[nadal_fan]

It is almost a year of owning Honda CB300R.

Abhijit, Rahul and I had done a bike ride from Bangalore/Pune to Goa and back in Feb'23 earlier this year (Bengaluru-Goa and back on my Honda CB300R). As we parted ways to Bangalore & Pune respectively from Goa in Feb, we talked about planning the next ride covering western coast of India.

We fixed 16th to 23rd Dec week for the next ride after going back and forth on availability, carving out time from family commitments and office.

After not seeing traction on any sort of planning about places to visit or booking stays until 14th Dec, I pinged Abhijit and Rahul if the ride was really on. To my relief and excitement, a place to stay at south Goa was booked on the same day. Rest of the trip was going to be all impromptu decisions.

Like the previous trip, I was going to start solo from Bangalore on my Honda CB300R. Abhijit and Rahul would ride from Pune on their Yamaha bikes.

Day 1: Bangalore/Pune to south Goa (480-590 Kms):

Needing to cover almost 600 Kms in one day, I started from Bangalore at 4:15 am on the 16th. There was a bit of chill in the air, and the bike was going really smooth. I crossed Tumkur in little over an hour, and took first break for tea around 5:45 am.

After another break for Petrol at a Bharat Petroleum COCO outlet, I had crossed Sira by 6:30 am, and was making good time at stable average speed of 80-85 Kmph.

I stopped for breakfast around 7:45 am at a highway restaurant between Chitradurga and Davangere. My staple breakfast is Idlis during travel. I always marvel at the different flavors you get in Sambhar made in various parts of India. It is almost as-if there's a local story behind the taste of food at each place.

After going past Davangere around 9 am, I had options to choose routes to turn left towards Goa. I decided to stay on the known route towards Goa after Dharwad through Dandeli forest area. Another tea-break followed.


The ride through Dandeli forest area has some rough patches of gravel on under-construction road at several places. I didn't see much progress on these patches of the road since I rode here earlier in the year. And, the best part was gliding through the ghat after Anmod till Mollem.

I reached our AirBnB booked at Benaulim around 4:45 pm, taking a little over 12 hours to cover 590 Kms. Abhijit and Rahul who had started around 6:30 am from Pune, reached at 5:45 pm.

We freshened up, had some drinks and snacks at local restaurant, and caught up on each other's stories since we last met, before calling it a day.

Day 2: Chill @ Benaulim

Abhijit and I woke up early, and decided to go for an early morning walk to the beach, taking in the early morning breeze, and feeling cool sand beneath our feet.




Breakfast at a local eatery was nothing to write home about, and we literally took a nice 2 hour nap till it was time for lunch.

I was eagerly looking forward to lunch at Mother's recipe restaurant based on eloquent praise of its 'Fish Thali' by Abhijit & Rahul. The restaurant is run out of a home, and the prices are very reasonable. Taste was authentically local, and we savored Bangda fish to our content.


While Abhijit decided to take a swim at the pool, Rahul and I went for another walk to the beach in the evening, which was crowded for south Goa standards.

Dinner was light. We briefly discussed about plan for day 3, and it was decided we will head towards Karwar, and cover coastal Karnataka.

Day 3: Karwar - Gokarna - Murudeshwar - Kapu (~330 Kms)

We left Benaulim at 7 am. South Goa to Karwar is a beautiful two-lane stretch of road, criss-crossing dense forest area, bridges over couple of rivers going into the Arabian sea, and glimpses of a fishing town.

Breakfast was Idli, vada and Plain dosa at Karwar, after which, we decided to head towards Gokarna.

Gokarna was crowded for a Monday, as we found our way towards the beach via the temple route. Abhijit and I took a tea-break at the beach, while Rahul visited the temple.

It was getting quite humid, and we were sweating in all the riding gear. So, we didn't spend a lot of time at Gokarna and headed towards Murudeshwar.

As we were going towards Murudeshwar, the highway had expanded to become a proper 4-lane road. We rued that in the efforts of expanding the highways, natural shade and beauty of trees on both sides of the highway was the cost we all have had to pay.

