[AKSO]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

Thanks for the kind words DasAuto1985! Happy to know you like them


Thanks a lot AKSO sir! Have a great ride to the Konkan region .
Belgaum - Chandgad - Amboli - Sawantwadi - Vengurla is almost 90% fixed. But I guess you will be coming from Pune and will still have to endure the pain point of the zillion annoying deviations on the NH between Pune and Kolhapur?
Luckily we escaped those because for us KA folks, the NH deviations begin after Belgaum and before Kolhapur, and the Amboli road turns off before that mess. The direct road from Kolhapur to Amboli (which is probably what you will use) was also being tarred by the way, we saw that when visiting Amboli.

The roads in Maharashtra, in any direction, really suck. Fortunately, I will have to endure only a couple of diversions from Pune and my turn off will be at Karad and then via Anuskara Ghat till Oni on NH66 (new and terrible concrete roads).

[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

Ride to Sawantwadi Palace, Konkan, Maharashtra (March 2024) ...

Lot of brilliant places in this thread, but this one was truly exceptional. Excellent find!

[mh09ad5578]

Epic! As a native of Kolhapur and having done Sawantwadi multiple times just as a breakfast/lunch stopover on the way to Goa, this was an eye-opener, shared with my Kolhapur and Goa friends. My heart longs for an inline 4 and looks like the N1000 is the most practical way of doing it. Excellent traveloge, great pics and details. Thanks for sharing.

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by AKSO

The roads in Maharashtra, in any direction, really suck. Fortunately, I will have to endure only a couple of diversions from Pune and my turn off will be at Karad and then via Anuskara Ghat till Oni on NH66 (new and terrible concrete roads).

Eagerly awaiting your travelogue after your Konkan trip. Have fun!

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

Lot of brilliant places in this thread, but this one was truly exceptional. Excellent find!

Thanks a lot for the kind words C_D!

Originally Posted by mh09ad5578

Epic! As a native of Kolhapur and having done Sawantwadi multiple times just as a breakfast/lunch stopover on the way to Goa, this was an eye-opener, shared with my Kolhapur and Goa friends. My heart longs for an inline 4 and looks like the N1000 is the most practical way of doing it. Excellent traveloge, great pics and details. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you for the kind words mh09ad5578! Glad to know it was of help!

[KarthikK]

Weekend Ride to Evolve Back Resort, Coorg (March 2024)

In the month of March, I have been travelling on almost all of the weekends. Three of those would be rides with the Ninja, one of the weekends the better half had to fly out on a work trip, so my German Shepherd and myself did a short weekend drive to the wilderness. The second of the Ninja rides for March (after the long trip to Sawantwadi Palace in MH) was a simple weekend relaxation ride to Coorg. Having done Coorg a zillion times earlier, there was nothing new to see for us there, so there was zero inclination to do any sightseeing or activities this time. The agenda for this trip was to do nothing but just relax for the entire weekend and come back. The place of choice this time was Evolve Back Resorts, Coorg. This is an old and established property in Siddapur, East Coorg, known for their famous Villa styled cottages, inviting private pools (apt for chilling in the summer heat) and overall good hospitality levels.

The distance was just around ~300km one way, so it was an easy journey anyway. Actually the shortest route to Coorg is via the Mysore expressway, but unfortunately bikes are banned on that road. Instead of using the slow Kanakapura road alternative till Mysore, we thought of doing a longer detour via the Hassan highway. Resident travel guru and BHPian friend Dr.AD in one of our casual chats suggested me to try the Hassan - Arkalgud - Piriyapatna state highway instead of doing the Channarayapatna - Holenarsipur - Arkalgud stretch which seems to be in a slightly battered condition currently.

Since there wasn't much sightseeing or exploration done this time, I'll just proceed to spam some random pictures of the property and the stay, before winding up this rather short travelogue quickly.

We left from home by around 6AM, covering the first ~120km quickly. A short break near Kunigal bypass to do some re-routing of the GPS via-points.



