Re: Our Goa Trip Log

Travelogue Approved

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Re: Our Goa Trip Log

Yes. as I mentioned in the post, I was having a bit of trouble uploading the pics. I'll sort it out quickly. Thanks for approving the travel log.

Re: Our Goa Trip Log


Awesome. Visible now Good stuff!

Re: Our Goa Trip Log

Once again its time for the Goa trip log update.



Once done with our lunch we took account of our things and checked our fuel level. Among other things we decided to check our bike chains and lube them appropriately. We then suited up once again and decided to make the final push to Badami. Honestly I'll tell you all, Badami was a really bad decision but overall only factored into our plan because we had the reservations in place from when we were more than four people riding. In fact the man who suggested Badami didn't even join us on the ride. Oh well, we had bookings in place so had to do it and we figured that a nights rest would be good for us.


So once again off we went.

By then it was roughly 3:00pm but we were on the road and confident that we would make good time.

Only one problem though. The one setting the maps (Ajay) did not set it point to point but instead set it from Hyderabad to Goa via Badami.


As you can all see we ended up taking the Sindanur route through an obscure bypass which led us through a long stretch of road to Lingasugur from Sindanur via Maski (please god avoid this route like the plague). We encountered roads that were not even good for speeds upto 70kmph with lots of bad patches and trucks but most importantly, Speed breakers (Big ones with sharp rocks set at the top for some ungodly reason. I scrapped my bike twice (luckily no damage done. But sure made me crap bricks)

Due to this delay we ended up taking more breaks, we were dehydrated and were getting tired and sleepy. It was close to 6pm by now and we even encountered some rains as we neared Bagalkote. The rains however stopped soon and then we were all looking stupid wearing our rain gear.


But the tiredness was taking its toll and it was getting difficult to ride. In other words if we did not reach Badami, soon we would have to camp on the side of the road for the night. Each one of us with sore backsides still soldiered on with hope and conviction but while we were strong of mind our bikes were not so strong. Our tires were not built to handle the abuse the road threw at us and it was becoming evident as slight gravel or water was starting to make them skid.We prayed for relief from this nightmare but relief was yet to come.

We somehow managed to get back on the open highway to again be led through more small township roads mere minutes later until our bodies could literally take no more. It was already night fall and the road was filled with dark blind spots, rough patches and dead animal carcases. Slowly we inched towards our destinations until we stopped for tea 34 kilometers from Badami. Our bodies giving up, our minds losing focus, we were really in for it now. The next stretch was through pitch darkness with bad roads in the middle of what seemed to be a forest. Nightfall via this route and not a single soul in sight. My heart was fluttering. What if one of our bikes was to break down here, we would be stranded with no help for miles (Lesson learnt here: Always check maps point to point only, for best route info and never travel through obscure dark roads). Through what seemed like endless motoring hell we finally saw a glimer of light. We had reached the highway again and were now mere minutes from our destination. As we rode through Badami township towards our hotel we heaved a sigh of relief. We had survived!!! We had made it!!!


The most wonderous sight for us was this signboard.

We reached the hotel at 9:30pm (I remember this since I remember saying I need dinner, beer and a bed or I wouldn't be able to ride tomorrow )


It was our destination for day 1 of the ride and after 12 hours of riding (with breaks for the usual stuff plus lunch and breakfast which really didn't take very long say an hour each for lunch and breakfast and 5 minutes per break) we parked our bikes, checked in and went straight to our rooms.


We took a hot bath and ate a nice dinner. We sat outside in the open air for a bit and then went straight to bed.

The next morning we woke up fresh and decided that we were here and therefore we should see some sights. Badami caves are famous and it was less than two kilometers away from our hotel, how could we resist.


We decided that our hellish journey had to mean something and we were not leaving without some nice snapshots (Besides Ajay had his DSLR with him so how could we pass up the opportunity)


Sarvajit in the Orange shirt, Me in the middle and Ajay in the blue shirt.


We did some exploring and just as we decided to leave we got a call from the fourth rider (Sahil) claiming that he had reached Bagalkote asking us if we would join him or should he venture to Badami. We let him know that the roads were very bad and that he should continue on as we would surely meet on the highway. With this we set out to check-out of our hotel.

