(Honnavara -> Kannur) Republic Day Ride 2024: Exploring West Coast
- 12 minsAfter my last ride from Thanjavur->Chennai in 2023, maybe now I am able to sense how these rides feel like(started in the worst heat of east coast last august). So any plan now is appealing…haha except for climbing western ghats incline. We have a whatsapp group where about 6 days before the rode, I sent one hello message and yeah! indeed the enthusiasm showed up and we jotted down some possible locations to ride. The general idea is simple - make use of the national holiday to ride around the country, experience places and landscapes while on two wheels, decoupling from all the chaos of life routines, in a sustainable way by all means. Ganesh was interested to visit Kasaragod(closer to my hometown) and so I pitched If we could do a 350km stretch somewhere around that, we all could visit my home and stay there for a night.
Day 1
All set, I say(to myself) on the T+0 day with everything seemingly planned while Ganesh had a couple of his friends joining but on the second day at Udupi. It was 25th January 2024, about 930PM and Mr.Gana - our champ missed the bus on this night from Bengaluru unfortunately(as usual?) and it was me and Ganesh enroute Honnavara. So much excitement packed, light weight on the backpack, some worries about the cycles put under us in the luggage compartment of the bus, I slip to sleep while still hearing the chatter of some students in the back seat likely on their trip to Gokarna. It was morning in no time and bus was about an hour late and also someone making the bus stop again and again by puking out in the swirls after Shivamogga. About 830AM it was as we got dropped off at Honnavara circle. Was quite hungry but had to make some 25kms before anything to keep aligned with the waypoints. We were targeting to go no further than Udupi as Abhishek, Utkatsh and Gana are expected to meet us the next morning there for the next two days of the ride. Started sliding down the NH66 roads, lakes on one side, sea on the other, a lot of coconut trees all around, quite humid but the weather compensated for it until sun reached overhead. So comes my first instagram post:
After a breakfast in one of the highway side restaurants, we march faster. Coconuts are saviors - hydration + electrolyte recovery and a lot of them getting sold around unlike the east coast rode where we struggled to find there. Roads started getting wavy, a lot of small climbs and declines until a massive uphill near Bhatkal. Ganesh and I started taking about what have we been upto last 6 months and his interest to live in a naturistic place just like the ones we were seeing around. Right at the climb, a stranger who spotted us grinding through about a kilometer away, tracked us down to offer some chilled water. Thanks to Mr. Ratan, a resident of Shiroor village for his kind gesture. The coconut vendor directed us to visit a temple nearby there for lunch as local fare was going on. Because it was quite early still - about 1145AM, we had to keep moving.
After a break under the trees, recharged, Ganesh got reminded about a place called Padukone just before Maravanthe beach. We planned to reach there for lunch and spend the rest of time till evening taking rounds and resting inside the island-ish place. It is a beautiful place with a lot of fresh water bodies and farms. We both slipped asleep for an hour there after deciding to rest for 10 minutes before enroute Udupi. Ganesh left a short message that he would share with Deepika Padukone about her hometwon after experiencing being there(clip in the videos linked below at the end). With no more time to spare, we cranked up gazing the sunset, following the coastline road alongside Maravanthe beach. Had a few Mangaluru buns and Dosa for dinner and kept locked with the journey. Clocked 815PM, and we were 18km away from Udupi where we decided to stay for the night. Reached at about 930PM and for our luck, we couldn’t find a place to rent. After roaming all around with Google Maps, enquiring places including hostels and hotels, nothing turned up. By now, we had already spent an hour scouting for a place. Thanks to Ganesh’s network - a whatsapp status gave some leads but finally a localite whome we found online was happy to rent out one of his house for us. That was already 1130PM. After getting freshed up, with a little adjustments, I went to sleep letting the day’s tiredness unwind.
