[sujay bhandare]

Preface:

3 Biker, 3 machines and one destination.

This was going to be a heck of a trip for all of us. Though we all had biking experience (Santosh Sir has the maximum) we all were going to ride together for the first time. So every one was very much excited for this trip.

After acquiring hands on Ninja 650, I was dying to take her on a road trip. My sole purpose of bringing her home was long biking adventures. After bringing her home on 21st April 2017, planning of a road trip started with two of my friends. Casual meet ups started happening with long discussions of where to travel. So after few meetups it was planned to ride to Coorg and month decided was October. We started preparing our bikes for this ride, I made a rear tyre hugger for my N650 as we would be travelling a lot in rains. All the necessary safety gear was purchased. Rooms were booked in advance.

Route what we decided at first was travel till Harihar on NH4, take a right to Shivmoga and from there head straight to Coorg which goes via Chickmagaluru. But Santosh Sir had been on the same route a year back and knew how bad the road conditions were then, so dropped this route and took the one which goes from Tumakuru. Also it was decided to start at 10 PM from Pune on 7th Oct as traffic would be scarce in night. So we estimated to reach Coorg by 6 to 7 PM on 8th Oct. Riding close to 18 to 19 Hrs continuously was going to be a problem for me as I did not have so much riding experience. Other than regular trips, the max time I had been on saddle continuously was close to 10 Hrs on my earlier Pulsar 220F. But riding throughout the night without having a nap was a challenge for me.

Some quickies about our Ride:
Bikers with their Bikes: Your's truely (Kawasaki Ninja 650), Mr. Santosh Honkarpe (KTM Duke 390), Dattaraj Shinde (Bajaj Dominar)
Dates: 7th October to 14th October
Route taken from Pune to Coorg: Pune to Tumakuru via NH4>Gubbi>Nagamangala>Kaveri Dam>Hunsur>Gonikoppal>Virajpet>To our Home-stay
Return journey Route: Our Homestay>Virajpeth>Hunsur>Holenarasipur>Channaraya patna>Manglore-Banglore Highway>Immediate turn to SH47>Tiptur>Huliyar>Hiriyur>Directly to Pune via NH4.
Trip Odo: 2300 Kms
Our Chariots:

My N650

Santosh Sir's D390

Dattaraj's Dominar

[sujay bhandare]

Start of Journey (7th Oct.):

As it was decided to start our journey by 10 PM, came home early at 4 PM from office and after some final packing went straight off to bed. Woke almost at 7:30-ish had dinner. Meanwhile, my soon to become better half and few of my close relatives had come home to bid me Good-Bye. Everything was going as planned and then all of a sudden at 9:00 it started raining cats and dogs. That moment was like a horror for me. Me with my 2 riding buddies continuously kept contacting each other as how to start our journey in such rain. We three had already planned for such horrors but still facing such a situation was way different. Family had started their fare share of prompting me to postpone the trip for tomorrow. But for me it was like 'If Its Happening Then Its Right Now or Never'. So after a few minutes of my panic behavior, constant phone ringing with my riding buddies and some emotional drama by my family, decision was made clear that I am travelling right now, in rains and will do this very very cautiously.

Loaded the bike with all my luggage, covered it whole to prevent it from getting wet.

Meanwhile my brother and uncle had made arrangements for a small pooja for my bike. As this was my first biking trip on my newly acquired Ninja, everyone was a bit emotional including me (reasons were different )

At around 11 PM I started off from my home to our meet up place. We three met on the NH-4 just before the Westerly by-pass bridge in Narhe. 5 mins of chatting as to where to fill up our chariots our journey commenced. It was still raining heavily and our speeds were 40-50 Kmph, but we tried keeping a steady pace. After crossing the Katraj By-pass Tunnel it stopped raining and road beyond was dry. Picked up speed but still rode cautiously. At around 12:00 AM we reached the Reliance Petrol Pump which is just before the Nasarapur Phata.

