[ashis89]

Got the car back on Saturday evening, after sorting out the key fob issue and post repairs. 10 hours later, the car was back on the road for a day trip to Jog falls.

My first view of Jog falls was in Nov 2020. It was massive but the flow of water was very less, as expected. Naturally, I was curious to see it at it's full glory. With Karnataka receiving a lot of rains, all it's dams are full and releasing water, including the Linganamakki reservoir. For the previous Sunday (the day of accident), me and wife were torn between Mallalli and Jog until wife suggested we choose the nearer one - Mallalli. And the rest is history. As the car was back in time, Jog Falls was back on cards for this Sunday.

Started around 4:30AM, picked up my brother and family, off we went. With most of the ORR being closed during night, we went via the city till Yeswantpur. All BHPians had unanimously voted the Chitradurga - Shimoga - Sagara - Jog falls route and I stuck to it. Apart from a very small section with some uneven road and stray potholes between Sira and Nelamangala, the road was flawless through. I was telling others how the roads within Chitradurga or Shimoga or even Sagara were several times better than what we have here in Bangalore!



Breakfast break was at the newly opened A2B. Reached at 6:45AM and they already had all the items ready. And we were not among their first customers of the day, 6-7 cars had already been serviced and left before us. Clean place, tasty food, clean washrooms, ample parking and right next to an exit on the highway.







Blooming sunflower fields are a must stop for the ladies and non-negotiable. Vast stretches of yellow with windmills in the background make quite a view.














It started raining as we crossed Sagara. Reached Jog by around 12PM. As expected, lot of tourists and their cars and umbrella/poncho sellers kept the place busy. Found some parking eventually, put on our ponchos and waded through the crowd to get a glimpse of the mighty falls. The waterfalls were covered completely with fog and so we waited. After good 20 mins, the fog lifted slightly and the fury of falls were a sight to witness.









The fog kept coming back for close to 2 hours that we there. Had our lunch at the Mayura hotel on site - average food and below average ambience. Left around 2:30PM and proceeded to the other end where one can view the falls from the Jog British Bungalow premises. Again some struggle with parking, ponchos on and we spent some time there as the falls played hide and seek behind the fog.













Around 3:30PM, we started the return leg. One stop to enjoy some juicy Shimoga pineapples, stopped at a few fresh grown fields, one tea break post Shimoga and a dinner break at Paakashala (Chitradurga). Food was good but the place isn't too tidy. Refueled after Tumkur, took the NICE road and reached home 1AM.









~900 km day trip in ~20 hrs.

[RoadAtlas]

Ashis, I am sorry to ask a completely unrelated question. Do you face any issues with the local police, driving an out of state vehicle in Bengaluru? Thanks in advance.

[ashis89]

BLR - HYD - GOA - BLR

Did a trip to Goa over the Independence day weekend, my third one in a row (2022 and 2023). But this one was different in many ways.

1. It was a boys trip, just 4 old friends (later 5).
2. A different route taken: Bangalore -> Hyderabad -> Goa. Even there, we chose the unexplored Solapur - Sangli - Amboli route. Total distance of exactly 2000 kms.
3. Two legs of the trip were done at night.
4. Stayed in North Goa and didn't get to see Salaulim dam unlike the previous 3 trips! The whole trip was without an itinerary except for the travel dates.
5. Five full size adults traveled together in one car

While the plan had been brewing since the past several months, it was finally acted upon in July when we booked a place to stay and unanimously decided, it had to be a road trip in one car. Later, a friend's BIL was visiting him in August and he too tagged along.

On August 13th, I finished my office work and started off around 8:30PM. Picked up my friend and then we were off towards Hyderabad. Around 11PM near Chikkaballapur, we stopped by the road for some homemade aloo paratha that I got and some prawns that he got. Topped up some diesel into Coyote and resumed the journey. It was 6:30AM when we reached Lingampally. Slept for few hours, worked for next few hours and then we were ready for the next leg.









While the plan was to start by 8PM, one of us was stuck at office for long. Finally all 5 of us got together and started by 10:30PM. It was late and so we look the ORR and stopped at Patancheru for dinner. After some garlic naans, biryani and shawarmas were devoured, I topped up some diesel and then we were off towards Calangute.

The roads are not bad. But they are not good too. Broken patches, uneven concrete roads, unmarked roads and unmarked barricades don't make it a pleasant experience to drive on, especially at night. Switched drivers every couple of hours and took some breaks. Also 3 in the back seat isn't comfortable at all, all thanks to the contoured seats. One isn't comfortable unless you get one contour to yourself (SCross, Kicks and Thar - other cars in group wouldn't have fared any better).





