Re: Ride 2017 - Chennai to Goa - 2000 kms - 4 days

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Re: Ride 2017 - Chennai to Goa - 2000 kms - 4 days

Pre ride story............

So with just around 2 weeks to go for the ride we change the plan to GOA.
So as per the plan the travel days are 28,29,30 and 31st of October.
So now the the discussions on the stop over started and we couldn't accommodate the plan within four days (you all would have guessed it, we want a extended halt in GOA )
Forget about adding one additional hour to the plan, we can't even extend one hour than the 4 approved days. After further browsing the maps, we came up with the plan of doing GOA in one day...YES not the ideal situation but had no choice....after more and more conversations it was decided we do it in one day, but have a few hours break in between so that we don't tire out. We were ok with this break even if it means we would reach GOA around midnight. So now for the route the maps showed us the usual Vellore Hosur bangalore route. Immediately we had the opposition from Sarav to change it. He was so allergic to the sriperambatur route after our last ride, he strongly recommended an alternate route. So the other option was to go inside AP and catch the national highway after Bangalore somewhere near Tumkur. We concluded on couple of route that connect Karnataka via Tirupathi. So after the plan was setup we had the usual process of bike service and few purchases. The week before the trip we decided on further checking the route and also complete the purchases. Extra fittings, gloves, ropes and visor changes for the helmets were all completed. We settled down in a juice shop and did the route check for day 1. So much of concentration was put on the initial part of the ride that we clearly forgot to see the ghat section on the KA-Goa border. As we discussed earlier, our plan was to have a small break after around 500 kms and continue the ride which will as per our calculation will ensure we reach GOA around 11 pm. Now this brought a dilemma on how we do this ghat section in the late night. It was also the border for the 2 states and from the look of it it also included reserved forest section on both sides. We looked into various travelogues and got clarified, yes it was doable in the night and roads are good enough. The only pending part was the bike service. We delayed it slightly as it was raining heavily for few days here in Chennai. So 3 days before the drive the bike was serviced and returned the same day. Informed the mechanic about the long ride and all necessary changes were made. We were just 2 days away from our ride and still that thought of completing the 950 kms ride on one day was bringing confidence and at times confusion among us. So in a call among us we further discussed on the initital part of going via AP and the possibilities of bad roads and delays which we are not very sure of. Finally we decided it was better to go via the known roads of vellore, rather than via AP.

Please note we always enjoy trying new roads and challenges, but we did not want the ultimate aim of completing GOA in one day to be disturbed. Convinced Sarav that the Sriperambatur roads are far better than last years (as confirmed by one of the relatives of Vino, who used these roads recently) and fixed the plan just hours before our ride. Now everything is in place and all we had to do was to complete the day's work in office on friday and head home to start as early as possible.

The plan was to reach home as early as possible and try to sleep for few hours (in all these years of traveling never slept for more than 2 hours on the previous night). This trip was nothing different and could hardly sleep for more that 45 mins.

So we decided to meet up at the Shell Petrol bunk in Porur by 1 am. Sarav and myself will start by around 12:15 am. Vino will be picked up by Sarav in ramapuram. Most of the basic things are already packed and with me from last week. We travel with one huge bag tied on the back of my bike. Whatsapp informed that Sarav has started and so do i by around 12:15 am. Called up Vino but he is still in sleep. Yes expected, he works in Australia shifts and would have got up around 4 am the previous day. Took me good 30 mins to cover the 20 plus kms to the pertrol bunk. Minutes later received information from Sarav of reaching Vino's home. He took a good 30 mins to come out of his home with the additional luggage. In another 15 mins they reach the pertol bunk. We completed the packing and did the fuelling. All set and yes finally we are about to start.

Day 1 to continue...............


Speedometer reading at the start (33401 KMS)


Casual click out of boredom...waiting for Vino's arrival

Re: Ride 2017 - Chennai to Goa - 2000 kms - 4 days

Cant wait man just continue

Re: Ride 2017 - Chennai to Goa - 2000 kms - 4 days

God send Thread !!! I am planning a solo ride from chennai to goa this December & my first trip outside southern India . I was searching for pointers and guidance & suddenly this happened ... Carry on guys ....

