Started this morning from doddamane, went down to someshwara wildlife sanctuary, and onwards to Manipal, the university town. Had come here more than ten years ago, was a sleepy little town then. This time the who’s who of all brands were there and the whole place looks super different, picked up a couple of things here… Went onwards to Udupi, the place I’ve always wanted to go since my childhood, the place which was most mentioned in tinkle comics as the idli central of the South!
Didn’t find a single idli dedicated shop there. Too bad..
Went onwards to Shimoga shettihalli forest – which meant I had to go back again via Agumbe – a 60 km retrace, did it anyway ! Was getting hotter by the minute and my tan mark behind the glove is more like a burn mark now. The ride started getting more and more tiring and beaks started getting longer and more frequent.
About 200 kms from Bangalore, my air intake pipe cracked and popped out. Not sure when this happened, but the bike was running ok. Once I noticed it, tried to hunt around for a mechanic or a auto spares shop, didn’t find either. Cut the end of the pipe, stretched it, clamped it on again, moved on..
Reached a cafe coffee day, grabbed a much needed red bull, and went onwards..
Nothing major other than the fact that I am super tired today after 570 odd kms of biking, not too many pictures either, except for the sunrise ones.
Things I need to replace –
My helmet (linings out, and I’d rather just buy a new one than replace that)
My gloves – worn out after 9000 kms of riding
My jacket – don’t even ask ! It’s barely holding together now.
Things I need to buy –
1. Gel seat layer 1
2. Air cushion seat layer 2 for putting on top of the gel seat
3. Gel seat layer 3 on top of the air cushion seat..
– you can probably understand my pain here!
The only things I didn’t have to use over this journey
– my spare gloves.
– my tarpaulin sheet for waterproofing luggage.
– my waterproof jacket and pants.
– my flashlight.
Health casualties – none except that bruise on day 2, sore bum and tan marks.
Bike casualties – engine oil drain and air pipe – nothing major
All in all a very happy and exciting 1470 kms in 4 days, and I would do it again. maybe in a few months from now, different route though. Have to work tomorrow argh !
Ok so, woke up at 6am (and proud of it), zoomed to the sunrise point, took some amazing pictures of the valley below. Came back to doddamane, had a lovely breakfast, and will head out again now.
Dreading the thought of going back to work tomorrow, will try and cover as much green area as possible today, given that the next such trip won’t be for the next few months ! Don’t feel like getting back into work mode now.
Plan for today is to cover someshwara wildlife sanctuary, Shimoga forest (Because of one bad detour yesterday, it’s almost one or the other – I’m in the middle of these 2) and then back via charmadi ghat or so.
As of now the hand is naturally tan-tattooed – the shape of a tribal mark on the back of the Hand as well as on the knuckles – cost of using stencil gloves and riding in the scorching heat yesterday! There is also a funny tan mark on the face – from the center of the nose to the ears on both sides – basically the gap between the lower part of my sunglasses and the top hem of my face cover.. I like ! Nobody is getting any funny pictures of me though…
Something a lot of people don’t know about bullets – yes, they are known to be long-haul bikes obviously, but the 500 atleast can also put to shame a lot of other bikes when it comes to top speeds and pick up (the ‘thou-that-shall-not-be-named’ variety )… Managed to touch 120 this morning for a brief moment before I had to slow down cos of road conditions – with still more juice to go – thats difficult on most other bikes except I guess the 390 ktms – not sure though.
Some other efficient measures taken since yesterday – one phone for photos only, one for location and data and tethering to share data with other devices on WiFi as opposed to each one powering up its own data, and power bank charged up.
You should always carry a multiplug adapter so you can plug in all 3-4 chargers together since most rental rooms have only one or two power sockets available.
You should also carry a real camera so you can take real pictures as well as save on phone battery. The HDR in the phone was fairly decent for low light pictures, but did not do any justice to the scenery I saw that a standalone camera would do… Not even close. Moreover the name sake led flashes do nothing for landscaping nature pictures. My loss… Maybe next time, But hey – you can only carry so much on a bike !
