A bicycle tour from the coast of Udupi to Western Ghats in Agumbe, down to coast of Kundapura and riding along the coast back to Udupi, to close the loop.
My school buddy and I had been discussing about doing a self-supported tour on our bikes for over few months now and some personal commitments had pushed this plan until March when we finally decided to do it. We checked out a few routes options on Google maps and finally fixed on the route as given at the bottom of this very page. Reasons to choose this route - a good climb uphill to Agumbe, a downhill ride towards the coast at Kundapur and my home to stay at Udupi.
My friend meticulously put down the stuff we needed to carry for the trip as to who would bring what items so as to avoid any extra luggage. We picked up a few items such as extra pair of tubes, chain oil, panniers for my friend's bike, apart from medication and food items that would last us 3 days like peanut butter, dry fruits and dates. Confirmed our night accommodations at Agumbe and Kundapur, booked our bus tickets to Udupi and return as well. At the bus depot, he checked regarding our bike transportation and we decided that HSR layout bus stand would be ideal to board the bus as it was closer for both of us to ride to (from our homes) and also get enough time to load our bikes into the bus.
Day 01 : Udupi - Agumbe
Fri, 16 Mar 2012
From Udupi, we start at about 7:30am and make a quick halt at Manipal to have breakfast at a restaurant by the road and headed on SH65 through Hiriadka, then Perdur till we got to Hebri. Rode further on SH1 to pass by the Shimoga-Udupi border and after about 10km reach Someshwar. On reaching the base of the hill, we halt by a shop for lunch. As we approached the hill, officials of the Someshwara Wildlife Santuary stop us to enquire about our bikes and the trip. We started to ride up 9km of uphill halting after every km and then after I stopped at alternate hairpin bend till my friend caught up with me. At one such halt, a truck even stopped to offer us a lift to the top. We thanked and related to him that we would be riding up the rest of the way too. All along, we got various kinds of curious glances from people in their vehicles passing us by, till we finally reached the famous sunset view point where the locals there had initially mistaken us for foreigners. After taking pictures and replying to questions from people regarding our bikes and our trip, we head on further to reach the homestay at Agumbe.
Hydration: Water (4), coconut water (4), lemon soda (2), ice cream (4)
Distance covered: 60 km
Time taken: 11hrs. approx.
Day 02 : Agumbe - Kundapura
Sat, 17 Mar 2012
After a good breakfast, taking lots of snaps of the home-stay and having thanked the owner for her immense hospitality, we start at 8:20am from Agumbe to return downhill 9km on the SH1 back to Someshwar passing the Shimoga-Udupi border again. Here we take a right to get onto the SH27 towards the town of Haladi covering a total of about 38km. On the way, we take a short break at the small town of Goliyangandi. On reaching Haladi, we stop in front of a nice looking house by the road (that didn't seem occupied) to have lunch and a power nap. From Haladi after about 18km we reach Basrur to stop and have ice-creams. After enquiring directions we ride on to reach Kundapura. Ride another 4km to reach Kodi beach at about 6:30pm. Spend some time there taking snaps, relax a while and turn back to the hotel in the city to halt for the night.
Hydration: Water(4), coconut water(2), soya milk(4), lassi(2), ice cream(2)
Distance covered: 75 km
Time taken: 11hrs. approx.
Day 03 : Kundapura - Udupi
Sun, 18 Mar 2012
This day's ride wasn't scenic at all as we rode on the NH66 (Kanyakumari-Panavel road) to head south towards Udupi. Thankfully, due to the voting of the elections in the constituency, the traffic didn't seem packed with vehicles, but the road widening work going on had brought about a good amount of dust in the air. So in effect, now the purpose seemed to simply ride along to the start point to complete the journey we had decided upon. So from the hotel at Kundapura, we checked out and started at 7:30am covering a distance of 40km and with three short breaks for tender coconut water to quench our thirst, we reach Udupi by 11:30am.
On the way, we picked up a curry as we still had a good number of chapathis (that my mom had packed for this trip) and got home. Had lunch to our fill, a refreshing bath and then a good nap till about 4:30pm. We then took an auto to Malpe beach that's 8km away that costed us Rs.100...mistake! Chill out there for 2-3 hours and then took a bus ride back what was more practical and economical. Pack our stuff and by 8:30pm we ride to the bus stand, had a quick light dinner and boarded the bus back to Bangalore.
Hydration: Water(2), coconut water(2)
Distance covered: 40 km
Time taken: 4hrs. approx.
My friend Deepak kept a tab on all the expenses that was incurred during this trip from start to finish. The trip costed us Rs.3000/- per person (excluding start-end place of stay being mine). The trip was a success and had given both of us much confidence to do more such trips of longer duration.
