Every once in a while, we all get these crazy ideas . Sometimes you dont realize it is a crazy idea until you do it; like my last roadtrip of the Golden triangle , during the heights of Delhi's coldest winter in a long time. This however sounded crazy from the beginning. We rent bikes from Frankfurt, and tour all the way to Athens, covering Austria, Slovenia, Italy, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovinia, Macedonia and finally Greece. Of course we are not rich enough to tour like those retired grumpy old men who ride big old Harleys or BMW GS (not yet hehe!). So we do all we can to cut our costs. We decided to camp wherever possible, cook food while camping and stay at youth hostels when not camping. We also managed to couchsurf at few places.
Innsbruck - Austria.
My long list of experiences started right from Frankfurt airport. Jet lagged and tired af, the lady at the immigration counter seemed to have tough time believing I was trying to get into Germany for a trip. They wanted to see my bank statement, hotel bookings, luggage, and what not. Finally they called up my friend and talked to him. I waited in the police outpost at the airport for an hour, and the lady kept asking questions like "How much money do you have for the trip?" Me: "Around 3000 euros", and she goes: "Are you sure its 3000 and not 300?" Me: " -_-" I was 'released' soon after, and Ramu picked me up. We went straight to the bike rental, picked up the Duke 390, and went to Ramu's place in Stuttgart. Jibi John made us all a very generous dinner and we went to sleep early, impatient for it to be morning. Next day morning we set out for Innsbruck. We were offered stay by a generous couchsurfer, at the heart of the calm, old and lovely town of Innsbruck. Innsbruck sits in the Inn valley, and the river Inn runs through it. It had rained the previous nights and the river was muddy and wild. I better let the pictures speak how beautiful this place is.
Thats our map for the day. Roughly 390 kms from Karlsruhe to Innsbruck.
Thats me on the Duke 390, and we set the Gopro onthe swingarm of the DR650 Ramu was riding. As you can see the storm was on its way, bringing in all the dark clouds. It gave one hell of a dramatic view to the already beautiful roads , mostly short stretches through lush green meadows and grazing lands dotted by colorful houses.
That grumpy face right after you take off the helmet after a long stretch! We took stops, checking the route, and hydrating, sometimes walking around to get a good view. It had not started to rain - yet.
I guess this explains why no words can tell you how beautiful the roads were. This stretch was about 380 kms, but we could do 120 kmph average on these roads. It was a hard choice weather to go slow and soak in the view or to enjoy the ride!
Inside one of the many tunnels that run through the Austrian Alps.
More Alps and more fun riding!
More photos of the road and ride. It was pure bliss. Nothing complicated just stretches full of fun and so near the mountains, so high.
We had the whole apartment to ourselves, thanks to this awesome dude from Norway who works as a software engineer at Innsbruck. I so wish I had that job. This place is so special!
Planning routes stops stay and fun!
Honestly, I felt sad to leave Innsbruck and wished I could spend more time around the town - I guess I will come back some day!
That was a fast 3 days of fun. Next, we ride through Tirol to Italy, the famous Cortina d'Ampazzo, and then Venice!
To be continued...
2015 flew away as fast as it should when you are 26 going on 27. Come Christmas holidays and I had to go home to get treated for the year long homesickness,. I went home thinking how to turn deaf ears to my family's scare tactics and 'just reminding but arent you getting a bit old ' taunts, but I knew all will be well the moment my best man Ramu Pradip pinged me saying he is also coming home for new year.
As usual, we had to do another bike trip. I had Goa in mind. But we had only 5 days and over the course of October to November we decided to just get our bikes first and go about where the wind takes us. I decided to take my brother along only to find out what a fine rider he has turned into. We would switch seats throughout our ride.
Getting good bike rentals in Kochi is not so easy as we found out. Those few who operate here prefer to rent out to the seasonal foreign tourists and were quite surprised to see we are locals after all.
Finally after we got the bikes we were pretty happy as they were in good shape and 500ccs blasting off behind your ass is quite a nice feel that you gotta know by doing it. Our rental agent made us travel all over Fort Cochin before he finally decided on the vantage point to hand over our bikes. Finally when we got them we were so relieved and couldnt wait to take off that we forgot to do the usual checks.We would only realize we forgot clutch cables a day later near Marayur to Udumalpet forest crossing! So we started off with Valparai waterfalls in mind but due to the late start, we realized we wont be making it in time to reach the part of road that closes by 6pm. On the fly we decided to head for Munnar. This was a turn off for me at first, simply because last Decemeber (2014) I was chilling with another group at a resort in Munnar. But as the trip started, the sweet ride that the Bullet Classic 500 is, kept me satisfied. Around 9pm we were nearing Munnar, and we decided to stop for the day at Adimali which is a short ride away from Munnar so that we could ride around in Munnar in all its glory during the day.
