Marathon Bike Drive (Part 4 of 4)
Heavy dinner the past night rang my morning bell with the early morning Port Siren and Morning namaz blaring through the speakers. Indian seats rock! it was 6am.
So I had a good time waking others up and by 7:30am or so surprisingly all were up and ready in their night clothes to leave for Tarkarli beach which was some 6kms away. So we paired up on bikes I took Yogya as the pillion Amit took Nachya as the pillion Dhanya rode solo and the pillion took his original chariot and sarathi for the ride. It was a very cool Malwan morning. I was packed in Jacket and all but most others were not and were shivering in their shorts. The road was
quaint and cool. Lots of twists turns and talks later we rode past MTDC resort and enquied for the beach. A group of ladies led us to Devbaugh village, and we rode down past the village to the backwaters of Devbaugh to the beach. On the way we met a man who explained us the whole geography of the area, post the knowledge transfer we realized we were wrong and spoke to Nachya who was now waiting for us on the roadside. Synced up with them soon, Bandya/Dhanya gang too teamed in and we were parked our bikes on the loose sand.
A small walk down the muddy trail through the boat houses of MTDC resort we came out into the open Tarkarli beach. The beach was good, lots of lagoons were formed here. The water was extremely clear in patches and there were too many dead crabs around. We also spotted a live huge crab. People were playing around the beach as we lazily strolled around and soon decided to head back to the room and get on with the last leg. (~8:30am)
From here we drove down to the ST stand where we perched ourself in a little tea shop and tried some local breakfast - puri kurma and sheera and lots of tea :-). It was sumptous, we headed back to our rooms finished off with the rituals. Mr. Kirloskar did visit us and urged on us visiting his house for breakfast , but today was Amit's wedding anniversary and he had to be home as soon as possible so this was a no no. We thanked him for all his help and bid our farewell to Malwan. (~9am)
I had to take a quick break at the local petrol pump to fuel in the tank and moved on paired up with Amit till our next halt -Kasala phata. The drive went through the ghats and then a couple of villages and finally we stopped a few meters before Kasala. Post some enquiries on directions we decided to resync at Kankavli.
The road was pretty vacant , but as Kankavli arrived it got too crowded and too many trucks etc filled up the city road. Soon we halted here and enquired for the directions to GaganBawda. The path we took was via the village of Terele. The initial part of the drive was pretty good, the drive again went through some hills with barren landscapes and trees interchanging all the time. Here we rode in a single file and at consistent speed. A group of people in the car were so impressed they overtook us with a thumbs up and then let us pass as they shot a video of our formation. It was simply cool, that was when we broke up and started making mistakes and the group went scatter till we reached the railway crossing to regroup. Here an elderly woman appreciated our efforts!
Post this crossing the ride was initially in a single file and then eventually we started ascending the Bawda Ghat here everyone overtook us as I decided to stick trailing Amit(his wheels did not have good grip to negotiate the turns). Soon we reached the top point of the Ghat. Took a break here and then eventually rode off till we find a tea store, found one just where the Ghat came to an end. Here we had a lot of tea, slice (bread and drink :-) ) ,wada paav etc etc. (~11am).
From here we followed the board to Kolhapur and for the initial part we all rode in singles with no formations, later Bandya decided to overtake everyone and stop us to drive in a single file. We did that for the next roughly 50kms with Bandya leading the way past numerous villages down the thin roads. At one occasion a motorist played wise in trying to cut Bandya and was shell shocked to his gut when he saw our entire loud engine file stop behind him :-).
Soon the reached the outskirts of Kolhapur and then eventually entered the city, post some enquiries Amit led the way to a good hotel he knew of. We took a right at a board which said Pune was straight down ahead! Well thats where Hotel Opel was(~1:45pm). The hotel was good and the food was excellent. We ditched the rice and had all of the rest. Post some rest we decided to leave and make our next halt post some 100kms or Satara(~140kms). We decided against formation on NH4 and decided on syncing up at the next halt.
Here I went first and stayed ahead for the most part for roughly 100kms. The drive was very much monotonous down the 6lane highway, it was fun to overtake vehicle at a consistent speed. The road went through Karad and eventually I took my personal halt at ~100kms with a really bad burning butt! I let the others pass. Soon I synced in with the 2 bullets and Amit at Satara. Yogya and Dhanya went off past Satara and took a halt there.
Here we all refueled at the highway pump and then settled at a tea store for lots of tea. Time was roughly 4pm. Lots of tea later we rode on and decided if it gets tiring we halt at 50kms (near Shirwal). Soon we synced up with Yogya and Dhanya and rode on in a near single file for the rest of the route. On the way had to take a diversion as one of the trailers had gone off road and was standing perpendicual on our side. Post this we all rode at roughly 80kms constant and went past the 50kms mark in no time. No sooner did we cross Narayanpur phata did the traffic pickup. Sluggish slow motorists on the road gave us a tough time , but we battled through and got through Katraj tunnel and eventually took our last halt near a tea stall at Sinhagad road phata.
Soon everyone teamed in. It was ~6:30pm. From here Amit had to rush so he left for home. We settled for lots of vannila ice cream flavored tea :-). Lots of talking later we decided to officially lower the curtains on this memorable trip. Nachya and me decided to get back home whilst Dhanya, Yogya, Chika and Bnadya decided on going to Bandya's house. Here we ended the note with a possible next plan... Did Bandya say Andhra Pradesh!??
