So Sugar and I started on the 29th of December and headed towards Mangalore. This was a 3N4D trip.
Mangalore was supposed to host me that night. Had booked 3 hotels in the 3 major places of the ride (Mangalore - Kannur - Kozhikode), guessing the timing and mapping the route.
This time we spent some quality time, learned a lot and got comfortable with each other. We had loads of thoughts to keep us company and I also sang and made up some lame comedy to keep us entertained.
Luckily since there were rooms available in each of the properties on the 28th, I booked them and planned accordingly. Here's what was planned a day before the trip.
A vast fort which demands you walk around a lot. Had a parking lot and a decent amount of people looking around and getting tired.
Now it was either the Kappad or the Payyoli beach before reaching Kozhikode and calling it a day. We rode towards Kappad and breathed in the breeze there for a while.
Mangalore was supposed to host me that night. Had booked 3 hotels in the 3 major places of the ride (Mangalore - Kannur - Kozhikode), guessing the timing and mapping the route.
This time we spent some quality time, learned a lot and got comfortable with each other. We had loads of thoughts to keep us company and I also sang and made up some lame comedy to keep us entertained.
Luckily since there were rooms available in each of the properties on the 28th, I booked them and planned accordingly. Here's what was planned a day before the trip.
THE BEACHY RIDE!
|
|||||||
Date
|
Kms
|
Time
|
From
|
To
|
Sightseeing
|
Stay
|
|
29/12
|
Bang
|
||||||
373
|
8hrs
|
Treebo
|
|||||
23
|
30mins
|
Sasihithulu beach
|
|||||
14
|
25mins
|
Panambur beach
|
|||||
8
|
15kms
|
Tannirbhavi beach
|
|||||
Treebo
|
|||||||
30/12
|
Treebo
|
||||||
Ullal beach
|
|||||||
4
|
9mins
|
Someshwara beach
|
|||||
60
|
1hr 30 mins
|
Bekal fort
|
|||||
Puthumana Resi
|
|||||||
31/12
|
OYO
|
||||||
44
|
1hr30mins
|
St Angelo fort
|
|||||
16
|
30mins
|
Peralassery temple pond
|
|||||
10
|
25mins
|
Muzhappilangad drive in beach
|
|||||
12
|
25mins
|
Thallasery fort
|
|||||
35
|
1hr
|
Payyoli beach
|
|||||
23
|
45mins
|
Kappad beach
|
|||||
10
|
25mins
|
Hotel KingFort
|
|||||
1/1
|
Hotel KingFort
|
||||||
10
|
25mins
|
Beypore beach
|
|||||
150
|
4hrs
|
Palakkad
|
|||||
Coimbatore
|
|||||||
220
|
3 hr 30mins
|
Salem
|
|||||
2/1
|
200
|
3 hr 30 mins
|
Bangalore
|
||||
Day 1 [29 Dec]
It was 5:30am and Sugar and I had just left home, we were heading towards Mangalore now, and we decided to eat at the Shark dhaba. The road got misty and cold, we shivered and reached the food place exactly when it was getting too cold. And just as sugar was parked the sun came out and started spreading life and warmth.
The helmet and the sjcam had dew in them it was that cold, yes.
A thatte idly, one masala dosa and one glass of milk was savoured and consumed, while Sugar was savouring the warmth of the sun in my vicinity. He looked too happy to be going on this ride with me.
In no time, Hassan came along, and again in no time the ghats came along. It was only a week back, when I rode to Yercaud, that my fear of the corners disappeared slowly. And now here I was, going to take the curves of Mangalore, head on. Surprisingly it felt too natural to be twisting the throttle while taking the curve and turning the handlebar smoothly around them. I used to be stiff as a stick while riding earlier and now the brain was convinced that you don't just ride with your limbs, you ride with your whole body and mind.
Around 50kms in the ghat regions around Subhramanya the roads became terrible, from good, and slow, from fluid. The busses and the trucks were rash and the highways only became narrower from there.
I have clicked loads of pictures of Sugar and this is post will contain quite a few of them.
Mangalore was crowded and people rode and drove like they owned the roads. Reaching the hotel wasn't very difficult and I reached at around 4pm. Sasihuthulu beach was a virgin beach suggested by my room mate and I had to had to go there. It was around 20 kms from Mangalore (towards Udupi). I got to the beach at around 6pm exactly at around sunset. Walked around along with the dead jellyfish on the shore and sat among a few dead crabs to enjoy the sunset. Then, we retreated back to the hotel.
Day 2 [30 Dec]
Checkout was at 11am and after the breakfast and packing, we bid goodbye to Mangalore and headed towards Ullal and Someshwara beach as per the plan.
After eating up a few beach views and capturing a few frames from the same, Bekal was waiting for us! That's the place Arvindswamy melts hearts with Hariharan's voice waiting for Manisha Koirala, who runs around the entire place waiting to be united with the love of her life.
A vast fort which demands you walk around a lot. Had a parking lot and a decent amount of people looking around and getting tired.
After Bekal we were free for the day after reaching and checking-in at the Oyo at Payyanur (a few kms before Kannur). I rested, ate, cleaned up good and watched some TV before dozing off like a panda.
Day 3 [31 Dec]
Today the excitement was multifold because it was going to be Sugar's happy day at the drive-in beach. Keeping this as a 'for sure' place on the list we headed to the drive-in beach. There was a 10 rupee entry fee and more than a kilometre of beach to ride around in.
Sugar dug his stand in the sand and enjoyed rolling his rubber in the sand. We posed a lot and clicked a lot of photos together. And then we reached the end of the ride-able part of the beach and stood there for a while enjoying the breeze and collecting shells.
Now it was either the Kappad or the Payyoli beach before reaching Kozhikode and calling it a day. We rode towards Kappad and breathed in the breeze there for a while.
Calicut seemed like a small nice town and the hotel was a big fat one. I checked-in very professionally and fell on the bed like a hooligan. Switched on the TV and danced to random music like a maniac. This OYO premium had some good food and I ordered and ate like I din't see food for a week. It was happiness that was not bound by reason, for a moment I had forgotten where I was, where I came from and why I was there. After the while, it slowly comes to you. That's when I messaged my status to family, they called and we talked for a while.
And then I remember switching off the lights and the TV and falling asleep peacefully on the third queen sized bed of the trip.
Day 4 [1 Jan]
After breaking fast in Kozhikode and cleaning+lubing Sugar's chain, we headed to Beypore port. Reached, walked around and swallowed up an omlette at Beypore, because I couldn't resist the smell of the egg that the beach breeze blew in my way. Sugar and I were leaving Kozhikode heading towards Salem for the night. Tonight we check-in into our home.
Kozhikode to Palakkad, I got lost a couple of times in the narrow roads that must be called National 'Low'way not National 'High'way. Palakkad to Coimbatore the roads became broader slowly and Coimbatore to Salem the roads remained broader but darker. It was an 8 hr ride to the hometown and I checked-in at home at around 8pm. Heh. The service and the hospitality was so good here and it felt exactly like I was at home this time ;)
2nd was spent eating corn and showing the footages from the ride to the parents.
On the 3rd they waved goodbye so calmly as I proceeded towards Bangalore. Boy, was I so proud to have trained them well and ready for the unpredictable life ahead.
And it was a wrap!
P.S- Posting quite actively on instagram these days. Link, just incase - instagram.com/indhuja. Will upload the video on Youtube soon too.
No comments:
Post a Comment