A much awaited road trip for me and my friends as it would be the longest road trip ever in our riding history of 9 years.We all were in resfeber and was waiting for that day to kick start our bikes for the epic journey covering a distance close to 4000kms .Our preparation lasts till one day prior to the journey as we two out of four friends are geographically separated over Bangalore and Kochi.
Palakkad to Bangalore
We three friends met at the rendezevous with my Pulsar and two Yamaha FZs.Sipped a cup of coffee though I do not used to drink normally but drinking coffee or tea really keeps your senses awake which really helps maintaining your concentration level .Fixed the bungee issues which my friend had and started the journey to Bangalore via the scenic Nilambur ,Vazhikadavu,Gudalaur, Bandipur and Mysore.We have to cover around 430KMS that day to my room at Bangalore my second home which gives the bread and fuel to me and my bike respectively.Easily covered the distance as we are familar with the route .With few short and long breaks we reached Bangalore by night.
Bangalore to Hubli
Started the ritual using bungee and made sure the luggage is not sagging one side, the issue which we faced on day one.My fourth friend who stays with me joined the trip with his FZ as per the plan Now it is three FZs and my vetran Pulsar which is close to one lac kilometer.Forget to tell you one thing that usually we start all our trips from Palakkad and it ends at Palakkad as we all belong to the beautiful place Palakkad.But this time we could not fulfil that promise because my fourth friend who joined the trip from Bangalore did not get an extra day leave which the trip demands.Anyways it has been almost a decade we four are riding together with other six or seven voyagerz what we call overselves or our team.Really missed our voyagerz who could not join the trip due to various reasons.
Left Bangalore early ,stopped after 3 hours of continous ride as the Bangalore - Mumbai highway was too good not to apply the brakes. Finished the breakfast and reached our highlight of the day Chitradurga fort.Chitradurga is so big that it is not a fort actually it is a hill with several small and big forts.It will require an entire day or more than that to explore the fort .Also carrying the luggage along was not possible and leaving the luggage on the bike was also not a good idea.Somoehow we convinced the security people to look after the luggage and we went inside ,took some quick snaps of the fort .
Finished the lunch from Chitradurga and fixed brake issue of one of the FZ from a nearby Yamaha showroom.Really a big thanks to Yamaha Chitradurga and the lady owner of the showroom who called their mechanics who were in the middle of their the lunch as she knew that we are riders and did not want to delay our trip .She was really excited seeing our bike number plates and also to know that we are heading to Mumbai.She allowed to fill our water bottles proactivlely which was a real sign of respect towards riders like us.After that we started the journey and reached our destination Hotel Metropolis at Hubli which we have booked already through https://www.booking.com .
Day 3 Hubli to Satara
Left the hotel Metropolis after a pleasant stay and joined the NH4 again.Had breakfast from Belgaum and kept the wheels with the fast momentum that of the highway.For the first time our bike wheels touched the roads of Maharashtra by crosing the Twandi ghat.The big roads personifies the name Maharashtra ,the riders play ground where most of the bikers ,motor vloggers and bike enthusiast are from.
Getting closer to Satara ,the landscape gradually changed and we were throughly enjoying our ride along with the nature's craftsmanship.With small diversions due to road works we reached Satara than the expected time.
Satara to Mumbai
They day 4 started with an awesome experience of crossing a tunnel for the first time and we entered the tunnel on NH 4 Khambatki Ghat Tunnel. Ruminating the experience on head we stopped at a restaurant for the breakfast and had the real Vada Paav of Maharashtra.
Day four was packed with excitements as the highlight was the famous Lonavala.We have read and seen pictures online about Lonavala but once we reached there the place was not that alluring as it was there in the internet because of the weak monsoon .But it was an overall fact that the percentage of rain across the Western ghat was less including Kerala.
After Lonavala the character of NH 4 has changed and it becomes a two laned high way because most of the vehicle use Mumbai --Pune express way as an alternative but unfortunately two wheeler is not allowed in Mumbai express way.
