Triplog approved

Thanks for the approval Noor.

woww
wt a trip !

awesome

just awesome trip.we remember it lifetime

Firstly Apologies for almost forgetting this thread.

24th September Arrives, 4 Members of the scheduled trip are cancelled due to one reason or the other, I get a call early in the morning from Krunal around 3:30 AM asking me to pick him up as the biker who was to pick him up had dropped his plan of coming and he was left stranded, though he was very eager to join the touring party. I agreed to take him along and pick him up around 4:30 from his place.

I wake up have a shower get ready and hear towards Vadaj bus stop on Ashram road, this where I was to pick up Krunal, he was waiting for me, loaded his luggage and he somehow managed to squeeze himself in-between the Bikes rear, my Saddle Bag and myself, his size helping out in every way possible.

Our destination was Vastrapur Lake, though we were to leave by this time, I was not in a hurry as I had been in touch with Prashant who had just left from Ankleshwar and was to catch up with us at Vataman, almost 200 KM ride for him, for us on the other hand its just 80 KM so I was prity cool with it.

The bikes started to assemble at the lake, with some of the guys having their breakfast and tea at the lake where snacks and tea are available all night. Once the bikers assembled baring Ishit who had been late in waking up we all moved upto Mansi Cross roads, the best place to have fuel in the wee hours of the day, everyone filled up and we had our customary introductions and pre-ride pep talk and instructions.

Ishit in the mean time arrived on his sparkling red R15 (V1 obviously, there was not V-2 till that time).

At around 6:00 Am we started off from Ahmedabad enroute Dholka via Bavla, as the road is generally empty and we would not have to negotiate much traffic.

We reached Dholka around 6:45 and then headed towards Vataman where we were to wait for Prashant. I thought the 30 KM ride would a piece of cake and would not take more than 20 Minutes but as soon as we left Dholka we experienced one of the worst roads ever, there was road in-between potholes, infact the roads were so bad we all had to just concentrate on the road ahead and no one had time to look back and see where the tail was, we were some 7 KM from Vataman when Krunal signalled me to stop as he could only see 3 bikes at the back and the rest were left tooo far behind. We stopped for a loo break, re-hydrated ourselves and the cams came out, shooting what ever we could see. The wait became painstakingly long and for there was not mobile network in the area so contacting the rest was prity impossible. After some 20 minutes to our relief we saw the head lights of the trailing group, on inquiring came to know that they had been held up as one of the bikes had an issue with the Bungee cords which had cut off and had got stuck in the rear sprocket. We all re-assembled and had a small Photo session. With Vatman just 7 Km away and Prashant still over 50 KM away we headed straight for Vataman to have some breakfast and some much needed tea and refreshments, as knowing Prashant the way we do thought he would not take more than 25 minutes to get there.

Reached Vataman by around 7:40 AM way too late and that 30 KM road had taken us almost and hour. We had tea, coffee, water and some Bhujji for breakfast and waited for Prashant who too had to face similar road conditions as we had to face and took him a lot more time then we had expected and he reached Vataman only by around 8:15-8:30. He too refreshed himself and we headed towards Velavadar.


Initially I lead but as the roads smoothened out I left it to Ashik to lead, who took full toll of the Vacant smooth roads in his CBR250R. The road upto Velavadar was some 100 KM but no one had any idea what to expect of the road or the sanctuary. We reached Velavadar and lead group even padded it without even noticing it, there was hardly any signage or marking stating that there was such a big Black Buck Sanctuary in the vicinity, very disappointing actually, that's the way it is, can't help. I ripped open the throttle to catch up with the lead and ask them to stop as we had left our destination behind. The place where we stopped was really scenic and called for more photoshoots and posing opportunities, the group obliged hydrated themselves before we headed back towards the Sanctuary. It was getting prity hot and we were now left with no water what so ever but still planned to go ahead as planned.

