Konkan Bike Trail (Day 1 of 5)

It was that time of the year. Holidays and a long vacation announced by our company. Nachiket planned on another trip, but we had nothing concrete in mind. A day before the actual trip we had explored options of rides to Mt. Abu, a ring expedition Pune-Hyderabad-Bangalore-Bijapur-Pune, drive down to Dandeli stay a couple of days there and return and the well favored ride -all along the coast of konkan. Eventually by the time Bandya, after all his 'nakharas', teamed in -the destination decided: Pune->Vengurla via Amboli ->Ride along the Konkan coast with day1 halt at Vengurla;day2 around Hedvi; day3 around Diveagar and day4 around Alibaugh and finally back to Pune via Tahmini or Pen.

Day1:
The plan was good and after usual delays we were finally at Sinhagad Phata at about 7:15am. Standing here we could recollect memories from the Karwar trip and we decided to keep the speed at ~80kmph along NH4. The engines roared to life as we thudded down the highway and in no time were past the Katraj bypass. We had decided to take a halt at the Bharat Petrol Pump post Natraj hotel. It felt good, we did not speed and maintained a max of ~80kmph. Fueled up, we decided on our next halt post Khambatiki Ghat at one of the many stalls for breakfast. Off we flew and zipped down the highway . Khambatki arrived and then came the incredible twisties- but early morning mist got the roads wet and we had to administer caution taking lean means. 8am -we were at a food stall past Khambatki, judged a couple of stores finally settled for one with pohe, wada and our fist of the thousands of cups of tea!(8am, 71.6 kms) Nachiket's enfield caught its ritual leak- one of the pipes was cut and that made way for a minor oil leak. A quick purchase of a cello-tape and a fine patch up put things at bay. Here we spent some quality time- kept discussing all sorts of things, I mean wih 3 monkeys like us laughter is not a premium.

Ah well, we carried on and made a tentative decision to halt post Karad at the hotel we stopped at on our previous ride or halt after an hour. It was 8:45 when we left. Here the ride got pretty monotonous and some how I decided to skip the 80 game and take a speed shot. We rode past Satara, the distant hill forts seemed to be floating on air with Clouds still lingering low over the city. Soon I lost Bandya and Nachi off the rear views. A few misses later we all synced up at the hotel past Karad for our next breakfast halt- Hotel Ruchura. Time was ticking at 10:15 (173.1 kms). A few relaxing stretches and mindless talks later we zipped off and decided to halt only if needed but making the Shippur hotel our next defined halt. The ride here was no different the usual monotonous highway with the sun rising high over our heads. Bandya and me started playing formation games and very soon we teamed Nachya in and all three of us played circle formations. Believe me this helps! It helps you kill the monotone. Well the traffic was starting to pick up and after some 1/2 hr of formation play we decided to simply ride our own way ahead. Very soon we were on Karnataka roads and NH4 bore the Expressway look. Rules there were to be broken at ones whim- "excellent roads" + "bad sense of driving" = "bad roads" :). Well we had to face this for some time. The fuel gauge started nearing the red mark and that made me search for pumps. But soon we rode past Nipani and I knew the hotel was near and we thudded in.
Hotel Satyawati (~12 noon) with his over enthusiastic owner made the halt there wothwhile. Here we were directed to abandon NH4 and take the road we saw opposite the highway -that would lead to Amboli via Ajra. We were also told that the nearest fuel station was ~20kms down that road. With 273kms on the odo and 12:40 on the clock we took the not so good road leading to Ajra. Enroute we went past Ollur (we had to bypass the idea of visiting Nachi's relative here due to press of time). The roads were not good and we had to be very careful negotiating various twists. All through we were finding it hard to even jump past 40. Eventually we arrived at the fuel station and got the mettle-bellies full(1:10pm, 292 kms). The road ahead went under a lot of shade with the forest thickening up to the kilometer. Riding behind trucks was very irritating, since at many places the roads were pretty thin and we'd have to get partially off road to overtake, also trailing cars was a pain since they'd put breaks at almost all ticks of the clock to the patchy bad roads. Bandya was far ahead with me trailing Nachi. That's when it happened, I honked hard and steady, Nachi stopped and I said "I have a flat rear tyre dude" We honked hard and saw Bandya ride off. Off we got our steeds contemplating ona plan of action. Quick inquiries from a couple of locals only revealed - the mechanic would be available at Amboli about 10 kms from where we were. (2:10pm, 333.5 kms)