Tanked up our beasts full and checked for the weather forecast on our route. As rain was no where to be seen till Satara and also traffic was scarce we decided to speed up our journey. Planned to halt for 5 mins after every 100-150 kms or if we feel sleepy. Crossing Khambatki Ghat was filled with fun. Leaving aside a few truckers there was no one. Whole ghat was filled with our bike's exhaust notes. As we passed Satara, dense fog started growing up, visibility was less than 10 ft. so we had to slow down. I took a lead as only my headlight was a bit effective in that fog. Duke's light throw was very poor and Dominar's LED lighting just made things worse. The light just bounced back from the fog and very less was seen on road. I wonder how the newer cars equipped with LED headlamps perform in such dense fog. I dont have any pics of this journey as when we started it was raining, and also we wanted to cover as much Kms possible in night, so did not stop to take any photographs or even mount our action cams.

While riding through night some where around 3:00 AM, Dattaraj faced an issue with his saddle bags. Due to over weight his right side saddle bag had was scraping along the tyre wall. Lucky for him I was behind to spot and it well in advance, otherwise he would have not known it for next couple of kilometers till his tyre had worn out completely. Rode to a nearest petrol pump as light there would be ample to sort this out. There was a big hole in his saddle bag and also the tyre edge had been scraped but it was still fine and we could take on the journey without worrying. Removed everything from his bike and tied it effectively with an extra rope. After about 45 mins of tackling with this issue we again started our journey. At 5:30/5:45 AM we reached the Hattargi Toll Plaza and took a tea break. Till our tea break was over it was almost dawn. There were a slight traces of fog but we could speed up, visibility was not an issue.

Our next stop happened after Hubbali for petrol. Again at Reliance Pump! All 6 of us (we 3 and our 3 chariots) had a good 30 mins break and utilized the time by having snacks which I was carrying from home. Did not plan on having a breakfast as we would tend to feel sleepy after food. Later journey was very un-eventful and our major break happened at around 3 o'clock for lunch. By then we were fully exhausted due to hunger. After tummy full of South Indian lunch we were now feeling a very sleepy. If it hadn't been for Santosh Sir to push us to start, me and Dattaraj had fallen asleep then and there itself. Oh man words just can't describe how much we had to gather our energy to just stand up and wear all our safety gear.

En-route some clicks

Our next halt was again for petrol just before Sira. There we discussed our next route whether to take the route from Sira or from Tumakuru. The pump guy and two truckers suggested to go via Tumakuru as road going from Sira was in a very bad state. Hence we started towards Tumakuru. Initially our plan was to cross Tumakuru>Kunigal>Madduru>Hunsur and then straight to Virajpeth. But we mistook a turn for Tumakuru bypass and got our self on a road which even google maps couldn't recognize.

Meantime it was almost 5:30 PM. We had to race from here as night driving would be an issue in the ghats of Coorg. Asking directions locally we went passed villages like Gubbi, Nagamangala via the Kaveri Dam and ended up in Hunsur. We had taken a halt in Nagamangala as our bikes (especially mine) had heated up and also we needed a tea break.

After the tea break started towards Hunsur and by the time we reached there it was almost 9 PM. Again took a much needed halt of 5 mins, gulped a Red-Bull tin and again started towards Virajpeth. Road conditions were still worst. At one instance I went through a crater type pot hole making a loud 'Thud' noise. The shock intensity of pot hole and the impact noise my bike made going through it, I was almost in a shock. The first feeling was 'I screwed up' following by what damages had that pot hole made and then the price chart of all the parts and service bills . All in a flash of few seconds. To my surprise nothing major had happened to my bike other than a damage to the front fork seals and a big dent on my tyre hugger. Suspension had traveled over its limit and if it had not been for the tyre hugger in between the bike's frame and rear tyre, worst condition would have been the tyre hitting the bike's frame and damaging at that point of time. But that day God was with me and nothing major happened to my bike. After that 'Full of Shock' moment my sleep had just vanished. In this way with a lot of exertion, adventure filled and some crazy moments we finally reached our hotel late at around 12:30-1:00 AM. Our hotel was located on the Virajpeth-Talakaveri road, 20 Kms ahead of Virajpeth.

