Prologue:
GOA has always been a traveler’s paradise, almost the only place in India where the ambience suits the free spirit. It is a place where I want to keep going back year after year. It must have been my 8th or 9th visit to the beaches but a first after my marriage, with my better half as a co-passenger, and a first trip to GOA from Hyderabad. It was also memorable in the sense that I drove to and back all by myself. Having visited most of the sights and beaches of GOA in my earlier trips, it was decided that we would laze around near Baga only without any major sightseeing agenda. This trip was spread over just 3 days as there was a paucity of leaves due to work, moreover I was majorly concentrating on completing the round trip of an approximate 1400+ kms where I would be the single driver on a 9 year old ALTO. It is a pre worshiped vehicle which I bought in February this year, I had my doubts on whether it would be able to run through the entire trip without any hiccups, but I do have to admit that the treasure trove of information within the team-bhp threads and the ever supportive and available community members helped me to realize this trip of mine. I had been referring the relevant threads almost daily in the run-up to the travel day: How to prepare for a road trip, Hyderabad to Goa travelogues, Auto lighting etc. These apart i spent quite some time on the car itself and it helped me to enrich my knowledge about the various components. In fact i spent a whole day at an FNG where i had gone to implement some upgrades to get each of the sections checked while i made some inquisitive notes.
My ALTO after taming the Chorla Ghats in its own diminutive way.
D-Day Approaching:
The car underwent a major service 8 months back and the odometer read a distance of just 1500 kms from the service date, so I decided on a general check-up to be done by myself before embarking on the trip. I did a few airport rounds to drop and pick-up my wife, so the ORR tarmac presented a perfect platform to feel the car out on its readiness. I also upgraded the headlights, horns, checked out the transmission and brake fluids, coolant, topped up the engine oil and checked out for anything that looked or sounded amiss. While on the city errands and the ORR, I was constantly checking on the right Tyre pressure to use, finally deciding on 32 psi on all 4 of the wheels plus the spare. I had a tube lying around which was passed on to my FNG folks to validate its usability in case of need as well (My car is shod with Tubeless Michelin Energy XM2s up front and Tubed CEAT MILAZEs at the rear). The last minute preparations were in full swing as the D-Day crept by, filled up the fuel tank to the brim, stocked up on the needed accessories as advised on the road trip thread and updated the song list in the flash drive as well. This sure helps in increasing the confidence levels when a checklist is marked as done. Decided the route based on the suggestions provided on the route query thread and saved the maps for offline use. While we had planned to do a stopover at Belagavi initially, we let go of that idea and decided to do a non-stop run. This meant that the number of stops en-route had to be curtailed so as to reach our hotel by around 5 pm, so we decided to carry our own food, snacks, beverages et al to avoid stopping for Lunch or Breakfast, also I realized later that the route that we took had a scarcity of good places to eat as well until maybe when we enter Belagavi. It was unlike the runs I did from Pune, where a restaurant at Nipani was a fixed place for a stopover at any point of the day. Hotels were booked for a 23rd November check-in to coincide with the Thanksgiving holidays in the US when the work volume is relatively less in the project that I work.
The Run-up to the trip.
Now spending the week starting at 19th was a real challenge, multiple travels down but am still not able to reduce my anxiety before an impending trip. I used to check my luggage at 3 am in the night, the packing for which had begun around 2 weeks back. The night before the trip was really cruel on my sleep pattern, couldn’t even get a proper nap. That when I had read a certain line almost a 1000 times over and intended to follow it: Get a proper sleep before starting out (sic). With the first tenet lost to my excitement I was treading into an uncharted path, but felt confident in going about it. Now I have this weird habit of checking the lights, LPG connections, locks etc. for umpteen number of times when I have to go somewhere and I was worried about who will water my plants as I forgot to tell my maid about it. All the worldly worries aside, started up the electric stove and made some coffee to clear out my mind, prepared mayonnaise filled vegetable sandwiches and gulped them down fast enough to complete the first meal of the day. With everything checked out it was almost time for an early morning start and off we went.
A full tank and raring to go.
Day 1: Nov 23
The pre-determined start time was decided for 2:30 AM, but as the events would have it we got delayed. We kept 30 mins as a buffer so we still had a timely start but after travelling for around 500 meters, realized that I left the travel log book behind in which I had painstakingly marked the routes with the areas we will pass by and the time, distance details etc. So we came back to my apartment, rushed to get it, checked the locks again and then resumed the journey at 3:17 AM. It was pitch dark and it had been ages since I woke up at such an hour but the rush to get into that cherished road trip kept my spirits alive. Google Maps has this certain affinity towards the ORR at least on my phone, whenever I try to search for directions it always asks me to take the ORR, regardless of the fact that to reach there from my apartment, I have to take a desolate, narrow piece of road for at least 5 kms. Ignoring the persistent calls to turn right, I continued straight ahead onto NH 65 after taking a left. Made me wonder when auto driving cars in the future gets integrated with maps and doesn’t let you take the route of your choice. Too much of restive thoughts already, 5 minutes onto the trip. GPS showed 684 kms to the destination and an estimated arrival time of 4:15 pm, many more kms to be munched up and the day hasn’t even started yet. There was sparse traffic at that time and we quickly got onto the toll road. The first toll of 80 rupees was paid and we continued onto the well laid out 4 laned roads with lighting and proper markings.
