Goa – James Stevenson https://www.cyclingaboutindia.com Sat, 28 Dec 2024 10:34:15 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 https://www.cyclingaboutindia.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/cropped-d03b549f-48ff-4f7b-95db-65376f96dae3-1-32x32.jpeg Goa – James Stevenson https://www.cyclingaboutindia.com 32 32 Anmod https://www.cyclingaboutindia.com/2024/03/28/anmod/ https://www.cyclingaboutindia.com/2024/03/28/anmod/#comments Thu, 28 Mar 2024 15:41:49 +0000 https://www.cyclingaboutindia.com/?p=2094 ✓ After my second day of this trip I wonder how far I will get. I am not at the point of being a forever” cycle tourist, home being in constant motion, and the starting out on this incredibly long journey is tough.
✓ The last 2 days were challenging.
✓ I left home at about 6:45a.m. and after breakfast at Mollem started the climb of Anmod ghat. It was no problem, but hard, a big contribution to the 1500m. altitude gain, according to Strava. I was so happy that the Anmod-Khanapur forest road toward Balgavi, has been repaired and I arrived in Khanapur early but exhausted. Refused at one lodge but accepted at second (1500rs.).
✓ I wasn’t too happy that, it being Holi, there was no alcohol whatsoever. I could hardly believe that having dodged a few Holi marauders on Monday, I came across serious gangs of guys full of masti today (Tuesday), and the booze shops closed here today, but available at 150rs. (black market.
✓ I am not unfriendly, but neither am I fond of the rowdiness of Holi and I sped through the gangs of rowdies with single minded purpose.
✓ Thanks I stopped at the first lodge I saw in Nargund and for 900 r/s. was accepted. The very nice (maybe gay?) receptionist doesn’t speak English and almost no Hindi. He did tell me that he didn’t have a.c. rooms, but after last night it didn’t seem to matter. Here though, with a very different climate from Gaa it is hot! I wish I had an a.c. room……tomorrow.



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Warmshowers https://www.cyclingaboutindia.com/2024/03/28/warmshowers/ https://www.cyclingaboutindia.com/2024/03/28/warmshowers/#respond Thu, 28 Mar 2024 15:29:37 +0000 https://www.cyclingaboutindia.com/?p=2067 This is a photo of Mike from the U.K. and his beautiful bicycle he had painted by the master lorry painters of Pakistan. I was very envious….

I had heard about Warmshowers from Chris and Haz who had found it sometimes very helpful as long-term, long distance cycle tourists on a budget.  I liked the community oriented spirit with no pecuniary benefit and decided to offer space in my home for passing cycle tourists.

It was a good experience.  I had 9 or 10 guests, many of them Germans.  All were camping and all had done incredible trips of thousands of kilometers.
Through some guests I found out about WhatsApp groups for different geographic areas of the world for cycle tourists.  I wish I had known about that before I went to Pakistan. I could have used some of the valuable shared information.

Reviews on Warmshowers are important especially for hosts and the idea is good but it is odd to read such glowing reviews about yourself in the public domain…..Readers of this blog don’t believe a word of it.

It was interesting to see how these hard-core cycle tourists had set up their bicycles. Very impressive how much thought they have put into their cycles- some interesting handlebars, though no drop bars- and often Roloff hubs, or the other German alternative. Well, these were mostly Germans, and 2 Swiss, what else would you expect?
I couldn’t quite believe how much stuff these guys took with them.  I can see why they might avoid hills, but really, do you have to take tyres with you?      Needless to say, my ultralight set-up is a world away, but they have in some way more freedom to stop and camp wherever they want and I do have to stop in a place where there is a “lodge” of some sort.

Another observation- my Warmshowers guests were either coming from south India going north toward Mumbai or the reverse. Although I recommend going through the Western Ghats going south, avoiding NH66 along the coast, most followed the highway. To be fair, most had time constraints and other considerations.  At least I tried to give my Warmshowers guests a feel for the wonder that is Goa.

 

 

Thank you to all my interesting Warmshowers guests.

 

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Mumbai to Goa https://www.cyclingaboutindia.com/2023/02/22/mumbai-to-goa/ https://www.cyclingaboutindia.com/2023/02/22/mumbai-to-goa/#respond Wed, 22 Feb 2023 06:33:26 +0000 https://www.cyclingaboutindia.com/?p=2757
  • I decided to cycle down to Goa from Mumbai, the same as I had done in 2019. I didn’t take the same route but some roads seemed familiar. Cycling down from Mahim to Gateway in rush hour traffic, then getting on the ferry, and the cycle ride to Alibaug is a pretty fantastic way to set out. The roads have improved dramatically from the state they were in 4 years ago, especially the stretches of SH 4 that is part of the route. In Murud (Raigad) I was refused a place in the inn because of the “C” form I had mentioned in the previous post. Luckily another place up the road had no problem. Last time I had missed Harnai, instead going straight to Dapoli. That was a mistake. Harnai is an interesting place. Besides a beautiful beach there is a fish auction that is supposed to be very interesting. There are enough stretches of bad roads and areas where there is really limited places to stay. I stayed in a real dump in Jaitapur because I was just so exhausted. Along the way I caught up with another cycle tourist, then another and another…….There were 49 with YHAI from all over India on hybrid bikes and support vehicles. They were a very friendly bunch and I enjoyed their company for a couple of days. Then, also going in the same direction i came upon Chris and Haz, from the U.K., on their non-fussy cycle ride down the Western Ghats to Kochi and then southeast Asia. We met up somewhere after Ratnagiri and spent the next couple of days meeting up along the way, dinner together in Malwan and eventually spending the night in Porvorim (Goa) at good friend Sylvano:’s place. Next day I headed for home and they spent a couple of days in north Goa. They came here to my place, spent a couple of days and then after breakfast in Karwar we said goodbye. It was pure pleasure spending time with them. Their blog is excellent..
  • Here is the link https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=3d2&doc_id=24772&v=Ai.

