With a long Christmas weekend coming up, a ride was already on my mind, more so because I had finally received my new bike, the just-launched KTM RC 200. If there was something which was not decided, it was the destination. Over the course of the next few days, that too was decided. The ride that was planned was, Bangalore – Mahabaleshwar – Goa – Bangalore and we were 4 guys who would be doing it. The plan was fixed and I was waiting for the day to arrive.

But, there are things which would happen only when they have to, looks like me doing this ride was not written for this time!! Some unexpected things came up for me and I could not join the ride 🙁 . With no plan B in place, I was pretty sad and did not want to spend this long-weekend sitting at home and not riding.

But, as luck would have it, fellow BCMTian and a good friend Amit informed me that he is in Bangalore and was traveling to Mangalore to a friend’s place tomorrow. He asked me if I would like to join them (he was traveling with another BCMTian & her friend, who by the end of the trip, became good friends). I happily agreed. We planned to start from Bangalore by 1.30 PM the next day but somehow, were able to leave only by 4.30 PM from Neelmangala.

Bangalore To Mangalore By Bike – KTM RC 200

The plan was to ride straight to Mangalore, to a friend’s place and that’s what we did. After riding through a fantastic 4-lane highway and a 2-lane un-divided State-Highway and then some terrible ghat section, we finally managed to reach Amit’s friend’s place at midnight.

In no time, we settled in his new and totally-designed-by-him beautiful house and then, as drinks started flowing coupled with a lot of food, our ‘travel-tales‘ started.

We talked and talked till it was 4 AM in the morning, and then, we also had our dinner! Phew! Talk about a long day!!

Next day, everybody got up late in the morning and after an hour or so, left for brunch and then the beach. After spending some great time at the almost – uncrowded beach, we finally decided to start for Madikere, where we had planned to stay for the night.

Mangalore To Madikeri By Bike

We had NO bookings done in Madikeri and this being a long weekend, I had my own doubts about getting any accommodation there. Actually, to be honest, I was somewhere in the back of my mind, prepared to ride in the night, all the way back to Bangalore.

The road to Madikere was awesome, especially when you hit the ‘twisties‘. I enjoyed the last 25kms of the twisties to the fullest, it felt like this bike was meant for such roads!!

Once in Madikere, we searched and searched and searched for an accommodation until we landed up in a beautiful homestay, right in between coffee plantation and away from the city.

We had a wonderful stay there and after a fantastic coorgi breakfast and some exploring of the place, we finally left for Bangalore at about 10.30 AM. This time, the roads were fantastic all the way and after a lot of breaks, we managed to reach Bangalore by 5 PM.

Some vistas around the home-stay

**Have you been to Madikeri? What is that you liked the most? Was it the place, the weather, the food or something else?