inder.cool

So, finally the day came when i was to start my maiden solo long ride to the konkan region. Had put an alarm for 4.00 am..but lazy me woke up at around 4.30am.. Got ready by around 5.15 and went to the parking just to check the hava-pani[] of the bike..!

Checklist:
Petrol - enough to get till tamhini, hope to fill there.
Tyre pressure - perfect.
Electricals - working.

Tied my bag onto the rear seat of the bike..and i was ready to go. Time was around 5.30am.

Reached Chandni chowk within no time since there was not soul on road that time. Nice cool breeze was blowing and by that time even the "sooraj chachu" wasn't up too..

Proceeded towards tamhini, till some gaon the road was good but after that it was really bad...my offroading journey had begun from there itself[]..

By now the time was around 6.15 - 6.25am..which meant that sooraj chachu had started to show up.. which meant it was welcome break for a photus to b clicked.





Yup that's me with my new Cross




Now came the TWIST in the journey whether to take the highway route or the inner/coastal to my next milestone i.e Mangaon. I thought that everyone goes thru the highway so let me take the inner route and see how it is..!!

So, continue riding ahead..but then after going a few kilometers ahead realised that i didnt fill in petrol. Asked a few locals out there whether any petrol pump is there in the vicinity, and to my surprise they told that the next petrol pump would come directly in Mangaon next. To this my reaction was literally i thought "beta ab to vaat lag gayi, pehle hi petrol bharva lena chaiye tha". Continued riding ahead..within a few kms realised that the bike was choking a bit, which indicated that i had to shift to "reserve" now and there was still a lot of kms to reach mangaon.

Enquired again with some locals about any place where i can find petrol anyplace close by, some ppl told that there is one place named "Neev gaon" which was around 5-6 kms away from there. There is one person named "mariyaa" he keeps extra petrol with him at this shop. Hearing this had a great relief in the heart that atleast i will get some petrol till my next stop. Finally after a lot of asking reached that person's shop and enquired about petrol, He told its 60rs per litre , filled in around 3 litres and continued riding again. Now i was a happy man.

During all this the time was around 8.30am and i was felling hungry so decided to stop a dhaba enroute. Continued riding and riding and there no signs of some dhabas too.. i was thinking what is this ...?? where have i come ...?? How do travellers survive here ...??

Finally, saw a dhaba enroute and decided to stop there..it was empty I asked to the dhaba vaala what all can i get now for breakfast, he told whatever you want you can get as they make the stuff as and when the order is placed. In my mind i thought lets order for Chicken tandoori..!! But then settled with poha and chai..

Once done with the breakfast continued riding ahead and was welcomed with some smooth roads Since it was a rare sight so i m mentioning it separately

Stopped for a quick photo session, since i had not clicked many pictures till now(which is not good for me ).









After the photo session moved ahead and saw a lot of dhabas enroute..what the heck yaar..!! When i was searching for a place to eat there weren't any but when i was able to find one and was tummy full..now i see so many in line..

Well anyways, continueing ahead there were many ghat sections till mangaon..but all were f**ked up.. bad roads everywhere..!! Finally rote, pit te, hilte dulte hue reached mangaon..!!

Review of the road from Tamhini - Mangaon:
Distance : Around 70-80kms
Condition of road: 90% Super bad + 10% good.
Type of road: 80% Ghat + 20% straight road.

On reaching Mangaon first went to a nearby petrol pump and did the tankful . After that started towards my next destination i.e Harihareshwar. So, started asking the locals the route for the same since i cud not spot any sign boards nearby.

Got to know the route and started cruising as the roads were super smooth with lots of arrow strainght roads and a couple of nice flowing corners...!! I had started to do some cornering(like the same i do while in lavasa), but then i thought it wont be much safe to ride like this since i m riding on this road for the 1st time, i better be careful. The journey was pretty cool mainly due to the fact that there were trees on both sides of the roads, quite a rare site though here in maharastra .







When i go a little ahead i see sign board reading Harihareshwar 35kms and diveagar 18kms..so i thought first lets visit the diveagar beach and then wud continue towards harihareshwar. So, i turn towards diveagar. And i tell you, even a 20 kms distance take a lot of time since youare travelling only thru village roads..where we can't increase the speed than 40km/hr.

