End September and we are headed to
Filled up 32 L of gas in the WagonR. We were packed and ready to leave at 3:30 a.m.
There are three routes to Goa from
- Bangalore-Hubli-Belgaum-Londa-Goa
- Bangalore-Tumkur-Shimoga-Honavar-Kumta-Ankola-Karwar-Goa
- Bangalore-Tumkur-Hubli-Yellapur-Ankola-Karwar-Goa
We opted for route #3 - Bangalore-Tumkur-Hubli-Yellapur-Ankola-Karwar-Goa
Odo set to 0. Time: 4:00 am. Had planned to leave by 3:30, but could not get up. The two cars planned to rendezvous at
Time: 4:30 a.m. Left Windsor Manor, passing Peenya now. Usually a very crowded and traffic-logged stretch, but empty now early in the morning. Lovely smell of biscuits near Parle factory, Peenya. We are now on NH4 heading northwest toward Hubli.
Odo: 40.6 km. Reached the Bangalore-Tumkur Toll Gate. [Paid toll of Rs 21.5 (I think) per car.] 4-lane highway – good stretch. Can’t do past 80 as headlights on WagonR are not that powerful.
Odo: 70.8 km. Reached end of Bangalore-Tumkur Toll road. Back to 2-lane roads.
Reached Tumkur. Confusion now. No road signs. Road construction going on everywhere. 5 km after the toll gate exit is the deviation to Tiptur – Shimoga-Honnavar…(shorter route, but roads not good). Almost took this road by mistake. Retraced and took the other road to Hubli. In the dark it’s quite confusing here… no signboards… The road toward the right is the one that takes us to Davangere-Hubli… Pune is the reference.
Odo: 107 km. Time: 6:00 a.m. The sun has come up… Can do good speed now.
Time: 7:15 a.m. Somewhere before Sira now. Stopped (10 min) for a sandwich (which we carried)... Here the road is fantastic… sunflower farms on both sides of the road. It’s beautiful.
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Odo: 198 km. Windmills as we approach Chitradurga… Looks quite picturesque. Huge windmills on both sides of the road.
Odo: 205 km. Passing vicinity of Chitradurga now. The road, however, does not pass through Chitradurga town.
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The road till Chitradurga is fabulous…made good time on this section. Can easily do 100 km average on this section. A word of caution – Watch out for cattle crossing these roads. At high speeds an impact can be quite disastrous for both parties. After Chitradurga, the road is back to 2 lane, kinda patchy with lots of deviations.
Odo: 236 km. Time 8:05 a.m. At Bharmasagara nearly halfway between Chitradurga and Davangere.
Odo: 266 km. Reached Davangere… the fuel gauge shows it has reached the halfway mark. Had started with a full tank (32 L) from
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Odo: 297 km. Time: 9:30 a.m. Somewhere after Davengere at a place called Karur, we stopped at the A1 Plaza, a restaurant attached to the Reliance Petrol bunk. The place is clean and they also have paid toilets. For breakfast, we had omelets and idlis, washing it down with some hot tea. Topped up gas here 20 L and checked tire pressure. At Rs. 57.45, fuel is almost a buck costlier than other bunks. Unfortunately, they don’t accept cards and we had to pay in cash. We stopped here for approx. an hour. Next stop, Haveri.
Odo: 337 km. Time: 11:15 a.m. Reached Haveri.
Odo: 367 km. Time: 11:45 a.m. Reached Shiggaon.
Odo: 406.8 km. Time: 12:30 p.m. Reached the Hubli-Dharwad bypass to Ankola. There is a toll gate here. So far we were heading northwest from
The Hubli-Ankola road is a very scenic and beautiful two-lane road. Overtaking can sometimes be a bit difficult, but thankfully traffic is very light.
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Odo: 439 km. Time: 1:10 p.m. Near a place called Devikoppa… Slight drizzle now. After Devikoppa we pass some kind of forest section. The road is good and some superb high-speed twisties here. Beautiful drive through the forest section.