We tried breakfast at a newly opened eatery on Hassan highway called Harsha Grand. It is located after Dhruvathare and MTR restaurants when going from Bangalore to Hassan.



The food was standard south Indian fare, nothing wow. We just tried some usual Idlis, Vadas and Pooris with piping hot filter Coffee.



After passing Hassan bypass, we took a left into SH-21 towards Arkalgud and Piriyapatna. The roads were brilliant here - good suggestion by Dr.AD. The road surface was brilliant, there was minimal traffic and the road encompassed gradual, flowy curves spread out across a myriad of elevation differences and scenic countryside sights on both sides, albeit dry in this season. Perhaps the only grouse was a constant accompaniment of rumble strips showing up for every half kilometre or so.







Soon we hit the Piriyapatna - Coorg highway and entered the Nagarhole forest division towards Siddapura.





Stopping next to a lake between Piriyapatna and Nagarhole forest checkpost





Passing through coffee estates near Siddapur





The road leading to Evolve Back resort was well marked and broke off from the Piriyapatna - Siddapur highway and entered a dense section of Coffee estate laden roads



There were well tarred roads all the way up to the reception of the resort, so we encountered no off-roading or bad roads anywhere



We reached early, by around noon. After some refreshing welcome drinks and completing the check-in formalities, we were taken to our cottage, called Lily Pool cottage. This category of villas had a nice rustic look on the outside, with the Thatched hut roof and a white exterior.



The cottage was large and airy. The living area had a simple sit-out and luckily, even a separate dining table. There was a fireplace too, but it would be useless in summer anyway.





The living area and the bedroom both had massive french windows which opened up to the lily pool and private pool in the backyard of the cottage.





Nice and cozy bedroom, separable from the drawing room if required. The use of soft lighting and antique, elegant looking furniture elements was very pleasing to the eye.



A small reading table next to the large windows / doors sunlit from the backyard area





The luggage storage area was inside a dressing room of sorts



The bathroom was again expansive, well equipped with amenities and had a hot tub to enjoy the cold nights. One good part was a back entrance from the pool to the bathroom, which avoided having to walk in dripping wet through the room after taking a swim.



The backyard housed two large lily pools flanking a nice private pool, with stone steps making up the pathways. The lily pools had nice pond fishes in them, which was a nice rustic touch to the whole design.



Easy chairs and pool side loungers to sunbathe in the backyard





A nice small coffee table marked the other side of the pool



The private pool was nice and had three nice Jacuzzi jets inbuilt on one side. The other side had a dense foliage cover, and these trees also drew many lovely birds and squirrels throughout our stay there. We spent a couple of hours relaxing in the pool, a welcome relief from the summer heat and the ride in the hot sun.





We ordered in some simple lunch, and went for some Lasagna, coffee-infused cottage cheese steaks (oxymoron for vegetarian, I know ) and a couple of nice desserts themed after local flavours of coffee and coconut. The food was decent, but nothing wow.

[KarthikK]

Weekend Ride to Evolve Back Resort, Coorg (March 2024) continued ...

The trees right behind the pool had a bunch of these Malabar Giant Squirrels (endemic to the Western Ghats) scurrying around, much to our amusement. They were shy of our presence, but they were as big as dogs and there were at least 6-7 of these giant squirrels in the trees, foraging for fruits and having ‘gang-wars’ among themselves . Quite a sight to witness, considering these giant squirrels are quite rare to come across even during paid Safaris



Chilling in the pool



Around 5PM, after a refreshing and long pool swim chilling session we stepped out to one of their restaurants called Granary, for a high tea session of snacks and filter coffee









After this short high-tea, we took a stroll through the property. It was quite a large one, stretching almost a kilometre from end to end. There were many cottages lined up amidst the coffee plants along the road



Stopping to check out some trivia displayed in their Beehive experience centre, themed around their wildlife and bird spotting activities that they ran.



