PAYANIGA

Goa revisited, this time in a car. Till I come up with detailed log, here are links to my previous trip log.

• The Plan & preparation
• Highlights & Route details of the trip
• Day 0 & 1: Bangalore to Udupi via Kunigal, Hassan, Belur
• Day 2 & 3: Udupi to Calangute beach via Honnavar, Karvar, Panajim & in and around Calangute
• Day 4: Return journey – 650 KMs in a single day
• Photos of the Bike trip on Picasaweb

Highlights | Day 0 & 1 | Day 2 & 3 | Day 4 | Photos

Day 4 – 02-Oct-2006:

Out of 26 nomads, Bangaloreans had maximum participation, 11 of us who rode down in 3 batches (7+2+2). Shashank & Gaurav decided to stay back, remaining 9 (JSR, Shashi, Kamlesh, Praveen, Parvez, Vasanth, Prabul, Vimal and I) of us decided to cover Goa-Bangalore as few had to go to office next day. It wasn’t easy to get up early, but some how managed to get ready by 0530Hrs. Rain God was still angry with us, it was raining as if the sky had been ripped open. We sat in the Cafe Coffe Day. Preponed our breakfast timings, gulped down coffee and sandwiches in order to save time. 0645Hrs, no sign of rain to stop or reduce. Decided to ride in the rain itself. Visibility was less and our speed reduced because of rain. Crawled through wet twisty roads, one behind the other. 45 minutes into the ride, Praveen had a flat near Margoan. JSR & Kamlesh stopped to fix it and rest of us continued. The group got split in to 3 sub-groups – Shashi, Vimal, Parvez & I in the front. Prabul & Vasanth in the middle. Rest three fixing the flat tire. Four of us in the front continued in the cloudy climate.

Few kilometers before Canacona around 0930Hrs, I got a flat and other three who were in front of me didn’t stop me. Luckily there was a puncture shop near by and got it fixed. While I was getting the tire fixed, second sub-group (Prabul & Vasanth) came. Prabul continued to join the first sub-group and make them wait for rest. After 10 minutes with fixed tire, we set off. It was still cloudy with slight drizzles. And no sign of Sun God. We were soaked to the skin because of continuous rain for more than 3 hours. Shashi & gang were 30-40 minuts ahead of us and JSR & others were an hour behind us. Roads were empty and after we crossed Goa-Karnataka border, straight roads. Both of us road continuously till Honnavar, with just two breaks. Still no sign of Shashi and others. It was already 1300Hrs. Stopped for lunch. While we were having lunch, came others. We had somehow missed Shashi & gang and overtaken them. After a long break at Honnvar, we took a deviation towards Shimoga. Road stretch between Honnavar & Jog is awesome. Riding through the narrow twisty roads, enjoying the River Sharavathi valley – it was a different world. We continued on the narrow roads along with drizzles. Some 10KMs onto the ride, Vimal’s Bull had battery problems. JSR, Kamalesh & Praveen stopped to fix it, rest of us continued.

By around 1630Hrs, we were near Jog falls. We were not in mood to visit the place and there was no time, we went on after a cup of tea. 1715Hrs, stopped for snacks at Sagar. By this time sky was bit clear. Changed to dry clothes in a small restaurant, gulped down dosas, idlis, coffee. Set off by 1800Hrs. Stopped at Reliance fuel station to tank-up. With Kamlesh and JSR leading, Shahsi at the back, group rolled on. Reached Shimoga by 1930Hrs. Another butt break and then on the saddles. Took the bypass to avoid Shimoga town traffic, moved on towards Bhadravati. Since we were moving in a single group, our speed reduced since some of us were not comfortable in night riding. Headlights of oncoming vehicles and their ‘dont-care-the-two-wheelers’ attitude was causing problems, as they used to come to our lane while overtaking. JSR suggested to have a zig-zag formation of bikers, covering whole lane of ours to ourselves. That was a brilliant idea, and our speed increased. Soon reached Bhadravati, and then small towns Tarikere, Birur, Kadur. Except for a 25KMs stretch near Tarikere, NH206 is nice and smooth. Feeling sleepy we rode on and finally stopped for dinner near Banavar at a small roadside hotel. It was already 2230Hrs and we were 180+KMs from Bangalore. I was not hungry because of the heavy snacks at Sagar, so settled for 2 cups of tea. I sat on a stone bench outside the hotel, waiting for others to finish off their dinner. Few trucks stopped for dinner and I had company. Looking at the bikes and luggages, they asked me about the trip. And there I was narrating our ride-stories for nth time in those four days.