After reaching our hotel, it took us some nice 30-45 mins to get out of our body armour, unload all our luggage and freshen up. Sat down for Dinner which was followed by the chit-chat session which was all about what we experienced along the ride. Finally after a talking session we finally the day off. Overall my personal experience after riding continuously for 24+ hours, though exhausted was still very much excited to take on the saddle and again ride to another location with a couple of minutes break. The feeling was massive for me and Dattaraj for completing such a milestone ride.

[sujay bhandare]

Exploring Coorg:

After reaching our hotel (actually it was a Home-stay) around midnight, there was nothing much we could see around us. Without much sneaking around we just went to sleep and woke up very late the next day. Moving out of the bed was really a difficult task for us as we were still feeling very drained. But after coming out of the room the view that we had of Coorg was just mind blowing. Let the pictures do the talking.

A Cottage in front of our room:


Views in front. Shots taken from the cottage:




Our Room is in the left corner where our bikes are parked.


Our Home stay Premises:

As still the tiery feeling was not gone, we spent the whole day exploring the surroundings, did a couple of time lapses, chatted with the Home-stay owner and his family, played with 2 month old calves and our Home-stay Owner's cute little kitten.

Time lapse capturing in action

Late afternoon I got back to our bikes and started checking out what all damages we had suffered if any. Other than chain cleaning, the Duke and Dominar had to work. On the other hand my Ninja had taken a lot of beating. Due to the low ground clearance the faring had become loose at joint and the major work was of mending the tyre hugger as it had a big dent after going through the crater like pot hole while riding the earlier night. I was lucky that my bike survived this incident without much damage. Also lucky enough that even after having that dent on my tyre hugger, it was not at all touching the tyre. If at all it had touched, I would had to work on a solution there itself and on a road which was through the dense forests of Coorg and coffee plantations.

The dent on the tyre hugger where it came in contact with the bike's frame

By the time I serviced my bike and mended the dent, it was almost 7:00 PM. So next hours were passed by chatting about our past rides and experiences. Dinner was served around 9:30 and while chatting over dinner our eyes fell upon a creature crawling on my Ninja's seat. It was a spider and by the look of it seemed to be from a poisonous family. I don't know under which spider'species it comes. Called out for our home-stay helper boy and he flicked it by a stick away from us and our bike. After the spider episode was over we finished our dinner and straight went off to bed. Tomorrow we had planned to ride to Talakaveri - The origin of Kaveri River.

Notice its red eyes and fangs

[sujay bhandare]

Riding to Tala-Kaveri:
We decided to ride to Tala-Kaveri on our third day of Coorg stay. We woke up around 6:00 AM and went out to have breakfast. Breakfast was arranged outside with our bikes adjacent. Sat down to eat it with admiring the views around us and off-course our bikes.

After having breakfast, as there was ample time to proceed for today's exploration, me and Dattaraj went out with our bikes to have some pictures clicked. Later on Santosh Sir too joined our photo shoot

After all the morning adventures, we freshened up and started towards Talakaveri at approx 11:00 AM. Google showed a 40 KMs ride to Talakaveri which would take about 1 hour of travel, but we actually took close to 2 hours to reach there. This was due to some patches in between which were very bad and also we took stops to click pictures. Other than my helmet mounted Action Cam, we also had another one mounted on Duke's tail area facing us behind. Road was just awesome without any traffic. It was like a race track for us and with the action cam mounted on Duke facing us behind, we had the best video footage captured of our ride. All due credits to Santosh Sir and Dattaraj who had come up with such a great idea of mounting the camera on the Duke's tail area. Some clicks from the Action Cam's footage:

Around 1 / 1:30 PM we reached Tala-Kaveri. Climate was very pleasant but by the time we reached there, dense fog had covered the whole area. The area of Kaveri river origin is marked by a small temple with a tank in front which is considered holy. Taking bath in this tank is only allowed on specific days. The water is then said to flow underground later to emerge as Kaveri River some distance away from this location.

