This experience of riding over part of broken tarmac, gravel and through clouds of mud was thoroughly enjoyed, the missing part was the rains.
BHPian Majumdarda recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
So what do you do, if you have your leaves approved but a not so satisfactory experience from last year’s Motoverse experience?
You still travel! (but with updated plans and destination)
Somewhere around Ooty and Gudalur
I had in-fact submitted my leaves probably around May/June, though both the heart and mind wanted to try something else. You see, the last year’s MoteVerse experience still pales when I compare with 2014’s, but I am sure its primarily because the mind has not been able to keep up with the pace. Anyways, though the leaves were approved, the location wasn’t.
Then one day, while going through a session of ShuMar, a word stuck me, Bucket List. Yes, do I have anything to add to my bucket list of rides. The Sun rise to Sun set ride (Puducherry to Mahe), though it fascinated but in order to fulfill that ride, my agility has to be increased. After all, it will have to be from Pune and back. So what next!
How about the much talked about Coastal Ride then, kissing the Arabian Sea? Well it would probably start from the southern most point of India and extend all the way till Gujarat, but then how about a subset.
Kozhikode till Gokarna seems to be satisfying the urge and Google suggested a distance of approximately 450 Kilometers. So yes, its a addition to my Bucket List.
In trying to decide as to how to reach Kozhikode from Pune, I considered the option as Pune, Hospete, Mysore, Ooty, Kozhikode, Gokarna, Pune.
While the plan was still being drafted, one of my RM buddies called me up and this topic popped up. He also wanted to try out something other than Goa in November and thus I ended up suggesting this trip.
A plan was agreed and we decided to add in a few more days to the itinerary, if we can move out by a Saturday from Pune. So, the updated planning was as follows
D1 Pune to Hospet via Solapur
D2 Hospet to Ooty
D3 Rest
D4 Ooty to Gokarna via Udupi
D5 Rest
D6 Gokarna to Goa –> Customary Goa Stop, thanks to my buddy
D7 Rest
D8 Goa to Pune
Complete liberty for me to decide the route while he would be taking care of the food and lodging, but on the go and no advance booking.
While this was still being finalized, I also got to know that there are two ways to reach Ooty, one will be via the Masinagudi and the other via Gudalur. There are 36 hairpin bends in the stretch via Masinagudi and therefore there is also an entry restriction in times of timings. I had missed photographing the Gata loops as I was racing with the KTMs of our group, but this time, I would not forget to cherish these loops.
So back to the drawing board and the updated route plan turned out to be as follows. First Rest day gone (and to be followed by many as the plans changed)
D1 Pune to Hospet via Solapur
D2 Hospet to Mysore
D3 Mysore to Ooty via Masinagudi
D4 Ooty to Gokarna via Udupi
D5 Rest
D6 Gokarna to Goa
D7 Rest
D8 Goa to Pune
With my riding partner’s leave finally getting confirmed, we decided to start on 9th November early morning. A few more iterations though were required, but the route plan fortunately was not required to be changed much, albeit the fact, could we try Hampi.
Buddy had come up with the name and so did the flashback from History pages of the Chariot (little did we knew that in order to see the Chariot one has to travel further and we could not, owing to time)
Moving to the Day1 –> Friday 8th November. Start time approx 03:30 AM with Odometer reading at 16023
Since I stay at PCMC and the day’s destination being Hospete (Hampi), we have to travel towards Solapur and therefore we decided to connect in front of Nobel Hospital. While practice makes a man perfect, the daily practice of taking a right at Wakdewadi wasted much time, since Army movement was happening and the “U” turn was restricted. Thankfully when I had reached the junction, the last of the Pontoon-Bridge trucks were moving.
