Vitamin Sea

It was long that I did a hard ride , the last ride to Kolli Hills was a disappointment as a friend of mine unfortunately met with an accident and we had to return midway.

Most of my recent rides have been to either waterfalls or hills and I knew what I was missing, it was the sea I call it Vitamin  Sea.

So let's ride🏍

Myself on my Domiar 400 and Sree on his Himalayan started our ride on the 1st of Nov ,  beautiful roads made the ride effortless,  we took the NH4 till Hiriyuru and then took the state highway from Hiriyuru to Tarikere to join NH206 at Tarikere , we continued in NH206 till Honnavara to join NH66 (famously known as NH17 before) to reach R S Bhat homestay around 11pm on the 1st of November, Karnataka Rajyotsava well spent.

We stayed at RS Bhat Homestay , the owner of the property is Mr. RS Bhat , 78year old retired English headmaster of government school here in Kumta who stays with his wife. Mr Bhat is running the homestay from a few years here and I must say he is one extremely active gentlemen. Ever smiling  and willing to help and also has a extremely intellectual family with many in his family being Phd holders.

Kapidwaja resting near a sugarcane field on the Hiriyur-Tarekare state highway 

Friday the 2nd of November we first went to the Kadle beach which was next to the homestay , a calm stunningly beautiful beach

The waves kissing you , the beautiful Kadle Beach at Kumta.

Then we rode to Idugunji Mahaganapathi temple in Honnavara and also went to small yet beautiful Apsarakonda Falls.

Its believed that Apsaras used to come for bathing here , though I couldn't find any🤣🤣

But however a quick bath at the falls was extremely refreshing after riding in humid weather. 

The Apsarakonda Falls.

Sree enjoying the waterfalls.

Evening we went to Nirvana Beach which was 7 kms from RS Bhat homestay. What a beautiful evening it turned out to be.

Sunset turning the sand ,waves and everything around to gold.

Sunset and the Fisher boat.

"Posers"

Day 3 , 3rd November, the day started with we visiting the Kadle Beach early in the morning,  the plan for the day was to take the ferry ride from Aghanashini to Gokarna. 

Aghanashini is a river and the place where Aghanashini river meets the Arabian sea is also called as Aghanashini. Here there is government boat service which ferries people and small vehicles from Kumta to Gokarna. If not for this service , then one has to take the NH66 to reach Gokarna , this ferry service reduces the distance by 30kms but more so the land scape surrounding the river and the scene of river meeting the sea is one to cherish for a long time.

Early morning scenes with spectacular cloud play at the Kadle Beach.

What a way to experience your "self"

We were greeted with a rainbow and a fisher boat returning to the harbor made a great subject to photograph 

Blue sky and milky sea water

I was just about to leave the beach and tuned one last time to say a goodbye and skyline and the fisher boat looked so beautiful.

The Aghanashini river,  the other side of the river is the Arabian Sea .

We took the ferry to Gokarna , visited the more than 1000 year old Mahabaleshwara Temple of Gokarna which is the only Atma Linga of Lord Shiva.

After the temple visit , we checked out from the homestay  and headed towards Udupi .

Kapidwaja and the Himalayan resting at the stunning Maravante Beach road.

A dramatic evening at Maravante Beach.

Day 4, 4th November,  we visited the famous Krishna Mutt and the surrounding temples of udupi in the morning, my roots belong to Udupi and I visited my ancestors house and also visited my grandparents home and sought blessings from them for a safe ride back home.

Great twisties and a great bike!

We took the now open Shiradi Ghat , the roads are fantastic to ride and we had blast of a ride back home.

We reached home around 7pm after a fantastic 1,250km ride , the dominar (kapidwaja) performed brilliantly both on good and average roads and it was a bliss to ride him.

I had a great time and I wish you also take out time to visit this wonderful place.

Until next time with another photoblog I wish you have a great time.

Be well and ride safe.

