After finishing the snack, we resumed the journey and reached Belgaum around 4PM, had a light lunch at the same hotel again. Asked the hotel manager for an alternative route to Bijapur. He said most people take the route Belgaum->Yargatti->Jhamkandi->Bijapur.
Now the real drama starts. For some reason I wanted to try the GoogleMaps/GPS on my G1 phone. It gave me a route from Belgaum to Bijapur and I have decided to try that.The road was ok in the beginning, but started deteriorating as we moved ahead.
![Hyderabad to Goa (27th-31st 2010)-dsc03271.jpg](https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attachments/travelogues/282242d1692654462t-hyderabad-goa-27th-31st-2010-dsc03271.jpg)
Bad road. But we thought not too bad. that was the mistake
We saw a lot of patches where there was no road. We knew something was wrong but somehow drove in the same direction and covered a good 25km until we reached a railway crossing. The gates were closed giving way for the ‘Deccan Odessy’ train.
I saw a taxi stopped in front of my car and decided to talk to them about the route. Taxi driver said – you should not have taken this road. there is an excellent road through yargatti->jhamkand. I felt like an idiot for not listening to the hotel manager
![Frustration](https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/images/smilies/Frustration.gif)
. Google maps can give route from anywhere to anywhere, but it does not know the present conditions of the roads. That’s the limitation of GPS technology specially in a place like India.
Taxi driver told me the next 5km stretch is even bad ( roads were washed away by rains), but he said – since we had already covered 25km, we should some how cross the 5 km stretch and there is a road that connects to the yargatti->jhamkand road. We did that and the locals directed us to proceed towards a town called “Nesargi” where the yargatti->jhamkand road passes thorugh. Now this is the drive I remember forever in my life.
The moment we entered the road to nasargi, we saw a notice board on the side saying “state road project”. We thought our badtime is finally over. But that's actually a practical joke played by the government. What we had seen can not be described by words. Pathetic roadless-road lay infront of us and we had no choice but to drive. We were so frightened - eyes glued to the road - that the thought of taking a picture of that road did not cross our mind.
But here is a pic [1] that comes close to what we have seen.
I had only one thing in my mind – to reach the highway before the sun sets. But it was looking like an impossible task as I was driving in 2nd gear at lowest speed possible. Then we reached one small village and I heard some sound, my wife looked in the mirror and said we have run over a “Hen”. I did not want any twist in the tale, and I drove as fast I can and exited the village before any one could catch us. God knows how, but we finally reached the highway just as the sun was going down. What a relief. The highway was flat, brand new and inviting. We cursed ourselves for our badluck and also loosing precious time because of the detour.
![Hyderabad to Goa (27th-31st 2010)-map.jpg](https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/attachments/travelogues/282240d1692654462t-hyderabad-goa-27th-31st-2010-map.jpg)
Road marked in Red is the road to hell. Road A-B is the correct route.
I thanked my Getz for surviving the torture, and from there on I don’t remember applying brakes till we reached bijapur
![Big Grin](https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.png)
. This is definitely a better route then athani, chikkodi to reach Belgaum from Bijapur.
Reached bijapur 2 hrs late – at 10:30PM and took a room at Hotel Madhuvan International. Quite expensive 900 for an A/c room for early checkout. Had dinner at the hotel restaurant and retired for the night.
[1]
A rough road ahead photo - T.R. Nickel photos at pbase.com