A nice gazebo along a lake



A large lake inside the property, housing a lot of Koi fish and having this viewing deck





A pathway along the circumference of the lake



We spent some time watching the sun go down over the lake and the adjoining paddy fields





The staff had set up a nice candlelight dinner table for us by the lake at another of their restaurants called Peppercorn. We returned here for a nice six-course dinner later at night.



After sunset, we spent some more time chilling in the pool back in our cottage until dinner time



After a sumptuous dinner we had sound sleep until the next morning. We woke up to a rather foggy morning, which we enjoyed with some hot cups of tea in our backyard balcony sit-out



Strolling through foggy coffee plantations in the early morning



By around 8.30AM the sun started clearing up the morning fog, and it was time for breakfast too.



View from the breakfast table



Lacklustre food and spread at the breakfast buffet made us question whether the food here was really befitting the kind of costs they command. Yet another private resort where the 'hardware' (general infrastructure) is great but 'software' (restaurant food service and taste) is so-so.



Post breakfast, we stepped out for some property tour with one of the resident guides. Post that we were just hanging around near the cottage. The better half chilling around the pool area



We had requested for a late check-out since we could relax a bit more and the return journey was anyway an easy ~4.5 hours to home. Around afternoon we bid goodbye to the staff and left from the resort, not without a couple of departing pictures as always.





Making our way through coffee plantations where this time of the year sees Robusta coffee flowers blossoming.





Navigating the empty but lovely roads from Piriyapatna to Hassan



After a short refuel stop, we proceeded along the Hassan - Bangalore highway to break at Paakashala restaurant, Yediyur, roughly 120km from home, for a simple and delayed dal-rice lunch



We reached home just as it started getting dark, by say 7PM, marking the end of this simple weekend overnighter ride. This trip clocked a simple ~600km on the odometer. Surprisingly because of the slower roads and the relaxed rate of riding this time, the fuel efficiency unintentionally reached 20+ kmpl , which I was surprised to see for the first time in 5.5 years.



Until my next ride report, thanks for reading!

[AKSO]

Wow. 20.4 kmpl is really something. Thanks for details on the alternate route. How were the road conditions in Nagarhole Forest Reserve? I remember going through this reserve in Jan 2023 from Kannur in Kerala and vividly remember those annoying rumblers that you mentioned.

I am glad to see that you are putting your Ninja 1000 through its paces and enjoying this wonderful bike to the hilt.

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by AKSO

Wow. 20.4 kmpl is really something. Thanks for details on the alternate route. How were the road conditions in Nagarhole Forest Reserve? I remember going through this reserve in Jan 2023 from Kannur in Kerala and vividly remember those annoying rumblers that you mentioned.

Nagarhole road is in good shape now, you should have no issues with that road if you are planning to do it anytime now. There weren’t many rumble strips on the Nagarhole forest road stretches actually, the frequent rumblers were mostly between Piriyapatna and Hassan (or vice versa) via Arkalgud, aka SH-21. Do try this road during your next south circuit.

I am glad to see that you are putting your Ninja 1000 through its paces and enjoying this wonderful bike to the hilt.

Thanks a lot for the kind words AKSO sir !
Jan to March is fair weather everywhere, nice to ride in this season albeit with brown landscapes everywhere instead of green

[KarthikK]

Weekend Ride to Kotagiri with BHPian friends (March 2024)

Some of our old BHPian friends' group folks were planning a short and impromptu weekend trip to exchange travel stories, and of course to chit-chat about everything automobile related and otherwise. This was just going to be a simple weekend overnighter with no agenda other than to just relax and catch up with each other over some nice food and nice weather. Some of the regulars in the group missed this trip due to last minute contingencies, so we were eventually just four participants - Dr.AD with his red 320d, praveenbalan with his alpine white 330i M sport, graaja with his 3GT and myself with the Ninja. What better place to visit in summer than the cool Nilgiris! praveenbalan suggested we visit an Ama stays (homestay chain run and managed by the Taj group) property in Kotagiri, called Raven's Nest, and he organized this entire meet, thanks to him for that. I didn’t have to fit the panniers this time, since Dr.AD volunteered to carry the luggage for me.

