My annual days start from 22nd Dec. This thought began flashing in my mind after I came from home on Diwali. So there should be a really grand ride. My initial plans were to go to Kanyakumari exploring east coast. But Nipin Changed it to Goa(Bugger canceled his plan). His plan was to celebrate New-year in Goa. So I had around 10 days before New-year at my disposal. Lets do Coastal Karnataka was what came to my mind. But had no ideas as how to start. So at this point thought of Chamoli Bhai who had done this trip earlier. He told me a nice plan and then after tits-bits of planning myself started to plan for the ride.
22nd & 23rd Dec: Got the bike serviced and test rided. Got few modifications in the tuning done. Also needed cramsters for ride. Thought of buying new ones but did’nt got. At this point Venkath Sir came to help. I heartily thank him for the cramsters and his guys Mr.Sanjay and Mahesh Babu for the excellent service of bike. Since it was the longest and smoothest ride of my life.

25th Dec: Ist Day of ride
Bangalore - Hassan - Halebidu - Belur - Sringeri
Two of us me and Abhishek(pillion), left Bangalore at around 6 and reached Neelamangla at 7:30(Got some heavy traffic on the way). Was out of Bangalore by this time and clocked the next 100 Kms in 1 hr 10 min to reach the Kamat near Hassan. Had breakfast of Puri-sagu and left for Hassan. Started directly for Halebidu and reached Halebidu at around 10:30. Clocked a distance of 200 kms till there. Halebide has a famous temple dating back to Hoysala Kingdom. It a Shiva temple with wall-carvings based on Kamasutra and other epics. There is another Jain temple nearby having large monolith of Mahavira and other tirthankars. From Halebidu we headed to Belur which is a small town near to Chikmangalur and has got a similar temple as Halebidu except it is big in size and contains temples of different Gods.
After Belur, next destination was Sringeri. From Belur, got to Chikmangalur and then to Sringeri. In Belur met an German lady who was also on Avenger going to Mysore.

From Chikmangalur the Ghat section begins and the roads are average to bad. But the curves & the scenery lets one forget the atrocities of the road. After a decent ride , hit a coffee shop on the way. Surrounded by coffee & black pepper plantations, one can easily adjudge this place as one of the most beautiful coffee shop in the world. After a ride of about 2 more hours due to a wrong turn and driving around 60 kms more than stipulated, reached Sringeri. After spending couple of hours for sightseeing and a nice dinner crashed in the hotel room for a blissful sleep.
26th Dec : 2nd day of ride.
Sringeri - Udupi(Malpe)
Woke up quite early in the morning, went to Sringeri temple again and started after a breakfast of Kesari bath for Udupi. We ventured through a stretch of about 30 kms which is a naxalite area and with dense forest. The curves around Agumbe present a beautiful scenery except for really bad roads. However reached Udupi at around 11. The first stop was at Krishna Math. However the long queue deterred our plans to go inside and instead we headed for Malpe. This was the first time in my life that I was to see the sea. So I was obviously excited. Entry to Malpe is greeted by smell of fishes owing to big fishing harbor there. We went to fishing harbor first and tried to take some snaps of fishing boats but the people were not happy on seeing us clicking our lenses. Decided to stop the adventure there, and headed to Malpe beach.
So this was it. A vast stretch of water before my eyes with introduction from a a small sand beach. I have no word for the experience to witness this glory of mother nature except my heart was thrilled to see the sea.I intended to spent a day there. We got a pretty cheap and beautiful cottage facing sea in Udupi and rest is a story. Bathing in the sea for 3 hrs and then seeing a beautiful sunset and walking along the beach in the dark of the night. I was obviously having the time of my life.
27th Dec : 3rd day of the ride
Udupi(Malpe) - Marvante - Murdeshwar - Honnavar - Jog-falls(Sagar)
Next day started with a visit to St. Mary’s island. At around 12 left from Udupi and headed for Marvante. Marvante was a quick affair. After having drink and spending some time there, headed for Murdeshwar. In Murdeshwar, I was quite impressed bu the structure of temple and size of Lord Shiva idol. Beach is also pretty ok in Murdeshwar. But our stay was not long in Murdeshwar and since we had planned to cover Jog-falls, headed for Sagar. The route was through Honnavar and thr road from Murdeshwar till Honnavar is not termed right to be called a road.
From honnavour the ride till Sagar was totally through ghats. Karnataka alwaya amazes me with the diversity of its landscape. Within just 10 kms, I was away from the sea into the mountains and negotiating curves once again. The whole area is densely forested with sparse population. The route is awesome and any bikers delight. It was already dark by the time I reached sagar and badly tired. Went directly to KSTDC resort in sagar and after a tummy delighting dinner, crashed for sleep.
28th Dec : 4 th day of ride.
