February 2019 - The 1st year anniversary ride "Thou shall not stay home on the bikes anniversary weekend"
Trip requirements: Curvy roads + 1000 km on odo.
Where: Western Ghats for the curves and Murudeshwara for a destination.
When: Feb 2nd - 3rd
With the destination being decided, now comes the planning of the route. Since we wanted to enjoy the curves, almost 60% of our route was through the western ghats.
The Route
Day 1: Bangalore - Hassan - Kottigehara - Sringeri - Agumbe - Kundapura - Baindur Distance: 498 kms
This was planned as a group trip, so a total of 11 Apache RR310's and a Benelli 300 joined us. We planned to start at around 4 AM in the morning from the Tumkur road NICE junction, since we had a lot to cover and as per schedule we needed to reach for lunch at Baindur.
It was all dark at 4 AM, we couldn't click any pics and we started as per schedule with much excitement.
Numerous photos to follow
The weather was very cold, and we were freezing just after we took the left from Nelamangala. With no hotels open, we continued our freezing journey up until Hassan, our first pit stop.
We have sunrise
We entered the city looking for breakfast, but to our dismay we couldn't find a decent hotel open at 7 AM in the morning. Since we anyway entered the city, we just re fueled our bikes and continued towards Shakleshpur with a moaning sound from the stomach.
hehe
The conditions suddenly changed, with a lot of deforestation happening to widen the roads, it was not we were expecting to see in 1st daylight. Just before entering Shakleshpur we found a decent hotel, where we hogged on some fresh Idly's, Vada's and Dosa's finishing with a hot cup of coffee.
The Relief !!!! Nature at its best
This was the final pic taken before we started to en counter some really good curves of the western ghats, we were all drooling for this moment. The suspension set up on the Apache RR310 gives you so much more confidence in pushing the bike into the corners, with little to no traffic on these roads, we were pushing the bikes as each corner went by.
As much as we were enjoying the corners, staying away from the highway sunlight, we soon realised that there were literally no rest stops on the route we chose, no hotels, no bakeries, nothing.
Hey, after all we just wanted the curves right.
We maintained a lead and a sweep so that no one gets missed in these confusing roads, but it didn't pan out as expected. With the group consisting of not so experienced riders on curves, they fell back as the lead group were just pushing ahead. We had to wait at every major diversion by 10-15 mins for others to catch up & regroup. Hunger & waiting doesn't really go well with each other as we all know.
Hours went by without much refreshments, emptying all the water bottles we had packed in our backpacks. It was lunch time when we crossed the Agumbe Ghat, with a couple of snake and deer sightings.
Snake?? Yes, we didn't care much. We just proceeded to our destination, since we were all loosing our patience & hungry.
Ufff!!! So much for them curves. Couple of hours later
The time was approximately 3:30 PM, when we finally reached the coastal road of the Maravanthe beach. And what a relief that was, the sight of the mighty Arabian sea. since we knew once we hit the highway we can cover distance a lot faster.
Food was closer.
The relieved/stressed/unpatient faces.
God !!!!
At around 4:30 PM, we reached our hotel in Byndoor, much later than we expected.
The Stay: Kshitija Nesara Dhama, Byndoor
Food: 5/5 Must try Bhangda fish fry & Onion Pakoda
Rooms: 5/5
Price: It came down to 500/- per head for 13 members.
This is a govt operated stay, with plenty of parking place, lush green trees, a view of the beach, very good for families and biking groups. I would suggest to order food here itself as there is no other place in close vicinity. Standard veg and non veg meal is provided, you can customize the food choice. Whatever you need, they get it. But make sure you inform them in advance, the food preparation takes time.
(We didn't inform them in advance, you know what i mean right, haha) By beach view I meant this, WHAT A SIGHT !!!! after riding for 12hrs
We had planned to visit the Murudeshwara temple on the same day itself, for darshan and sunset. Since darshan on a Sunday would be time consuming and it would also delay our departure to Bangalore. After hogging into 6 plates of onion pakoda, everyone hit the sack to stretch out a bit and eventually the idea to visit the temple got dropped.
Day 1 ended with star gazing, some chilled beers and of course them very close brotherhood talks.
What a life !!!
With the ocean roar whispering in our ears and not sure what Day 2 is going to offer us, we tried to get some sleep.
Day well spent 