Splitting up my entire yearly leave into two parts has now become a habit with me. Half exactly goes to the wife and the other half to my expensive high maintenance extra marital affair, the Bullet 500.
This is a story of the second half.
Ladakh has always been considered the big one - The toughest ride for a biker. If you have done Ladakh it will always eclipse anything else you ever do. I did my Ladakh sojourn in 2007 as my second honeymoon and this year we were planning on Spiti valley. But like many other plans it never materialised.
So with the season over I turned my attention to another part of the country I had always wanted to visit.
The South.
Worked out my leave balance and figured I had only ten days which was not enough, but still good enough for a ride. So decided to head south and cover as much as I could. I mentioned the idea to Amit, an old friend, with whom I have been on many holidays but never on a bike, although he has a Thunderbird. He immediately warmed to it and as the ride came close he bought all the gear we would need and we were set.
In all we covered about 3000km in ten days and I must say that for a rookie on his first ride it was no mean feat. In fact I have personally not heard of anyone doing that kind of distance as a first ride.
Day one for me started when I finished work and got out a little early at 4 pm. I went home, packed my bags and set out for Pune. Pretty uneventful ride with my wife for company. Amit lives in Pune and we were leaving further from there the next morning.
Day Two began at about 8 am, the customary pictures before setting off were taken and we set out. We stopped for breakfast some distance from Satara and I observed that my bike was throwing oil from all over. Then I realised I had gotten an oil change from a new mechanic and he had pushed some oil into the tappet cover as well as the engine casing on the left. So there wasn't enough oil in the engine and all the oil from the tappets and casing was being thrown out. End result my bike was in an oil bath from the outside and not enough level from the inside. I had vowed to finish the ride without any help from any mechanic so topped up the level and set off.
Crossed Kolhapur on NH-4 and just after Nipani we turned towards Amboli ghat. We had a really nice lunch thali of chicken at a little roadside dhaba and then I slept for about 15 mins. Logically one must eat light when on the bike but all the wonderful dhaba food is hard to resist. Goa was reached early evening.
Day 3 was a day of rest since that was the first time Amit had ridden so much. He was also very happy he had done it. And since his fiancée lives in Goa we spent a day there. Checked the head of the bike and all was good with it. The oil was coming into the engine. Gave the bike a good diesel wash and both rider and bike were happy.
Day 4: Started from Goa ( a little ) late and headed towards Karnataka. We crossed Karwar and headed on towards Murdeshwara. Maybe because we look weird we were directed away from the parking lot even further up into the parking lot of a private hotel. Amit got off and rushed into the temple, while I stayed with the luggage and the bikes. That's when two security guards came up and asked me if we were planning to stay in that hotel. I told them I didn't know Kannada. They explained with much animation and I still pretended not to understand. Finally I told them we were not planning to stay there. So they asked me to take the bikes out of the parking lot immediately as it was private property of the hotel. I said ''too heavy for me, cant do it, but you are welcome to try''. Hence two men who had never handled anything heavier than a bicycle tried to move two laden bullets. They failed in about 3 seconds and started shouting at me, I pretended not to understand. Finally Amit came and we got the bikes out and left.
Rode down NH-17 till Baindur where we turned left into the country roads. These roads were slightly better than the battered NH-17. We crossed the Mookambika and the Someshwar wildlife sanctuaries amidst rain and by evenfall we had reached the foothills of Agumbe, our destination. Amit was quite tired after our 350 km on narrow roads and needed a smoke. While he was smoking I showed him the headlights of cars way up on the mountain and told him that's the way we have to go. I am sure if there was a comfortable hotel available he would have gone no further. But he was a very good sport and made the best of the situation. Got on to the bike with a smile and we started climbing the last 50 km in the dark. I have Scorpio fog lamps on my bike in addition to my headlights which were a great help. The road spiralled up through 14 u-turns quite reminiscent of the famous gatta loops and deposited us at Agumbe. Now our search for the Agumbe rainforest research station started which would be our home for two days. No one knew our language and we couldn't understand theirs. With great difficulty we were directed onto a mud road by a rickshaw guy. That road proceeded to enter thick forest and at one point we saw a Bolero parked under some shade and it ended at some wooden railings. But no sign of life. So back we went and again the rickshaw guy sent us back down the same road. This time we blasted the silence of the forest with our horns and finally some guys came out. Those wooden slats turned out to be the main gate of the ARRS! We went in and were greeted by many people. Some students, some documentary film makers and such. All had a purpose in being there. We were the only two aimless travellers. Dinner was just getting over so we ate what was left ( which included some great fish fry) and went to sleep in our bunk beds. By then we had both been bitten by a leech each.
Day 5 started with a walk into the rainforest to a waterfall. As soon as we entered the forest the leeches started entering our shoes and freaked me out. I tried to keep them from getting in but gave up eventually. We were wearing leech socks and boots while our guide Munjappa was wearing only chappals! He had a bottle of some strange brew which he smeared on his legs. Home made anti leech. The walk was beautiful and uneventful except for one incident when we narrowly missed stepping on a Malabar pit viper.
We came back in time for lunch and slept. The evening was spent in chatting with the people there and dinner ended with a wonderful biryani. We slept early that night and left the next morning for Madikeri.
