Sometimes when it’s call of your Soul, you ride
Solo!
When I started, due to heavy rain couldn't take a pic of the group.... |
So, finally when even the last guy cancelled the ‘just’ a week old plan to
ride to Goa and then Bangalore; I decided to do it solo! After all, I planned
it, and after not being able to ride to Ladakh for the reasons which themselves
failed later, I was to ride on any cost!
This ride had been a memorable ride for a lot of reasons, especially with a lot cases of ‘just happened’ things. A lot of things just happened and I had to
change the course or rethink about it at least. To start with, I proposed and
we planned this ride just a week before the actual ride day. Samzy, Sandy,
Monty, Rudra and Deepak said yes to it and later due to some personal
commitments kept declining. Last being Deepak who said no, just the day before
the ride.
Ride plan was to start early morning in Mumbai, reach Goa as early as
possible, have fun, ride next day to Bangalore via Jog, spent a day there and
ride back via Humpy. When I decided to do it solo, Vinny called me and
suggested to ditch Goa and visit Gokarna. Cool! He even got me a room booked at
Hubli through our Hubli Bulleteer friends.
On Saturday morning, 4 AM, ‘just’ when I started tying my stuff
wrapped in plastic bags on Achtung, it started
raining hard. Wait for a few minutes and did the complete job in rain, clicked
the miles on dash and kick-started the ride. Samzy was to meet me on PalmBeach
road and Rudra later near Panvel NH 4 (now NH48) naka. Due to rains, Samzy
started quite late from Powai, some 20-25 kms from our rendezvous. I waited,
waited, waited and finally thinking about the risks of riding solo in such a
harsh rain I decided to call off the ride if he couldn’t reach by 5AM. It was
already 4:30 and each minute was like pushing me into NO to ride! ‘Just’
about 10minutes before 5, Samzy reached and we hugged! He wanted to smoke but I
stopped to ride ahead and fag with Rudra who was already waiting at Naka.
Riding slowly through hard hitting rain we reached the place. I asked them,
would it be sane to ride solo in such a rain? They didn’t answer, for they
didn’t want to discourage me. Few minutes there and we started again. As soon
as we left Mumbai and neared Lonavala, rain slowed down and we could see Sun’s
presence. I asked the same question, and they said seeing the weather they are
confident I can do it. Teas and another fag round, we left Lonavala to have
breakfast at BigWheelz. It wasn’t open and we had to search for a dhaba to have
breakfast. Rounds of teas, omelette, parathas and of course smoking, we parted.
I took the turn towards Katraj and they turned back towards Lonavala-Mumbai.
My plan was simple, No plans!
Somewhere between Dharwar-Hubli |
'SwarnaSauda'- Somewhere between Dharwar-Hubli |
Just when I entered Karnataka, it started raining. I got my bullet parked
on side, geared and got back on read. Just over half a kilometer and there was
no rain! Mann, I was all wet while getting geared up only, and only at few 100s
of meters it wasn’t raining! Gross!
Well, NH4 is completely 4lanes, except between Dharwar and Hubli. At 3:30PM
I reached Hubli, so had a complete evening to spend doing nothing there.
Googled the distance between Hubli and Gokarna. A call went unanswered to
Vinny, so I (re)planned to ride some 150 km more and stay at Gokarna.
Om Beach, Gokarna |
Road to Gokarna has its own flavour, almost through the jungles of Kali
River and Anshi National Park (almost, because road is at the southern edge of
the park). Traffic on this single lane road, NH67, was quite low. For
kilometres I was riding alone on stretch with intermittent rain. Following
milestones and asking directions I reached Gokarn at around 6 PM. Sun was still
planning to dive into Arabian Sea. As suggested by Vinny, I rode to Om Beach
but couldn’t find the hotel he told me about. Some miscommunication and I
re-planned to ride back to main town of Gokarna. (I would be sharing Gokarna
experience in next post) Just when I started riding back, after visiting Om
Beach and Hanuman’s birth place, it started raining. Some off-roading on gravel
road, some sharp turns and I reached another hotel. Manager was such an a****le
that even after an hour I couldn’t get a room booked. So, I moved ahead to
search another hotel and finally settled at Gokarna International (seriously
nothing was International about it). Next morning, I woke up early and visited
the Gokarna Beach, saddled up by 9 AM and left the town for Jog.
