most thrilling riding session of the whole trip. From Hassan, complete road upto Coorg goes through a dense Elephant sanctuary. We entered the sanctuary at 6.30 pm, & keeping faith on God, we rode on another worst patch of road for next 3 hours to reach Coorg at 9.30 pm.
Day 3 ended with 14 hours, 420 kms riding.
Day 4 : Coorg-Kasargod-Mangalore-Udupi-Malpe.
We started day 4 by some sightseeing of Coorg. Abbey falls, one of the most beautiful spot during entire ride, was visited. Post breakfast, we were out of Coorg at 9.30 am. The next plan was to touch NH17 in order to reach Udupi. From google maps, the shortest route we found was to reach Kasargod via SH88, n take the NH17 from there. This part of ride turned really interesting & enjoyable because of superb condition of the road. The distance of 60 kms through ghat was easily covered in less than an hour.
As we reached Kasargod, it was another fantastic surprise for us to know that Kasargod comes in Kerala. So, totally out of our plan, & though for very small distance of 150-160 kms, we got a chance to ride through most educated state of India. The highest level of education really reflects in every small thing we came across in Kerala. Earlier in Karnataka, where maximum internal roads are in very poor condition, with no lane markings & almost all sign boards written in Kannada, in Kerala, the picture was completely contradictory. Even the state highways are butter smooth, with proper lane markings, & most important, every road sign board is written in English alongwith Malyalam, making it easy for us to read.
Riding on NH17 from Kasargod, we reached Mangalore at 4.00 pm & further ended at Malpe at 5.30 pm.
Day 4 ended with 11 hours, 260 kms riding.
Day 5 : Malpe-Murudeshwar-Margao-Panjim-Porvorim.
As we had minimum riding on day 4 on comparatively better roads, everyone of us left with a fresh mind for the further ride. We started heading towards north from NH17, & reached Murudeshwar temple at around 11.30 pm.
Our earlier plan was to stay at Murudeshwar & leave next day. But as we were much before time of our plan, we thought why not end up at Goa? After finalizing the plan, we left at 1.00 pm & via Canacuna, Margao & Panjim, we reached Porvorim at 7.00 pm. We were warmly welcomed by my native friend of Goa, Aldrin & his brother Angelo, & cousin Jason. Needless to say, Goa life was enjoyed to the max at that night.
Day 5 ended with 10 hours, 370 kms riding.
Day 6 : Porvorim-NH17-Panvel-Home.
We spent all the morning on Baga beach, looking some beautiful chicks roaming around. After final packing for the last day of ride, we left Goa at 1.00 pm. Crossing konkan via NH17, we were at Khed at 8.30 pm. The most challenging part of NH17, Kashedi ghat was waiting for us. Somehow, the hurry of reaching home was so much to us that even Kashedi was crossed in just 15 minutes. Finally, in completely exhausted condition, we reached home at 1.00 am.
Day 6 ended with 12 hours, 580 kms riding.
All the ride was a refreshing & challenging experience, across all types of terrains, from butter smooth highways, to badly damaged potty roads & from western ghats to sea side roads.
- Total riding done in complete ride - 2500 kms.
- Expenses per head - INR 4800/-
- Gadgets carried -
1. Cameras -
i. Canon 60D
ii. Canon 550D
iii. Kodak Z990 Max
iv. Nikon coolpix L24
2. Laptop : Sony Vaio - to transfer pics.
3. Tripod, Mini tripod, Gorillapod
4. Nokia N8 - to find the way via google maps & to capture 720p HD videos while riding. .
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