Death highway-Virgin beaches-The Nilgiris

ABOUT KERALA RIDE

My ride to Kerala in 2018 was all about riding through one of the most dangerous highways in the west coast of India, beaches that reminded you of Windows screensavers accompanied by the fragrance of eucalyptus trees welcoming you to The Nilgiris mountain range at dawn!

This ride was planned in 2017 but did not materialize. Instead, I did a short ride to Goa in the arid heat of April-May. You can find that journey in my last post here.

A total of 10 days for the ride, with two equally appealing destinations in Rajasthan and Kerala. Each with different topography, people, culture and attractions.

Since it was Diwali time, Southern India became the obvious choice. The Diwali rush and cost for a trip to Rajasthan would be too much. Another factor in choosing Southern India was that winters are an ideal climate to tour the otherwise hot and humid parts of Southern India.

Being extremely busy (read: lazy) the route planning only commenced 2 weeks before the ride itself. Initially, the idea was to ride one way, load the bikes onto a train and take a flight out from Kochi. However, since I like my bike and we all know the way Indian Railways handle their cargo, I decided against it. Decided to ride the entire route.

The days required to do the ride were 12, 10 days on the road and 2 days reserved, in the off chance our machines decided they want a train ride instead of being on the road (read: breakdown)

Below is the game plan if anyone wants to try it out for themselves. All routes are linked to Google Maps

1. Pune to Gokarna 569 Km

2. Gokarna to Malpe beach, Udupi 179 Km

3. Rest day- Visit St Mary’s Island

4. Malpe beach,Udupi to Valiyaparamba backwaters 175 Km

5. Rest day

6. Valiyaparamba to Guruvayoor 225 Km 

7. Guruvayoor to Alleppey 176 Km

8. Allepey to Munnar 174 Km

9. Munnar to Ooty 242 Km

10. Ooty to Davangere 419 Km

11. Davangere to Pune 580Km

Anyone wanting to follow, make sure to download an offline google map, go through the route a couple of times, mark any places you would like to see or stay.

Day 1: Ride day! Pune to Gokarna

As seen last time on Bike Rider, I’m sleepless before a ride or… any trip for that matter. Excitement always gets the better of me. Especially, since the first day was going to be a long stretch, in fact the longest stretch as I found out later.

I also had one specific place to visit, the Ramanguli rope bridge over the river Gangavali.

Starting at 5AM, I was a bit anxious when nearing Karad as this place is jinxed for my fellow rider Aditya whose bike has a tendency to breakdown here, thankfully, that wasn’t the case this time.

We rode non-stop basking in the early morning sun, the wind blasts while overtaking any and all vehicles who dared appear.

We took a quick tea break after crossing Karad. The tea was so sweet I got a sugar high and I suspect the reason for this is because Karad has an abundance of sugarcane plantations and that is probably the reason why the locals take their tea exceptionally sweet.

Stopped at a small Hotel near Sankeshwar (Goa Ves) to grab a quick bite and took the route towards Gokarna. They stock red bulls, grab a couple of cans if you have not bought them already.

Since I didn’t have proper sleep the night before, we stopped in the middle of the forest for a quick 45-minute nap. Yes, I can sleep anywhere if I am sleepy.

Word to the wise: Stop and take a nap when you feel tired, rather than facing an untoward incident.

Powernap done, a can of red bull gulped and I was roaring to go again!

Smooth with no hiccups? You wish!

My phone battery drained out while nearing the coast and we lost navigation. I didn’t learn anything last time. Instead of taking the route to Gokarna, we ended up on the Karwar road. This meant another 60 KM added to the total route distance. With sunlight coming to an end, we just had to press on. My body started to wear out but the thought of a beach and a cold one pushed me all the way to Gokarna.

Once we were on NH4, the view changed to coconut trees and vast blue patches of the Arabian Sea. If you are not aware, the NH4 is being expanded to a 6-lane highway from Panvel till Kochi. This has meant big construction trucks, patches of dug up roads, wrong side driving traffic (but that’s not new in India), people overtaking in dangerous situations, well, you get the gist.

