Rajesh Mudaliar

@ Rak nice writing with some trill and fun.... waiting for the 2nd day log

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Never ride faster than your guardian angel can fly

yuv_biKING

Pics are well taken, just gave peek on the pics will read the write-up soon. Happy to see vehicles maintaining lane discipline and not blocking the opposite way even on a long Traffic Jam like this.

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Yuv
The Southern Sojourn, ISG2G, The Mega Maharashtra Monsoon ride

RAK

Thanks Rajesh

Thanks buddy. It was a rare sight in country of ours .


Our ride in Kashedi Ghat:

RAK

DAY 2:
Day 2 started for us with all the pet animals asking us to wake up in their own style. I was not ready to surrender to those who were trying hard to wake us. Finally I and Adtiya woke up and started with our morning activities. We moved to Amol’s house for bath and nature’s call. It was 8 AM and we all got ready by 9:30. Abhishek despite his numerous trips to attend the nature’s call got ready by 10 AM. We had some tea and snacks. Courtesy: Amol’s Aunt. So finally we were all set to start at 10:30 AM and decided to visit Marleshwar first. Sangmeshwar was 25 Kms from Amol’s house and the roads were nice without any traffic till Sangmeshwar.







Bad roads started at Sangmeshwar and we took a break at a nearby mechanic because Abhishek’s front brakes were not working properly. As per the mechanic the oil sealant was gone. He fixed it without replacing anything and the brakes worked fine for some time. Amol moved on as my pillion so that Abhishek’s braking would be somewhat proper without a pillion and semi-functioning front brake. Sangmeshwar – Devrukh was a nice road and we took another break at Amol’s relatives house. He met all of them, we had some snacks and we started again at 12 PM. On the way to Devrukh we found out that Kolhapur was just 80 Kms from there and we have an option to return via NH4.





Roads to Marleshwar were very narrow at places and a bus or a SUV on that road would block it completely. On the way I switched on to reserve fuel and I told Amol that my bike was on reserve and will only travel around 40 Kms more then he said that Marleshwar is a tourist place and we can easily find some petrol bunk there. But he was again wrong. The nearest petrol bunk was 20 Kms away and I had already travelled 15 Kms on reserve till we reached Marleshwar.











We reached Marleshwar at around 1 PM and found that parking was full and some SUV’s blocked the road not allowing even motorcycles to go ahead. So we decided to park it where we would find a place. We found a place far away from where the first steps started and it took 10 mins for us to reach the start from our parking place. Kept our helmets at one shop in the parking and started the journey climbing the steps. Walking on those steps was becoming a big task with the Knee Protectors. I didn’t wanna hold them in my hands and forgot to keep those with the helmets. Adjusting the Knee protectors and climbing again became a painful task.





Saw some waterfalls on the way which were seriously dangerous but people somehow ignored the warning and went there. This waterfall was in 7-8 steps and look and the people enjoying without any fear.





If anyone would have slipped from here he would have landed in a huge stream of water which had this huge flow.








Shopkeepers in Marleshwar are kind of bugging you everythime with these dialogue “Saheb shoes ithe kada pudhe madirat chalet nahi” – Remove your shoes here it’s not allowed in the temple ahead and “makdanna ghalayla chane ghya” – please buy peas to feed the monkeys. We were not aware how far the temple was and also how long was the queue. We stopped in the queue and asked Abhishek to check how long it was. When we were standing in the queue we saw a huge cardboard cutout which mentioned ‘shoes not allowed beyond this point’. Somehow we got to know their business method. They allow you to keep your shoes if you promise them that you will buy something from their shop. That’s why every shop owner kept on repeating the same dialogue while we started climbing the steps.

When we entered the temple surroundings we saw a shoe rack and all of us removed our shoes there and went ahead to view the huge waterfall. We didn’t go inside the temple as we were late and the queue was too long. We took the blessings from outside and started clicking the pictures of the waterfall. The route to the waterfall was blocked by the temple administration and we were forced to watch it from a long distance. The pictures don’t do justice to the hugeness of the waterfall. It was created from many small waterfalls and getting together to form a huge one.











