Woke up bright and early this morning at 6…the whole ‘eco-system’ around me was wide awake .. beautiful sounds everywhere. Everyone should wake up to this music !
Headed out for a walk, took some pictures of the place. A brand new view every hour with the different shades of green, and different sounds everywhere. Plus since I was alone in the resort, there wasn’t a single human sound around.. the staff were quietly going about their daily duties. Breakfast was waiting in the open-air restaurant and I wolved it down.
Headed back to the room, freshened up, packed, loaded and set off at 930. Long ride today – 320 kms to chikmanglur, my last stop before I head back home tomorrow.
It was already hot out, and I didn’t wear my riding jacket, a full sleeved t-shirt instead. My backpack has been sagging to one side past two days, no matter how I load it. One more day to go, will let it be. No energy to go repack.. the highway was clear and I made good time for the initial hour. Stopped for directions since my gps went all whacko for some reason. Was given two routes.. 1. A shorter route with single lane road for 30kms and then good after that. 2. A 30 km longer route, but 2 lanes… I chose the first one.
Initially the route was fine, bu a few kms down the road, there was a complete road reconstruction going on. A machine breaking down the road into stony mulch… Shrapnel ..A road roller far behind trying to compress it, and me going further behind trying to get traction over the horrible surface and risking tyre cuts..
Got through that fine, and hit the main road again. Tiredness was already setting in.. settled for lunch at an upcoming town.. 75 bucks for a heavy meal. Back was painng, so were my palms, and then my collar bone (!!) Basically since I wasn’t wearing my jacket, my t-shirt collars were flapping like humming birds non stop and hitting my collar bone.. over 200 kms that translated into a very sore collar.
Encountered some really good mountain and agriculture scenes on route and then of course all the coffee plantations of chikmagalur.
Had booked a home stay with great reviews, but it was 20 kms off my route back. And 20km in these coffee plantation areas translates into almost 45minutes if extra travel time. Cancelled the reservation, and decided to go hunting for a hotel inside the city.
Found a good place for 2500 bucks and haggled till he came down to 1600 for a fairly decent room.
Same routine… Dumped bags, freshen up, head out in the streets for a walk. Stepped into a small joint where they served me a rasam portion as a starter along with my brew.. was very surprised. But the spicy potion opened up all my senses again.
Had a quick shawarma for a snack and headed back to the hotel. Meanwhile saw a cellphone repair store and checked if he had a screen protector for my android watch. Obviously not ! Haven’t found one in Bangalore, can’t expect one here. He went ahead and did a diy type of screen protector after cutting an existing one. Raw materials plus labour = Rs.10, the outcome.. priceless !
Reached the hotel and ordered room service for dinner and now crashing after watching some TV!
