Re: Bangalore - Kochi - Varkala - Kovalam - Bangalore

Thread approved.

Very nicely penned down.

Re: Bangalore - Kochi - Varkala - Kovalam - Bangalore

Nicely put!
Short and simple!

Re: Bangalore - Kochi - Varkala - Kovalam - Bangalore

Day 2 - Rest & Roam
We woke up around 8.30 in the morning after a good sleep, had buffet breakfast at the hotel and left a couple of hours later to explore the city. Walked down to the ferry and took the ferry ride to cross Vypin to Fort Kochi. I was surprised to see that the price of a ticket was just 3 bucks to cross one way. We strolled past the many cafes here while also spotting the Chinese fishing nets. Visited the Santa Cruz Cathedral and naval museum while there.

We had already walked 4-5kms in the hot sun by now and were getting tired (since we barely walk even half a km back home). So, we decided to take an auto to explore the rest of Fort Kochi as it seemed like walking wouldn’t really work out for the rest of the day. We found an auto guy who took us to the Dutch cemetery and the Kochi beach. He said he would fill up some fuel and be back in 15 minutes but didn't show up even after 45 minutes had passed. Finally, we gave up on him walked up to the ferry to get back to the other side and walked back to our hotel.

It was already 5 in the evening by the time we got back and we were yet to eat lunch. As there weren't many options nearby, we decided to head to Lulu mall (Asia's largest mall). Initially we thought of getting an auto to give riding a rest but were quoted close to 30Rs/km. Hence, decided it was not worth it and took my bike. We reached the mall in half an hour. As expected, the mall is pretty big. It’s worth noting that they have made sure to have enough parking space to accommodate even the busiest of days, something which is overlooked in almost every mall back home. We had some pizza along with garlic bread and cold coffee at Pizza Hut and decided to head back. Reached the hotel around 7 PM winding up for the day.



The ferry that we took to Fort kochi








Found this interesting piece of art on the side of an apartment building






Inside the Naval Museum


Adding more stories in the museum






At Kochi Beach



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Day 3 - Into the Blue

Our day started early at 6:30 in the morning. We had breakfast and checked out of the hotel by 9 as we knew we had to ride for close to five hours to reach Varkala. The roads seemed to be good initially, but we came across a lot of patches and potholes after the first 15 – 20 kms. The suspension of both the bikes are on the stiffer side which does not work well on this kind of roads. Our average had reduced considerably and we had covered only about 50kms after being on the bikes for one and a half hours, at which point we decided to take a small break. Had some sugarcane juice while also fueling up my bike. The narrow roads and moderate traffic (being from Bangalore, we can never call it bad ) meant this ride wouldn’t be quick and effortless. We kept riding for another ninety odd minutes before taking a second break to quench the thirst.

We were at the Varkala Helipad by 2 PM and started searching for hotels nearby. Since this was on the cliff side, and our main intent was to jump into the beach right away we decided not to stick around for long and enquired for resorts from where we could just walk a few steps to the beach. Came across a helpful gentleman who suggested we head towards Papanasam beach as there were resorts right across the beach.

We found a beach resort that was barley 100 meters from the beach. We were quoted 7.5k upon inquiring for rooms, but after some negotiation Abhi managed to get the rooms at 6k. We checked in to the hotel, had some snacks and left for the beach. As we were walking along, we were surprised to see some rituals being performed by the pandits/swamis and families who had come particularly for that (the name of the beach made more sense now I guess). There were other tourists too who stood at the beach however none of them seemed to be willing to get into the water. We decided to get in anyway as this was why we came here in the first place. We were in for about two hours and then got out and headed towards our hotel pool where we relaxed for another thirty odd minutes. We decided to have a dinner at a nearby shack, came back to the hotel around 11 PM and called it a night.


Even the Riding Gears were not ready to leave the Bed!


At a Short Break


At Varkala Helipad


View from Our Room


Varkala Beach!

Re: Bangalore - Kochi - Varkala - Kovalam - Bangalore

Great going!

Re: Bangalore - Kochi - Varkala - Kovalam - Bangalore

Day 4 – The View
We got up around 8, had our breakfast at the hotel and got ready to leave in a couple of hours. It had started drizzling by then so we had to cover our luggage with the rain liners. Google maps had suggested a route along the coast (because it was 3 minutes faster than the highway) and we thought it would be scenic if nothing else. But we couldn’t have been more wrong. After the initial 10kms, there was nothing scenic as the route was taking us through small villages where the roads reminded us of the potholes and unevenly tarred patches back in Bangalore. We even rode on what once had been a road but now just some small stone path covered in slush due to the rains.

Our bikes weren't meant for these roads, and we bore the brunt on our backs and butts. It had been over an hour since we had started riding and we had barely managed to cover 25 kms. Finally we hit the highway and started putting some more miles on the odo. There was also one section on the highway probably less than a km in all but it was even worse than what we had encountered riding through the villages.