2345Hrs, 17 hours into the ride. back on the bikes towards. Content with the filled stomach, Kamlesh & Shahsi opened the throttle. Prabul followd them and me behind. Roads were empty with rare vehicles from opposite directions, miles flied by. Passed Arasikere, Tiptur, Gubbi and Tumkur. It was 0200Hrs when we reached Tumkur. Since I had a day off, I took left turn towards Kunigal and rest 8 continued towards Bangalore. I had another 40KMs to cover at the middle of the night – with not even a single soul around, no vehicle on the road. Just me and my pulsar on the road along with the silently standing trees. I rode as if I’m the King of the roads. I was not in a hurry and took my time. Reached home by 0300Hrs. A total of 20hrs and 15 mins of ride and 650KMs.

Trip meter : 1470 KMs – Calangute – Panaji – NH17 – Karwar – Ankola – Honnawar – NH206 – Sagar – Shimoga – Tumkur – Kunigal

Highlights | Day 0 & 1 | Day 2 & 3 | Day 4 | Photos

Day 2 – 30-Sep-2006:

Got up leisurely as six more bike nomads were supposed to join us from Trivandrum. They had halted in Kannur and were expecting them only at around 1030hrs. Woke up around 0830Hrs and checked out of the lodge by 0930Hrs. From Udupi town we went to Malpe beach which is around 5 KMs. The resturant on the beach side was closed and we were not in mood to get into the water. It was very hot & humid day. And surely testing our stamina – riding 430 KMs previous day, another 360KMs ahead of us. Rode back to the highway (NH 17). Stopped for breakfast. By the time we were done with our breakfast, Parvez’s Karizma showed some problems, thanks to the craters near Mudigere. Parvez & Vasanth went in search of a Hero-Honda mechanic, while remianing five of us decided to ride a bit and take rest under a tree. NH17 around Udupi was not inviting as NH48. Lots of ptoholes and plenty of traffic. Our speed slowed down. Five of us rode for some distance, stopped and waited for Parvez & Vasanth and Kerala BN guys.

Time went on. Took naps waiting for others. Around 1230Hrs, Kerala guys (6 of them) came. Within 5 minuts Parvez & Vasanth also joined us. A quick introduction and we were on the bikes riding towards Goa. 13 riders – 8 Bullets, 3 Karizmas, One CBZ and a lone Pulsar 150 – ruling the roads, thumping all the way to Goa. Jay’s (from Trivandrum) & JSR’s bulls were making helluva lot of noise and the whole group was attracting each & everyone’s attention. Next pit-stop was Maravanthe beach, where beach and road run parallel. It was becoming a bit difficult to ride in a single group because of different riding speeds, we split in to two groups of 5 & 8 riders. After a quick tea-break cum photo-session break, the race began – between the nomads and the Sun, as most of us were not comfortable in night riding. We stopped at Bhatkal for lunch around 1600Hrs. Journey with full stomachs started off. I was enjoying evry minute, every mile of the journey. Places one by one went behind – Manki – Honnavar – Kumta – Ankola (a short break here) – Karvar, trying to cver as much distance as possible before sunset. By the time we reached Karvar it was 1930Hrs. Stopped for snacks. We were not in a hurry as it was already dark.

After an hours break, we bid adieu to Karvar and soon entered Goa state. Roads were comparatively narrow, but good and enjoyable. We moved in and out of little towns of Goa. Traffic was increasing as it was a long weekend & most of the people were heading towards Goa. Straight roads turned twisty ones and back straight, we went on and on. Finally we reached our destination Calangute at 2300Hrs. Already fellow nomads from Pune, Mumbai & Hyderabad were already there. After a late dinner retired to bed.

Trip meter : 790 KMs – NH17 – Udupi – Kundapur – Honnavar – Ankola – Karwar – Canacona – Panaji – Calangute

Day 3 – 01-Oct-2006:

Woke up late around 1100Hrs and was disappointed to see that it was raining. After a nice refreshing bath, joined others who were sitting in a near by Cafe Coffee Day, cursing the rain and enjoying the Formula 1 race. Met other bike nomads from different cities over a breakfast+lunch. Around 1600Hrs, rain god showed a bit of mercy, and few of us set out on a walk in the beach. Started drizzling, back to the room.

Get together of whole gang – total of 26 nomads from five different cities. Went on a small ride around 2000Hrs, all of us wearing Bikenomads t-shirts, with whole town’s attention towards us. Went to fuel station to fill up the tanks as we were to leave early in the morning. Then headed for dinner at NH17 dhabha. After a sumptuous food rode back to the hotel room. Packed the bags and hit the bed. Next day was going to be a long one with 600+Kms of ride.