Time: 2:00 p.m. 8 km from a place called Gokarna. We are now approx. 70 km from Hubli and the road gets a bit patchy and worsens as we reach Gokarna. From Yellapur to the NH17 crossroad, the road is bad (about 70 km stretch). There are some good short stretches on this section, but generally bad roads here. The ghat sections generally appear after Yellapur. The blogs were right, no hairpin bends here and the roads are not that steep.
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Odo: 538.8 km. (trip meter shows we have covered 130 km from the Hubli Toll gate) Time: 3:00 p.m. We have reached NH17 finally. Here we take right and head north once again toward Karwar, our next destination. Ankola is further south from this point (approx. 5 km). NH17 runs parallel to the coast but we cannot see the sea from the road. This road should take us all the way to
Odo: 544 km. Time: 3:15 p.m. Somewhere near
Odo: 562 km. Time: 3:30 p.m. Almost in Karwar town now. Spotted a glimpse of the
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Odo: 567.7 km. Time: 3:45 p.m. We meet up with our friend in Karwar and make a slight detour to his house in
Odo: 569 km. Time: 4:30 p.m. (45 min pitstop at our friend’s place). Couple of cool drinks later, we’re headed out of Karwar on NH17 toward
Odo: 581 km. We have reached the Karnataka-Goa border. Signboards read Panaji 92 km, Margao 60 km. Till Karwar we used Ideal’s Karnataka Road Map which is very detailed and good. Unfortunately, Gangarams did not have Ideal’s Goa roadmap (which would’ve been ideal!) and so we had to settle for Surabhi’s Travel guide to
Odo: 608 km. Time: 5:30 p.m. Somewhere in Canacona past Chaudi (Chauri). Signboards read Margao 33 km. Terrible roads in Canacona.
Odo: 666 km. Time: 6:40 p.m. Somewhere very near Panaji now. We have crossed the Zuari river which marks South and
Reached Panaji. (Forgot to note odo reading and time as we detoured trying to figure out how to get onto the bridge that would take us across the Mandovi river). From Panaji (Panjim), the roads are good. Still on NH17. Crossed the
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The maps show Mapusa on NH17, but in reality, it is 2 km off NH17. So we hung a left on NH17 and headed to
Odo: 692.4 km. Time: 7:30 p.m. Reached the Royal Goan Beach Club (RGBC), finally!
Wow, 15 hrs later here we are at
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Switched on the AC in the bedroom to full blast… Ah! So cool now!! I think I will skip dinner and hit the sack early… want to be at the beach early tomorrow.
BTW my wife did the navigation [both ways actually], alerting me to our current location and signboards. She did a fantastic job!
Trip summary:
Bangalore-Hubli (NH4) 406 km approx (8 hrs)
Hubli-Ankola (NH63) 132 km approx. (2.5 hrs)
Ankola-Karwar-Goa (NH17) 154 km approx (4.5 hrs)
Our 6 days in Goa
(If I went into all the details, it would become a book… where then will I keep the Pulitzer prize?!)
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Our 6 days in
We had a 2-bedroom kitchenette at RGBC. The kitchen is fully equipped with a fridge, toaster, burner and electric oven. Fortunately, we carried some spreads and jams, so breakfast was a breeze. Speaking of breeze, I was real anxious to get to the beach…..so went to the reception and made some enquiries. They said the beach was a kilometer down the road and we could drive down. We opted to walk. (optionally, we could also hire bikes at Rs. 300 a day). So we packed towels and sun-screen lotions and off we went. Right opposite RGBC is a small river which eventually empties out into the sea. Walking along this river, we reached the ‘box’ bridge. I had seen pictures of this on other blogs. Quite a quaint bridge this is! Small cars can make it, through one at a time either way. Can’t understand for the life of me as to why someone would want to ‘box’ the bridge. Crossing the bridge, we walked down the muddy road to reach Baga beach.