The entry to Gokarna is almost easy to miss, because… guess what? I missed it. So do keep an eye out for the sign boards.

It was almost dusk when we reached Kudal beach. The entry point to all beaches in Gokarna requires you to park the vehicle on a cliff and walk down to the beach. Not ideal, but I wanted to get to the beach asap.

The beach itself is average, but heck, I was only looking for a cold one with a sea view. After spending some time at a cafe and watching the sunset, left from there to find an accommodation for the night.

A fellow in the parking area got curious looking at the luggage on our bikes, we struck up a conversation and he suggested we should try the Namaste hotel to stay. Took his advice and went there. A standard room cost ₹1500. The quality of rooms was as bad as they come. Since beggars can’t be choosers, we took it, especially since we didn’t have the energy to go look for other places.

There are other better options than Namaste hotel if you are fine with staying a bit away from the beach, I would recommend anyone to try one of those places.

Gokarna is a small town known for Mahabaleshwar and Koti Teertha temples. The people are friendly, they mind their own business if you keep to yourself. We eventually found a hotel called Downtown in downtown Gokarna, the happenstance I tell you! The price for food and beverages was 60% of what you get in Maharashtra. Great food and drinks which is lite of pocket.

Gokarna is also where I first encountered the favourite snack of south India which gets its name on hotel’s sign boards: Gobi manchuri. No, I did not spell it wrong, that’s how it’s written and spelled in this part of the world. This snack occupies a similar place to Onion Bhajji. Also, this is the only snack/starter for vegetarians, tough luck plant eaters!

After a hard day’s ride, close calls, the creature comforts make you appreciate small things when you’re in civilization. I looked forward to the ride tomorrow and what it had in store for me. From tomorrow onwards it was going to be entirely a coastal route, sea food and lush greenery, YAY!

After a few rounds of UB Export beer and dinner, we went back to the hotel to hit the sack.

Day 2: Gokarna to Udupi

Day 2 was a comparatively short distance to cover, around 170 KM, but was the first scenic route of NH4. I had looked at this route on Google maps so many times in the past couple of months while wondering how awesome it would be to ride it, finally it was time to do just that.

Unfortunately, the first problem with the Aditya’s bike had shown its face. The silencer of the Royal Enfield 500 had come loose. Nothing major thankfully, the toolkit had the wrench to get it fixed.

First stop on this route was Murdeshwar. The temple town is home to the second tallest Shiva statue in the world. The temple complex is well maintained. You can take your bike all the way up near the Shiva statue.

Another attraction here is the tall concrete door for the temple. You can take a lift to the 21st floor to see the beautiful views of the Arabian sea and the town of Murdeshwar. You might have to nudge a few people to get access to the viewing windows though.

Here are a few pictures that should give you some idea about the view:

Murdeshwar done, next stop was Marvanthe/Trasi beach. I had only seen this place on google maps. The highway passes between the Arabian sea and Souparnika river. It’s absolutely beautiful. I wish I had a drone to shoot this patch but my budget did not allow me this luxury. I’ll steal one from zozodj2 or another member of WildTents next time.

Finally, reached Malpe beach, Udupi. The pristine condition of the beach could be seen from the entry itself. There are dustbins every 100 meters and as far as I could see, people used it diligently. There are ample signs asking everyone to use dustbins

We found a Restaurant and bar near the beach called Bajal bar and restaurant. While we waited for the food and beverage, I noticed a group of Keralite’s sitting on the neighboring table. They were looking at my gear and debating the pros and cons of bike riding. Their thoughts were simple:

• How hot would it get in the riding gear?

• Surely, they would be riding a Royal Enfield

• Should we talk to them?

Of course, the entire conversation was in Malayalam. One of them couldn’t resist and tried to start a conversation in Hindi. I politely said that I knew Malayalam. This brought an instant essence of comfort from everyone and we had brief chat on bikes, recommended places in Malpe beach and what to expect on the road ahead.

On the way out of the restaurant, I had a conversation with the owner. He informed us about a lighthouse near Kapu beach. I have personally never been to a lighthouse, so this was a must visit.