Trip meter : 820 KMs – In and around Calangute – Panajim

Highlights | Day 0 & 1 | Day 2 & 3 | Day 4 | Photos

Day 0 – 28-Sep-2006:

I decided to have a head start, to reduce the distance to be covered on day 1 to 340KMs from 430 KMs. Started from Bangalore (directly from office) to Kunigal at 1630Hrs. I had come to office with my luggages (Cramsters saddle bags & tank bag and a backpack). It was my usual weekend ride home of 90 Kms. Intial 40Kms was crawling which took me 75 mins to cover because of the usual traffic and weekend crowd heading out of town taking Friday off like me. Remaining 50KMs was breeze & covered it.

First leg of Goa ride completed. Repacked my luggages and retired to bed by 12 midnight. Falling asleep was not easy that day. It was going to be my longest ride.

Trip meter : 90 KMs – Bangalore – NH4 – Nelamangala – NH48 – Kunigal.

Day 1 – 29-Sep-2006:

It was not a good beginning. JSR, Kamlesh, Shashi, Vasanth, Praveen & Parvez were to meet at Yashwantpur Shell petrol bunk at 0500Hrs. Start from there at 0515Hrs towards Kunigal. Reach Kunigal by 0630Hrs. And all ride towards Udupi. By 0515Hrs, I was up & ready and waiting for call from them. Sashi called me to inform that Vasanth had a flat tire. JSR is going to stay back to fix it. Parvez is not reachable, rest three (Shashi, Kamlesh & Praveen) to start the journey. Certainly it was not a good start.

I started from home around 0630Hrs and within 5 minutes there they were – all the three thumping on their bullets. We decided to wait for JSR & Vasanth in a tea shop to join us and ride together. Time passed quickly and around 0730Hrs, JSR came alone as there were complications with Vasanth’s Karizma. Before we were to start from Kunigal, we got message from Vasanth that, he and Parvez (he overslept and thats why he was not reachable) will be starting in another 20 minuts and catch us later on the way. After the tea break (0745Hrs) we started towards Udupi, Shashi leading the group and JSR sweeping behind. Beautiful NH48 was inviting. Shashi & Kamlesh were almost flying on their bulls, with me struggling to catch up with them on my Pulsar 150. Praveen behind me and JSR in the end. By 0900Hrs we had covered more than 80KMs from Kunigal, but no sign of Praveen & JSR. We three stopped at Kamath resturant just after Channarayapattana for breakfast & waited for the other two. Got message from JSR saying Praveen’s bike’s clutch went kaput. Another 20 minutes wait, they joined us.

Idly, Dosa, Poori, Coffee, Tea – went in along with discussion on which route to take. Decided to take the scenic Charmadi ghat route. Updated Vasanth & Parvez on the same. Headed towards the destination with same combination Shashi as lead and JSR as sweep. Time flew by and so the miles. Reached Hassan. To avoid Hassan city traffic we took the by-pass road, went to the other end of the city and then took deviation towards Belur. Hassan-Belur stretch was a dream ride. A two lane road giving a feeling of riding in a European stretch. Belur wizzed by, road got narrowed with scarce potholes. By noon we were standing at the deviation right taking us to Mudigere city and left one Charmadi ghat. We had plenty of time with us and two more bikers trying to catch up with us. Stopped at a fuel station to top up Bulls. Proceeded for another kilometer and stopped for a long break. We spent almost 45 minutes lying on the grass road.

1300Hrs, we mounted our bikes and headed towards the ghats. Soon after we were staring into a stretch of road where it does not exist at all. A distance of 10-12KMs was lying infront of us with full of potholes which can be called as craters. Our speed dropped to as low as 5 to 10KM/hr. We stopped for a short photo session as except for the roas it was a very scenic place. We had almost reached final stage of our session and there came Parvez on his Yellow Karizma. With Vasanth still coming behind we continued. Soon craters were gone and ghats section started after we crossed Kottigehara. It was my first ride on twisty ghat roads, I thoroughly enjoyed it. As soon as we entered ghat roads, JSR got wings and disappeared ahead of us. Kamlesh went behind him with rest of us tugging behind.

Two short breaks to give our butt a break before lunch break and then on the twisty roads all the way till Ujire by 1500Hrs. Stopped for lunch, still no sign of Vasanth. By the time we finished lunch, Vasanth came puttering searching for us. 1600Hrs, final leg of day 1 started. Group with size 7 moved towards Karkala via Belthangadi, Guruvayana kere, Naravi. Slight showers welcomed us to the other side of the ghat and stopped for another break near Karkala. It was nearing 1800Hrs. Another an hours ride took us to Udupi. Took us 10 minuts to search for a decent lodge. Had dinner in a nearby hotel and retired to bed by 2200Hrs.

Trip meter : 430 KMs – Kunigal – NH48 – Hassan – Belur – Mudigere – Kottigehara – Ujire – Beltangadi – Karkala – Udupi.