Talakaveri Entry Gate


Source of Tala-Kaveri and a tank in front where water is accumulated for the Holy Bath


Kaveri river temple


And finally we 3 at the location

After having seen Tala-Kaveri temple we started back to our home-stay. Again had nice photo shoot stops, a couple of tea/coffee and snacks break in between and headed back to our home-stay.

Finally we reached our Home-stay at around 7:00 PM and by the time we reached it was pitch dark. Had dinner early and chatted till late night sitting by a bonfire. Next day we planed to visit the Nalknad palace which was close by our home-stay.

[sujay bhandare]

On our 3rd day of stay in Coorg we decided to visit the Nalknad palace and then explore some inner routes where destination was not the priority. Rode to Nalknad palace was horrible. Max gear I reached was 2nd! My MID showed 12 kmpl of average, Seriously !! In few areas standing up on the foot pegs was necessary. Sad my Ninja had to tackle such a terrain. It was a 30 min drive to the palace from our home-stay.

To tell you about the Palace, locally it is known as Naalnaad Aremane and was built in A.D. 1792 by Doddaveerarajendra. It is located in the dense jungle at the foot of Tadiandamol, which is the highest peak of Kogadu. It was the last refuge for Chikkaveerarajendra before he had to surrender to the British in A.D. 1834. At first glance it looks as a normal 2 storied structure with tiled roof and wooden pillars that line the corridors. It is only when we walk inside the building that we see its intricate details which proclaim its connection to a royal family. Snake figures can be seen throughout the palace, carved in ceilings, pillars or even in the wall plasters.

The main entrance door of the palace is heavy and huge to keep off the enemy. Once inside the huge doors you are greeted with a beautiful garden which holds a nice small shrine type structure.

A porch outside the palace with a superb painting on wall depicting a King's procession going on:

Entering the palace there is a stair way to the first floor which was known as the King's Durbar. It is an outstanding feature of the palace, having a direct view to the garden, the shrine and the wilderness of the forest. The palace was known to have been adorned with many gorgeous paintings, of which only a few remain preserved as of today. There are some more interesting things about this palace. Firstly the upper floor was only for the king and queen, whereas the lower floor was for the staff. Kitchen for the palace is on the ground floor. Besides, there are 4 completely dark rooms, with a trap door hiding the staircase to reach them from top. We were told by the local guide that these rooms were for hiding purposes. But with their pitch dark and no ventilation ambience, I wonder if it is actually possible to hide in the rooms.

A little bit of fooling around

After exploring the palace and its surroundings we started off exploring the roads where reaching a particular destination was not our priority. We wandered on a road which we didn't even know where it take us. Just went exploring and collecting memories. Roads were very much in a bad state. So cautiously went over each and every pot hole only to reach a location where the view was just marvelous. Stayed there for a while admiring the nature's beauty and after approx an hour started the return journey towards our home-stay.

While riding back to our home stay we saw a snail crossing the road. Stopped to have a closer look. Googled about it and came to know it is a tropical snail. Indrella Ampulla is what it is called and is endemic to the Western Ghats of India. It was bright red coloured with a length somewhere close to 5 inch! A few clicks with the snail and off we headed towards our home-stay. Overall today's ride was full of explorations where destination did not matter to us.

[sujay bhandare]

On our 4th day of stay we decided to finally see the Coorg city. It was a 40 kms drive from our home-stay which would probably take us around 2 hrs of drive from our past 2 days of experience. The ghats are superb and traffic is very scarce, so the problem is everyone is too fast and we being on bikes without much knowledge of the roads, had to ride cautiously. So with all these points considered we decided to start early. We woke up at 6:00 AM and by the time we got freshened up breakfast was ready. Our breakfast table was arranged in the cottage and the view we had today is worth mentioning. What we saw yesterday what we were seeing today was completely different! And the breakfast was like icing on the cake.

