Road Trip of 2000km from Pune to Hampi & Murudeshwar - Part 1

It was Monday morning, I called my manager and this is what I got :

"Buddy, no work for next two weeks.." and I was jumping with happiness...let's go for world tour, but sadly that's not so easy when you are working in a MNC with 9-5 desk job. So decided, lets bunk 2 days and go on a small road trip for 4 days. Hoping no one finds me missing from office & send scary emails. But bloody hell, who cares in population of 2Lakhs who is missing for 2 days. Opened Google Maps, did some calculation on distance and time and found two the route which I would be covering in next 4 days. So it was Murudeshwar via Costal Highway and then Hampi and back to Pune. So came home, packed my Leh Saddle Bag and Bang On! `

"7 am in morning when everyone was getting ready for Office I was adjusting my saddlebag on my bike and then brooom!!!! , no stopping, till I was lost in woods of Tamini Ghat."

16th April 2015,

As my decided route was via Costal Highway NH17 covering Ganpatipule, Ratnagiri, Chiplun, via Tamini Ghat crossing Mulshi Dam. These two are most popular during monsoons as they are very near to Pune and looks better than heaven, covered with lots of trees and lakes and continuous rain attracts many weekend tourers from Mumbai and Pune. But even in April it was amazingly green and beautiful, the road conditions are not that bad. some broken patches but it was Ok, who cares when you are on a solo road trip on a two wheeler. Reached Madgaon around 11am, stopped and had breakfast, I never prefer continuous rides, loves to wait at place and enjoy the view rather than driving continuously for hours. From here NH17 starts this is one which will connects you to the western ghats and the beaches like Nahgaon, Alibaug, Tarkarli.etc

My first destination was Ganpatipule, near to Ratnagiri, main reason to visit this was heard a lot about this place and second was there is one patch of road which was attached to the Arabian sea making it fcking awesome place to ride. Road condition on NH17 is improved, with no bad patch at all. And as it was month of April, both of road sides are covered with Mango, Cashew nut trees. Few places you will also find good tasty mangoes at cheaper rates. And the road was all twist and turns. You will surely enjoying riding here, only thing be careful as it is two lane with no divider in between, sometime in turns it gets scary. Reached Ganpatipule around 3pm, quiet, calm and good place to be there. not much crowd. can spend time, but avoid in summers. So one ur done visiting temple, time to be more excited as you will be crossing most beautiful route. There is one place called Arrey Warrey which takes you to Ratnagiri. and that goes side by side with the Arabian see for around 2-3 kms, and makes it more amazing. you can literally stop and enjoy the beauty of sea. I did spent some time at that place and this is something which you can't miss, even if you had to drive 10km extra.

I was done with all of those, started for Murudeshwar in Karnataka, which was again 400km and had to cross Goa. Again it was all ghat road again. Was riding easy and enjoying he view, soon it started getting dark. But one thing for sure every 10km you will find restaurant or Dhaba or village, so no need to worry in case ur stuck.I had my dinner, chicken biryani and started again, ride till 11pm. And at end I was so tired to ride. So decide to camp somewhere it took me 30 min to find a good and safe place to camp. When camping in jungle alone at night , you never know what will hit you when. And as that was ghat section at dark nothing was visible except tinny dots of lights. Soon I found a temple near to road with a clean space near to it, with a shade, may be some shop shade, which was closed and this is it. Pitched in my tent locked my bike and went to sleep. it was not sound sleep, but enough to get rest after riding 800km.

17th April 2015,

Next morning 5am I left the place and started for Goa. Most of us have been to Goa at least once a life time, but we mostly visit Goa for beer, beaches, bikinis. Goa is much more than that. It is like a different world. And there is no so-called "season" or reason to be at Goa. This time as I was running out of time, got chance only to visit south goa and enjoy the beauty of Goa culture and environment. In Goa any time you will find Bikers riding somewhere or other. Me too find two Punjabi guys doing K2K on a RE.

As my next destination was Karwar entry place to Karnataka. Karwar is port town and a center of Agriculture, manufacturing and tourism, As it lies at mouth of Kali river, its geography creates a natural harbour. The beauty of this town is the beaches, the shining white sand and crystal clean water made this place amazing. but as there was a port near to beach, you will find many transport vehicles around the place. I was still 200km from Murudeshwar, so spend few minutes capturing photographs and then took of. And when I reached Murudeshwar it was already 3pm. It was hot and the humidity was making it worse. Not able to carry the riding gears any more, removed all, parked my bike near to temple and went inside the temple. 

Regarding Murudeshwar, nothing can explain beauty of the temples, and the Lord Shiva Status, This place is very popular cause of its relevance in Indian Mythological Story called Ramayana. This place holds a very interesting story for having temple so close to sea beach. Yes, just 500m or less. And the temple is more interesting with some 100floors with an elevator to take you to Shiva Linga. And there was already a huge queue, so did not got time for darshan of Linga, but visited the state. With 100ft tall this is really amazing. There is a restaurant on sea beach near to temple, if you visit temple, make sure to have Dosha here , as you will get finest Dosha. The beach is too near to temple. and is good also not crowded, so once you are done with darshan you can cool off at beach and enjoy the beautiful sceneries.