Re: Ride 2017 - Chennai to Goa - 2000 kms - 4 days

Hahaha...Super buddy have a nice ride. Ensure you plan well, being this a SOLO ride.

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Sorry....the Day 1 post will be there in few minutes

Re: Ride 2017 - Chennai to Goa - 2000 kms - 4 days

Day 1 (Chennai to Goa) 970 kms

Route - Chennai - Vellore - Krisnagiri - Hosur - Nice Road - Tumkur - Chitradurga - Devangere - Haveri - Hubballi - Dharwad - Mollem - Ponda - Panjim

The map of the entire trip below....



So after some 30 mins delay, we finally start by 2 am sharp. As usual the initial stretch was slower and gradually we increased the speed. We decided to do atleast 100 kms before our first stop. Did around 120 kms and had our first halt for a tea break. IT was around 4:30 AM and had a good 15 mins break, started again and without much trouble did decent speeds. Did another good stretch before we stopped for a photo shoot in one of the bridges in Vaniyambadi. Stopped there for 15 mins and gave much needed rest for our butts. Even though we have accomplished 200+ kms, we couldn't overjoy considering we still have another 750 kms. Without thinking too much we start again. It was close to sunrise. We drive another 50 kms and there were clear sign boards for us to take right for Krishnagiri and then to Bangalore. Day light breaks and we start looking around for a hotel for breakfast. Seems it was too early for this side of the country to have breakfast. That was the reaction when we enquired couple of hotels in the highway. Finally find one who are ready to serve in 15 mins. Think the name of the hotel was Saravanaa. Not the regular one. It had good space for parking. We parked the bikes and relaxed for few mins and slowly they started taking orders. Was the usual breakfast of Idly, dosa, poori and coffee. After a good long break for more than 45 mins, we started again. We were already behind schedule. We didn't worry too much on that and continued the ride knowing we have a long way to go.

Near Vaniyambadi



The next target was to reach the Electronic city. Started steadily on the neat long and wide roads. The view on the either sides were good and temperature was still cold at around 9 am. Traffic started to pick up as we came closer to Hosur. Soon we were inside Karnataka and close to electronic city. The roads got narrow and we lost track of each other. I reached first and stopped close to the toll gate assuming they would have already been there. But they have stopped somewhere in that stretch thinking i am behind them. After a few calls and 30 mins we meet each other. Followed the google maps and took the left to NICE road.

For those who are not aware, two wheelers are required to pay toll here. Rate differ from 20 to around 70 for bikes. For Tumkur road it costs the maximum of 67 or so. Need to stand a long queue to cross over. As bike riders we are not used to doing this in any toll gate :-) but managed to cross the toll and drive by 9:30 am. Beautiful roads all the way. Neatly maintained and most of the stretch was dead straight. After few kilometers took a much needed break and also some photo session.










The break stretched to 30 mins and we started again. Had another 50 kms to exit NICE road and we do it in double quick time. Soon we exit and take the road to Tumkur which starts crossing a toll gate. Took another short 10 minutes break for some cold water. The heat was getting on us. As per our plan we should be reaching Chitradurga by around 11 or 12 and take a halt for few hours. We are still more than 150 kms away from our destination. Started again with the mind set to cover as much as we can. We had covered just over 400 kms by around 11 am. After this break it was straight NH roads. Not much to think or see we go forward. One must be very careful in this stretch of Karnataka where you will come across speed breakers everytime you cross a small town or village. It is just not one you will have. It will around 7 or 8 small ones continuously. It comes so quickly when you drive at good speeds. First few were fine, but the more you travel the more you will see. We crossed tumkuru, Sira and then Hariyur. We delayed the lunch plan until we reach Chitradurga. By around 2:30 pm we reach Chitradurga. Could find any good hotel and drive a further 10 kms till we find one Dhaba. We were suppose to reach here 3 hours back and should have relaxed atleast 3 hours. Now all of that is gone and all we could do is relax on those dhaba special seats and expect for a good meal. We ordered some rotis and 2 to 3 gravy's, egg burji also. Sarav tried hard to request for lassi but the person attending us couldn't understand it. After a good 10 mins he received a response " This is Karnataka Dhaba, we don't serve lassi, it will only be available in Punjabi Dhaba". We all laughed out and completed the good meal. It went on for a good one hour.