Next few minutes we had the nice breakfast while admiring the view and listing what all to see today in Coorg. Put on the riding gear, gathered all the camera accessories, mounted the action cams and we were ready to leave by 8:00 AM. We took a route which went via Napoklu. Roads were good but some patches were really very bad. My Ninja's exhaust scraped a few times. Other than this there was nothing else worth mentioning about this route. As usual scenery was beautiful. While we were riding Santosh Sir encountered a butterfly sitting in the middle of the road and waved us to stop by. We parked our bikes road side and started walking towards the butterfly. Our intention was to move it aside as any vehicle could have gone over it. But unfortunately till we got there a speeding M800 just went over it and a part of the butterfly's wing got a cut. By Gods will it was still alive and started flapping around but as its wing was broken it could not take a flight. We picked it up and brought it near our bike, checked how much it had suffered by the run over. Clicked a few pics of it as its colour was really unusual. Afterwards put it on a nearby shrub and started our journey towards Coorg.

A few clicks on the way

We reached Coorg by 10:00 AM. Did a local sightseeing. Many places in Coorg had restricted photography. Explored the city, did some shopping and we were good to leave the city by 4:00 PM. We had to leave because Black clouds had started gathering up and weather forecast was also showing heavy rains . We speeded our way through the ghats of Coorg. Around 5:15-ish it started raining. We were too hungry so stopped by at a local restaurant hotel.It was very simple including the servings but the lunch was finger-licking delicious.

By the time we had ate up rain had stopped and were good to go. Cautiously we started because after the rains, road had turned slippery. We reached our home-stay at around 7:00 PM. Chatted a bit and as this was our last day of trip started to pack up all our stuff in the saddle bags. It took us completely 3 hours to organize and pack the stuff according to the weight and where the bag would be mounted. For tomorrow it was decided to start max late by 9:00 AM as loading our stuff on bikes would take a lot of time. That night it rained a lot and we were totally worried that next we might face such rains en-route Pune. With fingers crossed had dinner and went to sleep

[sujay bhandare]

Return Journey (13th Oct)

Today we had planned to start our return journey. It was decided to leave at the most by 9:00 AM. As planned we woke up at around 6:00 AM and waited in the cottage till our breakfast arrived. I got back to clicking some casual pics and then Dattaraj had an idea to have a particular photo of all the bikes together which later has turned out my desktop wallpaper. Meanwhile our breakfast arrived and was arranged in the cottage itself.

Anyone for a Coffee?

After having breakfast, we freshened up and loaded our bikes with all the luggage. As planned we were in time and checked out the home-stay at exact 9:00 AM. Today's plan was to reach directly to Pune without any stop over. Earlier while coming to Coorg we had experienced very bad roads so today had decided to go from a different route, though a longer one, but were confident about the roads to be better.
Route planned was: Virajpeth>Hunsur>Holenarasipur>Channarayapatna>Man glore-Banglore Highway>Immediate turn to SH47>Tiptur>Huliyar>Hiriyur>Join NH4>Directly to Pune.

Today it was no pictures, less stops and plan to reach NH4 in daylight, probably till 5:00 PM.Started our bikes and off we rode bidding goodbye and exchanging smiles to our home-stay owners. While riding on the same road till Hunsur it dawned upon us how we had traveled this road in pitch darkness and all to ourselves if anything happened to our bikes. If it had not been for our aux lights setup this road was not at all manageable and we would have required more time to reach our hotel. After reaching Hunsur, it was usual asking the localities and taking directions from the Google maps. Major breaks happened only for petrol filling.

