Finally the day has come. 27th September 2008. Kept all camera batteries for charging. Started packing up the things from morning. Two kids, a lot of stuff. Some how managed their packing by afternoon. For me it was mainly outdoor activities - checking the car, getting eatables, water etc. Done all those and gave the car a good wash, and made her shine like new. Set the trip meter to 0. Civic has done exactly 17000km on this date.
Civic trip meter set, tank full. You can also see my red Swift.
Kept the pda charger for my PDA cum GPS navigator and arranged invertor inside the cabin for any need of 230V like mobile, laptop, chargers etc. Kept two small cushions and shawls at the back for the kids. Civic’s rear is like a room for them, they even play throw ball sitting on both sides of the rear. Hence checked that I have set the child locks on both the rear doors. Kept a box of tissues for them. Packed my stuff by night, and dumped it in the boot. Had a light dinner by 9.30PM, set the alarms to 3.00AM, with a plan that we’ll leave by 4.30AM. Hit the bed – sleep was no where near. Kids were excited and were asking a lot of questions. I forced myself to sleep for the next days drive.
Day 1 Bangalore - Tumkur - Sira -Chitradurga -Haveri - Sirsi - Yaana -Sirsi - Kumta - Ankola - Karwar - Margoa -Colva.
Woke up as planned by 3.00AM. Kids were ready by 4.00AM and I dumped all their luggage to the boot. Kept water, and other eatables for them at the rear. Kept the details of the trip next to me in the door. Kept a paper and pen for some quick notes also nearby. Civic has a lot of space inside the cabin to keep things, all were fully used. Kept the camera at an accessible distance, and set up the GPS with destination as Haveri.
Took a quick bath, and had a tea – I’m ready to go!!
4.30AM Civic starts to roll. Crossed Krishnarajapuram and reached Hebbal through the outer ring road in no time. Took the outer ring road again from Hebbal, but got a shock to see it fully blocked by trucks. Luck was on our side since we could get an opening in the median, took it and went to Yeshwantpur circle and got on to NH4 from there. I could see the block all the way till the outer ring road reaching NH4. Continued on the NH4 slowly, as the road surface was patchy and also some truck traffic in front.
Reached the first toll gate (50km from start) by 5.30AM. Paid Rs23 as the toll. The toll road was good. Exited this toll road (80 Km) by 6.00AM. Then onwards the roads are pretty good except when there are some deviations due to road repair. The next toll gate (122Km) by 6.30AM, toll Rs40 and continued to zoom away in these good roads. Reached Sira (138km ) by 6.45AM. A little further another very nice user fee roads starts (192 Km, 7.30AM, Rs 35). I could reach a high speed of 185kmph for a few minutes here (shows the quality of the road). In this road I covered 50Km in 30 minutes. Passed through the sunflower fields and wind mills near Chitradurga. After Davengere the roads are bit pathetic till Rannibennur. Reached RanniBennur(319km) by 8.45AM. Halted for break fast here at a road side good hotel. Filled petrol from the nearby BP pump. 26.5 litres for 326Km. Fuel efficiency 12.30Km/ltr.
Changed GPS to destination Sirsi. Started again at 10.30AM (long halt ) reached Haveri(368km) by 11:15AM. Roads from Rannibennur to Haveri is also bad. Too many deviations and stones lying all around. I just kept driving straight on NH4 and suddenly I realized that the left turn to Sirsi is just under the NH4 bridge, hence took a u turn and came back to the exit and drove to inner Haveri town to get the left turn to Sirsi. My wife took over from this point till Sirsi. Reached Sirsi (415km) by 12:30PM. Good roads, but narrow. Many a times we had herds of cattle and goats crossing the road forcing us to near halt.
Here we took detour to Yaana and I took over driving. Take the Sirsi Kumta road, and you’ll get a Y junction immediately. Take the right here.
You can see this board at the Y junction.
Took the Hegdekatta Mattigatta road to Yaana. I took some unnecessary turns in this road as there were many cross roads and all roads are scenic. Finally reached Yaana by 2.00PM. Odo showed 485Km – I guess I did some 20+km extra as I lost directions in between. GPS from Satguide is useless in these roads as it is not to that extent done. It shows NH perfectly and some prominent SHs also. But can be used as a compass in these situations.
We all took our shoes and changed over to do a 3Km trek. Kids were excited about the idea to walk through the forest, though they were a little afraid to encounter leeches. Took the Camera and started trekking. To our biggest surprise we reached Yaana peak in 5 minutes. The reason, the road to yaana is now completely done. Yaana now is accessible very easily – good for families. But since I had given great hopes of trekking to my kids – they just asked me “Is this your 3Km trek?”. I could only smile.
My kids ready for the trek
Spend 1 hour here. Went to the cave temple, looked around for a while took some photographs.
There was a small stream also there.
Kids returning to the car -see they are not tired at all.
Be aware there is no possibility to get food or water here. Please carry the same. Enjoyed the cool shade we had there for a while.
A stream on the road to Yaana
Since I had to continue to Goa after this, I enquired with a local guy there driving a bike is it worth going taking the road from Yaana to Gokarna Cross. He just looked at me and the car and said drive back to Sirsi and go to Kumta, and never dream about the other road. I did not think twice. Came all the way back to Sirsi Y junction where we took a detour by 4.45PM. Odo showed 525 Km. That means from the Y junction I had done 110Km up and down Yaana of which 20+km was due to my wrong turns and curiosity. Yaana trip thus requires roughly 4 hours atleast from Sirsi.
Continued from the Y through the Devimane ghat roads to Kumta. The roads are good and could drive fast around 60km in the winding roads. A few kilometers before Kumta you’ll get a right turn showing Karwar, and I took it. This road exits to NH17 near Mirjan. Exited at Mirjan (578km) by 6.00PM. NH17 welcomed me with a huge mess. I could see only mud and stones sticking out. Rechecked with my GPS. It shows the road as NH17. Cursing all who is responsible for that mess kept driving on slowly in that road.
Around 6.45PM I saw Kamat Upachar (607Km) at Ankola. Felt happy, drove the car in. Took early dinner here and halted till 7.45PM there.
Started again, NH17 is a horror till Ankola where Yellapur road joins from Hubli. Here I was happy to see all the trucks turning right to Hubli and Goa roads became free. Further up till Goa Border is fine except for some bad patches - 90%good, 10% bad. Passed Karwar, Checkpost and further on Margoa (703Km). Filled petrol from BP here. Petrol costed Rs50.75. (31 litres, 374 Km, FE 12.06Km/ltr). From here Colva is another 20Km, where we had a room at LaBen, Colva. Reached Colva (723km) by 9.30PM. Roads are narrow after Goa border with lots of curves. Be careful, as all drivers seems to like High beams a lot in this road.
The room was kept ready, and we all took a shower. Kids were sleepy and they were happy about the room and TV. They switched on the AC (Goa was terribly hot at 32 degrees) and unwinded on the bed with some cartoon. Me and my wife decided to hit Colva beach by 10PM. There was a shack called Mickeys. Plunged in. Ordered fenny, King fish steak, etc. and partied till 12.30PM. We returned to the room by 12.45AM and retired for the day.
Total 723 km. Total driving time -13 hours excluding all breaks. 55Km/Hour
Excluding Yaana – 613km, 10 hours - 61.3Km/Hour
Only Yaana – 110km – 3 hours - 37Km/Hour
Removing the detour to yaana, Colva is roughly 600KM, and Panjim 650Km.
Will continue soon.