Day 2
Woke up a little late for a call from our champions. The house was very inside down the Google Maps location accuracy, hidden with trees. We met at 8AM and left sharp 9AM towards Mangalore. The idea was to take them all to my home just crossing the Kerala/Karnataka border, 20km away. Craving for the day was Ganesh’s plan to visit Pabbas. This was also the motivation for me, I should admit. Same beautiful rivers, Kapu beach where we took some rest with a tea break and I got busy talking to 2 new faces, both cycling enthusiasts experimenting long rides in a long time. Locals were helpful here helping us direct with routes as we were detouring with sea side gravel roads. Got some super scenic photos at here on top of the rocks! Enthusiasm at peak again and marching continues. Breaks, more breaks, resting and more resting we ended up seeing ourselves at a long queue infront of Pabbas ice cream parlor. Between, Mahesh joined us from Kapu to Mangaluru who happens to be my forgotten connection after once we talked over LinkedIn - nothing less than a champ again. Wow! Parfait or Banana Split or Tiramasu or Marzi Paan - all delicious and taken as a reward for the long day of ride which is still more to continue…
Me and Gana then diverted to pick up some Sunglasses from Decathlon, Bharat Mall while rest of the group raced towards Manjeshwara beach that I thought would be cool for a sunset view. As it was already 6PM by then, only the dark sea was seen and after gazing at it and spotting some fishing boats in a long distance, we continued to Hosangadi - a diversion point to my home from NH66. Abhishek somehow missed out of the group on a turn towards Manjeshwara Beach and so reached Hosangadi an hour before us. The place was ultra dark and I quite regretted the decision to detour towards the beach. Anyhow, by using our flashlights, reached hosangadi and thought of having dinner there before making another 8km. It was 930PM and we started soon to see a climb and more climbs than we had seen in the route before in the day. After some struggle, helping each other, taking ample breaks, it was 1045PM while we all reached home. We all got freshed up, Gana had his vegetarian dinner and all good, went to sleep. I had no idea about the next day, forgot all of it in the cozy comfort of my home…
Day 3
Had almost 135km for this day, started at 8PM a little deviated from the plans and shot right away. Gana in his full energy pushed me along and about within an hour, we were at Kumble. Took the Anjaneya Temple prasada on the way which is just before the Kumble city and continued the journey. Kasaragod was the breakfast point and Ganesh also wanted to see the school shown in ‘Sarakari Hiriya Prarhtamika Shaale, Kasaragodu’ movie which I couldn’t find in real. Uttappa was tasty for the breakfast. Continuing, we planned to have no breaks before Bekal fort. The roads were bad, really narrowed down at some places due to the ongoing expansion plan. No wonder, ate a lot of dust. Had lunch on the way, has some really good time at the Bekal Fort. Last time I visited there was probably in 2005 of which I had a very pale memory. We went inside one of the circular fort structure and the stones were so cool. Slept there for about an hour before telling the legs to clock up further. Almost tired but had to make to Kannur by 930PM to catch the KSRTC bus that we had booked in advance. Reached till Payyanur and it was almost our cutoff.
Terminology: Cutoff here is the time estimated in which one can barely reach the destination or not make it there but can make it if taken a lift using the local transport.
So, we hunted for some pickups after buses disagreed or were already rushed up. Loaded 5 of our cycles onto it, and we all sat in the trailer while the tuk-tuk took us enroute Kannur bus station. Enjoyed Abhishek’s snacks - Khakhra, Chikki, stitting and chatting on that while the locals funnily looked at us :) Just in time, onboarded the bus, and we were in Bengaluru the next day. Cold weather again haha and I cycle back to Mathikere from Majestic bus stand after saying goodbye to Ganesh and Gana who were on the same bus with me. It was monday already, took a nap and then I cycled another 5km to the office. Routine continues until next time!
Here are some clips from the ride, and I will be looking forward for the upcoming ones…. cheers and let’s stay exploring + adventurous!
Navadeep
He kills a lot of time being hooked up with EE \n