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Romantic getaway along the West coast! Theni - Pune - Theni covering 4 states, ~4200kms, 12days.
Hi Guys! I made up my mind to write this long travelogue of my best ride. Not a lotta pictures this time though. I will try my best to keep you entertained with my write up.
Waiting for approval.
Thanks for the approval @Divya Sharan
I'll keep updating in a while as I'm unable to gather the data to write the whole T-log in a go. Sorry about that. For some it may be a good read, enjoy and for some it may be a boring stupid writing, kindly bare with me, I'll try to improve. Criticism is more welcome than appreciation. Thanks
Its always about the Journey and not the destination!
The Ongoing journey.
Theni - Pune - 4 days - 4 States - 1432Kms (as per map)
Ongoing Journey Route: Tamilnadu - Bodi Mettu 42.5kms | Kerala - Poopara, Munnar, Adimali, Thalakode, Kothamangalam, Ernakulum (Kochi), Guruvayur, Ponnani, Kozhikode, Mahe, Kannur, Bekal, Kasaragod | Karnataka - Mangalore, Murdeshwar, Maravanthe, Karwar | Goa - Cavelossim, Margoa, Ponda | Karnataka - Belgaum | Maharashtra - Kolhapur, Karad, Satara, Pune
Ride: CBR250R - Odo Reading 53019kms
Gears: Riding jacket, Gloves, Boots, Helmet with clean visor, Bungee nets to tie the luggage, Fly GPS mount, Canon 1100d, a DIY tank bag(made from regular backpack), DIY 12v socket for charging(never had to use it though), Bike tool kit, Chain lube, Puncture kit, Nylon rope for tying up in case anything goes wrong, an umbrella, a multi-pin socket for your chargers, my Nexus5 with Navi maps for offline navigation, a Nokia 107 for calls
and some of my wardrobe :P
I never wanted to lead a routine life and until now I haven’t really attached to anything that I don’t find interesting every day. I’m quite gifted in that sense because i had the freedom to do whatever I like. My family wouldn’t stop me from doing it. Rather I would also not obey them just for the sake that they raised me. I’m just too straight forward for the modern days. :P
It had been a year since I quit working. I started a small scale business which was my dream. It went well for quite some days until things started to get boring. Somehow, you won’t know certain things until you experience them in real life situation on first hand. Business was one such thing and it was different than i thought. I really thought it would be my freedom but the real problem comes with finance. It’s all about how much you could risk investing to develop it so that you can meet your monthly financial needs. Life was good but then there was this feel, you know lack of something interesting. What I really missed from corporate life was those friends/people who would be always surround you. That kind of makes you forget your worries and get along.
Simply, life was boring without adventure. So I thought of a trip with friends. Approached them and everyone was like I can’t make it up for 10 days no leave, no time, blah.. blah.. blah.. We'll do it by the end of the year for the New Year. But I badly wanted a trip and thought why to depend on others, why not a solo. There is a first time for everything. I was also motivated by many travelogues and riders to do a solo. I was like it’s time to find yourself, I mean self realization. So i decided to go on with it very lately after a lotta dilemma.
I planned the route, prepped her well. She went through a general checkup, recently got a new rear wheel (alloy rim), a pair of new radial shoes(MRF Revz), Front brake pad, Clutch cable and engine oil. She was more ready to take me for a ride in which she always excels. And it was time, Oct 28th 2015, the day we kick started the journey.
There she is, a beauty! The First picture I clicked during the ride. She is always as gorgeous.
Day 1: Theni to Ernakulam 206kms
It was a sunny day in Theni, had lunch around 12 and was ready to start. I setup the backpack with bungee nets in the rear seat, GPS mount, my DIY tank bag. I had to put my camera bag around my neck and rest it on the tank as i had no other option. That was a bit uncomfortable on bad roads and twisties on the mountains. I left home by 12:40 after a quick send off by everyone at home and my best buddy Bala and his bros. My plan was to ride until Munnar and stop for refreshment. As i started up the hills towards Bodi mettu the weather just transformed as usual. It started drizzling when we were just few kms ahead of Bodimettu. So when we reached Bodimettu, the border of Tamilnadu, I stopped for a Tea and had to put on the rain liner and cover up everything we had with rain covers. That was just 10 mins. I crossed Poopara as expected. There is this other route via Rajakad after Poopara to Ernakulum, but heard that the roads are not as excellent as the Munnar highway NH 49. So I decided to take her through the later route even though it was some 30kms more. It was raining quite heavily but I didn’t mind pushing her through the turn’s cuz it was quite a well known tarmac for us as we did two trips earlier this year in the same route. One was to Munnar and other was to Valparai via Munnar. We didn’t stop in Munnar as I was enjoying the Ghat section. I thought of stopping in Adimali for a break which is some 26kms away from Munnar. Finally the rain stopped and we encountered a water falls just ahead of Adimali and didn’t want to miss the view. So we stopped there for almost 20 mins, clicked some pics and decided to move on.