Time on the clock 4PM, enough time to catch the sunset. Took a small detour towards Pithrody-Udayavar beach road on the way to Kaup beach lighthouse.

Pithrody-Udayavar is a small strip of island with the Arabian sea on one side and backwaters on the other. It is really scenic and again, if you have a drone, you can capture some great shots.

Reached Kaup beach lighthouse just before sunset, climbed up and watched the sunset. Since lighthouses are no longer used, all of them around the country are historical monuments and can be accessed by civilians.

If you get a chance to visit one, I highly recommend it. Sunsets are beautiful to see from a lighthouse and it is dirt cheap. Ticket cost is ₹15 per person and the views are amazing.

Cheap thrills a.k.a saste nashe 🙂

Back to Malpe beach, went looking for a place to stay and ended up at Hotel Skanda. Budget hotel near Malpe beach. An AC room was priced at ₹1500. A hot shower and a good night’s sleep, just what I need after a day’s adventure.

Day 3: St Mary’s Island

The following morning was to visit St Mary’s Island. St Mary’s island is known for its basaltic rock formation from the time when Madagascar was part of India. It is not inhabited and you need to take a 30-minute ferry ride from Malpe beach. Catch the early morning ferry as it gets crowded after 10am. Carry your own food and water. The island is lined by coconut trees, basaltic rocks and pristine water. You can see the coconut trees as the island approaches from the ferry.

You can walk around the entire island, if you manage to find a quiet place, sit there and bask in the sheer beauty of this place. Magical, if I may say so! On this day however, it was cloudy so the photos below do not do justice to St Mary’s Island.

I am going on a rant now! Unfortunately, we Indians do not appreciate nature around us. The island is currently overwhelmed with water-sports. I found a lot of plastic bottles lying around as litter. There are clear signs to avoid swimming in these waters but everyone blatantly disregards these instructions. It’s really sad and annoying that people in our country do not care about the upkeep of the beauty of such places or following basic safety instructions.

After the island visit, the plan was to stay here for a day, but since there was nothing else to do, we decided to continue the ride towards the next stop, Valiyaparamba backwaters.

Day 3: Udupi to Valiyaparamba

Heading to Valyaparamba, near Mangalore, the humidity really started to take a toll on me. I had to stop multiple times to drink water and occasionally, tender coconut water whenever I could find a road side vendor to replenish my electrolytes. I Still managed to keep riding and stopped just before entering Kerala border. The border milestone of Kerala is very easy to miss as you can see below, it’s a small sign.

Once you enter Kerala, the road quality improves significantly but it turns into a 2-lane road for the major part. There are quite a few twists so be very careful of oncoming traffic. Kerala buses both private and government are notorious for their driving like they think they are professional rally drivers.

Muzhappilangad Drive in Beach

Another one on my bucket list. If you are unaware, Muzhappilangad beach is the longest drive-in beach in Asia and is featured among the top 6 best beaches for driving in the world. Found a lot of bikers, cars going up and down the entire stretch. Here is a photo of me trying to be cool.

Here I am riding the Royal Enfield Himalyan on the Muzhappilangad beach.

Reached Valiyaparamba by evening just around sunset.

Valiyaparamba is a large island strip in Payyanur district of Kerala. These backwaters are what you can call, an offbeat place in Kerala. The number of commercial house boat services as well as resorts near these backwaters are limited. There are a couple of home stays on the island but I found it to be very expensive. I was paying around ₹1500 on an average for a good AC room and they were asking for ₹3000, without AC. No thanks!

It’s better to stay in Payyanur town, there are a variety of hotels and lodges. Stayed at Puthumana Residency located near the bus stand. You can get an AC room for ₹2000 a night. Clean rooms, great service and there is a bar just next to the hotel 🙂

Day4: Valiyaparamba backwaters

Whenever I say my hometown is Alleppey, everyone thinks; backwaters and houseboats.

Today, Alleppey backwaters has lost its charm. The unregulated houseboat industry is destroying this fragile ecosystem that is the livelihood for people of Kuttanad, known as the rice bowl of Kerala. It is one of the reasons I have never taken a houseboat ride here and why I wanted to experience Valiyaparamba backwaters.