Riding back on NH17 (now NH66), whosoever I met and asked about the
direction to Jog, I was answered ‘Go straight, One Hour, Take Left”, I was like
‘how do they know it’s one hour ride, may be they are so frequent to Jog that
know it takes an hour’s ride before taking left. At about 50kms from Gokarna,
and almost after an hour of riding on serpent roads (straight!), I reached
a place called Honnavar and then came to know they told me about taking turn at
Honnavar not after One Hour ;)
Jog Falls in background, a pose-only picture :P |
I took left towards NH69 and moved ahead to Jog
Falls which is situated at the North-Western end of Saravati Valley Wildlife
Sanctuary. Roads were similar to NH67 but at time narrower and denser with
trees on either side. It was a real experience to ride through such beautiful
valleys alone. Riding slow and enjoying the awesomeness of Nature I reached Jog
by noon. Waters were not much in the falls, but the height was really
appealing. About 1200 stairs take people down to the base of falls. I thought
to give it a try, and started almost running downstairs. Few guys that I met en
route were all wet in sweat, and when asked how much time it took, all replied
in sign language ‘one hour to go down, double upstairs. And, they were true,
packed within the riding jacket and pants only I know how soothing was the rain
that started just when I started back to roof.
Somewhere inside
Saravati Valley Wildlife Sanctuary (available at InstaCanvas) |
Back on NH69, I once thought to at least meet some
wild animal, the endangered Long Tailed Macau of Nilgiris was much to ask, at
least a snake! Minutes later, I saw a long snake in the mid of the road crushed
by some vehicle. Few kilometers ahead, another crushed snake, though smaller. A
third made me really sad when I saw him a little later, as my bullet neared, he
elevated his head; believe me – I was some meters far on mean machine but felt
really goose fleshed!
Just a few pit-stops, reaching Tumkur I had to
solve almost a puzzle on how to get on to NH 4 (now NH48) from NH69. From there
Bangalore was almost 70 km. No pit stops, except for natural calls, in a little
over an hour I entered the Mega City, fully geared
with GoogleMaps’ knowledge and lost. I was supposed to
ride coolly on New Ring Road from Yeshwantpur to Koramangla, but I somehow left
the Ring Road and entered the mulit0single lane maze called Bangalore. Problem with
accent, raaito/a (right) leftaa
(left), dedendo (dead end) and no prior acquaintance with the
city was enough to make the struggle harder. But, guys were really cool and did
help me even when I wasn’t actually able to get what they were directing, and
finally came an angle-uncle who actually took me across the city, some 20-25
kilometers, up to Koramangla.
I did some 750km on first day, and 550 kms next
day; so almost a ride of 1250 kilometres solo! Till date, the longest I have
ever been solo (first was to Mehsana, ~1300 kms both way) ! Would soon be writing on Gokarna, Jog, Hoggenakal and on ride
back to Bangalore...
Takeaways from the Log:
1.
When solo, you
are your only Help and Hope on road. Be prepared in all ways, always!
2.
Ride solo
sometimes, it’s the Best way to be with yourself.
3.
Plan, but not to
every detail, planning-replanning has got its own adventure....
4.
NH4, or NH48, is
rider’s paradise, ride high, you can touch the Sky!
Awesome description :)
ReplyDeleteAm planning to make this trip myself too (hopefully this year). Beat this is one hell of a journey you'll never forget.
I thought Jog falls was a lot heavier than it looked in the pic.
Hey Vishal!
ReplyDeleteWell, roads are awesome yet lonely. So, ride with full preparation. NH 4 should be the option when you want to ride safe, and for adventure nothing can beat NH17.
Jog falls are yet to see Monsoon, guess you would have a real thrill if you ride after rains....
Brilliant log, I can already feel the excitement through your words! No planning or flexible planning is real fun, I completely agree.. gives us a chance to explore so many places that we may have otherwise overlooked...
ReplyDeleteLook forward to the rest of it, pen it down soon!! :)
Thank you so much Arti ji. Was waiting for your comment :)
ReplyDeleteIt was one very special ride for me, working on the rest of the log, would be posting it soon....
Wow! So much of adventure! Great ride!
ReplyDeleteHey @magiceye, sorry for a late reply... Glad that you liked the post...Keep visiting :)
ReplyDeleteHey @magiceye Glad that you like the post and sorry for such a late reply... Keep visiting :)
ReplyDelete