By 3:00 PM we reached the Manglore-Banglore highway where we took our first rest at a tea stall. Till now there it was totally sunny and now slight traces of black clouds started showing up. After a good 30 mins break we started our journey. Initial plan was to ride past Kunigal and then take a left to Kudur, and via Kudur ride till Tumakuru which would bring us on NH4. But while checking the route I saw a state highway (SH-47) on G-maps which was just 10 kms ahead of where we were. Going by this route it would cut down a major kms of our ride. Via the kunigal>Kudur>Tumakuru>Sira to reach to Hiriyur, it would have taken close to 5 hrs of travel with a distance of 250 Kms. But going via the SH-47 we would directly reach Hiriyur in less than 4 hours and distance was 180 kms. So we decided to take a chance and ride via SH47.

The Banglore-Manglore Highway

Turning left on the SH-47

Taking this route turned out to be a blessing. It was a single lane road throughout till Hiriyur but traffic was seen only when we were going through Tiptur and Huliyar. Other than this there was hardly any car / truck seen on road. As planned we reached NH4 close to 6:30 PM. We experienced slight rain, sometimes just drizzle and sometimes a bit heavy only for a couple of minutes. Also it had started getting dark but were happy to have made to NH4 before darkness. Once on NH4 we started searching for hotels to have some food. Right after the breakfast we had eaten nothing other than some biscuits and tea, so started checking out some nice Dhabas where our bikes with luggage would be safe. After about 30 Kms spotted Hotel Jaihind who's parking was good, right in front. After parking our bikes, removing all the safety gear and settling down, we noticed everyone was staring us like if some aliens had come to have some food Few of them came up to us and started the regular questionnaire from where we had come, travelling to where, what these bikes are, how much do they cost, etc. By the time we answered all their queries our food arrived. While eating we chatted about our next journey towards Pune.

Traces of rain were there and even the weather forecast was saying heavy rains in Chitradurga region. Santosh Sir, from his experience suggested to take a night's halt in Chitradurga but our intention was to start right away. May be it is only this region of Chitradurga where possibilities of rain were present. But oh boy, there was something different planned for us. Right at that moment the down pour started and it started raining really very heavy. Even the cars were not able to dive in this rain and in few seconds the hotel's parking was flooded with cars more than the rain water. That moment we decided not to risk riding in this condition and waited there to for the rain to stop. By the time it stopped time was close to 8:30 / 8:45 PM. We rode till Chitradurga and started our search for a nice hotel where our bike would be safe and under watch. Spotted Hotel Naveen Regency, went there to check if rooms were available. Pricing was on a higher side for one night but we did not bother as our bikes would be safe in its parking lot. Untied the saddle bags and off we went to our rooms to freshen up. After a bit of chit chatting session we were went off to bed. Rain was constantly pouring and we were a bit sceptical for tomorrow's ride. If this situation remained it would really be a task for us reaching Pune.

As decided we woke up at around 6 and plan was to leave by 8:00 AM. Rain was still pouring heavily and after further inquiry at the reception came to know it was pouring all night. With a heavy heart started preparing for the worst conditions. Brought the bikes in the porch where we could load our luggage without getting wet. Here only my saddle bag were not waterproof so had to take extra care in wrapping them in plastics. With every thing all set we went in for breakfast. By this time, rain had stopped. We started off exactly at 9:00 AM. Till now road had also dried up so picked up speed and soon started doing triple digit speeds. We did a non-stop ride without any major breaks. Our first break happened at Suvarna Vidhana Soudha, Belgaum. Stopped there to have some pictures click of this marvelous architecture. On 7th when we had started from Pune we crossed this early morning when visibility was less due to fog. So hadn't stopped then for photos.