If you have a low budget and want to enjoy Kerala backwaters, like I did on this one, this kind of transport is highly recommended.

Kerala State Water Transport Department runs many boats on rivers and backwaters within Kerala as a mode of transport for locals. It’s one of a kind, unique experiences in Kerala.

You can catch a boat for Valiyaparamba from the Ayitti jetty, the starting point. The boat takes you through some beautiful topography and are extremely cheap. How cheap you ask? ₹22 for the entire Valiyaparamba stretch! Total time spent on the backwaters? 3 hours. Cheap backwater experience in Kerala, done!

After the backwaters, decided to head back to the hotel and relax for the remainder of the day.

Check out some photos of Valiyaparamba backwaters.

Day 5: Valiyaparamba to Alleppy via Guruvayur. 

Next up, my hometown, Alleppy. Since this was a long route, I decided to break it up. The plan included a visit to Kadalundi bird sanctuary but since I couldn’t get an early morning start, decided to skip and head straight to Guruvayur. I reached late evening so my only aim was to find a good place to stay.

Guruvayur is a pilgrimage town, famous for the Sree Krishna temple, St. Thomas Church which was established in 52AD and Annakotta which means Elephant fort. These are recommended places in Guruvayur if you are here for 2 days.

Time was limited so I only stayed the night at a hotel in Guruvayur, ₹1500 for a Non AC room.

Day 6: Home sweet Home, Alleppy

Home welcomed me with a spread of Sambar, rice, avial, fish curry, fish fry, pickle, pappadam. I always tell my Amma to not take so much effort to cook such a large spread but she just insists back 🙂 Staying away from home, food made by Amma is something I miss a lot, so I made sure I ate to my heart’s content. After some tea, I sat with my parents and talked about the ride so far, my bike, life, future plans and everything else that was going on.

My parents have never understood why I want to risk such long trips on a bike but they have always been supportive and curious about it.

I guess they still see a bit of a rebel child in me. Hell, I feel, we all should have a bit of a rebel in us, challenge the norms, do something out of the ordinary, get out of your comfort zone.

I guess writing blogs and going on bike rides is my way of keeping that rebel alive!

After a long chat, I went to bed by midnight.

Day 7: Alleppy to Munnar

The distance to Munnar, although less, went through mountains, hence left early in the morning, the route and road was awesome. Topography changed to a consistent patch of greenery, mountains, with a few small patches of 2 lane road. Once we reached Munnar, the road condition changed to what we get in Maharashtra, Potholes. The climate in Munnar was great. We found a good hotel on OYO. The host was was warm and welcoming. The location is not exactly central Munnar but downhill so comparatively the temperature was not very low at night.

In Munnar, I had my first experience of buying alcohol from a government wine shop. As someone who has been born and bought up in Maharashtra this was a unique experience for me. You have to stand in line, wait your turn, know what to buy and be ready with the cash. There is no second chance or doubts you can have in this process. People are literally over your shoulder!

Old monk scored, back to the hotel for a few rounds in the fog-clad valleys of Munnar.

Day 8: Munnar to Ooty via Eravikulam National Park

Munnar is close to Eravikulam National Park. Visiting the park was unplanned but our host suggested we definitely visit the park as it was a time when the Neelakurinji, a rare and unique foliage that spans the entire Rajamala hills located within Eravikulam national park blooms. This happens only once every 12 years. See, aren’t bike rides fun?

The blooming season was ending so we could only view some remaining foliage. If you plan to visit, be ready for a hike since the park bus transport only takes you till a drop point from where its a steep 30 minutes climb. I enjoyed the hike, found a good viewing spot and took in the awesome early morning views of Western ghats.

The national park is also known for the endangered Nilgiri Tahr, the state animal of Tamil Nadu. Luckily spotted one on our way back from the bus, check out the photo below!

After this visit, it was time to commence the ride to Ooty.