The first pit-stop at NH 65
A Jason Mraz liner on my mind: 93 million miles from the sun, People get ready, get ready, Cause here it comes, it's a light, a beautiful light.
Soon we exited the Telangana side of NH 65, a portion of the road here has diversion through an unfinished patch. Toll road starts again on the Karnataka side where we pay an equal amount of 80 rupees, there are no more tolls hereafter. I was able to reach Humnabad within 2 hours 20 minutes, there we have to exit the highway and take a left to continue onto Gulbarga but something that happens often with me happened. I continued on the highway instead of taking an exit to a service road around 200 meters back, frankly I didn't see one as well. Maps kept shouting frantically again to take left, it must have been disappointed with me for the second time, but it should have been able to understand the inability of my car to fly off the elevated road onto the turn below :D. So I continued straight, fortunately there was a U-turn just ahead and I didn’t have to travel much further to get back on the predestined route. A few kms crossed, hit an XXXL sized pothole which I couldn’t see in the dark, recovered from the jolt, no damage done so continued. Rest of the road to Gulbarga was uneventful.
Now we were supposed to go through Bijapur through NH 50, but google decided that we should take a state highway instead, so off we went through farmlands and incomplete sections of road. Unaware of this sudden diversion, the realization of being off track came only when at one point we stopped just before a huge dump of construction material and thought we had reached a dead end, but as google continued to show a straight road, I asked a person nearby who was helpful enough to tell me about the road conditions ahead and that I was on the right path to Bagalkot. On checking the corner there was indeed a path, conspicuous and hidden at the same time because of the debris from the work going on, it could accommodate a car. When a loaded Force Trax filled with passengers made its way through, I was convinced.
Was just hoping that this gets over soon enough.
The good patch in here.
The road was mostly gravel with some good patches in between. The roads near an NTPC wind farm station was quite good and you could almost touch one of the huge wind turbines on the roadside. We stopped to have our Brunch there, after a break of around 20 minutes we started again to Bagalkot.
An unexpected detour and a break.
A roadside wind turbine.
Part of the good patch on the state highway towards Bagalkot. Google indicated an unknown road here. Notice the wind turbine in the image.
The Bagalkot to Belagavi road is well laid out and we were able to maintain good speeds. Belagavi was chock-a-block with traffic but it wasn't a crawl and we were able to proceed to Chorla within our expected timeline. The drive through the ghat section was exhilarating and the twists and turns provided some respite from the straight line driving for most part of the day. I was also excited by the thought that the destination is just a few hours away now. There was supposed to be a 250 rupees toll once we enter GOA, but we didn't have to pay for anything.
No distance too far. Crossed Belagavi and off to Chorla now.
The final lap was covered in around 3 hrs. and 30 minutes and we were able to check in at the hotel at 4:45 pm. It turned out to be a good day on the road, the total distance was covered in 13 hrs. and 22 minutes. Set the navigation for the final stretch to our hotel at Arpora and it was completed in due time without any hassle. As with most of the hotels on the Baga Calangute stretch it is not an easy task to find the exact location of it. However, had visited this area before so tried to recall the alley that I took when I stayed at another hotel in the vicinity during one of the earlier trips. It was right next to it as I found out later, so another task done.
The hotel was a 3 star property and quite well maintained for the budget.
Post the check in we rested a bit and headed out to Baga which was just around 2 kms from our hotel. After spending some time at the beach headed back and called it a day.
Baga wasn't as crowded as much i expected it to be.
Day 2: Nov 24
Slept like a log the previous night, woke up at 8 am to go for a swim session before breakfast. The pool in the hotel I stayed was not that big, but a perfect one for part time swimmers like me. The breakfast spread was quite sumptuous and gave a perfect fillip for the rest of the day.
A reference for the pool
We decided to go visit Panaji and do some sightseeing before going to the Basilica of Bom Jesus. Took NH 748 from Panaji that goes straight to the destination and after spending some time there, came back to Panaji via the Ponte de Linhares Causeway, this route was quite scenic passing through the older charm of Goa and skimming the Mandovi river on the right.
Lot of beautification projects have come up at Panaji, but due to the heat did not explore much.