Enjoy the snaps!
Set1 Set2 Set3
So I had a good time waking others up and by 7:30am or so surprisingly all were up and ready in their night clothes to leave for Tarkarli beach which was some 6kms away. So we paired up on bikes I took Yogya as the pillion Amit took Nachya as the pillion Dhanya rode solo and the pillion took his original chariot and sarathi for the ride. It was a very cool Malwan morning. I was packed in Jacket and all but most others were not and were shivering in their shorts. The road was
quaint and cool. Lots of twists turns and talks later we rode past MTDC resort and enquied for the beach. A group of ladies led us to Devbaugh village, and we rode down past the village to the backwaters of Devbaugh to the beach. On the way we met a man who explained us the whole geography of the area, post the knowledge transfer we realized we were wrong and spoke to Nachya who was now waiting for us on the roadside. Synced up with them soon, Bandya/Dhanya gang too teamed in and we were parked our bikes on the loose sand.
A small walk down the muddy trail through the boat houses of MTDC resort we came out into the open Tarkarli beach. The beach was good, lots of lagoons were formed here. The water was extremely clear in patches and there were too many dead crabs around. We also spotted a live huge crab. People were playing around the beach as we lazily strolled around and soon decided to head back to the room and get on with the last leg. (~8:30am)From here we drove down to the ST stand where we perched ourself in a little tea shop and tried some local breakfast - puri kurma and sheera and lots of tea :-). It was sumptous, we headed back to our rooms finished off with the rituals. Mr. Kirloskar did visit us and urged on us visiting his house for breakfast , but today was Amit's wedding anniversary and he had to be home as soon as possible so this was a no no. We thanked him for all his help and bid our farewell to Malwan. (~9am)
I had to take a quick break at the local petrol pump to fuel in the tank and moved on paired up with Amit till our next halt -Kasala phata. The drive went through the ghats and then a couple of villages and finally we stopped a few meters before Kasala. Post some enquiries on directions we decided to resync at Kankavli.
The road was pretty vacant , but as Kankavli arrived it got too crowded and too many trucks etc filled up the city road. Soon we halted here and enquired for the directions to GaganBawda. The path we took was via the village of Terele. The initial part of the drive was pretty good, the drive again went through some hills with barren landscapes and trees interchanging all the time. Here we rode in a single file and at consistent speed. A group of people in the car were so impressed they overtook us with a thumbs up and then let us pass as they shot a video of our formation. It was simply cool, that was when we broke up and started making mistakes and the group went scatter till we reached the railway crossing to regroup. Here an elderly woman appreciated our efforts!
Post this crossing the ride was initially in a single file and then eventually we started ascending the Bawda Ghat here everyone overtook us as I decided to stick trailing Amit(his wheels did not have good grip to negotiate the turns). Soon we reached the top point of the Ghat. Took a break here and then eventually rode off till we find a tea store, found one just where the Ghat came to an end. Here we had a lot of tea, slice (bread and drink :-) ) ,wada paav etc etc. (~11am).
From here we followed the board to Kolhapur and for the initial part we all rode in singles with no formations, later Bandya decided to overtake everyone and stop us to drive in a single file. We did that for the next roughly 50kms with Bandya leading the way past numerous villages down the thin roads. At one occasion a motorist played wise in trying to cut Bandya and was shell shocked to his gut when he saw our entire loud engine file stop behind him :-).
Soon the reached the outskirts of Kolhapur and then eventually entered the city, post some enquiries Amit led the way to a good hotel he knew of. We took a right at a board which said Pune was straight down ahead! Well thats where Hotel Opel was(~1:45pm). The hotel was good and the food was excellent. We ditched the rice and had all of the rest. Post some rest we decided to leave and make our next halt post some 100kms or Satara(~140kms). We decided against formation on NH4 and decided on syncing up at the next halt.
Here I went first and stayed ahead for the most part for roughly 100kms. The drive was very much monotonous down the 6lane highway, it was fun to overtake vehicle at a consistent speed. The road went through Karad and eventually I took my personal halt at ~100kms with a really bad burning butt! I let the others pass. Soon I synced in with the 2 bullets and Amit at Satara. Yogya and Dhanya went off past Satara and took a halt there.
Here we all refueled at the highway pump and then settled at a tea store for lots of tea. Time was roughly 4pm. Lots of tea later we rode on and decided if it gets tiring we halt at 50kms (near Shirwal). Soon we synced up with Yogya and Dhanya and rode on in a near single file for the rest of the route. On the way had to take a diversion as one of the trailers had gone off road and was standing perpendicual on our side. Post this we all rode at roughly 80kms constant and went past the 50kms mark in no time. No sooner did we cross Narayanpur phata did the traffic pickup. Sluggish slow motorists on the road gave us a tough time , but we battled through and got through Katraj tunnel and eventually took our last halt near a tea stall at Sinhagad road phata.
Soon everyone teamed in. It was ~6:30pm. From here Amit had to rush so he left for home. We settled for lots of vannila ice cream flavored tea :-). Lots of talking later we decided to officially lower the curtains on this memorable trip. Nachya and me decided to get back home whilst Dhanya, Yogya, Chika and Bnadya decided on going to Bandya's house. Here we ended the note with a possible next plan... Did Bandya say Andhra Pradesh!??
Enjoy the snaps!
Set1 Set2 Set3
Labels: MajorActivity, Motor-Bike, Outings
posted by vindy | 1:21 AM
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