So, finally reach the Diveagar beach...and my 1st impression on seeing that was "an empty beach ", have heard so much abt this beach but still no ppl around..!!









Poor old uncle there at the beach, he might be the care taker of the beach..



After a little photo session had some "nariyal-paani", which proves to be real good refresher in that kind of hot weather.

So, after a short break the journey continues from Diveagar towards my next destination i.e Harihareshwar. Just as soon as i exit the diveagar beach and enter the town..i see a milestone indicating that harihareshwar is around 35 kms from there. In between the route Shrivardhan(which was around 18 kms from diveagar) was also to come along too..So, thought of visiting that too . After riding a few kms thru those coastal roads, now the real fun began..the ever famous "bad roads". The roads were bumpy,full of rocks(mind you they were rocks only not stones )..seeing the state of the roads i had to cancel my plan of visiting the Shrivardhan beach and took the detour to harihareshwar which was around 18-20 kms away from there. But, to my surprise i was blessed with some good and smooth roads.

As usual, Stopped by for a quick photo session





Now, the next destination/milestone which i had to cover next was to take the ferry to the other side of the beach. So, started enquiring abt where i cud catch a ferry to the other side of the sea shore. Finally, got to know abt the same and started heading towards that direction. Finally after a few kms reached the dock and the ferry was just abt to come. So, went ahead and reached the cement shore and the when the ferry arrived, its owners came down to pick up the bike and load it onto the ferry. Damn it was tough .. was just scared that they dont touch the bike to the ferry's body.





It was just a 5 mins ride to the other side of the river where i got down and when i saw around it was small basti sort of where i had just landed and i had make my way out of it. It was a bit tough considering all the small children playing around, dodging the running animals around and what not. Finally made my way out and started asking the way out to the main highway. In between called up Kashif too to ask whether he knew anyhting abt it, but alas no help . Kept on asking the route to the locals when i proceed ahead(mind you there were no sign boards/milestones around).



After riding for quite a while i find a milestone indicating "Dapoli 30kms". Have heard from Ritwik that dapoli has a wonderful beach, so decided to see that too . But, i was really exhausted and tired and started hunting for some restaurant or something where i could find something to drink and get back to normal(i had been carrying water but it was finished ). Finally reached a small gaon or something where i could locate a general store from where bought some cold drink and rested for some time on the bike itself under the shade. After some time passed by started the ride and again and started heading towards Dapoli. On starting the ride again just one thing came to mind "Oh god not bad roads again ". So, for some time i was on the bad road patch but then it cleared up and good and smooth tarmac road started which continued all the way till dapoli. As usual in between i had stopped for a few pics.









On reaching dapoli called up Ritwik and asked about the beach, to my surprise he told there's no beach at Dapoli ..and he added that there's a wonderful beach at Murud which is around 15 kms from there. So, now i had to head to Murud to see the beach. En route the patch between dapoli(after crossing the town) and Murud town was simply superb which was covered with trees on both side of the road.

On reaching murud town started to head towards the beach, when i reached the beach and saw the whole thing..my reaction was like It was a damn nice one. As the sun was about to set which meant i could take home some sunset pictures too.



















After the phtoshoot, it was getting dark and i was in no mood to ride in the night so thought of staying back at the murud beach only and started hunting for a place to stay. Reached at "Hotel Sahil" and asked abt the cost of a 1 bedroom room. firstly the owner told 500 bucks for a night but i negotiated a bit with him and finally the deal closed at 300 bucks for the night. I parked the bike in safe parking and went up to the room to check it. It was quite decent with 1 bed + 1 bathroom.

Since it was Diwali day the owner had some puja organised at the hotel so he had invited me too for the puja. After that there was a fireworks show which was really nice, the small kids were bursting crackers all around. After away from home for the Diwali celebrations i guess this came as a compensation.

After that had my dinner and i was ready to sleep. Good Night.



The next morning woke up at around 8-8.30 got ready by 9.15 and was ready to go. Said goodbye to owner and his staff(they were really helpful , Thanks), started my journey.

I had planned to take the route as Murud-Dapoli-Khed-Poladpur-Mahabaleshwar-Pune.