Basilica of Bom Jesus and the church of St. Francis of Assisi. Pristine as ever
The grounds at the Basilica were all covered up with makeshift tents, possibly due to Thanksgiving, not quite sure.
Next, it was time to go to the Vagator Beach, I somehow like coming here every time I visit Goa. A dirt track has been laid out which lets us take our vehicles to the beach down below from the usual parking place which is at an elevation, we decided to walk down the path. While at Vagator, I make it a point to have food at the Fishtail Restaurant and bar, it is a quaint little place serving good food with a nice view of the beach. The seating arrangement is comfortable and it feels quite refreshing to just while away the time relaxing and watching the waves on the beach up front.
The rocky environs at Vagator are a sight to behold. Arjuna has a similar layout as well.
Views from the elevated parking point at Vagator Beach, The Chapora fort is visible from here.
A scenic treeline, soaked in the views.
Good food and ambience at the Fishtail Bar & Restaurant.
Lunch done we started to leave and get back to Baga. The India Bike Week was happening today as well, but gave it a skip as our schedules didn’t quite match, the heat had become unbearable which was another factor. The road to Vagator was full of bikers and I was taking a note of how many imports, brands I was able to recognize. Reached Baga within a few minutes, parked my car at the massive Baga parking area and paid 40 rupees. The actual amount seems to be 20 rupees for 2 hours but I guess the attendants just assume that you are going to stay for more than 4 hours. Baga and Calangute are no longer the beaches that they used to be maybe a few years back. The earlier energy was missing as well, I hardly saw anyone doing the water activities. Or maybe I was just around in a wrong time, but this is supposed to be the season when people visit these places the most.
Empty stretch of the Beach at Baga. Where is everyone?
Anyway, my concerns aside took a pair of beach beds by paying 100 rupees and laid down for a power nap. But the number of hawkers that kept coming to sell their wares made it a futile exercise. After refusing massages, tattoos, beverages, wrist bands, fluorescent light bands et al decided that the hotel bed would be a better place to relax so bid goodbye to the beaches till the next time. It was already around 6 pm when we reached the hotel, after lazing around a bit near the pool side we ordered dinner and then retired for the day after packing all the stuff for a morning start.
Day 3: Nov 25
Woke up at 8 am and started getting ready for an early check-out. Breakfast spread was good today as well. Checkout formalities were a breeze, settled the room service dues and hit the road at 9 am sharp for the long journey back. Followed the same route but this time around did not trust google maps blindly, instead plotted the way-points manually to stick to the National Highways after crossing Bagalkot. Crossed GOA in a jiffy and was lapping up kms on the Ghats soon after.
A breather after tackling the winding roads.
Saying Sayonara for now, will be back to the ghats soon.
I was expecting the sunlight to be there at least till 7 pm, but I guess this being November I had to drive into the fading light right at 6 pm. Going through the National Highways added around 20 kms more to the total. Once dark, couldn’t maintain the speeds I wanted to, allowed other cars, trucks to pass and tailgated them as the roads were mostly divider less until Humnabad. Driving through the night made me want to reach the NH 65 intersection at Humnabad earlier. Given another chance I will avoid driving in the night (after 7 pm) through that route.
Driving into the fading light.
After reaching the Humnabad NH 65 intersection, faced the same issue with the turn, so had to take the same u-turn again. Back on the NH 65, zipped through the smooth roads with finally some light to speak of. The same amount of tolls paid, i was cruising past the landmarks towards Home. Google still indicated a route via ORR, but i knew where i had to go, continued straight onto the highway. 10 kms to my destination was pleased to see the familiar sights again while listening to the shouts from the navigation to turn left and get to the ORR. Finally reached home at around 11:30 pm after 14+ hours of driving. At the culmination of the trip I reminisced about my preparatory steps and I am a satisfied man indeed. My wife was a sport all throughout, I must thank her for agreeing to be a part of this trip. I am sure it must have been grueling for her. The magic of a road trip, drive included retains the top spot at the satisfaction index then. Just until the next one..!
The next day: On the way to a deserved wash after the end of a cherished trip. Heartfelt thanks to my ALTO for running firm all throughout without a single frown clap:
Congrats on completing the Goa trip on a ALTO. This should have been a memorable road trip to long cherish.
Surprising you were not charged the usual 250 rupees for using the Chorla ghat section, what time did you cross it?
Suggestion: Give a small write-up for the images (top/bottom) so it is easier to visualize.
Cheers!!
Congrats on your first T-Logue in here.Brought back memories of our drives all over the country in the M800.Thanks for sharing details of your trip.All the best for more travels.
Lovely write up and I must say that I'd prefer an Alto or a M800 over longer/larger boats in ghat sections. They're so agile and deceptively quick.
I was in Goa recently and your log only brought back memories. :)
Thanks for sharing.