We entered the Sanctuary limits and Bang we get to see our first Black Bucks albeit at some distance. Cameras cameout Lenses zooooming in to the max the got the best possible shot, The binocular I had carried came in handy as well. The Bucks were really very prity and we could not resist ourselves from getting closer to them but then Prashant and Ishit were not too willing as they were both running low on fuel and energy so they decided to get back to the main highway and wait for the group there while they refuel and rehydrate themselves, Shailraj also decided to follow them which left us with 7 bikes and 8 guys in pursuit of some wild wildlife shots. We went in pursuit of the bucks when we saw one of the gates approached it but it was locked, hearts sunk but then there was a small opening on the side of the gate which from which the bikes could easily get through and that is exactly what we all did, entered the sanctuary and the first thing we saw was a Black Buck jump from one side of the road to the other, right in from of our bikes. The adventure genes got activated and the hunt for more began, we reached a small water body and an observation deck right next to it. Bikes were parked and we all approached the watch tower which was some 200 mts away and covered in shoulder high grass, it was an experience going through to the tower and enjoying nature from that height. We all loved it but then slowly the shortage f water started pinching us bad, guys started to get De-hydrated and some even started to behave weird. Taking it as a sign to return back and search for water we moved on while stopping at the water hole for some photos. WE decided to go deeper into the Sanctuary in search of water and a different way out. To our surprise we found lot more Animals than we had initially thought, Dears, Blue Bulls (Neal Gais) and Black bucks were abundant, we did not know where to point our cams as everyone was shouting THERE THERE, everyone taking the best shots they could capture from their view finders and we kept moving on at last reaching a small house like structure right next to the main road leading into the Sanctuary, one bike went by the second went by and all of a sudden guys from the structure started coming out and shouting, that is when we realized that this was the office and the official entrance to the Santuary, and what the F***, the sanctuary was closed for 1 month which is customary every year. The guys at the office were furious and could not believe how we were able to get in and that too on bikes when bikes are strictly prohibited inside the Sanctuary due to the presence of carnivorous animals, carnivores yeah we did spot of a few foot prints of large cats during our loiter in the sanctuary.

The guys were equally cool as we had had our cams full of what we had come for and had finally got what we were looking for WATER, clean drinking water and it was free, everyone had share and also filled the empty bottles that we had in the meantime brokering a deal with the guards so that they would release us, the guards agreed to accept 200 and let us all go. which was a bargain for the fun that we all had.

that's was a really awesome trip man, and we never forget makhan and that dhaba, just 2 kms but seems 100 but that food and the place was awesome...

makkhaan.......lol
arrey how can we miss the dhaba.....

@maitray- sale idhar b makhhan yaad aa gaya
butter butter

one of the memorable Ride

a lovely ride with all-round enjoyment, off-roading, ripping and awesome food, who wud forget the makhan uncle and the rotla of Dhabha... the trek in the darkness to find the dhabha and the sunrise from Arabian sea ( Yeah u can see the Sun rising from Arabian sea in Gujarat too)...

After the bargain deal we got a call from Prashant and company that there was no water at the Pump nearest to the Sanctuary entry so they had headed further towards Bhavnagar, some 30 Km away before they could find a decent place which server water and hopefully some delicious food. So the group headed out of the sanctuary and to re-unite with the leading pack of 3, Ashik and myself though got engrossed in the lovely animals around and stopped for some more shots, further up again we saw 2 abandoned bullock carts and we stopped again to quench the thirst for some really good rural India shots for out desktops and may be for some competitions in Ashik's case. Got some lovely shots and in the meantime the group started to worry as they did not see us in their RVMs and they called to check up on us. We soon left the scene and caught up with the group at a road side Dhaba, we all got fresh and ordered food, which was prity decent for the location we were at. Every one filled up on the tummy as well with Water which seemed a scarce commodity out here.

Krunal suggest we all check out tyres before we leave as we could all be having thorns after the offroading that we had done, everyone got into action and thanks to Krunal's inputs and presence of mind we were able to locate and eliminate a few thorn and avoid future hassles with punctures and all.


