Western Ghats Beckon..

On wednesday, I called up sanjeev to join me for a cup of tea, and he proposed a trip, on bike.There was an uncertainty in me, as i had never made a ride as long as this one was going to be. Could I last long enough to complete the journey? Anyway, I jumped in, throwing all care to the winds!

A trip plan was made for the weekend, until 1 am, the night before, and finally planned to plan on the fly! :-) We set off the next morning at 5.30. Three bikes, six roadies. The guys coming in the car, caught up with us around a hundred km through the journey. We met Roopesh, Karthik,Pande, and Mahesh- the driver, and started off again. All the way until now, I found Ravi looking for something, ah, a tube for his tyre, just in case if he needed one, during the trip..
Pity, he did not find one. :)


The destination was Haasan, and we hit the road- the NH-48 - The highway to Haasan! Racing along the cool winter morning at full throttle, the sun's warm rays touching the skin, the smell of the freshly watered mud, and ofcourse, the speed! We stopped at a Kamat restaurant around 10 am, for the breakfast, and also to rest our ass. We had some sumptuous breakfast, got to know the other roadies more, freshened up, and hit off again, deciding to stop again, at Haasan. Just before we reached Haasan, we turned towards Belur. Infact, i had to come back a good 3 kms to where our pals were waiting for us, we missing the deviation. The road is a treat for any biker, with its smooth roads, curves just about right, and the villages along the way. The good thing about this trip was the fun was not just in the destination. The fun was in the journey itself!

On the way to Shringeri, through Kudremukh

The beautific and scenic western ghats beckoned us, and we were more than ready for it! The sharp curves, tested us, and the fellow bikers inspired us. The roads punished us, and the beauty consoled us. We were even more spirited when the girls in the cars looked at us, the way that makes one smile.. :) My pillion rider gave me valuable and interesting gyaan about the local bio-diversity, about the kind of trees, and plants, and showed me some interesting views all the way.. Making it a learning experience as well. We finally reached Horanadu, took rest, had lunch, visited the temple, took God's blessing, and went ahead to our next destination- Shringeri, through Kudremukh.

This was a smooth, curvy 70 km drive. There were no demons on the road for us to be careful about, and the scenic hills dripped in the warm sunlight of the setting sun was just the tonic that was needed to keep us going.. The musky scent of the forest added to our senses, and it felt like an overload for our senses to take. The sun soon set, and we were plunged into the darkness of the forest, and the only lights were those of our bikes.

We halted for the night in Shringeri, tired, hungry, and sleepy. Surprisingly, some of us had enough energy to have a few hours of card games! Hats off to their energy levels! Me rests, in peace!