goa 2015: D36 – epic road trip : anjuna, goa 2 badami, karnataka via ghats mountains & kfc LOL

epic road trip : anjuna, goa > badami, karnataka via ghats mountains

this is gonna be some big ass ride , google said 6.45 hours solid in a car , but on a moped i knew it would be longer with stopping and videos etc lol . lets do this …

after travelling almost out of goa i needed a break so stopped off at the cafe near dudhsagar waterfalls , its called dudhsagar spa . lovely landscaped area with ducks roming round etc

you see some great signs along the way

and then you enter the ghats , i wont put too many pics up , best watch the video . some of the views from the moutain tops are incredible . its hard trying to video and drive one handed up the mountains death roads with kamikazee truckers and monkeys everywhere lol

VIDEO DRIVING OVER THE GHATS :

LINK

and up the top you leave the state of goa and enter karnataka . the checkpoint was unmanned today

once down the other side the first main town was about 30klm onwards called gharli [i think!] . even just this far people where looking at you quizzically [is that a word?] . 9 hours later it was to be a fascinated stare . i stopped for some streetfood and water , a guy dragged me into his time warped shop and sat me down . i took whatever he offered , potato and chilly fried things mostly . delish . at this point a toll road starts , but bikes dont pay . in the centre of town looked like some sort of victorious monument . and a steam roller . check out the video for an insight .

all along the route NH34 – NH4 [road of death for about 10 miles] – NH218 – there where so many htings to see , it was forever stop start . this was goiong to take much longer than said on google maps !

along with the scary NH4 road of death for 10 miles , i had to endure 10 security guards all legging me with truncheons for parking in a ‘no parking zone’ outside KFC hubli for 5 mins , they wanted 7500 Rps charge hahaahaa . i thought he asked for 75p first and i was about to pay and he said no £75 ?!! told em to F off so it was gloves off at that point ! ended up in a battle with 10 vs 1 tooled up security guards chasing me round a mall and down the road , and eventually legged the last pussy with his own truncheon all the way back to his hut where i lashed his bat at him while he squeeled like a piglet . proper going off . i mean he didnt even have any teeth the last one haha , fuck off gums ! worse was after id eaten my kentucky i realised theyd stolen my helmet so had to go back and do it all again battling in their hut with them 30 mins later . i left 1 on the floor and grabbed my helmet while the 2nd just froze , and before the rest came running with their bats again i was gone with the sound of walkie talkies in meltdown . mental half hour . funny now but also pretty crazy on reflection . welcome to hubli . i knew it would be last chance of some meat for a few days and boy i had to work hard for that chicken i tell you 😉

1 mile down the road i filled up with petrol and ended up rowing with another guy trying the old petrol scam . wrong timing mate …. seen it 50 times over from mexico to thailand – you pay for the previous customers fuel too cos they dont zero the meter . honestly i couldnt wait to leave hubli , plus it was a real shit hole . thankfully that was the only trouble for the rest of the trip apart from a flat tyre in badami 3 days later .

after the NH4 link and hubli it was all pretty much farm roads from here , really nice drive . infact prior to hubli and NH4 it was good too . i seemed to criss cross the railway every 20 minutes , and at times the roads where taken over by farmers who dry their crops on the hot black tarmac . makes sense i guess … but dangerous at times on 2 wheels driving over grain .

passed graveyards , mules , bison , smiling faces , mines , millions upon millions of sunflowers , huge rocks aka a mountain i guess with wind turbines , such a great experience .

graveyard

surface mine

one of the fields had lots of dead sunflowers , the rest where living

and eventually about 8.45 hours later arrived in badami . phew epic journey . i grabbed some food , watched a bit of tv , and went to bed shattered from the drive . its probably like driving from liverpool to paris on a moped haha !!! and look at this , one of the best hotels in badami , most other people here i kid you not shit in the gutter and heres me with 3 taps on the wall , a toilet … and a pepsi tarpaulin advert on the back window .. i felt like royalty 😉

heres the rest of the journey on video
gharli – hubli – badami
LINK