The roads till Khed were awesome with well laid tarmac. After crossing Khed reached NH-17 which takes to Poladpur. I was really exicted and releived at the same time on reaching the highway which i had not seen since the time i left Pune .

After riding for a while i came in to at some ghat, if i remember correctly it was "Kashedi ghat"..it was as good as Lavasa as Sagar calls it . Its a good tarmac with the roads as wide as a 3 lane highway . I was easily doing 85-90 at that ghat section.















After reaching poladpur stopped a small restaurant and had my breakfast .. "Onion Utappa"..after ordering i saw that this restaurant was famous for Pav Bhaji..so went upto to the waiter and asked him to cancel the utappa and instead bring the pav bhaji. But that bugger didnt listen and got the utappa at last.




After my breakfast i was start for Mahabaleshwar and encounter the "worst road" on which i had ridden after the Rajmachi ride it was litrally full of rocks and not stones . The whole stretch was about 40 odd kiometers which meant ful torture for the bike. Finally a lot of hastels reached Mahabaleshwar and headed towards the venna lake which had some market place where i could sit and enjoy some cold drink. Which acted as a nice breather for me.

And how can i forget or rather how can it happen that i come to mahabaleshwar and dont sip on to the lovely "Strawberry milk shake" So i stopped at our ever famous stop "The Bagicha restaurant" hope NV remembers this..









Finally after my break it was around 2 in the afternoon and it was time to head back to Pune and complete my first solo trip . So, after that simple ride back from that point to pune via panchgani, mapro and wai to come to the Pune-bangalore highway and from there reach chandni chowk and then to my place at Viman Nagar. By the time i reached home it was around 4. The return journey was just a normal one and cruising one as i had already done this stretch umpteen number of times


Thanks for reading and hope u guys enjoed the log.

Regards,
Inder.

__________________




16 Days|Mountains|Lakes|Smooth/Off Roads|Leh Road-trip Saga 2010

MG

Best Motorcycle Blogger Contest Entry Approved

__________________
Join xBhp On

bluevolt

Konkan is my favorite part of India - I did a solo trip to Ganpatiphule, Ganeshghule and Tarkarli from Bangalore a few years ago, and the beauty of that place simply blew me away. I booked a boat in Tarkarli for a couple of hours and saw some of the most beautiful, unspoilt beaches in India. A few pictures from three years ago:

Ganeshghule beach: That's my helmet and bag in the distance - as you can see, I was the only one there!


Ganpatiphule 1:


Ganpatiphule 2: A room with a view!


Ganpatiphule 3:


Tarkarli 1: From the boat


Tarkarli 2:


Tarkarli 3:

darkknight

My favorite place too

paaji voted for You

here's my 2 pics where we actually did fishing with the locals...awesome experience must say...

Attached Thumbnails

   

__________________

niranjanvaidya

Awesome Inder. We can ride there again someday.

__________________
Never argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and then beat you with experience.

inder.cool

Thanks Bluevolt, Konkan is indeed beautiful..though i have not been to many beaches till now

Thanks DK

I m glad you lliked it.

Thanks NV..ohh sure we wud ride there some place..many places are yet to be covered.

__________________




16 Days|Mountains|Lakes|Smooth/Off Roads|Leh Road-trip Saga 2010

ritwik23

Very beautiful pics inder.

46wannabe

how do i vote??

__________________
10 Commandments:
1)Thank thy God for being alive.
2)Thou shalt respect one's own life and the live's of other road users.
3)Thou shalt respect one's own bike.
4)Love thy bike as thy self.
5)Always wear safety gear.
6)Alcohol is a strict NO!
7)Thou may lust after thy neighbour's bike specially if its of the R1 kind!
8)Thou shalt ride with 'ultra-most' care and caution when on Indian roads.
9)Thou shalt never leave the engine running at long traffic halts.
10)Thou shalt follow all of the above.

Ram_thegreat

Nice ride inder. Lovely pics

inder.cool

Thanks Ritwik.

Check this thread.
http://www.xbhp.com/talkies/best-tra...r-contest.html

Thanks Ram.

__________________




16 Days|Mountains|Lakes|Smooth/Off Roads|Leh Road-trip Saga 2010