Mangalore to Goa: Cycling along the Karnataka coastline

I initially thought of starting from Bangalore but decided immediately against it.

BHPian ninjatalli recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I travel not to go anywhere but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move. – Robert Louis Stevenson

Prologue

A long ride on a cycle over multiple days is a plan that has been in the works for ages for me. By default, I always assumed I'd be doing the Mumbai - Goa by cycle route; a tried and tested route that many cyclists friends of mine have done. And the fact that I have done Mumbai-Goa multiple times by road (both NH17 & NH8), it was an easy plan to make. Especially during the monsoon when the Konkan coastline shows its absolutely brilliant colours. But alas, that's something that always remained a dream, as the moment I got 3 days of holidays, it always got allocated to road trips and larger plans.

So when we moved to Bangalore less than a year ago, just by chance I realized there was a huge opportunity to travel around and see the natural beauty of the state which was literally unexplored territory for me. Traversing the state of Karnataka was not going to be one single trip; the former two trips being Part 1 on an Enfield during January'21 and later Part 2 in a SCross 1.6 later during the monsoon.

So when the opportunity arrived for me to have a week off in March, the seeds of an idea were set - why not do a trip to Goa by cycle? The thought to do it from Bangalore did not excite me. The highways were full of traffic plus the initial part of the route is too mundane with the beautiful locales only coming up when I reach the ghats, which wouldn't be till I do some ~300 km. So that option was scrapped.

The other option on the table was to get the cycle to Mangalore somehow and start off the ride from there on the coastal line. Thankfully an opportunity came up with an unscheduled last-minute trip to Mangalore in Feb first week and we decided to go by road allowing us to carry the cycle in the car itself. And so the works of the plan were finally put in motion.

Planned Route

Actual Route:

• Day 0: Mangalore - Manjeshwar (KL) - Mangalore
• Day 1: Mangalore - Udupi
• Day 2: Udupi - Bhatkal
• Day 3: Bhatkal - Gokarna
• Day 4: Gokarna - Karwar
• Day 5: Karwar - Benaulim (GA)
• Day 6: Benaulim - Vasco Da Gama (station)

Gear / Accessories:

I decided to travel light given the extreme weather (heat) and managed without the need for any panniers. My luggage consisted of:

• 1 x TrekNRide Saddlebag (to carry luggage)
• 1 x cycle portable pump
• 1 x extra tube
• 1 x multi-tool kit
• 1 x puncture kit
• 1 x mobile (front) holder bag
• 1 x portable battery bank
• 2 x pairs of riding tops + pants
• 2 x pairs of light material homeware + other knick-knacks
• Basic cycling gear (helmet, bottles, glasses, gloves, etc.)

Trip Stats

• No. of days: 6
• Kms covered: ~450 km
• Riding hours: 5-6 hours daily (on avg.)
• No. of punctures: 0

Epilogue:

Overall, the plan to cover the Karnataka coastline from (state) border to border went without a hitch. While I would have loved to do this during the monsoon (or post-monsoon), it still made for a nice trip, even if it was during a hot and slightly humid March first week. While the original plan was to visit the different beaches across the coastline, the actual riding got me hooked into just traversing most of the route on the highways (which wasn't bad at all, to be honest). While I have done much longer rides in a day, what I experimented on this trip was to do multi-day consecutive rides over a week and complete it in the same manner as my weekend rides.

Having now done this, probably the next plan would be to attempt the route down south, across Kerala! Or maybe a ride to Leh (if I get company)

Route: Mangalore - Manjeshwar (KL) - Mangalore

Distance: ~50 km

So a trip to Mangalore came up on the cards a month before the actual week of break and it made perfect sense to use this opportunity to get the cycle over as the only other alternative was to carry the cycle on a bus or the train a day before the cycling trip. Boxed up the cycle in the SCross and we drove over on a Saturday morning and landed up in Mangalore with a day to spare. While the plan was to start cycling only in March but a lazy Sunday morning offered me an option to try out riding in the hotter weather of Mangalore as compared to the cooler temps of Bangalore.

Pumped up the air in both tires and headed out towards south (KL) without a clear destination - the idea was to just see if any repair work was needed on the cycle that could be done before I head back to Bangalore the next day. Contrary to my worries, the weather wasn't that hot, especially the wind was nice and chilly, even though I started quite late in the morning.

Crossing over the evergreen and wide Netravati river on a foggy Sunday morning with the city still waking up as I head towards Kerala

The KL border is quite close to Mangalore and I crossed over within an hour of leaving and continued ahead till I saw the next town on the highway which turned out to be a non-descript place called Manjeshwar. Instead of going back via the same highway, I decided to head back through the inner roads thinking I'll see lesser traffic as a bonus. What I didn't realize is the highway cuts across the rolling hills while the inner roads go over and under :(

A few kilometres after I cross the state border, I turn into the inner roads and encounter rolling hills (compared to the much flatter highway)

Although the speed is much slower due to the recurring climbs, the views are so much better as compared to the usual setups seen on both sides of the highway

But it's still a short ride back home and I landed up back home some 2.5 hours after I had left with hot piping breakfast ready for me. And with the cycle running without any errors/issues, the setup was ready for the long trip a month later!

Continue reading about BHPian ninjatalli's cycling trip for more insights & information.