A Long and Beautiful Drive to Bekal

40 Cities| 17 Days| 65 Days. Follow the whole My Way on Highway Journey here.

Being An Early Bird

Through the course of our My Way On Highway Road Trip, we have realized that taking the road in the wee hours of the morning is a very wise thing to do. One, you beat the heat. Two, you get little traffic. Three, once you arrive at your destination you have the rest of the day to go sightseeing or just relax. So despite being a tad too tired after yesterday’s hike in Gokarna, we left for Bekal (Kerala) at 6 am sharp. The National Highways 17 and 66 were good but narrow and we drove the 293 kilometres non-stop except for a ‘wake-me-up’ cuppah tea break near the Karnataka border.

Paani Paani Re

 

The drive from Gokarna to Bekal via Mangalore is a pleasant one courtesy the many rivers and backwaters along the way. There are occasions when you have a river on one side while the Arabian Sea makes a fleeting appearance on the other. We came across rivers Aghanashini, Sharavati and Pallinadi on the Edapally-Panvel Highway. About 3.5 hours on the road and you do not even realize how the states transition from Karnataka to Kerala.

Land of 7 Languages

 

As we entered Kerala, we got in to the famous Kasargod District that is best known for a multi-lingual demographic that speaks Malayalam, Kannada, Tulu, Konkani, Marathi, Urdu and Beary. Thankfully, English is also widely spoken here. Phew! One glance at the houses and you get the sense that locals here are able to make a comfortable living. Another sign of that are the many gold advertisements dominating the billboards on this route. The lovely religious architecture also deserves a special mention. The temples here are painted in bright pop colours while the mosques wear muted elegant shades.

Our Abode

 

Thanks to MakeMyTrip, we got a really comfortable stay option at the Hotel Bekal Palace. Good value for your money, it gets you modern conveniences in a fabulous location with most sightseeing spots just a short drive away. We slept like babies after a delicious beef masala and tawa parantha lunch. I was very keen to try a spa treatment here in Bekal but was told there aren’t any options available except for the super-expensive ones at Taj Vivanta and Lalit. Looks like the spa treat will have to wait some more.

More on Bekal tomorrow! (Pictures courtesy Tariq Khan)