The clouds, the rain and the slush. What a beautiful weather. Maybe to sit at home and eat pakodas with chai, not to head out to Kolavara Heritage Homestay. Who am I kidding, it was a fun ride to a wet Kolavara Heritage, nestled at the base of the Western Ghats in a rainy Thirthahalli Taluk in  Shimoga District. What follows are some of the pictures from the trip.

Catching up with the rest at breakfast, on the boring Hassan road.  Clouds in the distance. Also, the only stretch (both while heading out and returning) without rain for the weekend. About 200km out of 700 odd kilometres.

Soon, we were off the dull 4-lanes onto the back roads of Chikamagalur. Lovely. Here is a shot from a regroup point near a local primary school.

Pushed the motorcycle to the limits of tyre traction and it held up. I am pretty happy with the Ceat tires on the bike.

As you can see from the picture above and below, it was quite the dirty ride. The bike had us both plus luggage. The performance in the wet ghat roads, entirely satisfactory.

The clouds were omnipresent though it did not pour on the 4-lanes towards Hassan.

A stop to fix one of the Classics. Luckily, I did not have to fix anything on this ride. It would have been quite the challenge as I am still new to this bike. And, somewhere deep inside, the days of sitting on the roadside fixing my motorcycle are no longer attractive.

The really big rear rack on which the drybag sits is made for the Coocase V50 (review), which we use for commuting.

Pictures of Kolavara Heritage Homestay

The home is built on a farm and is a traditional old house. What you see behind is the areca nut plantation. The type of home in which my grandparents lived. I did not get a chance to prowl the grounds of the estate since it was pouring for most of the time we were there. Very little clear weather.

What sets it apart from the typical houses in the area is that it is well cared for and now tastefully upgraded into a homestay where guests can feel comfortable. Is that good? Probably, since most visitors would find the authentic Malnad home a little too raw.  The work on the home brings about a right balance between authenticity and modernity.

The sun finally came out while we were heading out. I have stolen someone’s picture, let me know who’s it is, please.

 

Cannot get enough of shooting this motorcycle for now. It’s the first trip, and it has been a good soldier, doing what was asked of it.

StormTrooper Odometer: 2,271 at the end of the trip.