After the customary photo shoot , we embarked on this memorable ride only to be rattled continuously by the moving trucks and the chilling cold. Its always a good idea to wear the Raincoat over the riding jacket, but that is something, which I chose to keep in my tank-bag though continuously I wished to have it worn. Height of being lazy
We stopped at this location so as to ensure if we are still on the right path and this location, per google, seems to be near to Patas. Its another experience to drive in the the cold winter morning with the bladder requesting to make a stop every now and then, which follows by a bout of chilling cold.
The second stop was on the Solapur highway since our tummies were crying out loud and Tea/Poha was the need of the hour. Morning rides with nothing as a fixed destination has its wonders, I must agree. Since we had to bypass Solapur we were also thinking that should we take the bypass or go straight. Traveling without the live Gmaps (intentionally) was a decision very difficult to keep up with.
The Solapur bypass lacks even a simple food joint and together with the rising sun, 10 AM seemed to be 12. Thankfully we got a roadside Rajasthani Dhaba, though the food was not tasty, but with the accompanying road conditions, it tasted awesome.
At one of the petrol pumps to cool up both the ride and the riders.
Hospet was not much far from here and since we had ample time in hand, we pushed towards Hampi and finally reached around 5:30 PM. Though the road goes through the city but since traffic was less, we could reach in time since the Mandir complex gets closed by 6PM (is what we were informed.)
We rode straight towards the Group of Monuments at Hampi and managed a night stay for a little less than 1000. Food-ing is just around the by lanes, though not much options are available. Since we were informed by the locals that the enclosure will close by 6PM, we just parked our Bullets and Baggage and went straight for the sight seeing.
After moving around the place for sometime and coming to a conclusion that there is actually nothing much apart from a few hotels for food and gift shops, we had our dinner.
Odometer reading : 16643
Distance travelled : 620 Kilometers
Route : Pune to Hampi via Hospete
We will now travel to Mysore, enjoy the Palace and the surprise part!
Day 2 –> Sunday 10th November. Start time approx 05:30 AM with Odometer reading at 16643
Getting a comfortable sleep in a small bed is quite a distant dream, more so if you are to think about your Bullet parked under the open sky, though thankfully not too far!
We woke up early and was ready to move out around 5:30 ish, though we could have moved out earlier, but tying the bag proved some task under the very dim lighting. Since the exit road is just by the side of the Virupaksha mandir, the idea of seeking blessings from Lord Virupaksha could just not be avoided.
Had our breakfast at the sole eatery we found opened at around 8 AM just after crossing over to NH48 from NH50
We also observed couple of riders from some group doing this stretch early in the morning and that prompted for a quick photoshoot for Amun-Ra too, somewhere near to Hiriyur
For the urge of adventure and as a result of misunderstanding we had left the NH at some point and ended over on SH 150A, which is still being developed. Now once I refer the map and the points, I reckon that we should have probably gone towards Sira, Tumakuru and then towards Mysore, but we had went towards Huliyar after Hiriyur. Anyways, the roads are not bad but there is a lack of working petrol pumps in this section. Also Amun-Ra had hit the reserve. After riding for nearly 35 odd kilometers with mounting discomfort, I finally located a pump Only to realize that it caters to the trucks. Good part is that there was another one available at some distance which had fuel. Suddenly, I also started to feel dehydrated after fueling up Amun-Ra and therefore a stop for Sugarcane juice proved much energizing. Mysore is not far from here.
Finally we entered Mysore somewhere around the afternoon and after winding through city traffic ended up staying at Mysore Royale (1400 per night). The hotel is good but covered parking might be a constraint for big cars. Bonus is that this hotel is within walking distance of the Palace.
Getting refreshed and post filling our tummies we ended up at the palace around 4:30 PM and with a ticket price of 100 (or was it 120?) we could visit the Palace halls etc. It was a rejuvenating experience. I would let the pictures express themselves.
Being a Sunday, there was considerable crowd at the premise and I had read somewhere that crowd management should be a concern for the management. Somewhat agree to that! But overall nice experience.
Continue reading BHPian Majumdarda’s ride experience for more insights and information.