The Dhaba




So by 3:30 pm we start again. It was the same, roads and multiple speed breakers. With the tummy full we started fresh and did good speeds to cross Devangere. Next up it was Haveri. By around 5 pm we were close to haveri, the bikers needed some power nap. Stopped over at a BP petrol bunk. IT was quite a huge bunk with some restaurent and kids play area attached to it. Parked the bike close to the restaurent and we just dosed off quickly. IT was a good 30 to 45 mins power nap. Got up refreshed ourself, had a cup of tea and started again by 5:45. Decided to cover as much as we can before it gets dark.

Had close to 100 kms to reach hubbali and we do so without much break. As it started getting darker, we had all sort of flies crashing our visor. Had to stop at some point to vipe them and clean them with water. By around 8 pm we reach hubbali and had our fuel stop. Called our people back home and update them of our status and informed we would be driving for another 3 to 4 hours. In another 30 mins we reach Dharwad. The stretch from Hubbali to Dharwad was 2 laned and good roads. But it is a risk to drive by bike during the night. Lot of vehicle movement is there which all proceed all the way to mumbai. We managed to sneak thru all these huge vehicles and reached the junction where we finally exit the highway and take left towards Goa. Sign boards were clearly available to take this left. The initial stretch of few kilometers were pretty bad with no roads. We move along and cover some distance. As we go along we lost sight of buildings lights or any human. Soon it was covered by forests on both sides of the road. Every now and then one or two cars would cross us. We identify a hotel by around 10 pm on the right. Went inside and had Chicken fried rice and some mutton gravy. They took some time to serve us. By the time we complete the dinner, it took a good one hour. Not sure of the exact place where we had our dinner. From now on it was just how much kilometers to cover. We had just above 100 kms to cover. Started again and it was same. No trace of any light or human beings. But it was joy to ride there during this night time. It is for these special things we do these kind of rides. Also during this stretch we crossed 3 or 4 railway crossings. Another 30 to 40 kms, we were near the Goa border. There was this check post and 4 to 5 policemen were busy doing the check on all the vehicles that crossby. Had a situation there and we lost some 30 mins there. From then on it was desperation to reach panjim. Just before midnight we crossed the border and the ghat section was over even before we could realise. Our next target was Ponda and at some point we missed the road towards it and took a left which takes us towards south of Goa. Found this when we checked the maps for the distance to Panjim, it started to increase. Google maps showed an alternate route to reach panjim. Followed it according. As we do always the bookings of hotel is always done only after we reach the destination. But this time we were a little unsure how this is going to work. In this part of GOa we will not be able to identify any soul to help you and also there is zero direction boards available to guide you. Google maps helped us a lot here. As we came close to Panjim, browsed makemytrip to see for any accomadation. Called few numbers as well. Not to reach them those locations is a struggle. We were in Panjim but going on circles to identify the exact location of the hotels. Went and checked manually to few hotels, but they were not ready to accept us at this time of the hour. We have lost a good one hour here. Finally find one, and the person in the reception asked for 7000 rupees which is for stay only upto 11 am. So basically 9 hours we were asked to pay this much. Rejected the offer kindly and went out for other options. Our pillion Mr. Vino used his expertise and found some guy out of nowhere and he is ready to help us out. He will show us one accomadation with AC which will cost 2000. Wheather we like it or not pay him 200. The deal looked decent and also had no other option at that time. So Vino and Sarav go see the rooms and i wait outside with the luggage. It was 2 AM by then. Rooms looked satisfying. Formalities completed, thanked the guy for the timely help and we hit the bed after updating our better halfs of our whereabouts. The location of the hotel was quite good. You can see the Mandovi river and all the Casino ships from your balcony. One huge ship was straight opposite to our building. It was bright with all those lights in the night. Within minutes we settle ourself and go to sleep without our knowledge.


Some photos from Day 1....Day 2 to continue.

Re: Ride 2017 - Chennai to Goa - 2000 kms - 4 days

Great bro its impressing

Re: Ride 2017 - Chennai to Goa - 2000 kms - 4 days

Thank you bro :-)

Re: Ride 2017 - Chennai to Goa - 2000 kms - 4 days

Nice bros, this is one heck of a ride.