I was less than 100kms to the destination for the day. It was around 17:00 and Ernakulum was 60kms away and it started to rain again. I had to change the glove and put the rain liner on. So I stopped for a Chaya and started around 17:30. It was getting quite dark due to the dark clouds. Within the next 5kms it started raining heavily and i didnt bother as i got everything covered up except my gloves. It got drenched soon than i expected. I had to stop and switch to the other neoprene one i had. I was not surprised to see the dye from my Cramster touring gloves on my hands cuz I read about it before i ordered one. I had no other option as i was on a tight budget. Finally reached Ernakulam around 19:00.
The falls i was talking about.
The plan was to stay with my friend Vicky who recently moved on to Ernakulam few days back. He was staying in Ceylon Bake House as he was yet to rent a house. Unfortunately when i started he had to leave to Pune for some work. But he was kind enough to leave the room keys at the reception for me to stay on his behalf. It would have been nice if he was there to share the details of the journey for the day and to have dinner with some chit chat. I had Chicken fried rice for dinner and Fruit salad with ice cream for dessert. It was time to call it a day hence set alarm to 05:00, plugged my Nexus5 in the charger and went to bed with little excitement about the next day.
Continued with Day 2 in Post no: 6
Continued with Day 3 in Post no: 9
Waiting for approval.
Thanks for the approval @Divya Sharan
I'll keep updating in a while as I'm unable to gather the data to write the whole T-log in a go. Sorry about that. For some it may be a good read, enjoy and for some it may be a boring stupid writing, kindly bare with me, I'll try to improve. Criticism is more welcome than appreciation. Thanks
Its always about the Journey and not the destination!
The Ongoing journey.
Theni - Pune - 4 days - 4 States - 1432Kms (as per map)
Ongoing Journey Route: Tamilnadu - Bodi Mettu 42.5kms | Kerala - Poopara, Munnar, Adimali, Thalakode, Kothamangalam, Ernakulum (Kochi), Guruvayur, Ponnani, Kozhikode, Mahe, Kannur, Bekal, Kasaragod | Karnataka - Mangalore, Murdeshwar, Maravanthe, Karwar | Goa - Cavelossim, Margoa, Ponda | Karnataka - Belgaum | Maharashtra - Kolhapur, Karad, Satara, Pune
Ride: CBR250R - Odo Reading 53019kms
Gears: Riding jacket, Gloves, Boots, Helmet with clean visor, Bungee nets to tie the luggage, Fly GPS mount, Canon 1100d, a DIY tank bag(made from regular backpack), DIY 12v socket for charging(never had to use it though), Bike tool kit, Chain lube, Puncture kit, Nylon rope for tying up in case anything goes wrong, an umbrella, a multi-pin socket for your chargers, my Nexus5 with Navi maps for offline navigation, a Nokia 107 for calls
and some of my wardrobe :PI never wanted to lead a routine life and until now I haven’t really attached to anything that I don’t find interesting every day. I’m quite gifted in that sense because i had the freedom to do whatever I like. My family wouldn’t stop me from doing it. Rather I would also not obey them just for the sake that they raised me. I’m just too straight forward for the modern days. :P
It had been a year since I quit working. I started a small scale business which was my dream. It went well for quite some days until things started to get boring. Somehow, you won’t know certain things until you experience them in real life situation on first hand. Business was one such thing and it was different than i thought. I really thought it would be my freedom but the real problem comes with finance. It’s all about how much you could risk investing to develop it so that you can meet your monthly financial needs. Life was good but then there was this feel, you know lack of something interesting. What I really missed from corporate life was those friends/people who would be always surround you. That kind of makes you forget your worries and get along.