It started raining and we decided to leave that place at around 2 PM. The return journey was quick and I was riding on reserve I was not sure if I can make it till the petrol bunk. We reached Devrukh at around 2:30 PM safely without any problems and found out that the petrol bunk was just a KM away from an autorikshaw guy. We also asked him to suggest a nice place for lunch. He suggested a Hotel which was just opposite to Devrukh ST stand in a small lane hidden from the road. I forgot the name of that Hotel but each and every table was full. We waited for 10 mins and got a table. Food came very late but was awesome. This was the best non-veg food in kokani style. Loved the food and started at 3:30 PM for our Petrol bunk search. After sometime we got one and filled our tanks. Here we decide that we would go to Arevare beach at Ratnagiri first and then to Ganpatipule.

Riding after a heavy non-veg and awesome lunch we were feeling sleepy. I was so bored that I wasn’t ready to accelerate beyond 60 KMPH despite the roads being good. Somehow in that sleepiness we reached Sangmeshwar and everyone was awakened by the spine breaking potholes. Somehow we tried to avoid the potholes but landed in a different one. This process continued till 8 Kms and we were sick and tired of those.





Prayed to God for good roads and he heard it. After that 8 Kms of bad patch the roads were simple awesome. We easily maintained triple digits on those roads and even above 80’s in the Ghats. The Ghats were properly banked with very less oncoming traffic.
















We reached Ratnagiri at 5 PM and asked the locals for route to Arevare beach. After lots of Diversions we reached the road which leads to Ganpatipule from Ratnagiri and Arevare beach was on that road only. Arevare beach is a nice and small beach not infested with tourist. We took a very short break near Arevare bridge and decide not to go to the beach as we were late for Ganpatipule.














This route was very scenic and ran with the coast. Riding on such roads is an awesome experience.

















Finally when Ganpatipule was 1Km we took a break watching the sea. Resting in the grass and removed all our gears. We were resting and felt like this moment would always stay with us. Watching the people infested beach of Ganpatipule from that point made us relax at that point even more. At 6:30 PM we decided to move ahead and visit the temple first and then the beach. We reached the temple, parked our bikes just opposite to the main gate and kept our shoes on the shoe rack. Sea was very tempting so all of us decided to enjoy the beach as long as there is some sunlight and then visit the temple once it is dark.







Some photography on the beach and our one and only pic with all of us in it was taken at the beach.




Everything was dark and we went to the temple for Darshan. There was no queue and we took the darshan immediately and came out. Amol was getting restless as we asked him Aunt to prepare dinner for us and we were late. It would have taken 2 Hours min to reach Amol’s place which was 20 Kms from Sangmeshwar. At 7:30 Pm we had a discussion with two policemen about an alternate route to Sangmeshwar as we didn’t wanted to take the pothole filled 8 Kms of section at night. One of them advised one route to reach Sangmeshwar via Jakadevi while the other opposed it. He said that this route was very isolated and goes via jungle and it is not at all suggested at night. If something bad happens then there would be no one to help us out in that route and we would be doomed.

After consulting about that route with some locals they also suggested that we avoid that route at night and take the normal highway. While we got down from our bikes we say a new face on Abhishek’s bike as a pillion. Whoa who was he? Some policemen stopped Abhishek in the middle of the road while we went ahead and asked him to drop that guy till the highway. That guy was from Mumbai and started his ride at that time. We dropped him at the highway junction and he left to catch any train which will take him to Mumbai.

We mentally prepared ourselves for the potholed ride and started our ride back home. Rains, insects and high beams were messing things more for us at that time. We maintained steady speed of 60-70 Kmph and somehow dodged the potholed section and reached Amol’s house at 10:30 PM. Amol’s uncle & aunt were waiting for us and as soon as we reached home we rushed to their house for dinner. Dinner was nice and with tummies full we started our regular discussion which lasted till 1 AM and one by one everyone started dozing off.

Sarvajit

Beautiful pics-I can picturize the fun you guys had in this weather.
I'm waiting for the next touring season!

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Quench my thirst with gasoline!

ridermax

Wow ! Great going guys, awesome ride there and the pictures are really stunning !

Kudos & Ride Safe !

RAK

Thanks buddy. I think monsoons is the best touring seasons.

Thanks yaar. Pics are mostly courtesy of the pillions. Without them pics during riding were not possible.

abhee

Did you forget we also had a third day in that trip

RAK

No I didn't forget it. I am not able to post/upload any pics here. Office firewall is blocking it. Can you post the ride report and pics for the 3rd day?