Re: Ride 2017 - Chennai to Goa - 2000 kms - 4 days

I'm logging on to xbhp after at least 2yrs now.. thanks for this write up.. brought back old memories

Re: Ride 2017 - Chennai to Goa - 2000 kms - 4 days


Thank you :-)

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Good to hear that..

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Day 2 (50 kms - Within Goa) - Rest day with Eat sleep and beach

So after a very very long day on the road, it was as planned to rest day in Goa. We were all sleeping as much as we can. Around 11 am got up to see the status of others. No movements and no sign of getting up. Went back to sleep again. Around 1 PM the tummy started to feel the need of food and we all woke up lazily. In few minutes we got our-self ready and went outside. The building opposite our hotel a udipi hotel. Had some light food and 2 glasses of lassi. The plan is to go the Baga beach and then move to other places. It was less than 20 kms from our place. Touch the main road and you see lots of cruise ships around. Some very huge and some small. Crossed by the counter booking short rides in the river. We need to take the left to cross the river by the Mandovi bridge. That was one beautiful bridge. After that roads are mostly 2 laned. Took the help of google maps and reached Baga beach. Parked our bikes and went inside. The beach was filled with lots of tourists, both indian and foreign tourists. The beach was pretty neat and there were quite a lot of shacks on the shore. We settled on one of them and ordered Squid and Beef chilly fry. One old lady was selling pineapple. Got the pineapple without asking the price (big mistake). The reply when we asked for the price finally was 110. The costliest pineapple of our life. Numerous activities were going on in the beach and we relaxed with the food there for couple of hours. Saw the sunset and decided to move to the next beach. Next up it was the Calangute beach which was not very far. This beach had a mix of everything. From the place were we started there were no shops and all we could see was families playing in the sand and sea. Move further you have the same feel of the Baga beach. It became dark and loud music was everywhere. Only problem is you will not enjoy, atleast i did not enjoy the music as every shack was play its very own music very loud. Felt more of inconvenience than pleasure. Another you will notice everywhere is Goa are the agents for all. From food, to parties, tattoos, rooms everything. They easily identify you as a tourist and surround you all the time.

After we went around for some shopping. Most of the shops were either for Liquor or cashew. Near the beach you had so many shops selling different items and dresses. You should be good in bargaining to get a good deal. After some purchase we drive back to our place. The mondovi river was ever more beautiful with all the lights. The place where we stayed had lot of commercial establishments. Parked the bikes and started roaming around. In the meantime what initially was a light headache (might be because of the music)started to bother me more. We roamed for a good 10 mins and couldn't find one shop for tea. By that time could have easily crossed 50 to 100 shops with Liquor and Cashew :-) Finally found one and had a good hot tea. Did some more purchase nearby and also parcel for dinner. It consisted of chicken fish and many more. After a satisfying meal, went to sleep. Before bed packed the things to start early in the morning.

Day 3 with Murdeshwar, new routes and night drives with disco fish in the midnight to continue...

Mondovi river right opposite to where we stayed.


Pic of the trip...Nice food and view...was a relaxed evening


Baga beach




One of many ships on the mondovi river


the side walk for the river

Re: Ride 2017 - Chennai to Goa - 2000 kms - 4 days

Nice narration!
Waiting for the next part!

Re: Ride 2017 - Chennai to Goa - 2000 kms - 4 days

Thank you for taking time to read it thru....Will complete the return leg in few days

