Preparing for ATV expedition along seashore .

After coming back from a seaside ATV ride last month, I was looking at wikimapia for next adventure opportunity. After Panambur harbor till Malpe which is about 50 km north, only place where there was hurdle was at Mulki - the confluence of Nandini and Shambavi rivers joining sea. All rivers big and small we come across in National Highway join the sea at Malpe and Mulki was a new pleasant surprise for me. So started dreaming about a trip taking children along on a long ATV trip along the coast. From the beginning of planning, I felt if my good friend and neighbor Anil kumar comes along it will be much easier to manage.

It is not really easy to plan such a off the beaten track trip in India. The government considers 200 km from the sea or national border as restricted area and we had limited access to good maps. Ashokavrdhana of Arohana adventure team in Mangalore sometime back had lot of trouble to procure a seventy year old survey of India topographical map. There is no clue of Panambur harbour in that map but even map with so much accuracy took lot of effort. Now we have access to satelite maps like http://wikimapia.org which is simply unimaginable few years back.

I have spent numerous hours in front of computers looking at and copying hundreds of maps in wikimapia. I made sure that there is some overlap between one map and the next. The numbering was bit difficult. The computer started recognising  my maps as 1,11,12,13,....2,20,21,22.... So had to repeat two three times to reach best option. Finally gave the map number derived from the latitude like 13.3456 North became 133456. Thereafter I could work faster with maps.

In most places there are roads parallel to the seashore. I had to plot the places where the roads exist and where they dont. Road adjacent to road mean Twelve years old Sunil will be rider. Lesser road access mean Sixteen year old Anil will be the rider. I was fortunate to have the support of Anilkumar who agreed to drive our support vehicle Omni most of the way.

GPS is a very useful accessory for this kind of off the beaten track trips. I had written about utility of this instrument in my kannada blog last year.   I Emailed Balu Hegde hailing from Sirsi who uses GPS about present availability scenario. Balu gave me proper inputs but being busy with routine activities and preparing for this trip, did not have enough time to procure one from Bangalore or Mumbai. Poor health mean few off road trips. So why buy a expensive umbrella for a single rain - goes my thinking. Moreover two people had been jailed in Gujarat last year for GPS maping leaning on our stupid laws.  

When I scouting for information Ashokavradhan gave me mobile number of Rohith Rao. Rohith had shepherded a big battalion of more than one hundred and sixty scouts who walked along beach from Mangalore to Malpe. When I spoke to him, Rohith immediately agreed to join us with Camera and GPS.

When riding along the beach, it is better to ride on wet sand. Boys who cycled along the beach will be familiar with this. It needs less effort and naturally fuel consumption will be lower. But we have to keep an eye on approaching waves. I try to consider all possibilities and make comprehensive preparation. I asked Rohith if boys need to wear life jackets on and Rohith had said No. It was me who failed in this respect in the last leg of the trip.

After the last outing to the beach, I had taken taken the chain to Shankaranna’s Car wheels at Puttur and got it washed with diesel and dried with compressor. So asked about the pre trip chain treatment with Shankaranna and he said not to apply oil. There was some slack in chain but Mohan said let it be as it is. The sand on the chain will make it tight. When I came back and checked the chain tension it was pretty tight. There was chance of getting break if had tightened before going to beach. Thank you Mohan.

Rohith had emphasized the need to make early start. The sunshine is very harsh in the beach and so we have to cover some distance before it gets too hot. We left my home at Quarter to Five and took roundabout route via Mudipu as direct highway to Mangalore was pockmarked with potholes. After covering about sixty five km called Rohith to inform that we are at a hotel in Kulur and will be in beach in twenty minutes.

I wanted to make routine inspection and prepare ATV for the long ride before Rohith reaches the spot. With poor health, my concentration affects considerably with little diversion. So unloaded the ATV in Panambur beach parking lot and got into job.

Little bit of washing  just before loading previous day   created some problem. The engine was misfiring and running erratically. Nibeesh who came with Rohith rang up a technician asking him to come. Technician pinpointed the problem within two minutes after his arrival and asked me to change CD unit. Problem was solved and technician hopped into his bullet and went away accepting just thanks and no money.