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My first impression was that this was too ‘touristy’ (if there is such a word?). Deck chairs were all over the place for a rental of Rs. 50 for 2 or 3 hours…and hawkers everywhere clamoring to sell you one. I did a quick math and figured that if I was gonna spend the remaining 6 days on the beach, this would spell a lot of money. So off we went down the beach to find a nice quiet place to settle down. We did find a quiet place and just as we were beginning to settle down on the sand, a chap from a nearby shack (Baga beach is lined with shacks) beckoned us to use his deck chairs ‘for free’. “Hey, that’s cool!” I thought, and grabbed the offer only to be told that we could use it as long as we ordered something from his restaurant. Oh well, we did end up claiming the Roseal (pronounced Rosy-Al) shack as our own and spent the next 5 days there when we were on the beach, keeping Reddy (the maitre d’) busy with our steady stream of orders for drinks and food. Roseal even had a free shower and toilet which were a real bonus. We were told that Roseal was set up just the day before (usually all shacks shut down during the monsoon). Since we had come at the fag end of the monsoon, the shacks were being readied for the upcoming peak season of Oct-Nov-Dec….the climax of course being New Year’s Eve. The season tapers off by Feb. The Indian tourists arrive during the peak summer season (Mar-Apr) when the schools close. The temperatures, we were told, touch 50o during this time. Anyways, we were very fortunate! Good climate, the light showers during the night ensured the days were not too hot. A very interesting sight was an old foreigner repairing broken deck chairs at the shack. He later told me he does that for a few beers!
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On our first and second days on the beach, Reddy dished out Kingfish fillets with steamed rice for lunch, and crab for dinner. The crabs were huge and absolutely juicy. He showed us the live crabs. They were a sight! Their pincers were tied or else they could’ve nipped a finger off. What a pity! Just a few meters away was freedom, if only they could manage to get away…
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By day three, we craved for more than just Reddy’s mixed Indian cuisine and set out to look for an authentic Goan restaurant to sample the local fare. And quite by providence we stumbled onto this non-descript place just opposite the famous Britto’s. The place was called
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We were stuffed to the gills, but didn’t want to let go without sampling the famous Goan desserts Bebinca (a 16 layered cake made with Coconut milk and flour), Dodol (rice cake cooked in coconut milk and jaggery), Bolinhos… Alas, Alex’s chefs were caught off-guard by our voracious appetites. They were simply not prepared for ravenously hungry tourists this early in the season. So they dished out pancakes instead, stuffed with banana and topped with honey. This was absolutely mouth-watering! My wife watched in skeptic silence as I wolfed down two or more pancakes… (apparently, she makes the same thing back home and I hardly even glance at it! … but here I am slurping it up… must be something to do with the place…hehehe!!) We were so stuffed we thought we’d skip dinner, but ended up whipping up TV dinners of bread pizzas or baked beans with noodles at the apartment. For most lunches, however, we ended up eating at Alex’s. There were two items we still wanted to try… the pork Sorpotel and mussels. This is where Mrs. Braganza (who runs the little PCO near RGBC) was very helpful.
Goans, according to me, at first appear absolutely unfriendly and suspicious, but once they’ve gotten to know you, they can be very friendly and helpful as was Mrs. Braganza. She suggested we go to Calangute beach and try out Souza Lobo. Souza Lobo (I heard it as Susan Lobo!) is one of the oldest restaurants in that area and is as famous as Tito’s and Britto’s. The Sorpotel here was fabulous, so were the mussels. Finally, we got to sample the Bebinca here. We tried it with and without ice-cream. Either way, it is mouthwatering. But even better than their Bebinca was the Apple Pie. It was huge and absolute heaven - really really fresh! We carried back a whole pie for dinner.