    Haz also made a very nice youtube video of their Mumbai to Kochi ride https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUKshNwQxp0&t=7s

    This coastal route between Mumbai and Goa is spectacular for cycling. There is a lot of climbing, stunning views, completely un-commercialized beaches, very little traffic, and a feeling of remote rural Maharashtra. For navigation I got some good advice from the YHAI guys and locals. Although I love the magic of GPS I use it very little for navigation these days. Part of the way arrows had been painted on the pavement, remnants of some previous event. Thanks to whoever- sometimes that was very useful. The second day of my tour, from Murud to Harnai I have rated as probably my best day of cycling ever. The countryside was beautiful, roads great, no traffic, What more can you ask for? The route I took this time had 4 ferry crossings and in total took me 6 days. One thing I did differently this time was from Malwan, instead of going down through Vengurla, I took a beautiful road east and caught NH 66 at Kudal. From there it may be a boring 4 lane road but sometimes that is nice too. .

    home at last
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    What to take? https://www.cyclingaboutindia.com/2019/12/05/what-to-take/ https://www.cyclingaboutindia.com/2019/12/05/what-to-take/#comments Thu, 05 Dec 2019 16:16:44 +0000 https://musicmumbai.wordpress.com/?p=1012
  • I still take too much!!!! I take a lock. But in Europe, where you almost always take your bike in your hotel room, or in India, where the innkeeper takes responsibility- a lock is unnecessary. Next trip, no lock (and it is a heavy item).
  • 4,600 some kilometers and I didn’t have a single punctured tire! Can you believe that? Luck ……. But should I be taking an extra tube, plus puncture kit?  Somehow I don’t think so.  There are places and times when a puncture would be inconvenient and demoralising, but maybe an extra tube and the patch kit is too much, considering that any cycle shop that could repair a punctured tube would not be too far away.

    I take with me 1 pant (lightweight and wrinkle-free), one shorts for sleeping (jockey), 2 tshirts- 1 nice for going out in public, and one for sleeping etc.    2 cycling jerseys (must be washed along the way)  and 2 cycling shorts.     One pair of flip-flops, and toiletries.  I never carry a towel or soap and even in some of the dives I stayed in it was always found.

    Very important…….I take my ipad, along with my samsung galaxy phone.  The ipad is essentially for evening entertainment.  If I have arrived at my destination, bathed, done my navigation studies, had a drink, and it is only 7 or 8, and even if there might be a tv there are no English channels, I have tv shows uploaded on my ipad!  Foyle’s War, may not be culturally relevant, but ir is good!  And I sleep early…..

    I love my Apidura bikepacking gear.  Brilliant design.  I really love it. 

    Things can be bought, and discarded along the way too. At Champawat in Kumaon, in the morning, the first thing I did was shop for a sweater. To my surprise, at this stall I found a zip sweater that I really loved, for about 650 rs. In Pokhara, Nepal, before the Annapoorna trek (cycle) I had to buy about 10000 rs. Of cold weather gear for the Thorung La pass (5,500 meteres).  I was glad I had that,  and afterwards I could give the stuff away.

    What to listen too?

    Frankly, sometimes it is boring…. it is after all many hours on the bike.  I have one playlist that I listen to over and over, over the years.  I don’t know who I got it from –jyoti says not from him-  it is 1200 film songs from the 1940’s, superhits of the time, but forgotten now when Laxmikant-pyarelal is consiodered old.  These songs that I really love are sung be Kursheed, Saigal and orhers.  The magic of these songs are the beautiful melodies and the emotive singing.  It is perfect for cycle touring.  This playlist is quite a revelation because it predates by years my previous favorite songs of Naushad, Madan Mohan, Roshan, Shankar jaikishan. Besides Kursheed (who went to Pakistan in 1947) I don’t know who the female singers are, except for the ocassional distinctive voice of Noorjehan, or even of Lata Mangeshkar who started singing in the late 40’s. It is great music…

    I wish I had a good novel to listen to, but I don’t. Podcasts are good, but I could prepare better with audiobooks. Next time…..