We reached Murudeshwar few minutes past noon. It was crowded to the brim, with visitors from Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra, Tamilnadu & obviously Karnataka. Another reminder that tourism in India is still largely religious, though it has started changing a bit in recent years.

Rahul wanted to take some pictures of the Lord Shiva idol and the tall temple building, so he went inside, while Abhijit and I looked around for shade to just relax.

Our initial plan was to camp at Murudeshwar, explore some secluded beaches, and may be go for scuba diving. But, looking at the crowd, we decided to keep going further down south, may be till Marwanthe.

We took a break for some sugarcane juice on the way to Marwanthe, and decided to call one of our friends from Udupi about potential home-stays away from run-of-the-mill hotels. On his recommendation, we decided to book a home-stay in Kaup (pronounced Kapu) near Udupi, over the phone. So, the plan changed to reach Kaup, and then decide on next course of action after checking-in.

We stopped momentarily at Marwanthe beach, but decided to carry on as the heat and humidity was unbearable in the riding gear.

After reaching Kaup at around 3:30 pm, we freshened up and found a nice place serving local snacks such as Mangalore Buns, Chilly Bajjis and Goli Bajjis. We got talking with the owner, who informed he opens the shop at 4:30 am, with all the savories prepared hot every hour. We had found a place for our morning tea, breakfast, and evening snacks for our stay at Kaup.

Next stop was Kaup lighthouse on Kaup beach, which opens up for visitors to go all the way up to the top at 5 pm. Kaup beach was like striking gold for us - not frequented a lot by people, a long coastline, and some serene views of of the beach and backwaters from the top of lighthouse. We spent good 2 hours at the beach enjoying the views and sunset.


Later in the evening, we were quite lucky to find a local restaurant serving fresh fish of different varieties. We are big fan of local joints at any place we visit. We have relished some of the tastiest snacks at these places. Conversations that happen after a good meal are the added bonus.

We felt the first three days had already given us experiences beyond our expectations. From the anticipation of getting down Anmod ghat, to the trademark shacks next to the beach, to signboards in Russian for the socio-cultural populace mix of Goa, local Konkani fish thali, fish market on the roadside, pilgrimage rush at Gokarna & Murudeshwar, fishing boats anchored on the beach, few fishermen getting their nets ready for the next catch, several rivers on their last journey to the sea, backwaters, sleepy small towns and villages, waiters at the local bar making arrangements to deliver fresh 'Tadi' to us, finding how the texture of masala used in preparation of fish made a difference to the taste, to a young girl at the home-stay asking us 'Uncles' to keep the footwear out, to finding Mr. Pai and his shop at Kaup, how could one not marvel at the diversity and colors this country has to offer. More one experiences it, more we realize that, we have barely scratched the surface.

We decided to stay at least one more day at Kaup to explore coastal Karnataka a bit more, and then experience the ghats of Kudremukh range.

Next travelogue: Experiences of day 4, 5 & 6, and why I ride?
Coastal road ride from Kaup to Malpe, boat ride to St. Mary's beach - most beautiful beach I have been to, food at another local restaurant, observing a religious procession with an unique way of involving local community, ride through Kudremukh forest area to Shringeri, and the ghats on the way to Chikkamagalur, search for a home-stay and landing at a place with home-cooked food for dinner & breakfast, searching for constellations in a clear night sky, soaking it all in while thinking, "why do I ride?"
I try and answer this question for myself and other aspirational riders in the next one.

[ex-innova-guy]

Lovely pictures and meeting your friends after long is surely an amazing feeling.

OT- Was this impromptu trip also to celebrate Nadal being back on court soon? Not yet ready to see him retiring like Federer.

[nadal_fan]

Thank you. Nadal's return is an added bonus. Nadal has always been a mind over body player, so hoping for a last hurrah before he decides to call it a day.

Originally Posted by ex-innova-guy

Lovely pictures and meeting your friends after long is surely an amazing feeling.

OT- Was this impromptu trip also to celebrate Nadal being back on court soon? Not yet ready to see him retiring like Federer.