Jog-falls(Sagar) - Gokarna
The plan was to visit Jog-falls and head to Gokarna. Jog-falls is around 22 kms from sagar, so it did’nt took much time to reach there. Met some other bikers on the way. Here I was truly witnessing the lush green beauty of nature which I had missed during night. At jog-falls, spent a little time as the water was very less and there was no point in getting down. So tightened my gears and headed to Gokarna. I had heard a lot about OM beach in Gokarna, so was kinda desperate to get their early. Reached Gokarna by around 12 with only a single break in between. Directly headed fot the beach for accommodation. Found a simple , with amenities et nice hut for night stay. The charge was only 150. However the bathroom and toilet were open to sky. Gokarna had a great chunk of foreign tourist. The sight of babes in bikinis was really welcoming. Had a complete chill-out kinga day at gokarna. The remaing day was filled with, sea-bath, lot of beers and chiily chicken. During the night enjoyed really nice music with some foreigners playing guitar and bongo.
29th Dec : 5th day of ride.
Gokarna - Karvar
This was a extra day for us since our reservation in Goa was from 30th. So decided to check out Karvar. Reached karvar at around 11. At Karvar, Devabagh beach resort is a really nice place to stay. Its located on an island cutoff from the main land by the sea. Got tent for accommodation with price Rs 1600 per person per night. Decided to give it a try. The place is really cool to be away from the usual crowd and enjoy the serenity of nature. Its a jungle lodge on the beach. The rest of the day was spent doing couple of water sports(Banana ride, jet-ski and kayaking). in the evening the hotel people arranged for a Bon-fire followed by the dinner. This happened out to be one of the best days of the ride.
30th Dec : 6th Day of the ride
Karvar -Goa(Panji)
Day started with Dolphin-spot ride. We were unfortunate enough not to spot even a single Dolphin.
After coming from the ride, checked out from the hotel and waited for Bob, who was the third guy to join us on the trip and was coming all alone from Bangalore on his Avvy. He met us in Karvar and we all headed for Goa.
Wow! at-last I am heading to Goa was what i was saying to myself.Singing the Dil Chahta hai song(Kaisa ajab ye safar hai) entered Goa. Bob was exhausted andtoo much Hungary, so stooped for meal at Margoa. Our hotel was at Panji, so after lunch headed for Panji. Checked into Hotel and after resting for about an hour headed for Calangute beach. Goa was crowded like hell. It was kinda disappointing for me as the things totally changed as compared to last 6 days. Anyways we enjoyed at Calangute till 11 and headed for the hotel.
31st Dec : 7th Day of the ride
Goa
I spent 31st morning in Panaji market, buying stuff for me and others. Till afternoon we were in Panaji only and after lunch at about 3 headed for Agvara fort. From Agvara went to Baga beach and were there till midnight. Time filled with lots of drinks, dances and a marvelous fireworks show on the calangute and Baga on the strike on 12.
1st Jan 2008 : New year day - 8th day of ride
Goa - Karvar - Hubli
What a great way to start New-year. A ride of-course. Started from Goa at around 2 in the afternoon as others did some shopping. Got information from a cab driver that Belgaum route is really bad and its better to do Karvar-Hubli. The target was to reach Hubli and stay there. Ride till Karvar was smooth. From Karvar till Hubli(136 Kms), lot of truck traffic slowed us down and covered us with red dust. Badly tired we reached Hubly. Got a place at Ayodhya lodge and crashed for the night.
2nd Jan : 9th and last day of ride.
Hubli - Chitradurga - Bangalore
This was the last day of the ride. Had to cover around 450 kms till Banglaore and plan was to reach Bangalore by 5. Left Hubli at 9. Roads were pretty decent for first 150 kms and then till Chitradurga had to struggle a lot to keep our momentum. From Chitradurga it was a smooth ride. Reached home by 6:30(2 hours from Neelamangla).
I had a really great feeling of completing this ride without any hick-ups. Rode safely and bikes performance was really great.
As of now whenever I think of this ride, I say ” Ride of a lifetime”. Want to visit Goa again in off-season
Itinerary
Date : 25th Dec 2007 to 2nd Jan 2008
Route:
Bangalore - Hassan - Halebidu - Belur - Sringeri - Udupi(Malpe) - Marvante - Murdeshwar - Honnavar - -
Jog-falls – Gokarna - Karvar - Goa - Karvar - Hubli - Chitradurga - Bangalore
Total distance covered : 1800 kms
Bikes : Avenger
Riders : Gautam and Bob(Last three days)
Night Stay:
Ist Night : Sringeri - Rs 500(Good)
2nd night : Udupi - Rs 500(Good)
3rd night : Sagar - Rs 400(good)
4th night : Gokarna - Rs 150(OK)
5th night : Karvar - Rs 1600 per person(Very good)
Stay at goa : Rs 5000 for two days(Good)
7th night : Rs 450(Good)
Note: If going to Malpe(Udupi), food can be a problem. Better drive down to Mangalore highway(4 kms). As one reaches the crossing, there is a excellent restaurant on left hand side(coming from Malpe).
Pics - http://www.flickr.com/photos/33482969@N00/sets/72157603720577455/