One Heaven of a Ride- Continued!
So, it is a new year and the blog that needed its sequel within a few days of it being published, is seeing the day’s light only today, after quite a few months (I am embarrassed).
Anyway, coming straight to where we ended in my last blog- Ooty to Goa via Kerala, Mangalore & Udupi- 700 kms of rain; yes got to be that dramatic because this ride was one hell of it!
This journey towards our last destination has quite a few anecdotes to tell. Not only was this leg of the journey the most difficult, but also a good learning experience for us. We met the kindest of people along the way, saw most beautiful of the fields ever, and just drove in pure beauty.
I am going to take a moment here to show you all the beauty of the property we stayed in (let me remind, we were the only two people in the entire property in that chill cold night). The views from around the hotel, the flowers looking so bright after rain, I wish I could spend another day in there.
We started our journey at around 7 in the morning, there was mist, fog- a typical morning weather in the hill stations during that season. You cannot embark on a 700 km journey before having had a mouthful of breakfast. And when in Tamil Nadu, you don’t want to miss the coffee and vadas that the street vendors sell- piping hot and delicious! That’s where I come to the first anecdote.
Now here’s something that I’d like to tell all my readers about first- I speak 7 languages and Tamil is my mother tongue. Here in Ooty, language was no barrier for me since the locals speak Tamil. Now with a bike like ours, fully loaded, all heavy accessories, a couple in the riding gear at a street vendor’s is bound to catch some attention and here we had the attention of a police officer who was travelling to the city to report to his duty. He was fond of bikes too and after having enquired a little about us- where we came from, where are we headed to, what bike is it that we’re riding on, etc, etc.; I told him about me being a Tamilian and I cannot describe the way his eyes lit. I then understood what it feels like to meet people that speak your language in unexpected situations like that. We had a little chit chat in Tamil and he was so happy that he left the place saying that our breakfast was paid for by him. We were grateful and we exchanged farewells. There are good people around, we just don’t look for them maybe!
And this is where all our fun stops. As soon as we exited the state of Tamil Nadu, there was heavy heavy downpour. The clear skies and dry roads were not to last. Drenched yet again, we entered Kerala. You know you’ve entered the borders of Kerala when there are plush green fields on both sides of the road, tall palm trees, banana fields and some beautiful churches to pass by.
That was Kerala for us, just driving through the outskirts, touching the borders before we began our journey on the ghats of Mangalore to reach Goa. While we drove through the ghats, we passed by a place which is named to be the birth place of River Cauvery.
This ride had challenged us so much that we had almost given up on taking the trip the same day, we thought over staying the night in Mangalore because the map still showed another 9 hours to Goa. Rains had us tired, we were wet, cold, our palms slippery, all the more difficult for my husband to drive bare hands in the rains. But us being us, we took the challenge and drove through. Crossing the ghats, a good 4 hours ride later we were on straight roads, highway roads. Ahead was a signpost that read “Udupi” and we were relieved that we are finally close to our destination.
Now that it was night, the rains had still not stopped and the map showed that we’d be in goa not before midnight. We passed by a beautiful beach that was lit under the moonlight, stopped, dried ourselves a bit, only to get wet a few minutes later.
Pitch dark, no vehicles except ours on the roads because it was covid times and a rainy night.
We were staying in the south of Goa, and from 10 hours to 3 hours to the map showing 30 minutes, I cannot tell you how delighted we were! The rains had stopped, the roads were clear, well lit and our hotel only a few minutes away!
12:30 AM and we were in our hotel rooms! We gave each other the tightest of hugs we ever have, thanked god for the journey being safe and that we were on those soft beds of the hotel all in one piece!
Now Goa during the rainy season is empty, not many people around and just like we had the hotel all to ourselves in Ooty, we had the beach to ourselves here in Goa! It was still raining, but the beach was 800 metres from the hotel, which meant we no longer had to ride but walk!
I have visited Goa earlier quite a few times, and never had I experienced a Goa like this! I could hear the waves hitting the rocks, the water clear, not one human to be spotted until far far away and I fell in love with Goa here! The sounds from the beach were music to my ears unlike the cacophony it tends to be with crowd.
Originally, we were supposed to leave this morning for back home but given the fact that we had driven in so much rain, our clothes, shoes, bags, jackets, helmets, everything was super wet! And thanks to covid, the hotel did not run any laundry service which meant we would have to spend the day there and let our clothes dry while we rest well too.
We started for our journey back to Hyderabad at 10:00 AM and Goa decided to bid us adieu again with some heavy downpour. I’ll tell you all something here, we have experienced so much rain in this one trip and out & about driven through most of it, rains no longer excite us. We no longer feel like taking a drive on the highways when it rains because we have experienced the season in its most raw form and we fell in love with that version of it and not the sugar coated, long drives in the car rainy season!
Thanks to the heavy rainfall though, our journey through the western ghats had us witness waterfalls all throughout our way. I will attach pictures of a few.
12 hours of drive back home, we had already started talking about this trip in past sense and it made us sad that this beautiful journey had to come to an end. But we were richer in experience and all that this trip around 2400 kms in India taught us is something that is going to stay with us forever!
This could be your sign too to take that trip you always wanted to take, to go on that dangerous hike you have been preparing for or just visit the god damn place that has never been ticked off your bucket list. While I say all this, ensuring your safety is first and foremost when on such trips because the rains make it very difficult for riders to drive along the slopes and I would generally not advise anyone to take a crazy trip like that during the peak rainy season. But if you’re anything like us, I know you are going to do it anyway!