It was 6AM by the time we had crossed Sangola and 8 when we crossed Chikodi. Spotted a beautiful lake near a hill top after crossing Chikodi and stopped there briefly



Had breakfast near Sulgaon - vada pav, misal pav, dosa, poha and chaha!


And then it started pouring heavily. As we neared Amboli, the visibility also came down


Another stop at Amboli falls which is right next to the road




And reached the resort in Calangute by 1PM, August 15th!


700 kms/12 hrs drive from Hyderabad


Given the long drive, we decided not to step out that day and spent time at the resort only.

Morning coffee with a view!


The next morning, after a healthy dose of Mangalore buns, Ross omlette, and vada pav at Cafe Anand, some of us retired to work. Others jumped in the pool. Around 3PM, all of us drove to Querim beach, a rather calm and secluded beach.


After a tasty lunch at a shack, we spent the evening at beach enjoying the sunset hues. It was so peaceful that we never realized it was 8PM (late sunset on the west coast).





Lone vehicle at the Querim beach when we left (shacks still had their owners to give us company)


Dinner was at Sungta by the Road, Morjim before driving back to the resort.



It was 11:30PM already and one of us was too tired. So we left him to retire and rest 4 walked off to Baga beach which was 2 kms away. Even at midnight, we struggled to find space to walk. Traffic had piled up all through that 2km stretch, probably to get to Tito's. Spent few hours and had another dinner before walking back to the resort and retiring by 3:30AM.


Next day had to be lazy. So we ordered our breakfast to our rooms and enjoyed it on the grass lawns outside. After several hours of fooling around in the pool, we were hungry again. So got ready and walked off to Britto's.

It was 5:30PM and they were setting up the outdoor seating which we took up. By 9PM, tummies full, we were wondering what next? It was then that one of us remembered the deck of UNO cards that we had brought along. So we hurried but not missing out on some ice creams on the walk back.


Ordered some more dinner and then started our war of cards. It was well past 1AM when we decided to call it a day. Next morning, we checked out by 9:30AM. That was an end to the wonderful Goa trip.


After some breakfast nearby, fueled the car and headed to the Mopa airport to drop one of us who was flying back to Hyderabad. The other two had booked bus tickets for the ride back to Hyd and were supposed to board from Panaji in the evening. They had a lot of time to kill and hence, got off at Panaji junction to explore the markets in the area until 5:30PM boarding. And the last two of us, took the Mollen - Anmod - Hubli route to Bangalore. Lunch break was at Ramnagar, at the exact same place that we visited in 2022 during the then Goa trip. I knew the traffic would be high given most people returning home after the long weekend but I had underestimated it.

Anmod ghat is beautiful and the roads are very much driveable for any kind of car. Beautiful coffee breaks!



It was 12PM when we left Panaji. I felt the tide was not in our favor on the return leg. Two of the railway crossing were down and we had to wait for the train to cross. In half of the toll gates we crossed, our lane had delays of few to several minutes. A shunt/pileup of 4 cars between Dharwad and Hubli had created a long queue of vehicles which took time to cross. I thought the worst was over when we hit Hubbali. But NO!

ETA of 11:55PM (which had further gone down to 11:30 before striking back with vengeance)




Nearing Chitradurga, we saw the ETA kept on increasing and that too significantly. Scrolled through the map and saw a big congestion before Sira. So I suggested we prepone our dinner break which might give time for the congestion to clear up. Stopped at a small dhaba a few kms before Sira. As we resumed, Google still showed a +9 min congestion. And it took us good 35 mins to crawl through that congestion. Turned out to be a diversion due to bridge work which created a bottleneck on the road.


An hour later and just before Tumkur, Google announced another congestion. This time it was more frank and claimed +47 min wait! And actually, it took us 68 mins to clear that spot. Again another diversion due to bridge work. In all, we must have idled for 2.5 hours waiting at various spots during the return trip. Dropped my friend and reached home by 2:30AM.

Never had I seen a double digit mins congestion until that day. ETA reached 2AM


Exactly an hour later, I was yet to hit the service road for diversion. Took me another 10 mins to finally make it across


Odo crossed 85k on the way. Exactly 2k kms from start to finish. 13 hrs 40 mins of drive time for 660 kms


Coyote badly needed a wash and I got it done at a FNG nearby