So even though the map above says Day 1 we did A to B ( Ft.Kochi to Adimali) the first day afternoon. But if you plan well ahead this whole travel is a day's affair! Next day early morning we rode to Munnar, and oh my wasn't it a treat! The roads are just sexy with corners, hairpins and small stretches winding up the hills through the mesmerizing beauty of nature and man made tea estates. So idyllic with just the right amount of traffic that doesn't annoy you and view points that dot the entire route. The ride through Kanan Devan tea estates is something I would love to do everyday, and it is best done on your bike for sure. I am not of the opinion words can tell you how it feels but maybe the few pics below will get you the idea.
There are a lot of things that happen on a trip other than the travel itself and sightseeing, that makes it a TRULY memorable experience. Getting lost, breaking down, small accidents, meeting locals and making new friends are few of such experiences. For us, this part was yet to come.
After relishing Munnar's beautiful roads for a day, and making quick visits to the main attractions like the Top Station - where the road ends at a drop off with a view to kill for, we decided to head to Ooty, another hill station. Another of my dearest friend, who had recently acquired the love of his life - RE Desert Storm 500, and therefore ride hungry Aswin had agreed to join us from Ooty. As you move out of Munnar, towards Ooty, tea estates give way to denser reserve forests - meaning tougher terrain, and more wildlife!
There are a lot of things that happen on a trip other than the travel itself and sightseeing, that makes it a memorable experience. Getting lost, breaking down, small accidents, meeting locals and making friends are few of such experiences. For us, this part was yet to come. So we bid adieus to Munnar and rode on by that afternoon so that we can easily cross through the forests when daylight is still on - better for enjoying the forest routes and the wildlife - elephants to be precise; if a loner chances to peep out of the greenery and wave at us we could do the same AND keep our distance! As we neared Marayur, the main forest checkpost, there was a small road traffic blockade and while idling I checked my clutch cable only to find it was holding on by few strands. We had already rode around 10 kms from the nearest human settlement Gundumalai. Thanks to the road block I could walk around and ask the local drivers and people for their honest opinion on should I fix my clutch cable or risk riding through and getting stranded inside the fores reserve at night? Where is the nearest workshop? etc. They advised us not to go inside the reserve at night, let alone going in with an almost broken bike. The people here have that sweetness and warmth you cannot find often in city life - you will see it in a bit. So we did a quick U-turn and hurried back to Gundumalai, where again we were stopping and asking local people for help. The two workshops we found were already closed. We were lucky just to find those two in such a small town, and even the spare parts shop was about to close. Suddenly, seeing my friend looking at the bike, one young guy came forward and offered to call and check on the mechanic running the workshop. And when he couldn't make it he took us to another small iron works place where he could borrow the spanner. pliers and other tools to change the clutch cable, then helped us replace the bullet's cable with a third party vendor cable and a tunion. He wouldn't take any money for his help and we were so reluctant to just say thanks and ride off. Since it was almost dark, we decided to have tea together. During our chat he advised not to cross the forest at night. He then showed us on his phone how close the elephants came to the roads, and how even the week before somebody got trampled to death by a lone elephant. We however had no choice left. So he advised in that case we follow behind a car or a truck that is crossing so that we wont run into any wild surprises! Heeding his advise we headed to the Marayur check post and waited there for a big vehicle to come by. The forest guards at the check post repeated the same thing this guy had told us, but only when we asked.
Finally a TN registration car came by. We talked to the two men in the car while they stopped at the check post and they agreed to help us. If they could see elephants ahead, they would turn on tail lamps - sweet enough! Much relieved, we drove through the forest in pitch dark without bothering how in the chance we meet the elephants will we return back to the check post! Finally we made our way to Udumal pet in one piece, and breathed a sigh of relief, and started joking what we would have done had the elephants caught us that night. We rode on through Coimbatore, stopping for food at a local restaurant to try some curiosity kindling dish names (like 'Fish Monica') only to be surprised by how awesome the food was! We crashed for the night at Mettupalayam. I was sad we missed the ride through the wildlife reserve before dusk, but nevertheless it was pretty eventful and I fell asleep the moment I touched the bed!
Next day morning, we rode over to Ooty, where Aswin a.k.a Moopan joined us. After a short ride around Ooty, we decided to head for Coorg, the farthest point in our trip. The route passes through the Bandipur tiger reserve. Luckily, (in more than one sense) we rode Bandipur early morning - one, the road's leading to Bandipur are in very bad condition that you dont need to do separate off roading; two the wildlife is thriving and all sorts of animals roam about, cross roads and what not even during daytime in this region and lastly it isn't safe or fun doing this crossing after dark. The roads get better once you are inside Bandipur. Parts of roads are losed after 6pm and stricltly no traffic is allowed to go through after 6pm.