Nachiket and me decided to get the rear wheel off ourselves and stuff in the new tube (The previous day, we bought a new tube- just for such occasions). The CBZ gave us a tough time getting the wheels off the body- that's when Bandya trailed in. "Damn guyz- I was waiting for you some 2 kms ahead ready to snap a pic of you guyz riding in" - we had a hearty laugh and got the wheel off the bike. Decided to change the tube ourselves and did it in the not-the-way-to-do-it method. Like clowns we stood on the wheel loosing the tyre and pulled off the tube, a quick inspection revealed the culprit: a darn nail -got rid of it. Soon stuffed in the new tube and again using the most hilarious methods possible in a truthful bid to do it right got the tube in and on started the air filling saga. 15 mins of sweat and excursion did not even get 1 PSI in the tube, that's when Nachi and Badya decided to ride off (on Bandya's thunderbird) to Amboli to fill in some air while I was to sit it out amidst the jungle. (2:50 pm)

The jungle was quiet and occasionally vehicles bounced by making me, the CBZ w/o the rear wheel, the glittering Nachi's red bird a sight to watch. No one, I mean not even one even cared to ask if I needed help -Jerks! Oh well. There was this little lake behind- so trotted off there and freshened myself up. The wait was exhaustive- so killed time with some photographic sessions. At about 3:15 got a call from Nachi "Vindya- the tube we put in that too was punctured!". "What... how.. we checked it yesterday". "The screwdrivers we used to tug the tube in managed to slit the tube a bit". Agghh.. So it took them some 15 minutes to fix the tyre and some 20 more minutes before they finally arrived. Then started the mania to get the wheel back onto the bike. Munching on wafers and joking over the past event and bathing in sweat, the vehicle was finally ready to shoot down the road. It was 4:15 when we finally bid my rest place goodbye.

Soon in about 1/2 hour we arrived at Amobli and stopped at a Hotel Swagat for lunch, but ended up having omlettes cold drinks and the ritual tea(4:35pm, 345.5 kms). "Who serves lunch at this hour" was the expression of the owner there :). Here we met a guy who appreciated our efforts to ride down all the way and glowed at our prospect of the coastal ride. Its that glow and such positive attitudes that gave us the strength, stamina and the right mindset to execute this trip in a flawless manner. Some 20 minutes later we left the village and were soon on a ghat- Amboli Ghat! What views.. What roads... What environment .. simply stupendous. It was a ghat through a jungle that led down over a majestic carpet of tar. We did take a photographic halt enroute where Bandya enjoyed his primate friends. The ride was effortless and the sun was setting low behind the canopy in a distance as we reached ground level. Very soon took a right some 3.5 kms before Sawantwadi to get to Vengurla. A couple of kilometers later we touched on NH17 rode a few kilometers before we got off it to ride down the State Highway to Vengurla. We saw the sun set in a distance as we thudded down the beautiful road at breakneck speeds to finally reach the town of Vengurla.

A few inquiries later we were directed to go straight, and the road ended at the port -Vengurla Bandhar. The clock ticked at 6:40pm and odo read at 401.8kms. We were at "our" Southern tip of Konkan. Took some time out and relaxed by the port looking around the soon setting darkness. Bandya -our hotel search man- very soon found a wonderfull place for us. Hotel Sea View had about 5 rooms with 3 beds and an attached toilet each with a hospitable owner and his family with a very reasonable price of 300/-. How can you say no! Well we soon crashed in - had a very chilly bath and were all fresh and ready for dinner. We were directed to one Hotel Amantran. This place was like a resort but the food was your typicall city food -Punjabi-Chineese no konkani stuff! Man I would not recommend this place if you want good local food- but I will recommend this place for its setting and the wonderful ambiance of amazing classic-old background music and the helpful waiters. Here we had the time of our lives- soon we picked on Kachara (the character from the movie Lagaan) and made all sorts of situations spice up around him -every little thing we spoke had Kachra in it. Then jokes after jokes , added to it the line of empty bottles, this was a laughter riot. Finally at maybe 11pm or so we decided to quit and walk down the street. The night was cold but our talk and jokes kept the chill away. The sky was lit up with a million LEDs- a sight we city dwellers dearly miss.

Soon we stood by the port and saw the fishermen catch their bait and spoke to them about how they go about it etc. It was some quality time we spent, then on my perusal we decided to climb up a hill to the lighthouse. But unfortunately the gate was shut so we decided to return only to find that our hotel Sea View had its door shut as well. Lots of noise and shouts later the owner woke off his dreams and let us 3 idiots in. Lots of talk and chats later we decided to at least try and reach Ratnagiri if not Hedvi for the next day.

We did assume that going anyplace beyond the Ratnagiri-Jaigad landmass could be and overkill- the next day's ride proved us absolutely correct. The lights went off with many drunk goodnights to the wee hours as we slid into dream land with the waves lashing against the bank across the street.