My beloved

Given the price tag this machine is very well built and a great tourer. to Bajaj

The Pocket-Rocket

Till our photo session was over, our bikes had cooled down. Started our journey. Did a non-stop drive till we we started feeling hungry. Had a stop at around 4:00 PM after Kolhapur for lunch. Had a quick lunch break, stretched a little and we were good to go. By the time we reached Khambatki Ghat it was had turned dark and it was drizzling too. It was decided to stop after Khambatki Ghat for a tea break. Here Dattaraj was the first to arrive and I joined him after a few minutes. We waited for almost 15 min no sign of Santosh Sir, we started worrying. He was right behind me while crossing the tunnel. After 15 mins he came riding very slowly. While crossing the tunnel he went through a pot hole and his front tyre got punctured. To our luck, where we had stopped there was a tyre shop right beside. Went there to check for puncture got to know that there was a crack in the tyre wall. After a bit of brain storming did a jugadu type sealing. Pushed a puncture plug in the wall and applied fevikwik all around it to fill in the gaps where the plug did not reach. Poured water and waited for a bit to check if the tyre loses pressure. Once we were sure about this started riding again. Mean time we were constantly keeping an eye on the tyre and also we limited our speed to 40 Kmph. Santosh Sir was trying his best to avoid pot holes. For the last few kilometers were very tensed and did not want any mishap to happen. Finally we reached Pune at around 9:00 PM. Everyone bid Good Bye to each other and reached home safely in next couple of minutes.

This trip had turned out to be a lot interesting and magnificent than we actually had dreamed. Especially for me and Dattaraj this was our first road trip with our newly acquired bikes and we developed a special bond with our bikes.

A Parting Shot

[aah78]

Note from Support: Thread moved to the Travelogues section. Thanks for sharing!

[Aditya2703]

Nice travelogue and some really lovely pictures. The one with the snail in focus and blurred background is cool.

[sujay bhandare]

Originally Posted by Aditya2703

Nice travelogue and some really lovely pictures. The one with the snail in focus and blurred background is cool.

Thank you very much

[gururajrv]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I could very much relate to the anxiety your family had experienced when you were about to start your journey when it was pouring

It’s something that these bikes carry man which seriously cars don’t when it comes to exploring highway and long rides. I myself was an avid rider but after getting hitched, knowingly or unknowingly switched from rider to a driver!

There’s a saying “2 wheels moves the soul, 4 wheels moves the body” - it does make sense at times.

Overall a nice travelogue mate. Keep revving and ride safe!

[sujay bhandare]

Originally Posted by gururajrv

I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I could very much relate to the anxiety your family had experienced when you were about to start your journey when it was pouring

It’s something that these bikes carry man which seriously cars don’t when it comes to exploring highway and long rides. I myself was an avid rider but after getting hitched, knowingly or unknowingly switched from rider to a driver!

There’s a saying “2 wheels moves the soul, 4 wheels moves the body” - it does make sense at times.

Overall a nice travelogue mate. Keep revving and ride safe!

Thanks buddy

You rightly said. On bike we are connected with the world around us whereas a car is like a cocoon for us.

Hoping to see you again on bike.

[dre@ms]

Excellent snaps and crisp narration. Balancing family and our road trip desires are always painful. Lucky your parents were supportive and its nice to see your Ninja with garland and wishes from God.

Nice capture of the Snail and pity the Butterfly.

[sujay bhandare]

Originally Posted by dre@ms

Excellent snaps and crisp narration. Balancing family and our road trip desires are always painful. Lucky your parents were supportive and its nice to see your Ninja with garland and wishes from God.

Nice capture of the Snail and pity the Butterfly.

Thank you very much. Yes sometimes its a bit difficult to convince them but when its our passion they will always support us.

[Lone Ranger]

Originally Posted by sujay bhandare

Our breakfast table was arranged in the cottage and the view we had today is worth mentioning.

Really enjoyed reading the travelogue and some of the pictures. That view you've spoken about is so beautiful. What a fantastically soothing experience it must have been to have your first meal of the day in such surroundings! Also, from some of the pictures I am able to see all of you being sensitive to the various living creatures you came across, thank you, may your tribe increase!