Simply, life was boring without adventure. So I thought of a trip with friends. Approached them and everyone was like I can’t make it up for 10 days no leave, no time, blah.. blah.. blah.. We'll do it by the end of the year for the New Year. But I badly wanted a trip and thought why to depend on others, why not a solo. There is a first time for everything. I was also motivated by many travelogues and riders to do a solo. I was like it’s time to find yourself, I mean self realization. So i decided to go on with it very lately after a lotta dilemma.
I planned the route, prepped her well. She went through a general checkup, recently got a new rear wheel (alloy rim), a pair of new radial shoes(MRF Revz), Front brake pad, Clutch cable and engine oil. She was more ready to take me for a ride in which she always excels. And it was time, Oct 28th 2015, the day we kick started the journey.
There she is, a beauty! The First picture I clicked during the ride.
She is always as gorgeous.Day 1: Theni to Ernakulam 206kms
It was a sunny day in Theni, had lunch around 12 and was ready to start. I setup the backpack with bungee nets in the rear seat, GPS mount, my DIY tank bag. I had to put my camera bag around my neck and rest it on the tank as i had no other option. That was a bit uncomfortable on bad roads and twisties on the mountains. I left home by 12:40 after a quick send off by everyone at home and my best buddy Bala and his bros. My plan was to ride until Munnar and stop for refreshment. As i started up the hills towards Bodi mettu the weather just transformed as usual. It started drizzling when we were just few kms ahead of Bodimettu. So when we reached Bodimettu, the border of Tamilnadu, I stopped for a Tea and had to put on the rain liner and cover up everything we had with rain covers. That was just 10 mins. I crossed Poopara as expected. There is this other route via Rajakad after Poopara to Ernakulum, but heard that the roads are not as excellent as the Munnar highway NH 49. So I decided to take her through the later route even though it was some 30kms more. It was raining quite heavily but I didn’t mind pushing her through the turn’s cuz it was quite a well known tarmac for us as we did two trips earlier this year in the same route. One was to Munnar and other was to Valparai via Munnar. We didn’t stop in Munnar as I was enjoying the Ghat section. I thought of stopping in Adimali for a break which is some 26kms away from Munnar. Finally the rain stopped and we encountered a water falls just ahead of Adimali and didn’t want to miss the view. So we stopped there for almost 20 mins, clicked some pics and decided to move on.
I was less than 100kms to the destination for the day. It was around 17:00 and Ernakulum was 60kms away and it started to rain again. I had to change the glove and put the rain liner on. So I stopped for a Chaya and started around 17:30. It was getting quite dark due to the dark clouds. Within the next 5kms it started raining heavily and i didnt bother as i got everything covered up except my gloves. It got drenched soon than i expected. I had to stop and switch to the other neoprene one i had. I was not surprised to see the dye from my Cramster touring gloves on my hands cuz I read about it before i ordered one. I had no other option as i was on a tight budget. Finally reached Ernakulam around 19:00.
The falls i was talking about.
The plan was to stay with my friend Vicky who recently moved on to Ernakulam few days back. He was staying in Ceylon Bake House as he was yet to rent a house. Unfortunately when i started he had to leave to Pune for some work. But he was kind enough to leave the room keys at the reception for me to stay on his behalf. It would have been nice if he was there to share the details of the journey for the day and to have dinner with some chit chat. I had Chicken fried rice for dinner and Fruit salad with ice cream for dessert. It was time to call it a day hence set alarm to 05:00, plugged my Nexus5 in the charger and went to bed with little excitement about the next day.
Continued with Day 2 in Post no: 6
Continued with Day 3 in Post no: 9
Well I tried all the possible tricks but nothing worked out. Finally thought i would wait until 9 for the LG service centre to open up so that I can change display and get going. There wasn't much to cover for the day as it was just short of 400kms. It would had been nice if I started early that i could have enjoyed the sunrise in any of the beaches on the coastal highway. My bad! I finished my breakfast, went down to the reception and enquired about the LG service centre. The receptionist was very helpful suggesting some of the best aftermarket service centers. But the problem was they all open after 10:30. I had no choice but LG Direct service centers as they open by 9. I settled all the restaurant bills and got back to room to get things packed and ready. By 08:30 I was done.
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