Re: Ride 2017 - Chennai to Goa - 2000 kms - 4 days


Day 3 (Goa to Hassan) 550 kms

Today will be the first leg of the return. We were so excited to go back via the west coast. Started around 8 am and had tea in a nearby shop and filled petrol in the first bunk and started our journey. This day being a Monday, the traffic was bit on the higher side. The roads were mostly 2 laned and also we couldn't do much overtaking initially. The more you move towards South Goa you will feel the real Goa is actually here in this part of the country. What we see in the North Goa part of Goa is for the tourists. We couldn't do good speeds. Our first target was karwar which was just over 100 kms. But because of the city travel, we could cover around 60 kms only in the first 2 hours. The roads and traffic got better, but we stopped for breakfast had a good 30 mins break. It was the usual south indian breakfast. Started again and moved towards Karwar. Reached Karwar by around 11 am. The next target was Murdeshwar. From now on the roads were 4 laned for 2 kms and 2 laned for 10 kms. This was the pattern all along the west coast. You can see the extension work going on the entire stretch. Maybe in a year or two it should be completely 4 laned. We were constantly diverted from 4 to 2 laned roads. This reduced ours speeds considerably. We also started to feel the heat around the afternoon. The route was scenic at many places and you will be very close to the sea on the right side many a times. For some reason we had the smell of fish for the entire day. Found out later one vehicle carrying fresh fish from sea was tagging with us the entire day :-) By around 2 pm we reached Murdeshwar. It was quite easy to identify. The huge tower and status is visible from the main road. You need to take a right from the main road and go straight for 2 kms. We parked the bikes just in front of the tower and were mesmerized by the beauty of this monument. On the right side you will have access to the beach, there was good crowd even in the afternoon of a weekday. We didn't go into the beach. Unfortunately the doors of the tower was closed, but you can access the statue directly by an alternate way. We moved to different directions and took lots of pictures of the statue and surroundings. HAd icecream and took quite a long break of more than one hour. We skipped the lunch and moved forward. We had around 350 kms to cover. It was already 3:30 pm

Again we catch the highway and routine of 2 laned to 4 lane continued. Somewhere before Udupi, there was a stretch of beach which was just adjacent to the highway. Stopped the bikes on the side and went inside the beach. It was neat and clean without much human disturbance. Work was going on in putting those huge cement block to divide the beach from the highway. Time for some photo session and rest on those man made rocks. Started again and reached udupi by around 5 pm. Decided to stop for some snack. Ended up to a small hotel and had more than a snack. Our initial plan was to head to Mangalore and then divert to Hassan. We even thought of going to Coorg but that had to be dropped considering the time and also not to repeat the day 1 scenario of midnight driving. Little did we know we will end up doing all that we didn't want to do. So rather than going straight to Mangalore, we took the left which goes via Karkala. Initially the roads were quite wide and traffic was also less. We didn't face much trouble. We had sun light for another one hour and covered 50 to 60 kms. But soon the roads become small and it was dark on all sides. It was like return of the KA-Goa border stretch. It was the same for the next 2 hours of riding. We had more than 100 kms to hassan now. The roads started to get worse as we entered the ghats section and cold was getting to us. Very few vehicles at this time of the night also. We had no idea on the route we have taken up. The roads started to get really worse and speed was now in the 20s. There was no one to even ask about the route. We went ahead trusting google. We had another 70 plus kms and it was around 10 pm. With no lunch we were damn hungry. But sighting even one small shop was even not possible in that route by now. Out of no where there came one hotel, without hesitating we stopped. With the hunger and stretch we rode, we would have eaten anything. We had some rotis with NV gravy, this guy from the shop came up and asked if we need fish fry. With the climate outside, we really wanted something very hot. Enquired him about the fish and he said "disco fish", we just asked him another 2 times to just confirm the fish name. No mood to analyze we ordered it. What came a very good fleshly spicy and hot fish. Ordered again and filled our tummy to the core. It was close to one hour of break. Decided we don't stop anywhere in between and head to Hassan directly.

The same followed for another one hour and now we were out of the ghat roads. The last stretch was highway and we could easily complete it with any trouble. We reached Hassan by around 12:30 am and the city was in total sleep. We couldn't even identify one person on the road to ask for help. As usual knocked couple of lodges door with no response. Found one hotel and it was little pricey. The person from the hotel suggested to go couple of kms to find few lodges which would suit our budget of 1000 INR. Found one in the main road itself and within 30 mins we were in the bed for a very sound sleep.
So it was like a recap of Day 1 were we were driving after midnight and in roads we didn't even know about. Not even in google maps we browsed these routes. But it was the fun of doing these which will be there in our memories for a very long time. The accommodation was more than what we expected considering the time we went there. The next day would be the usual final day of heading back home but with some stories as usual.

Day 4 to continue. Pics from day 3 to follow.

Murdeshwar








The beach near Murdeshwar