Before sunset we managed to cross Navi Mumbai and by mistake we entered the Eastern freeway following our "Maps me" navigation as it did not know we are travelling by bike and it told us "Take left after 100mts" .We entered the freeway and later on got know that bikes are not allowed as we suspected because there were no bikes atleast for 3 to 4kms. Understood our mistake and took the nearest deviation before police charge penalty on us.Reached our hotel atlast with the help of Maps Me. Checked in to the hotel and without wasting much time went out to explore the street food near Chowpatty beach.
Woke up late and slightly delayed the journey to our next destination Chiplun as my friend was experiencing ear pain the other day. Luckily the ear drops which we had saved him.Started the bike to the heart of Mumbai ,the Gateway of India and Taj hotel.Did not spend much time there and left to our breakfast stop after Navi Mumbai. Meanwhile one of the bike lost the way but within short time he joined back the herd.
Since demonetisation was going on we were particular about hotels which accept card though we have hard cash in reserve.Because we do not want take risk as we were not sure of the situation of cash availability at ATMs on Goa and further rural destinations of Karnataka.Finished breakfast and continued on the NH66 to Chiplun.The road conditions was worst as it was undergoing construction and was full of trucks. We did not take a diversion from a junction we supposed to and went straight ahead towards the Ali Bagh coast.We asked the people out there and they informed there are only two options either going back the 15kms through the bad road and catch N66 or continue the road towards Roha which is about 50Kms. We did not want go all the way back so decided to go further towards Roha which took 3 hours to cover the first 40kms so you can imagine the condition of the road.Though we were informed about the condition of the road in advance but we have never imagined that it would be this worse.
After the hectic ride we were completely drained hence had dinner by seven after crossing the Roha town.At last hit the NH66 and without any adieu we fled to Chiplun crossing the ghat during the night .Arrived at Chiplun the place where we are supposed to spend that night.That was really an awesome homestay with more than ten bed rooms, swimming pool and we four were confused in deciding which bedroom to sleep.But sleep did not made us wait to think more and fell asleep quickly
Started the day with home made delicious Poha and said bye to the home stay half minded as we all wanted to spend more time at there but we have no option other than continuing the ride .Decided to take the wheels towards the beautiful coastal region of Ratnagiri. Went through some of the awesome landscapes near Ganapatipule beach. Better explaining I will share some pics of the route.
We reached Palolem around 9.30Pm and the owner of the stay accompanied to the sea view cottage.We have planned a surprise to our friend Dheeraj whose birthday was on next day.I have arranged a cake to our voyager . He was really surprised and never expected as we have never cut a cake since last nine years .You may think what best friends we are, not even cut a single cake since nine years ,may be we feel awkward singing birthday song and feeding a cake because we never used to. But this was the first time a birthday of a voyager and a trip coincide that too in Goa.
We spend 3 nights at Goa without much plans.Those three nights were like beach,food,hotel and repeat.It was really a great time and we get enough time to spend with each other.Late night discussions about our last trip to Goa with our whole team of voyagerz and about our next trip.It is always a great feeling to ride ,go to new places and that too with your best friends it will be awesome or more than that.As usual ,days and nights easily got over at Goa.Here are some quick glance of Goa:
Goa to Tirthallali
The highlight of the ride was Jog falls but it was slightly dissapointing as the water flow was less even during November due to less rain during that monsoon.
We reached Tirthahalli before expected time but the room we booked was cancelled as the owner of the property informed he was not a part of Bookings.com anymore and was not aware of our booking.So it is always good to call one day in advance to the hotel you are going to stay to confirm the booking inorder to avoid such kind of inconvenience.Somehow we managed to find another hotel but we have to park our bike on the road side as hotel did not have private parking.
Tirthahalli to Coorg
This was the best route among the whole journey as it was through the ghat section with twists and bends starting from Agumbe, Begar, Sringeri, Kudremkha, Kalasa,Kottieghera ,Charmadi and Madikeri.
Madikeri to Palakkad
Woke up from sleep realizing the fact that it is the last day of our trip which is quite painful to all of us as tomorrow onwards we would be going back to the normal chores of life. But we have to wake up from this eleven days of dream that will fuel our rest of the days with the energy to work towards another dream ride.
We have reached the same point from where the journey has started.We believe that roads are made for journeys not destinations and hope our journey continues.
Wish you all a safe ride and Happy journey from team Voyagerz. To know more about us and our trips please like our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/voyagerzz/
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