A little before 1 PM, we had entered Kovalam. We put on Google maps for navigation to reach the hotel. It took us through some really narrow roads but since we didn’t know the place before hand or come across many people, we decided to trust it and continue to what would’ve been a dead end. Luckily we found an auto guy who by himself asked us if we were heading towards Hotel Samudra, KTDC (which was our hotel indeed) and upon confirming that he told us the route that’s shown by google maps is wrong and he would take us to the hotel as he was dropping someone nearby there. So we followed him and reached the hotel in 5 minutes.
Checked into the hotel after thanking him, got refreshed and left for the light house. It had started raining outside, hence we decided to take an auto despite our not so great auto experiences in the last 3 days. The guy said he would charge 300 for the round trip and we didn’t have the energy to bargain this time or take our bikes and get drenched (especially when fate had this in store for our last day ).

He dropped us off at the beach though we had specifically asked him to drop us at the lighthouse. Of course, we didn’t how far it would be when we started walking. Only after reaching we realized he could’ve dropped us off exactly in front of the lighthouse since there were good roads leading up to it. So we ended up walking along the beach till we reached the lighthouse. Climbed to the top, clicked a few pics and headed back to the hotel by 5:30. We had skipped lunch yet again, so ordered some food and decided to relax at the hotel for the rest of the evening as the next day was going to be long ass day









Day 5 – Homecoming

We already knew we had a lot to cover on this day. In addition to it, we also wanted to cover the distance as soon as possible since we weren’t particular fond of riding at night. With these thoughts in mind we tried turning in early by 10 the previous night but sleep eluded us the same way sun would the following morning
After falling sleep around midnight, we were up by 5 and skipped the extra ten-minute sleep that we otherwise crave for, fearing it might turn into an hour. As much as we loved to sleep, we hated getting stuck in traffic, especially early in the morning. So we got ready quick, completed the checkout formalities, lubed the chain on both bikes and mounted our luggage for one last time on this trip.

It was raining already by the time we had got up and didn’t seem to stop anytime soon. As neither of us could afford to take leave the next day and this was the plan all along, we decided to start off in the drizzle. We already knew it would take us at least a couple of hours before we connected to the beautiful piece of tarmac on NH44 but what was to be a couple of hours seemed like an eternity riding in the rain and again moderate traffic, even after starting 6:30 in the morning. That combined with patchy roads and avoiding google maps suggestion of diverting us to unknown inner roads for being faster route by milliseconds meant we were pretty much spent by the time we reached the highway that we were looking forward to all this while. Needless to say, we stopped spotting the first decent hotel there, had our breakfast and filled up both the bikes for what lay ahead.

It was close to 9:30 in the morning by the time we started again and the rain seemed to have taken a break too, although a short one as we would find out soon enough. The roads were good as expected and we started hitting speeds above 100 to start making up for the 90 odd kms we had covered in about two and a half hours. We rode continuously for another 200 kms or so after which I had to fill up my bike again. More mileage on the odo in less time could only mean less fuel in the tank. We used this break to also hydrate ourselves, snacked on some biscuits and continued to ride as we had no intention of stopping anytime soon. No sooner did we start, the rain also decided to challenge us a bit so that our ride back wouldn’t be too boring

It wasn’t drizzling anymore but had got much worse. We were too optimistic on our first pitstop and had decided to remove the rain covers especially of our tank bags as it was a pain to take out the mobile or wallet inside it whenever we took a break. So we just made a quick stop to put the covers back on, said ‘to hell with it’ for being completely drenched under our riding gear and continued down the black top. Riding in heavy rains meant we had to exercise some caution so as to not slide into some ditch in the event of something or someone unexpected coming in front of us (which unfortunately is not all that unusual on our highways). We had covered about 450 kms when Abhi had to stop for his fuel break around 2:30 PM. Surprisingly the wet undies hadn’t dampened either of our spirits, so we decided to continue till we would reach Salem or Dharmapuri, whatever would feel best at the time.

We reached Dharmapuri a little after 4 in the evening and decided to take a break as I had to fill up yet again (damn you 13.7L tank). Knowing we had only about 150 odd kms to go now until we could read the signboards in our native language , we decided it would be wise to fill up on some carbs as it would take anywhere between two to three hours by the time we could finally rest our asses far away from these bikes. Snacked on some burgers, samosas and coffee and started again in half an hour feeling quite happy that we had managed to cover these distances in spite of the rain. The traffic had creeped on to the roads, steadily getting worse with each passing tollbooth.

Finally we had crossed hosur and reached electronic city where we would part ways, me taking the NICE road towards kanakapura exit and Abhi getting on the expressway towards btm. With a final fist bump, we bid adieu to each other as I do to all you readers until our next ride .

We hope you not only enjoyed reading this short travelogue of ours but also could use some info from this which will help you plan your next trip, if the beautiful state of Kerala is what you have in mind. Cheers!

A huge shout out to my bro Abhishek (Known as @Abhi_55 in the forum) for helping me write out this Travelogue.

Request to MODS:
Change you help in changing the title to "Two brothers and their twins go fishing along kerala's coastline"

Re: Bangalore - Kochi - Varkala - Kovalam - Bangalore

Some brilliant pictures to conclude!
Just out of curiosity - how did you manage to capture the last two pictures?

Re: Bangalore - Kochi - Varkala - Kovalam - Bangalore

Its taken from the top of the light house.

Re: Bangalore - Kochi - Varkala - Kovalam - Bangalore

nice one mate ... Rain rides are pleaseant only when one is doing short ride ... in long hauls you just get frustated ...