Cross-posting Dr.AD’s awesome trip report here (Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!) from his ownership thread. A few of the pictures may be repeated because I decided to piggyback on his photo dump.

On D-day, I had to ride alone for the first 130 km because Ooty's route involves going via Mysore, and bikes are unfortunately not allowed on Bangalore - Mysore expressway . Nevertheless, I left home by around 5.30AM and still made it to our breakfast restaurant in Mysore by 7.30AM by using the old and trusty Kanakapura road highway. The Bangalore - Kanakapura expanded highway is now almost 80-90% complete and this route is no longer a bother as it was a few months ago.

Sunrise on Kanakapura road somewhere after Halagur, roughly ~80km into the ride





I met praveenbalan and Dr.AD at our breakfast restaurant, M Pro Palace, on Mysore ring road, and we all had a quick and simple breakfast there. Just some simple Idlis and Americano to wash them down



From there we continued our journey towards Gundlupet and entered Bandipur forest. Two wheelers have a free entry into TN at the checkpost while cars are stopped for checks and some entry ticket. I waited just after the checkpost for a few minutes for the other two to catch up, amidst the parched forest sights.



We then stopped for a quick Chai and Bajjis break at Masinagudi town just before the ascent road began towards Ooty



Mirchi, raw banana and Onion ring bajjis



A cow seems to love the spanking white 330i



The line-up of the three fast vehicles climbing up the Nilgiris, shot by Dr.AD



Once we ascended Ooty, we caught up with another BHPian RakishRam, who was with his family on another separate trip but was very nice and took the time to meet us for a quick catch-up at Le Cafe in Ooty town. This was RakishRam's beautiful M340i in Dravit Grey.



We had some nice blueberry cheesecake, Alphanso mango Sorbet and nice mocktails while we chit-chatted for a while under the mountain sun



Post a short refuel break at Ooty's IOC XP100 bunk, we made our way through some long weekend traffic in Ooty, to enter the Kotagiri route. The Ninja had some fun cutting through the curves of Nilgiris. It was amazing to watch the two well-driven bimmers make their way through the mountain twisties.



We reached Raven's Nest by 1PM, and our friend from Coimbatore, graaja was already waiting for us there. Kotagiri is close to Coimbatore, in fact less than 100km, so it was a rather easy drive for him compared to the Bangalore folks . Raven's nest was a beautiful property. This was my room, themed in blue





It had large french windows and a direct opening to the lawn and garden outside



My room even had a sit-out area outside overlooking the lawn



The others also settled in to their rooms, there were two other rooms themed in yellow and pink colors.





While the others freshened up and got ready for lunch, I was clicking some pictures of the property. This was the living room area



The main dining area of the bungalow



The front porch of the property





More sit-out and chill-out zones in the front porch





There was one in the lawn



And another one at a lower level, amidst the tea plantation green carpets



Flowers in the reception area



A multi-timezone clock with an antique touch in the drawing room



I recently got myself a more compact drone for bike trips after disposing my older DJI Mavic Air, and put it to some use to get some pictures of the property while some of us were chilling in the front lawn



A wider view of the property and the colorful parking lot



The lawn had some more sitout areas and a badminton court at a lower elevation than the main lawn

[KarthikK]

Weekend Ride to Kotagiri with BHPian friends (March 2024) continued ...

We spent some time chatting over a couple of plates of appetizers and some lemonade, until the main course arrived



After a sumptuous lunch of some traditional Indian items, we took rest for some time and then tried to take some nice snaps of our steeds in the front porch of the property



The Ninja in front of the entrance



The full line-up



The Bangalore bimmer duo - F30 LCI and G20 generations side by side



The keys line-up, with the most relic looking one at the extreme right



A shot of the Ninja by Dr.AD



Soon evening tea was served at a sit-out amidst the tea estates, with some piping hot Bajjis for company





View of the surrounding tea estates from our tea-time sit-out



More chit-chat sessions followed over a warm bonfire, as the night came up over the clear summer skies of Kotagiri



