Despite the lack of sleep I was spurred on by the thought of a dip in the ocean and although a long ride I assumed it would be easy. After all, I was on a plateau at 600m, so a bit of flat, followed by a nice downhill, followed by flat coastal plain. Wrong! It got hilly before the descent,probably a bit of the Ghats again, then having decided to abandon Margao in favour of heading south to Agonda Beach, the final part was up and down like a yo-yo. The change in road quality as I crossed the border into Goa was immediately noticeable. Smooth tarmac, white lines and crash barriers, the lot. The descent, when it finally arrived, was delicious and I had great fun leaning the bike over in the hairpins and whizzing past the trucks. Now 50kph may not sound a lot to you but after grinding up hills at 5kph it was heaven!
I had a place to aim for that I had seen on Booking.com but while looking for it I was accosted by a guy on a scooter who showed me a shack on the beach with a real sea view that was in my price range (300 rupees a night). It had a concrete base and that was about the only thing that survived the monsoon every year. The 'restaurant' just 10m away was even more temporary as it had to be removed by law every monsoon season. Owners Jay and Jasna were a nice couple and she would cook anything to order. Evening meal was prawn fried rice with a salad. I'd arrived!
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| India's equivalent of Romany gypsies - Karnataka |
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| A close up of one of the many brick kilns in this area. I've no idea how they work but you can see the layers of charcoal (or fine coal) in between the brick walls and the smoke seeping out of the top. It's very labour intensive to build, but while heating up everyone disappears to press and dry more bricks. |
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| Another timeless scene - in this part of India tractors are few and far between. |
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| The Goan scenery was easy on the eye after the arid plains of Karnataka, but it was noticeably warmer and muggier down here. |
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| My beach abode! |
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| Definitely off-season |
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| That's the restaurant - green plastic sheet roof, on the right. |
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| My gammy leg. I'm off to find a doctor tomorrow. I started anti-biotics yesterday that I bought from a pharmacy, but the woman serving me didn't know how many/how long. |
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| My little patio....which caught a nice sea breeze in the afternoon |
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| A misty sunset on my first night in Goa |
That leg looks nasty
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