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    My Experience https://www.cyclingaboutindia.com/2019/12/05/my-experience/ https://www.cyclingaboutindia.com/2019/12/05/my-experience/#respond Thu, 05 Dec 2019 14:49:38 +0000 https://musicmumbai.wordpress.com/2019/12/05/my-experience/ I have now done 5 ultra-lite self-supported bikepacking trips, 2 western ghats, south India, 2 in europe, and now this one in north and western India.  I feel that I am getting better on each trip with navigation, luggage, and general strategy.

    Starting with navigation, I still do not have what I really would love- the perfect app for cycle touring.  I am still on free apps.  I tried biking.com (free for a week) in Spain but didn’t really like it.  I always use and consult maps.me (for cycling) but have found the hard way that it cannot be trusted.  The advantage of it is that all the maps you might need can be easily uploaded and stored in your phone.  I am also slowly trying out komoot which seems a pretty good app but I am not yet able to judge on it. 

    Google maps remains the most essential eventhough they only have the cycling function in some Europian countries.  These maps, whichever ones you might need, can also be uploaded which negates any network connectivity issues one might have in remote places.

    When you do have network connectivity the google maps function of “hotels near such and such a place” can be very useful and almost a life saver when travelling in remote places. For example coming now down the Konkan coast from Mumbai to Goa, in Ganpatphule I saw that there didn’t seem to be any hotels until Devgarh and that meant that the next day’s ride would have to be about 125 kms.  which, if the roads were bad could be a very long ride.  As it was the roads were mostly good and it was not difficult arriving well before dark.  Google was right though- there was no lodging whatsover before Devgarh.

    Another useful feature of google maps is the walking navigation directions that they have even when they do not have cycling directions.  This, combined with google car navigation is really what I use most.  I only like to plan my route the night before and I spend hours trying to get a good idea of my route the next day. 

    In big cities I like to turn on audio navigation.  Even that can be problematic- I had so much difficulty entering and exiting Spanish cities. Sometimes I ended up being on busy roads I most definitely should not have been on.

    Coming into Mumbai the other day on Western Express Highway is also an experience. At least I knew the route bt heart, but it certainly is a challenge that requires full alertness. Hat’s off to you Mumbai cyclists who do this regularly….

    Besides all the gps apps there remains the tried, true, and tested traditional Indian navigation system and I still love it and use it- stopping and asking someone at the side of the road. Gps can be ambiguous and as we all know there are no useful signboards. People are always ready to help. I am most grateful to all of them. Without this advice I don’t think I would have found this ferry crossing

    A small boat

     

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    The End https://www.cyclingaboutindia.com/2019/12/04/the-end/ https://www.cyclingaboutindia.com/2019/12/04/the-end/#respond Wed, 04 Dec 2019 15:58:31 +0000 https://musicmumbai.wordpress.com/2019/12/04/the-end/ I should reflect on the entire ride here. The Mumbai to Goa was really something……..this is really challenging cycling with minimum traffic. Beautiful.

    A friend at Keni’s shop in Mumbai had predicted that it would take me about 4 days to get to Goa. It took me 6 days and it couldn’t have taken me less unless I had been in a race or I had had a mountain bike for all the horrendous roads.

    I arrived home around 2 p.m.

    Goa
    This a.m.

    The entire ride? That is a big question……I would say Nepal, great (but limited roads), Uttarakand, difficult outside of specific tourist places- best beach I’ve ever been to though- Rishikesh- and you can drink the Ganga water there, it is so pure.

    My limited view of Harayana was positive.

    Rajasthan. I think Shekhawati region has a huge tourist potential-thus far mostly by French tourists- the most sophisticated imho. and Churu so incredibly un- touristy it is hard to believe in this day ad age.

    Someone’s happy birthday in Goa

    I hope noone is offended by my views about Gujarat, but I did not enjoy Gujarat! I tried, but….all men, no matter what age, seem to have a pot belly. Not friendly, curious people……yes, the constant attention (as cycle tourist) can be annoying and/or overwhelming, but it is also natural. I always tried to interact (esp. as an American) to the interest in me which usually started with the cost of my bicycle (necessarily a white lie- the truth they woyld never believe) and always with my age. It was sobering when as a joke I said 80 years- and it was accepted blandly. I guess this cycle experience has not cut off years from my physical appearance but I have to say that I am feeling SUPERB, except for my ass which suffers from the coastal humidity plus the hours in the saddle. Nothing that requires an m.d. thank goodness.

    “Jingle Bells” would you believe? Richard and Belinda have left, for their early a.m. cycle rides tomorrow, and I remain writing this, the cream being the Ronettes singing Phil Spector’s “Santa Claus is coming to town”- a masterpiece! Only in Goa ……

     

    Instead of that, I am having another drink, revelling in being in Goa. I love it here.

     

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    Home https://www.cyclingaboutindia.com/2019/12/04/home/ https://www.cyclingaboutindia.com/2019/12/04/home/#respond Wed, 04 Dec 2019 15:40:44 +0000 https://musicmumbai.wordpress.com/?p=999 Amazing to be back home after 4,000 plus kms.! But here I am, with my harshest critics and greateast supporters, Richard and Belinda! I am so happy to be back- and the elec. is on, the car is running, and all is well after more than 2 1/2 months.

    At Maharsahta border
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