Munnar to Ooty route takes you through the Mudumalai National park, where you can see the sandalwood forests of Marayoor. These forests are guarded by huge fences due to increasing instances of sandalwood theft. Anamudi, the highest peak in Western Ghats and Southern India can be seen on this route.

While exiting the Mudumalai National park, I realized I had underestimated this patch! You really need 2 days to experience this part of South India. I Wish I had more time to stay here. There are awesome home-stays in Marayoor. If anyone plans to take this route, DM me and I will happily provide all the details. It is faraway from the cliched Munnar hillside experience that everyone typically goes for.

The road leading to Ooty goes through the Nilgiris and is in great condition for riding, I found a lot of great views and twisties.

The fun ends once you enter Ooty. Ooty is exactly like Lonavala, crowded to the neck, litter everywhere and everything was expensive. The only reason I could see people coming here was for the cold weather. The food I had was average too. Found a decent hotel outside the city and crashed for the day. Getting up early tomorrow morning was critical, since the 2 days were hard riding, 500KM each day!

Day 9: Ooty to Davangere

Left early in the morning, on the way I found a spot called Needle Rock View point. A small entry fee of ₹10 is charged to enter the place.There are steps leading to a viewing point. You can see parts of Bandipore National Park from here.

After spending 30 minutes, hopped back to commence the ride. Spotted a group of Wild Elephants when passing through the Bandipore National park but by time the logistics of camera could be sorted, they had vanished into the forest.

After exiting the Bandipore National Park, we had entered civilization. And it was time to get to hard riding!

For people who don’t ride, this means, you are on the saddle for 2 or 3 hours straight stopping only for short water and food breaks.

A total distance of 535KM meant it was all about covering as much distance possible before sundown. Thankfully, the roads in Karnataka are one of the best in the country. Reached Davangere late by 8PM. We wanted to have Davangere benne dosa but all food outlets had closed by this time. Found the only lodge which had space and crashed. This day was really tiring. I had started to miss my couch, my bed, hot shower and creature comforts!

Day 10: Davangere to Pune

Final day of the ride!

With a distance of 585KM to cover, we started at 6AM and ripped the throttle! There was no specific place to visit on this route so the only stops were for water and fuel. Reached Pune by 3PM, total ride time of 9 hours!

And that’s it!

I had finally done my second longest bike ride and was back home without a scratch.

Conclusion

When I had returned from the ride, a lot of my friends had asked about my experience. Simply posting photos would not do justice to what I had experienced and hence I wanted to write this article. Certainly, there are things which I could have planned better, like arranging a drone or go pro for better content. This route till Mangalore is under construction and is one the most dangerous of roads to travel in India. If you are planning to take this route, I have listed a few important points to consider

1. Winter is the best time to visit South India, preferably after 15th October and near Diwali since its not celebrated that much in South India

2. If you are taking a bike, carry a phone holder which has a charging outlet connecting to the bike’s battery

3. Karnataka has a lot of beaches that are untouched, talk to locals for suggestions but be mindful and don’t do anything that I would’t do 😉

4. Keep a back up phone which can run for a few days without charging, a non-smart phone

5. Study the route you plan on taking using Google maps, internet searches to see what people are saying, a great way to do this is asking questions on Google

6. Studying the route will allow you to see if there are places on your way which can be visited in 30 to 60 minutes

7. Cover the long distances in the beginning and end of the journey

8. Always start early morning as this gives you plenty of time to reach your destination in case any untoward incident happens

9. Rest is really important during such rides, make sure to sleep early

10. Avoid night rides on bikes, don’t be a hero!

11. Please don’t litter, carry a bottle to refill it at hotels or fuel stations rather than buying water bottles

12. Carry cash always as budget stays are run by individuals or families that might not accept digital payments

So the next time you get a long weekend, ditch that comfortable resort stay, load your car or bike and hit the road to Southern India to experience the sun kissed Arabian sea, no frills stays and get away from the daily rut.

If your not sure, hit me up and I will be more than happy to suggest some places. I hope you enjoyed reading the blog as much as I enjoyed experiencing it and writing it.

Watch this space, I will be putting out more content every week for all adventure seekers!