The Road upto Bhavnagar was some 30-40 Km from here and we thought it would be a cake walk but the roads we encountered were more than worst, something you would find only on off-road mountain trails, lots and lots of boulders and no road what so ever and mix in some water into it and you have the worst night-mare come true. We thought it would be the case upto Bhavnagar but unfortunately this was the case all the way upto Ghogha which was out next destination. We somehow found a way to negotiate the horrible roads and reach Ghogha, which was one of the biggest disappointment of the entire trip as there was a beach but it was all rocky and was so so crowded that non of us were willing to go anywhere near the water.

We refilled our water bottles and proceeded towards Gopnath, I was to take the lead as I had a rough idea about the route and expected the route would be better than what we had to endure till now but the group had other ideas and they scooted off without 4 bikers and headed straight towards the same road we had come from, it was shocking that guys were willing to take a road as shit as that all over again. Had to call the guys up and request them to return back. They arrived in a few minutes and we took the other route which to everyone's pleasure was great, just great, newly laid roads after all that unexpected off-roading was just what we all needed at the fagging end of a long day of riding, this road would basically lead us to Alang and then eventually to Talaja which is the where we needed to be if we wanted to get to Gopnath. We were running prity late thanks to the horrible roads we had to endure. So I was almost ignoring Krunal who was sitting as my pillion, he tapped me lightly requesting me to stop for a Tea break or atleast that is what I heard, I did not fine a tea stall in the vicinity so kept going ahead and again a tap on the shoulder requesting for a Tea break again I was like wait man there is nothing here how do I stop, the tapping got lot more frequent and lot more harder by the minute and eventually I stopped to give him a scold that is when I realized he needed a to PEE and was asking for a Pee break and not tea, everyone stopped had a laugh refreshed and yes also had their pee breaks before we headed towards Alang taking a short tea break on the way as well.

The road upto Alang was hell not in terms of Road conditions but in terms of traffic and that too truck traffic, it was getting darker by the minute, I was get anxious but there was nothing I could do about it, but once we crossed Alang and headed towards Talaja the roads got even better and the traffic magically vanished, it was an almost smooth ride up until Talaja where we stopped againg for some refueling and ATM hunt to withdraw some cash.

IT was already 7 and the sun had set, we had a hard time finding an ATM in the city and then get we had to travel in the dark on roads we had no idea what they would offer, we took anyhow headed forward towards Gopnath and the roads we very decent. We enjoyed to short night ride as well and reached Gopnath by around 7:45 in the evening, straight at the edge of the cliff we parked our bikes found a Mandir and Dharamshala just there, we inquired and booked ourselved 3 rooms, adjusted ourselves and got fresh. Remembered Dineshbhai had suggested a Dhaba nearby and had told us to eat there only and nowhere else, the amount of praise he had showered on the Dhaba compelled us to search for it even though we were all tired, we were told it was just nearby, so we decided to walk in pitch darkness, the road was a never ending one, we were getting hungry and the Dhaba was almost 2 Km away but we reached there ordered our dinner and all of a sudden found the guy serving some delicious salads with freshly cut Cucumbers, Carrots and Onions, I got a bit worried thinking about the bill we will have to bare, I asked Sunny who was sitting nearer to the kitchen to call up the Owner and ask him about his rates and to confirm that we were not sitting in a 5Star restaurant and to out horror / delight the food was very cheap, just 85 per person that too tummy full unlimited food.

I had my reservations about the food though but once I took my first bite I fell in love with the food, the Sev Tamatar, The Chana, the Chatni, The Dal, The Dahi even the Achar was just so so tasty, the taste of freshness, the taste of the coal /wood stove the beauty of slow heat cooking and every bit of the smell of the masala the natural taste of the vegies was just oozing out of every bite, just mind blowing food, finger liking is just not the word, there are no words to describe it. On top of that we had Makhkhan (Pure home mad butter) that too bounty full, eat how much you want, and the one person to have enjoyed it the most was Maitray, it was like his staple diet. We enjoyed our dinner and also had a small Panchayat type gathering there and after a while started to long walk back which with a fuller tummy seemed much more manageable.

Night was already at its prime and we could see the clear sky and the stars but everyone was so tired that they were not interested in any long exposures of the sky and the stars.

Morning we had to get up early get our breakfast at the same dhaba and move back to our respective homes.