Day 6 we cleaned our stuff of leeches as best as we could and then started riding towards Madikeri or Coorg. The roads were good and we reached Karkala in time for breakfast. And what a breakfast. Wonderful idlis and dosas. Karkala was a temple town and Amit liked it very much. Just behind Karkala Amit discovered a really old statue of Bahubali. The view from the top was marvellous.
Then again good roads ( a rarity in Karnataka ) past moodabidri mani, puttur, salya and into Madikeri. Funny incident on the way to mani was Amit asking directions. He asked an old gent for directions and since it is written mani he said mani and the actual pronunciation is maaani! End result, that guy told us it was 1:15 pm and walked off!
Anyway we reached Madikeri in the evening after one of the most beautiful rides ever. The Coorgi countryside is superb. We spent the night at a homestay run by a really sweet couple who looked after us well. That night we slept soundly after those two nights in the forest on bunk beds. And of course had electricity after two days.
Day 7: Bylakuppe the biggest Tibetan settlement after Dharamshala is about 42 km after Madikeri on the Mysore road. It took us some time to get there thanks to the bad roads. Rambled around the settlement a bit and came nack to Madikeri by lunch time. Lunch was at a hotel called the Coorg cuisinet right next to the police station. By far the best pork I have had.
So after having another hefty meal yet again we set out for Kerala. On the way we met this guy who advised us to take another route than the one we were planning, as the roads were better there. We took his advice and headed for Baghmandala. The road from Baghmandala in Karnataka to Karike in Kerala is one of the most beautiful and scariest I have been on. Right after Baghmandla it was beautiful, winding in and out of coffee and rubber plantations. But suddenly we came upon this wildlife sanctuary called the taalcauvery reserve. This is the densest forest I have ever ridden through. A chat with a forest officer confirmed the presence of elephants. The one animal I would hate to meet on a highway. Anyway we had to cross it. So we started at a fair clip enjoying it and fearing it at the same time. It was just getting dark then and the forest was thick, with tall trees and taller waterfalls at each turn. Truly majestic.
We reached the other side and tried to make it to Bekal, our southern most point of the journey. But on the way my bike gave up. It would just not decelerate. So had to let it cool by which time it was pitch dark. We had to turn back to Kanhangad and check into the Hotel Bekal International.
Day 8: Bekal fort was dealt with early in the morning and we braced ourselves for the horrors of NH-17. But to our surprise we were pretty comfortable past Udipi and Mangalore. Mangalore treated us to a wonderful chicken thali for the princely price of 50 rupees. Again a ''light meal'' later we carried on and reached Honavar at about 5:30 pm. Before sunset for the first time.
Day 9: We left Honavar at 6:30 am and rode hard for destination Yana. We turned off the highway and got into another forest to go to Yana. It seemed like we rode for an eternity before we reached the turn off for Yana. This road was leading even deeper into the forest. We carried on keeping a sharp lookout for any kind of animals. We soon ran out of tar and rattled on mud roads but about 3km before Yana the road gave up completely. It was pure slush. I tried to move on but ended up with half my tyre in mud. And a completely laden bike was impossible to push through that for 3 km. Amit had to pull me out and we turned back. Disappointing, but by then I had had enough of Karnatakas apathy towards its tourism infrastructure. Turned around and reached goa uneventfully. I checked into Palolem and Amit rode on towards Panjim to be with his fiancée. Spent two days in goa with some friends and the night before the ride back home, ended at 5 am!
Day 10: Met Amit at Mapusa and we started riding back towards Pune, up Amboli ghat again. At Sawantwadi we met this Italian couple who work for 6 months and then ride around India for the next 6. Each had a 350 and it sounded like an ideal existence. That part of the country criss-crosses between Karnataka and Maharashtra so some roads were good and some bad. As soon as we reached NH-4 Amit began to rip and the already hot engine gave up. Soon the bike began to belch white smoke and oil. An enforced stop for lunch enforced some bad food but after the hour long break the bike was better and we carried on though very slowly. As we were limping back we were overtaken by a Kawasaki 4s which was rattling away but doing more than 80 kmph. He waved at us rather cheekily I thought. So just to show him what a bull could do I let her rip and soon overtook him. Then I had to slow down again for Amit and the guy on the 4s caught up as well. He said he wanted to talk so we stopped. He turned out to be a 20 yr old boy from Pune. And he was looking in amazement at our gear and our bikes. But when I learnt he had ridden all the way from Pune to Kanyakumari and back on his rattletrap 4s it was my turn to look in amazement. That boy I am sure is going to join the ranks of the bulleteers soon. He had amazing spirit and a great attitude. After the chat we set off again and reached Pune. Amit rejoiced at the end of a hard and gruelling ride and I ruefully thought of the Mumabi ride ahead.
Day 11: Leaving Pune in the morning, my bike just would not decelerate come what may. I tried my old trick of cleaning the carb slide but even that did not help. So was wondering what to do. Then I saw the nut which holds the cable in place above the carb. It had cracked in three places and would keep getting loose. I tightened it, wrapped some tape around it and set off slowly towards Mumbai. Reached in 3 and half hours thanks to the traffic and hung up my riding gloves for some time now.
An interesting postscript worth mentioning - On this ride I realised the beauty of Karnataka. It is really one of our most beautiful states with many tourist spots that few people know of. I just wish they would wake up to the condition of the roads. They have Ladakh type roads in the plains which I think is just not done.