At the hotel we could not resist a few snaps as the hotel was top notch with beautiful rooms with TV and Wi-Fi facilities in what I can only call an obscure little town in the middle of nowhere. W just had to let people know that there is a paradise in the middle of a touring hell-hole that too run by KSTDC (Govt.)

Check out time was at noon but the hotel staff let us have a half hour extra. Overall the hotel was just superb (10/10).

With our pics and memories we set out once again to get to Bagalkote and then on to Belgavi. We were on the road by 1 pm again determined, blissfully unaware of what lay ahead.

Will update next leg of the run once I finish compiling the next set of snapshots. Stay tuned.

Cheers
Balgi

Re: Our Goa Trip Log

Good one. Waiting for the next update. We need Goa with more pics 😇

Re: Our Goa Trip Log

Nice to see the trip to Goa. More bike pics please.

Re: Our Goa Trip Log

I will post some nice Goa pics soon in the next leg of the tour log. I'm actually in the process of sorting the pictures.

Sent from my CPH1701 using xBhp.com mobile app

Re: Our Goa Trip Log

Nice pictures there.
What visor is that on the Duke 390??? Can you please upload some close-up pics please.

Keep Riding!!!!
James

Re: Our Goa Trip Log



@Balgi ji

Re: Our Goa Trip Log

Just loved it, mainly R3 and CBR. Wish you guys many many safe kms on these beautiful machines.

Re: Our Goa Trip Log

Good snaps and write-up...Great going


ATGATT !!!

Cheers,
WindPacer

Re: Our Goa Trip Log

That visor came off of a RS200 I think. Will ask Ajay to post regarding the same with Pics. Anyway It was a total custom job. But the visor didn't really help coz though it kept the wind off the rider's helmet, it basically let air through its underside directly on the rider's chest. But it did work out for everything but high speeds, so still gonna recommend this mod for people who tour with duke 390s.

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Thank you sir.... It was a pleasure.

Cheers

Balgi

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Both bikes performed flawlessly the whole way plus returning a decent 34kmpl for the R3 and a very impressive 22.5kmpl fuel average for the CBR 650. The CBR has a tank capacity of 17.5ltrs and the R3 has 14.5ltrs and both bikes did Goa and back on 3 tanks of petrol give or take a few litres.

Cheers

Balgi

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Thank you brother and very nice profile pic might I say. Very cool!

Re: Our Goa Trip Log

Goa Trip Log Update 4 (Badami-Belgavi-Goa)



So here we were again on the open road leaving Badami. Other than a few minutes of bumpy riding there really wasn't really much trouble to be had on our journey from now on. With nice big road signs pointing our way, we figured there wouldn't be anymore delays or sore behinds. Oh My God!!! were we just straight up wrong. We started from Badami at 1pm after checkout, chain lubrication, tire pressure check and a tying our luggage once again firmly to our bikes. We thought it would be smooth riding and with that in mind we left Badami township and got to the open highway (although at a snail's pace). The road leading in and out of Badami might as well be a dirt road from the worst parts of Leh-Ladakh (so unless you really wanna see the caves there or have a Jeep or other SUV, avoid like the plague).


Once on the road Sarvajit started to follow the road signs as I followed him a close second maintaining a healthy 3 bike distance and staying to his left, constantly watching for Ajay in my mirror. But then I suddenly couldn't find him anymore in my rear-view. I quickly sped-up and reached Sarvajit and asked him to pull over so we could wait for Ajay. Sure enough, he showed up just as we powered down our machines and were ready to take off our gloves and helmets. Ajay said that he found an alternate route to Belgavi which will shave some decent amount of time off our ride and help us catch up with Sahil as he reaches Belgavi. Against our better judgement we decided to go with it.


And off we went Ignoring the giant green road sign that said Bagalkote 44kms to take another obscure bypass. In Ajay's defence we did shave a decent 10kms off our total distance, but then again it took us through villages and dirt road like bypasses with a fair bit of construction going on which made our time going through a solid 2 hours.



As you can see Ajay once again set his map straight for the destination instead of point to point. If he had set his map for Belgavi instead we pretty much would've seen that going back to Bagalkot would increase our distance but actually save us time, as you can see below.


But anyway. Midway we stopped for lunch at a nice little (albeit dirty) little dhaba. The food thankfully was good and after a short half hour break we once again got back on the road. The ride through the small road was hell on our backs but the scenery was splendid. We passed giant wind turbines and lush green fields and reached the four lane undivided highway headed to Belgavi.