Santhosh 

x

Monsoon Ride 2018

Two and a half months had passed and luck was certainly running out on long rides , though I was doing short rides around Bangalore. After seeing images of few of my friends who had recently rode to Maharastra I wanted to ride to  Maharashtra and cover Amboli  ghat and Mahabaleshwar , and also had a decent plan in place well , with August 22nd Wednesday being holiday ,it gave me 5 days of road time and had planned 2000 km road trip to Maharashtra . Unfortunately none of my friends could join the road trip and Ravi told he can join if we start Thursday afternoon , so , the dates were fixed , but I had to tweek the route and decided to do Gokak Falls , Godchinmalki Falls , Sathodi Falls and Magod Falls.

We started at 1pm from Parle G factory toll gate

The first breather after lunch at spacious restaurant after Davanagere

Silky smooth roads and gorgeous golden hour catching up , somewhere near Haveri.

Good rains this year has ensured greenery everywhere and the natural hues of green and yellow and orange during the golden hour , somewhere near Haveri.

Day 1 ended with we resting at Cotton County resorts at Hubli. Thanks to dear friend and fellow rider Ashish Dada for getting us a room at this special place.

Day 2 started early with ride to Gokak Falls in Belagum District.

Man and his machine , Ravi riding his Himalayan , somewhere near Savadatti.

On the way we visited the famous Savadatti Yellamma temple as well. But was extremely dissapointed with how the whole Savadatti area was maintained , seems like the concept of Swach Bharath has not reached here at all. It seemed like no house had toilet. There was mass defecation evident everywhere. Was Very disheartening to see that.

The first view of the majestic Gokak Falls.

Another view , good rains had ensured the waterfalls was in its full glory.

A different perspective , Bird and the waterfalls.

The Gokak Falls is a waterfall located on the Ghataprabha River in Belagavi district of Karnataka,The waterfall is six kilometers away from Gokak town.

After a long winding course, the Ghataprabha river takes a leap of 52 metres (171 ft) over the sand-stone cliff amidst a picturesque gorge of the rugged valley.

Me enjoying the glorious sight.

15kms from Gokak Falls , is the beautiful Godchinmalki Falls.

The Godachinmalki Falls is a waterfall located on Markandeya river in Belgaum district, Gokak Taluk, Karnataka. It is 15 kilometers away from Gokak and 40 kilometers from Belgaum. It is located in a deep green valley.

Me and Ravi at Godchinmalki Falls.

Met my good friend Ramesh at Belgaum, it was very sweet of him to host us for lunch at his home. Ramesh was my colleague from Samsung and had started his own venture at Belgaum , work had not allowed us to meet for nearly 3 years and I had not seen his sweet daughter as well. We first went to his office and was so heartening to see the board " Ramesh Naik Managing Director " on the door.

Well done my friend and really proud of you .

On the way to Dandeli from Belgaum , had to stop for a railway crossing and thought to click a few of these.

We stayed in a place called Jungle Nest in Dandeli , very decent place , near to the Safari park , good food and very helpful staff.

The above image was captured on the start of day 3. The plan was to do Sathodi Falls , Magod Falls and hit Davanagere and call of the day.

Beautiful greens everywhere in Dandeli and enroute Yellapura.

Kids going to school , this was taken inside the wildlife sanctuary , I loved the freelife but was unhappy with the facilities these kids get and the danger of waking unattended by elders in a forest.

Ravi's bike had a puncture 25kms before Yellapura , lucky that the puncture happend near a town and we fixed it , but it took more than 2 hours of our time and we were not sure that we could cover both the falls , nevertheless we started once the bike was fixed , had our lunch at Yellapura and hit towards Sathodi Falls

On the way to Sathodi Falls.

Boys having some fun.

Time for some photoshoot as well.

Time for some photoshoot as well.

A monkey and the stunning Sathodi Falls 

Another View of the stunning Sathodi Falls.

Sathoddi Falls is formed by several unnamed streams near Kallaramane Ghat, Uttara Kannada District, near Yellapur, Karnataka, and 32 km from Yellapur. It is about 15 metres (49.2 feet) tall. The stream then flows into the backwaters of the Kodasalli Dam, into the Kali River.

