Beach – Falls – Rugged Terrain and finally the Mist

Long time no ride, took 3 days off for wat else to do, ride and get the butt sore…………

Riders: Myself – Apache 200

NFSNFS (Santosh) – P180 V1

Day 1: August 19th, 2007

Planned to leave by 4 am initially, then the schedule moved to 6 am and finally got moving by 7 am . Had breakfast at Kamat and continued toward Shimoga via Tumkur. Reached Shimoga to find that there was some sort of a problem with the alternator as no current was supplied to the battery or the lighting circuit. Hmm got some help from one guy at the spare shop and got the coil thing fixed and continued towards Sagar. Reached Jog only to find a huge traffic jam with loads of people who were there at jog . So skipped visiting jog for now and continued towards Honnavar. Just a few kms from Jog the rain gods dancing to full glory. Stopped to get in our rain gear and this is what we were presented with.

With visibility being very very poor we continued riding towards Honnavar. Reached Honnavar at around 6.50 pm. Had coffee n snacks left Honnavar by 7.45 pm. Even though still raining heavily decided to continue to ride towards Karwar. The roads were sick for most parts and one big scare was that I was about to hit a dead buffalo calf on the road , lucky me some how escaped all this because visibility very poor. Reached Karwar at 9.30 pm, dumped all the luggage and had dinner. A sound sleep was very much required…………..

Day 2: August 20th, 2007

Got to up at around 8 to see the rains still continuing, thought why not get that rain pics as well. A pic to remember :-) With no choice but to ride, we started off towards Panjim. But rains not giving way, bad roads made us decide to visit Polalem Beach which is close to 45 kms from Karwar. Stayed at the beach for a couple of hours before heading back to Karwar. Relentless rain at Polalem Roads on the way after goa border and back to Karwar
My bike
Refuelled at a HP petrol near the Goa border, a good 6 rupees cheaper petrol in Goa . Came back to Karwar, had lunch and packed the entire luggage and headed off towards Sirsi.

We had to visit Bennehole falls and reach there we had to ride pretty fast. The falls is something like 6.5 kms from the main road (kumta-Sirsi road) Complete off roading experience, rains, sluch, boulders, broken tree branches, twigs, what not. Took the bike to last possible path, parked the bike and walked towards the falls, it was already like 6.15 pm. We need to be quick else, if would be tough to find our way back to the place we had parked the bike. With all the struggle this is what we were blessed with

A quick visit and return to the bikes only to a quite a number of leaches happily trying to suck blood on our legs, lucky me again, had Gum boots on which made it difficult for leeches. NFS donated a bit of blood to the suckers. Somehow rushed back to Sirsi and took a lodge and then the fun started to hunt down leeches on our clothes, jackets, luggage, saddle bags, everywhere. It took close to 90 mins to get rid off the suckers and kill a few too. Had dinner and a sound sleep……………..

Day 3: August 21st, 2007

Got up early, packed everything and decided to ride to Unchalli falls. Reached there at around 10.15 am and reached the view point only to find the falls completely filled with mist. Spent around 30 mins just to get few glimpses of the falls when the mist cleared up slightly.

From there rode to Jog falls, as usual clicked a few snaps, and reached Sagar for lunch.

The guy at the hotel, guided us through a shortcut to kodachadri via Hasirumakki, took a Ferry on the Sharavati Back waters.

Reached the other bank and headed off towards Kodachadri. We were at the Kodachadri base at around 4 pm, clicked a few pics as well to enjoy the surrounding.

Just a few hundred metres my bike slipped and slided on the slush to have a fall, so message very clear, “WELCOME TO KODACHADRI”……. Then on being very careful continued riding.

A few stops and were at the top by 5.20 pm. After unloading all the stuff from the bike, to have a hot coffee in the chilling weather. Being very misty restricted our movements to a few hundred feet from the PWD Inspection Bungalow. What next no electricity, nothing to do in the dark, started chit chatting, had yummy dinner at around 8 pm and we hit the bed at 9 pm.

Day 4: August 22nd, 2007

Got up at around 6.30 to find that it was raining heavily outside…. So packed everything and waited for the weather to clear up a bit, but to our luck that did not happen. After breakfast decided to descend from the heavenly place. Reached the ferry place by 9.15 am.

Reached the other bank and rode till Shimoga. Went to the nearby TVS showroom to get the coil fixed again…. Finally got most of the things fixed, but could not fix the compression loss due to no valve clearance. Did not want to take a chance with those mechanics as they seemed to know nothing about the bike. Just rode all the way back from Shimoga with poor compression. Left Shimoga at 3.30 pm and reached home at 7.50 pm. A good good ride with lot of events ended here.

Need to thank Santosh for all the help and his patience to overcome all the hassles and still make it back home riding.......
The Route:
Bangalore - Tumkur - Shimoga - Jog Falls - Honnavar - Karwar - Polalem beach - Karwar - Minvad - Bennehole Falls - Sirsi - Heggarne - Unchalli Falls - Siddapur - Jog Falls - Sagar - Hasirmakki (used the ferry service here) - Sampigekatte - Kodachadri - Sampigekatte - Hasirmakki - Sagar - Shimoga - Tumkur – Bangalore.