Onward Journey-March 10th, 2017 “And now gentlemen, all for one, one for all - that is our motto, is it not?”
Now if you’ve guessed where this quote is from, you pretty much know how many of us decided to go on this adventure. Three. We, Avi, DP, and Karthik (not as rhyming as Athos, Porthos and Aramis), decided that it was time to go on a long adventure because we were bored of our weekend breakfast rides. We were also bored of returning home the same day we left it. That’s called venturing out and not going on an adventure.
They say, adventures are about the journey more than the destination. But, if the destination can be as inviting as Goa, then doesn’t it make the adventure a little more exciting? Yeah, we could have taken a flight, a train, or an overnight bus. We wouldn’t settle for it...
“Besides we are men, and after all it is our business to risk our lives.”
And so, we decided to ride to Goa (Z800, Versys 650 & another Versys 650). I’ve always believed that 400km is the safest distance to target in a day. Anything more, it needs assurance that road quality is great or have done the same route before with same mode of transport to inspire that wee bit of additional confidence (e.g: Hyderabad-Bangalore, Hyderabad to Nagpur etc.) But, if it’s a 700+kms ride on State Highways to be covered in a single day it's bound to make the most of us extremely uncomfortable. The only reason why I (Karthik) even agreed to do it was to see if I can actually pull it off. The other two however were very nonchalant about it. What audacity!
Meet-up at 5:00am on the outskirts of Hyderabad Gulbarga at 8:00am, 220kms away Kalburgi (Gulbarga) Vidhan Soudha Dark Knight resting somewhere on the high-way “Time, dear friend, time brings round opportunity; opportunity is the martingale of man. The more we have ventured the more we gain, when we know how to wait.”
Goa has always been in our minds. As highlighted in the starting post-For Avi, it’s a bi-annual ritual. For DP, it’s his maiden voyage. For me, it’s seeking answers for why this place is so sought after (none of my earlier visits had justified it). We had to wait for the perfect long weekend and hope that our busy schedules would permit it. The first occasion it happened, we were on our way to Goa at 5:00am on a Friday morning. We had waited enough - almost a year after our purchase of our beautiful 2-wheeled machines. It was about time…
Route: Hyderabad > Parigi > Sedam > Kalaburagi > Jevargi > Bijapur > Bagalkot > Belagavi > Amboli > Panjim
Road quality: Phenomenal roads until you hit Kalaburagi (Gulbarga). Then there are roads under construction followed by bad roads followed by roads that have backbreakers in the name of speed breakers. The Amboli ghat roads weren’t the greatest but made up big time with its scenic view and phenomenal sunset view it has.
Time taken: 14.5 hours. 5:00am-7:30pm (including stop time)
Pitstops: 10 (including nature’s call, tea, food, photography & fatigue breaks)
Best section: Hyderabad to Kalaburagi
Worst section: Belagavi to Bagalkot for it’s shitty speed breakers that look like raised footpaths cutting across the roads.
Record of Onward Journey
Headed out at 5:00am and made quick progress until Kalburgi (Gulbarga) which we reached by 7:30am and settled down for a lovely breakfast of Idli, Dosa and Pineapple Kesari
Crisp and delicious dosa Pineapple Kesari was yummy
After that 45 minutes break, we continued our journey and it was actually quite pleasant until noon and we would stop every 1 hour to 1.5 hour as our throats would get parched and would cry out for water. If that was not the reason to stop, it would be our machines giving us signals to fuel it up again. After all, we both need our source of liquids to keep us going on this trip !!!
After noon, it started hitting us that journey we took up in March was not the best possible climate. But, it was much better than what we had mentally prepared ourselves. Having done a crazy peak summer ride to Mahabaleshwar riding through hot and parched routes of Maharashtra this route and season seemed much better in comparison
We reached Amboli around 4:00pm and this is where we spent maximum time (1+ hour) clicking some pictures of the trifecta and also enjoyed some chilled lemon soda and vada pav
All these pictures are taken at the popular Amboli Ghats near the famous Vada-Pav stall where i always make it a point to stop and gobble down a couple of those yummy VP's Attachment 1623770 We finally reached our hotel around 7:30pm in the evening and checked into a large AC room that was cooled up rather quickly and gave us a much relief. After a quick shower, we headed out for the evening around 9:00pm and it was what normally bachelor folks do in Goa until wee hours of the morning Silversands Hideaway, Candolim, Goa
Whew...That accounts for "Day 1" of our trip......