Packed, strapped the luggage, and headed out after saying the bye byes to the family there.
The last ride for this trip has started, damn !
Very happening day today… Did 200+ kms I think… Super hot day, but the bull didn’t really seem to mind.
Left kasargod at 11am, headed for Agumbe, took a detour to get into kudremukh national park, so turned from mangalore towards Sringeri.
The national park has a 1 hour upper limit for 2 wheelers to cross the 35 km stretch, else you pay a fine ! The beauty of this is that there is a 30 kph speed limit. You don’t need to be a mathematician to figure out that 2 wheelers, on paper, are not allowed to cross the forest, yet they let us in, time stamp a ticket and give it to us, instructing to go at 30kph and cross 35 kms within an hour… Lol !
Forest department – this is a fundamental and shameful mistake that needs to be corrected. Cars get 1.5 hours to cross the stretch.
Anywhoo I wanted to stop somewhere and take pictures, so I was obviously way above the allowed speed limit, to cover time for breaks, and still make the stretch in an hour. Found a track going inside the forest and decided to go in about a km – dense vegetation, but there were muddy road tracks nevertheless.. Took some pictures, and somehow felt that I’m not allowed to be here – there was a yellow board at the entrance, but was in the local language… Forest department – again please take note- if you don’t tell me in English or Hindi not to go somewhere, I will not know ! Anyway, I turned back and headed to the main road, and found another very tempting path going inside, asked someone there and he said you need the forest rangers permission to get inside any of these tracks.
So off I went to the forest rangers office – protected all around with barbed wire and a guy sitting outside surrounded by sacks with a gun in his hand – to ask for permission to go into one of the inroads, take some pictures, and obviously get an extension on my ‘time stamp’.
Once I went in, I was told ‘this is a naxalite area, please hurry up and leave the forest, forget about any such permission’ … So I had to rush out coz there was still 10 kms of forests left and only 14 minutes to go, made it at the last minute, and the moron didn’t even check my time stamp, just took my ticket and let me go…
Once I exited the forest, there was a little suspended bridge over a river, separating the main road from a villlage in the forest, and yes, I was allowed to go there, so off I went, taking pictures everywhere.
Headed back towards my destination, Agumbe. Found a small town just outside the someshwara wildlife sanctuary. Found a beautiful homestay called ‘Dodda Mane’ – a 125 year old huge house, occupied by a family of 4 generations, with room to spare for guests. Asked them for permission to stay, and was welcomed.
This place has a well inside the house with ground water, next to the shower area, has 2 floors, a huge centre open air verandah where people have dinner. On asking them how much they charge, I was told ‘you can pay whatever you wish’ – fancy that ! Anyway, was asked to freshen up, got a home made herbed juice or something, and asked to go visit a sunset point 2 kms away – lovely place showing s beautiful view of the forest below and the sun setting ahead.
Also, No cellphone signal here at all ! So this post will be posted after I leave from here tomorrow morning.
The place is surrounded by forests on all 4 sides, and they get visitors from all over the place, who come, see the house (free admission) and leave. Some decide to stay and get to decide how much to pay as well.
They have maintained the house fairly well for its age, and in the evening the whole crowd sits outside… Family as well as house guests, chit chatting with each other. As of now everybody is wondering what to pay them tomorrow, since nobody has been here before. Almost 15 house guests.
Thanks to Santosh for mentioning this place ! Love it ! It’s a pure vegetarian family, but that doesn’t bother me much, the food was great – traditional, served on a banana leaf.
Decided to take the bike out for a night ride… Did a few kms and came back- nothing worthwhile at night.
Crashing now, headed for sunrise point 17 kms from here at 530 am. Sleeping at 10pm, That’s a new feeling !
Will post this and the pictures tomorrow after I reach a place which has cellphone reception.