As decided early on in our trip myself and Rocky left early at about 10:30 - 11:30. We decided to skip the group ride and do some sightseeing by ourselves. Since we were slow and steady riders we were sure that the group would not be far behind. As we passed Goa we went through quaint Goa roads which was a pleasure to ride. As it was Sunday, there was no crowd at all and everything was pleasant.
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As planned we spent sometime in old goa and visited the St Francis Xaviers Church and then the museum. Had lunch and then pushed from Panaji at 2:00 in the afternoon. Hitting the highway we did a good speed an average of about 60kmph and crossed the Goa Karnataka border. Passing by some local churches, I saw a big crowd at each one. The crowd would have flocked there for their Sunday prayers.
At the border we were stopped by the Border cop and after asking a few questions we were allowed to pass through. Karnataka, aaaahh familiar ground and the air just seemed different. Reached Karwar and decided not to wait at Karwar but had something further down at Kamats. Filled gas at the station and decided that after every 100 odd kilometres we would take a break.
On the way we entered Gokarna and decided to watch the sunset. This is a small town boasting of the famous OM beach. It seems only the foreigners are allowed there or if you have your passport and all other documents. The beach is thus named because of the shape of the beach. We had to make do with visting the Gokarna beach, the road to which was crowded with shops and temples and people who were all making it to the beach to spend the sunday evening there. Reaching there it was a disappointment but it was ok i guess. We saw something of Gokarna at least. Started for Honnavar and reached by 7:15 pm. Stayed at the same hotel and had a great dinner of the fish fry , fish curry and vodka. I was glad that I did not get to miss the scrumptious food after all... LOLOL. Guys if you are going towards Shimoga and then taking a break at Honnavar, before proceeding to Goa... do stay at Hotel Siddarth next to Kamat's Inn. Excellent room service and excellent food and great rooms... we recommend it highly.
The group reached Honnavar at 1:00 in the night. There was a hassle with Andrew's chain which cut due to the bag loops which were dangling near it. They were safe but they had to spend 3 hours fixing it in Karwar. Andrew being a rookie rider did not think of taking a spare chain and well thank god Dubyaman had one extra. So all was well with the riders. Part of the group spent some time at Palolem beach. While returning the Madras Bulls Dodo, Navneet, Brijesh and Indrajit from Calcutta also joined us.