The staff at Ama stays had gone out of the way to accommodate our request for Pizza for dinner, and were preparing their woodfire brick oven that evening just for us



The staff served us some fresh and delicious Woodfired Pizzas and Pasta, and some Chocolate pudding to round up the simple but lovely dinner



Post dinner we retired to bed. The next morning we woke up early to catch some sights of the sunrise around Raven's nest. View from my room window



Lurking around in the lawn area







I tried getting some high elevation shots for timepass









The Raven which gives this property its name



Soon it was time for breakfast, we requested to have it at this outdoor table in the garden



The breakfast was simple and delicious



Post breakfast, it was time to pack up and leave. Here is a parking lot picture in front of the bungalow



A departing picture of yours truly, thanks to Dr.AD



The Ninja with the tea estate gardens of Raven's nest



graaja anyway had to go back to Coimbatore, while the other three decided to take the Kotagiri - Mettupalyam - Annur - Avinashi road and then hit the Coimbatore - Salem - Bangalore highway, instead of fighting it out with horrible traffic on the Kotagiri - Ooty - Gudalur - Bandipur - Mysore - Bangalore route. We said our goodbyes in the parking lot and decided to catch up at Salem, since a bike is inherently faster on the hill roads or countryside routes when traffic is involved.

Stopping for a break somewhere after leaving the hills behind



It was a hot summer ride back home. I was running way ahead of schedule after the other two got stuck in traffic, so we decided to just continue homewards instead of wasting another hour for food in Salem. I reached home by around 4PM, after a lovely weekend ride and some nice company. The mountain weather was a welcome respite from the sweltering summer heat back home. Anyway, that brings this short report to a close. This ride clocked a simple ~700km on the tripmeter



March month saw the Ninja clocking almost ~2600km over three back-to-back weekend trips. April is usually a break month for the Ninja because we avoid this peak tourist traffic month (plus it is time for the other bikes to stretch their legs), so there may not be any Ninja rides or ride reports in April. Moreover I have received the long-awaited replacement tyres for the CB500X, that bike will take over some ride action from April month once I get the current tyres swapped out.

There are a couple of Ninja rides planned for May month though. Until my next ride report in May, thanks for reading!

[Cyborg]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

Until my next ride report in May, thanks for reading!

Just wow, Karthik, wow. The last couple of trips (since I didn’t reply earlier) and this one. Fabulous places, properties and detailed reports taking us there from the comfort of our sofas

Now that you have an audience waiting for your fantastic ride reports hope you don’t start charging us for reading them in the near future

Enjoy yourself and always keep sharing.

Cheers

[SithDefender]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

Weekend Ride to Kotagiri with BHPian friends (March 2024)
What better place to visit in summer than the cool Nilgiris!

Three Beemers and a Ninja walked into a bar.. er, homestay !

This is a gorgeous travelogue in every way - the vehicles, the homestay, the food, the photography.

The drone looks cool too, bringing a different perspective to photography. May I ask which drone you bought ?

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by Cyborg

Just wow, Karthik, wow. The last couple of trips (since I didn’t reply earlier) and this one. Fabulous places, properties and detailed reports taking us there from the comfort of our sofas

Now that you have an audience waiting for your fantastic ride reports hope you don’t start charging us for reading them in the near future

Enjoy yourself and always keep sharing.

Cheers

Thank you for the kind words Cyborg sir!

Originally Posted by SithDefender

Three Beemers and a Ninja walked into a bar.. er, homestay !

This is a gorgeous travelogue in every way - the vehicles, the homestay, the food, the photography.

Thank you very much SithDefender!

The drone looks cool too, bringing a different perspective to photography. May I ask which drone you bought ?

This one is a DJI Mavic mini series, which replaced my older DJI Mavic Air. I initially planned to upgrade to a larger Mavic 3 pro but instead later ‘downgraded’ for easier portability and practicality instead of better tech specs . At least this one fits easily in bike luggage, so will help to get aerial shots of some of the places we visit during bike trips.