Goa & Kodachadri

Aug2007


Fri 10th: Started by 7pm from blr..covered half the distance fast..as usual, the Tarikeri area which is closer to kemmangundi hills got the monsoon effect.. started drizzling..the dusty visor and the rain drops on top of it made a perfect combo and making kaleidoscope effect..reached bhadravathi by 12:30am and slept!

Sat: Morning went to Jog..in the parking place there were some 100 cars with so much of crowd(effect of that recent forward mail I think)..didnt feel like getting in..so turned back and went towards Unchalli falls..had a lazy ride in those interior never ending twistes..clean roads..fresh air..all wet and green..no humans..was stopping every corner..falls was just blasting..came out of that whole stretch by evening and stayed in Gokarna.

Sun: Didn’t feel like riding to Goa..thought of coming back to blr :D before coming to any conclusion, I was already on the move..
took a deviation at Canacona and went to Agonda/Cola beaches. Spent couple of hours in ‘Caba de rama’ fort.. its one isolated fort on the seashore hill top..forest eating up fort walls..inside the fort, lost the way back to the entrance..who cares.. ;-)
ride out till Margoa was fun with all those cream twisties..reached Calangute by 6pm..booked a resort on the beach in a calm place..500rs/day..spent sometime in a beach shack..and then settled down in one of those bars enroute Aguada..drizzle out side..only few tables occupied..and that typical goan music in the background..Goa is different I say! Good that they keep it open till late night..by 12, took dominos pizza and port wine to room.. :D



Mon: Aguada fort in the morning.. Vagator fort in the evening..back and settled down in another restaurant in the Aguada road..by now, I know how to spend a day in goa :D







Tus: Ride back with still confusion going on in mind whether to take-up kodachadri idea or not..scenic ride out of goa till Karwar..crossed Honavar..NH17 which was so lovely all this while turned bullshit.. potholes filled with stones.. trucks don’t give way but keep throwing the mud..very very irritating..took the kollur deviation and the life is back within few kms out of the NH into the interiors.. distant view of kodachadri hills creamed with clouds..fresh air and paddy fields all over..K750i singing ’rooba roo..roshini’ inside helmet.. the life tastes so sweet there!
by 3pm, few kms short of Kodachadri base, found a broken bridge..hope you know kodachadri 'base to top' is of 15 kms perfect offroading..only mahindra 4X4 jeeps and few mad bikes can do it..no sumo no scorpio..its one scary rock climbing to the top..getting there alone and doing that in night is nothing like I can not do or so..but something I wanted to avoid desperately..!






The evening is approaching fast and now this broken bridge even before reaching the base..whoever I enquired had very little idea on the alternative route..had to talk to many..paste the bits and pieces and make out a huge roundabt via sidapur/nagara..only to find another broken bridge past nagara.. life is almost on the hands of mother natue.. :D someone showed me a route..lost way in the middle which went through forest and made a deadend at scary Chakra dam..no soul for miles even to smell if you are decomposing..after all this circus, reached kodachadri base by 7pm.. then the fun started..initial 1 km was threatening with slush..once on the rocks it was ok..michelins worked well..Karizma does rock climbing nicly.. :D reached top by 8:30pm..stayed in PWD rest house..few mallu guys gave company..had missed lunch actually..the hot rice and sambar they served tasted like anything.

Wed: The PWD rest house was fully soaked in the fog and gave a pretty interesting look..guided mallu friends to the kodachadri top..its scenic all over..green, wet and misty..slight drizzle..spent lotsa time in the top..started the ride back by 1pm..again scary down hill..came to the base by 2:30pm..by now, I was in a trap..both kollur & nagara routes were blocked and no way out of that wonderful land..even i don’t mind staying back there for ever :-)..marry a local girl..work on my own paddy field..etc.. stopped for a smoke with a deep look into the still waters of that huge dam..its calm..dead calm like the whole world is dead and only those few birds and the waves in the water are alive..couldnt move from there.
Later had to do some 15kms circus to bypass the broken bridge..touched NH near to shimoga by 6:30pm and had lunch(?) in the outskirts..later the boring ride back and reached home 11:30pm!