Sometimes - just 'some'times, lack of planning can make your trip seem lost or all the more interesting, depending on what sort of person you are! In our case we missed a small detail that almost got us stranded in Coorg at mid night! And that detail is, 'Coorg' refers to an entire district in Karnataka (according to Google maps), where as we should be looking for 'Madikeri' as destination to the third leg of the trip. We realized this only when Google maps innocently asked us to deviate from the main road and drive up a winding gravel road into a thick private coffee plantation, as we neared what was supposed to be Coorg. It was past midnight and no signs of inhabitation in near viscinity, we huddled together over google maps app and in some time decoded where maps had gone wrong. By 1 am we had found a place to stay in Coorg (Kushalnagar).
To be honest, I would have lazed around in Munnar than visit Coorg, but for the ride to and from Coorg. There are not many things to do other than some soft river rafting, and a Buddhist temple which was crowded like anything. Unimpressed, we turned back, made a nights stay at Moopan's place in Vadakara, and rode back to Kozhikkode, and then Cochin where we returned our bikes. Both the bikes broke down a couple of more times. One had a puncture at Coorg, the other ones rear wheel bearing busted while we were riding from Kozhikkode. The broken bearing set back our time to reach Cochin by almost 5 hours. I ran around the whole town finding workshops to get the outer sleeve of the bearing that got stuck in the wheel out. Took the 1 am train from Alwaye to my hometown, slept on the train and almost missed our stop. Jumped off the moving train only to be caught red handed by RPF policemen who lectured both of us for an hour before letting us go. It could never have gotten any wilder! This was my first long distance (~1000++kms) road trip - and I wanted it to be on a bullet! Me and my friend planned it together - to cover the Golden triangle - Delhi -Agra -Jaipur in less than 5 days. Our expectation out of this trip was the biking experience, and to visit just the couple of places these places were famous for. We had many setbacks even before we started - my friend had to back off due to an accident just days before our planned start - and Delhi’s climate was just being a bitch! Anyways I decided to go ahead and with the support from Stonehead bikes, I was able to complete the trip and enjoyed almost whole of it. The worst part was first day - when my bike broke down and I was stranded for 3 hrs, then I had to travel late night in freezing cold to reach Agra. But when I look back at it now, I feel it was an experience I am going to remember a long time, and makes me confident. Nevertheless it was fun - I went around looking for mechanics and a place to get water - finally Stonehead folks arrived with a spare bike - even though it was an off day for them. About the ride - whether you are a bullet fan or you own one - you don’t get to feel what a bullet really is until you go on a long distance trip on one. All along the way - on highways and small roads, day or night - that thump gives you confidence to push ahead fearless. What a faithful companion, and elegant machine! The yamuna expressway is one of the best highways I ever drove on. Impeccable roads, and but for the facilities dotting the stretch from Delhi to Agra, I would have died of hypothermia that day! Everytime I got down at a dhaba to warm myself and have coffee, I met people with an amused look on their face - one time a man made it clear saying “hats off to you for travelling at this time in this weather”! That was the best feeling ever :D Even in this weather, my bullet never gave up on me. The last few kilometers of to Agra, I was literally shivering on the handlebars- just hanging on. The visibility was so bad I had to duck under the clouds of fog to see the road. My ankles were frozen stiff in the biting cold winds, and would hurt every time I had to shift gear. The bike never flinched even once, and I was able to average 60 to 70 kmph even then. I dont think I could have done that on a normal street bike, unless it was as heavy and powerful as a bullet.The spare bike I got did’nt have electric start. Every morning I would get a nice warmup turning on the cold engine - it had to be kickstarted and idled for about 15 minutes. But once this was done it had no other concerns. I found it bit difficult to navigate the labrynth of roads in Delhi - I got lost a couple of times. People where very helpful all along - so were the traffic police, then I had GPS and google maps! The only time I got ticketed was when entering Rajasthan - bikes are not allowed to enter the tunnels, and I was in a hurrry to reach Amer fort before sunset. As soon as I got to the other end of the tunnell, two policemen stopped me. They were in a jolly mood and were intrigued by my luggage aand the GoPro strapped to my chest. After checking my license they said I had to pay a fine, which was around 500INR. After bargaining and whining a while, they took me inside the traffic check post room, mades ure the camera was switched off and took 200 rupees. I closed he deal without thinking much. The roads get very scenic as you near Rajasthan, since they are cut through rocks and small mountains on either side and the people in their traditional dresses, stone work masons by the side of the road and the like. Four days - 3 cities- Awesome feeling! :D You can checkout my review of the places I visited on tripadvisor! Watch the video of my trip below! :) |