We can say the roads were good and no speed breakers on along the way and only a small stretch through a township with an Essar fuel bunk that we filled up at. Shortly after doing another solid hour's worth of riding we decided to ease off and stop for a break. Mainly because the crosswinds on this road was murder on us, we also did need to take a leak and while we were at it we decided to take some pics of the bikes as well.




We were concerned as it was well past five and we needed to get to the ghat section with some daylight to spare. Luckily we had no more bad roads on our backs and we soon got to Belgavi with some time to spare. We once again took a break to set our maps and our backs (Ride-on-air is a good investment, made a mental note of that along with the pain in our posteriors).


Belgavi city was easy, though we had to make it through the Karnataka branded, no holds barred traffic. I rekindled some old memories of visiting Belgavi with my Dad (I am a Konkan and Belgavi is actually my home town, though I grew up in other places and literally only visited once). I remembered the places and the roads (If I had more time I would visit my aunt but alas it was not to be. Or next destination was Panjim and from there to Calangut. We set our maps to Panjim and and took off. By now it was past 6pm. As we left Belgavi, we were greeted by some nice mild showers so we had to pull over. But that did not last long. Sarvajit needed fuel and so we told him to go ahead of us and find a fuel bunk and to wait for us there. We took a few minutes to get ready after he left and I escorted Ajay through the first stretch of the twisties as his visor was fogging up due to moisture in the air and he was not used to riding with the visor up. The twisties were easy and even though I was running the stock dunlop tires (no rain grip) the CBR performed flawlessly, never allowing me to lose confidence. We stopped at the entrance of the Ghat section in a matter of minutes but by then we had lost our battle with time.

Darkness had set in and visibility, if it was poor before it was non-existent now. But we had greater concerns as Ajay asked a local shop owner nearby where the next fuel bunk was and was told there were none in the Ghat section. So where did Sarvajit go? How was he going to make it past the Ghats? I told Ajay that if anything, we should find him first and think of these things later. If needed we could always back-track to get fuel. The bigger concern was getting past the ghats at night.

We found Sarvajit soon enough not far from the mouth of the ghats at a fuel bunk (Surprise Surprise , no fuel in the ghats huh). As he filled up I took a leak and Ajay decided to tank up as well (for god knows what reason because he had enough fuel to get to our destination, but if he wanted to be sure. That was his decision). Once done we set out on the most dangerous mission of our lives. Getting through ghats at night.

The stories we had heard and the warnings of all the old timer tourers all came true. In pitch darkness we were travelling in a straight line formation through the most twisty and unforgiving roads with trucks and buses coming from the opposite direction. There was no stopping here because if not the limited space on the tiny roads then we were in danger from the wildlife in the area. Frequently we would see animal warnings set by the forest department along the side of the road and I have to say, some people are plain stupid. In such tight confined spaces we were passed by cars at high speeds in the most reckless manner but we were too scared to do anything about it. We just had to get through. The roads only got darker and twistier as we carried on and at one point we were unsure if this road had an end. With great difficulty we kept our cool and with Sarvajit in the lead and Ajay tailing us we finally got through the ghats and saw our first glimpse of civilization. We were finally in Goa!!! . From this point on Saravajit did the leading and we followed him. We finally arrived in Candolim. It took us a while to get through the city interiors but we finally arrived (Interesting side note: Goa highways actually have a completely separate lane for two wheeled traffic which I find to be super cool).

Our destination was a service appartment some 700 meters away from the beach at Candolim booked with Our Goa Holidays (Do not book this place unless absolutely no other choice exists, Its not bad but its just not that good that's all). The hotel had a pool and was adjacent to Lemontree resort which had a restaurant and bar attached to it. We reached at 10:30pm having ridden a solid 8 hours, we parked our bikes securely, untied our luggage and went straight to our 2BHK appartment. Sahil was already there and came to greet us and took us up to our apartment. We finally shed the skin of the biker, took a bath and transformed into tourists.

There was fun and frolic ahead, drinks and music, sandy beaches and beautiful (rain-free) Goan weather. It was time to start having fun because we were finally here........................


I will post the pics we took in Goa tomorrow.

Cheers

Balgi

Re: Our Goa Trip Log

Great... riding the unknown roads is the best. I am completely loving it.

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Great... riding the unknown roads is the best. I am completely loving it.