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Calangute is the beach next to Baga beach. We had heard so much about Calangute beach, but personally I was not too impressed. Too crowded….more rough seas. Red flags everywhere, so no swimming. Compared to this, Baga beach is less crowded and better for a swim. If you’re not swimming, you can lie on the deck chairs and get a massage or a pedicure or even a tattoo while you gaze out at the wide expanse of the
Evenings we would head back after sunset to the air-conditioned comfort of RGBC. BTW, the view from atop RGBC is breathtaking! On the left, we could see the river snaking down to the sea. Straight ahead were grassy fields. Panning right, I could glimpse the glistening sea and the unbroken tree line on the hills behind. Absolute heaven this place! So laidback compared to the hustle and bustle of
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We wanted to try out the flea market at Anjuna beach, but were told that it would not begin till the tourist season is in full swing. So on the last day we decided to do some church seeing (how can we tell folks back home that we only ate and drank and lazed around on the beach all six days?!). The place is full of churches. And we hadn’t a clue where to head. If you asked someone they’d reel out a list of their favorite churches. So my wife looked at the map and decided Old Goa it will be. It showed an icon of a church there. So we drove down to Panaji. After crossing the Mandovi bridge, we headed east, parallel to the Mandovi river. Old
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After this educational trip, we headed back to RGBC as there was a live snake show happening there at 7:00 p.m. But before that we had to make a quick visit to Simonia Stores to pick up some Bebinca, Dodol and Bolinho sweets as recommended by Mrs. Braganza. It turned out that Simonia Stores was deep inside Mapusa market. This market is huge and has various sections selling various products. There are markets, within markets within this market. The whole place has the smell of spices. Simonia Stores is near the flower market. After sampling their wares, we loaded up on the sweets for back home. An hour later, we were back at RGBC for the live snake show by Rahul Alvares, a professional snake catcher. He showed us some slides on snakes and afterward allowed us to handle some non-poisonous snakes like the reticulated boa, python and a rat snake. Thus ended our 6th and last day in
Goodbye
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Return journey Goa – Bangalore.
- We basically retraced our steps all the way back. We started at 6:00 a.m. sharp with the odo reading 760.6 km.
- 8:40 a.m. and 91 km out of Panjim we reached the Goa-Karnataka border.
- About 26 km from Karwar we turned left onto NH63. This would take us all the way to Hubli.
- 11:30 a.m. We reached Yellapur with the terrible Ghat section roads behind us. The petrol gauge reached the halfway mark here since our last top-up at
- Somewhere near Devikoppa, my odo showed 1010 and I realized that we had driven 1000 km since we started from
- 12:30 p.m. Trip meter showed 130 km from the NH17 turn-off and bang on cue we were near the Hubli bypass. This bypass section would take us straight to NH4 and
- 3:30 p.m. somewhere between Motibennu and Ranebennur there was a thunderstorm. Pouring rain cut visibility down to about 20 meters. Thankfully, this didn’t last too long.
- Somewhere after Ranebennur at a place called Kumarapatnam, I missed the signboard and followed a bus into Kumarapatnam. Drove right through the town and rejoined the new highway 3 km later. This brief excursion didn’t cost a lot in terms of time, but did cause some anxiety figuring how to get back onto the highway.
- Time 5:50 p.m. We reached Chitradurga. Could spot the windmill farms. Superb road from here till Tumkur.
- Time: 7:40 p.m. Reached Tumkur. The petrol gauge showed half tank since the last top-up at Hubli.
- About 8:30 p.m., we reached Nelamangala. Now the traffic snarls start. Lorries and buses everywhere. Ah, I spot some cops now…no wonder the traffic snarls… From here it would take us another 2 hrs to reach home, a mere 30 km stretch.
- 10:30 p.m. 8 days and 1455 km later, we’re back from where we started. What a trip!
Both cars performed beautifully. They were prep’d for the trip by Mr. Rajkumar and team at Pratham Motors (Sharjapur outer ring-road), who did a fantastic job!
A very special thanks to Al for lending his Canon PowerShot A95