The Two tiered Stunning Magod Falls 

Magod Falls is a group of waterfalls in Karnataka where the river Bedti falls from a height of nearly 200m in two steps.The falls are located about 17 km from the town of Yellapur

After the Magod Falls we planned to hit Davanagere and rest for the night and hit Bangalore the next morning , however we rode to Chitradurga and rested for the night and hit Bangalore the next day.

There ended our 1400 kms ride . See you on the next ride. Till then be exited and be happy.

Be well

Santhosh

New Year , New Bikes , New Ride!

Hello Everyone , am back with my Photo Blog of my recent ride to the west coast , Christmas weekend as with every year is a great way to end the year on a high and nothing like a good hard ride to end the year , and if the last ride of the year is on your much loved new machine the excitement is up and high. 

As with the Original Plan myself on my Dominar 400 (D400) , Sreehari on his Himalayan and Kartik and Sweta on their Himalayan started our ride towards Chitradurga on the 22nd Dec evening. The original plan was Myself and Sreehari would do Bangalore-Chitradurga - Shimoga - Kundapur - Calicut - Kovalam-Dindugal-Bangalore and Karthik and his wife would ride with us till Kundapur and head to Gokarna for a relaxed holiday.

From Left Karthik and Sweta on their Himlayan , My D400 and Sreehari on his Himalayan.

Dinner break at VRL hotel , a self service hotel mainly to cater to their Bus and Truck drivers. 2.5 out of 5 for food quality.

We reached Chitradurga at 9.30pm and called it a day , the day we started towards Kundapura early morning , the route we chose was Chitradurga - Shivamogga - Hosanagara - Hulikal Ghat - Siddapura - Kundapura.

The day really did not start of well , I had a stomach upset and was getting dehydrated and only managed to ride till Channagiri approx. 50kms off Chitradurga , and had to stop for a much needed rest . Karthik Sweta and Sreehari carried on towards Kundapura. Me after a couple of hours of rest in a lodge started towards Kundapur to join them.

The Beautiful Winding roads of Hulikal Ghat ,  to be brutally honest the new D400 did not really set the road on fire , still trying to get the hands on the dynamics of the bike.

A board at Gurunarasimha Temple , Saligrama.

The board says , till 1950 any court dispute could have been resolved in this temple if a person requests the judge so , the judge would send a court attendant to the temple and person who requests should promise on his innocence by taking bath in ponds adjacent to the temple , come to temple in wet cloths , ring the two promise bells , light 6 lamps in front of Lord Gurunarasimha and make the promise.

The Half Crescent and the golden hour at Kodi Bengre Beach , Kota

Shadow Play at the Kodi Bengre Beach

What a way to end the day , when in south canara never miss a Gadbad!

Meeting my grandparents at their home in Udupi , my hometown
From L : Myself , my grandfather Sri Ramadas Bhat , my grandmother Smt Sumathi Bhat ,and Sreehari

The Pabbas , lip smacking ice cream at one and only Pabbas , Mangalore , when it Mangalore never miss the opportunity to grab one of these.

The best rehydration , somewhere in between Kasargod and Kannur 

Silhouette of Sreehari riding his bike on Asia's longest drive-in beach , Muzhappilangad Beach 

Riding mates, snow white D400 and Himalayan at the Muzhappilangad Beach 

The stunning golden hour at the Muzhappilangad Beach 

Fishes everywhere , even in the cups

Miniatures Elephants (state animal of Kerala) and Elephant Decorations
Elephants an Elephants Decorations are an integral part of Kerala Tradition.

The Light House at the Lighthouse Beach , Kovalam

An anchored boat at the Lighthouse beach

The dogs certainly know where the shadow is!

Sunset at the Kovalam Beach , A coast guard observatory at the Kovalam Beach gives at absolute stunning view point for sunset , and it was indeed an stunning Sunset that day.

Another angle of the Sunset - Kovalam Beach

It was indeed a beautiful way to end a roller coaster year and welcome the new one with new challenges and learning.

I will everyone a very happy new year , stay blessed!

Be Well
Santhosh