[skanchan95]

Since there has been many posts lately on the forums enquiring about the route from Somnath to Dwarka and the road conditions, here's a little report on it.

Yesterday I drove from Veraval to Okha.
ETD(Veraval) : 06:25 AM<0 kms>
ETA( Porbandar) : 09:15 AM<125 kms>
ETA(Dwarka) : 10:35 AM<234 kms>
ETA(Okha) : 11:10 AM<263 kms>

The route one is supposed to take is: Veraval-Gadu-Mangrol-Madhavpur-Porbandar-Harshad-Dwarka-Okha


Veraval, Gujarat to Dwarka, Gujarat - Google Maps


The road from Veraval uptil Porbandar is bad in patches which includes a horrible stretch of road at Narwal(25 kms from Madhavpur).


*Take a left turn at Gadu to head for Mangrol(going straight will take you to Keshod, Junagadh etc).

*Take a right turn near Mangrol entrance(gate) to get on the Mangrol byepass. Head straight on it and on reaching the end(where you will have right/left), take a right turn towards Madhavpur(left will take you to Mangrol town).

*Madhavpur has a very scenic drive right along the sea shore. It s a pity they have not developed the place.Even the Navy & Army have used the beach for joint amphibious landing exercises.




*After around 25kms from Mangrol, comes a horrible stretch of road at a place called Narwal. It has improved to some extent, as they have leveled it out , but still you can't drive on it at more than 10 kmph. They are building/repairing a lower service road. These are the places where the concept of "Swarnim Gujarat" does not exist. May be the great CM ought to take this road some day!!!!





Spot for tea/refreshments break at Narwal(after the horror stretch ends)


*One you reach Porbandar, just after Coast guard District HQ, keep going straight to reach the byepass road. You will reach a bridge from where you have to take a left.Quite soon, you will reach Indian Navy Base, Porbandar. take a left there to head fro Dwarka. Going straight will take you to Jamnagar.

Road from here on is quite good. From Porbandar to Dwarka, it is around 108 kms and the distance can easily be done in 1 hour & 15 minutes, as the roads are quite good and has very less traffic. the road has a few sharp turns, slow down when negotiating these turns( one will be tempted to drive flat out all the way).




Dwarka





Okha( the car's in a mess with a think blanket of dust, thanks to the mad road at Narwal)

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Exactly one year ago, i traveled on veraval-dwarka section,
it seems that road condition is same as of last year.

[skanchan95]

Had a bad experience with cops on the return leg. Just after Madhavpur, a bunch of idiot policemen were hell bent on stopping cars for checking God knows what. I pulled over and expected one of them to come over, but instead, those idiots were stopping more cars.

I went over and asked what's wrong, why did they stop us? One of them, a pot bellied fellow in plain clothes, said that I wasn't wear the seatbelt(which I was surely was). Angry & shocked at that fool, I said I sure was wearing it. Then he said, the co-passenger(my brother who was sitting inside the car) was not wearing seatbelt. I said he is still wearing seatbelt, pointing towards the car, I said "Look". I was thinking to myself "You jackass, do you even know what you are talking about?"

Stuttering, he again said - no, the driver(i.e me) wasn't wearing the seatbelt. I again said that I was, to which that pot bellied fellow, with a frown, said "Humney dekha nahi hai kya?".

Disgusted at that blind jackass I said, raising my voice,(to the effect of)- The car has a seatbelt buzzer. If you don't wear the seabelt, it will bug the hell out of you!!! I was even prepared to take him a on a TD to prove it. He then noobishly looked at the car and then looked away, embarassed having got caught red handed telling lies ."Bloody loser", I thought .

Then they tried the other tactic of extracting money. Another fellow in uniform asked "Papers??". I walked towards the car to get the papers. By now, my brother got down & asked what was wrong? I told him these jokers were telling that I did not wear the seatbelt. He confidently walked over to that bunch of morons and asked "Officer kaun hai?". One of the uniformed fellows, who looked more like Makaudi Pehelwan, sheepishly nodded that he was an officer. To us, he looked like a bloody hawaldaar

I showed this fellow the papers, he looked the car's invoice & asked "Gaadi kiski hai?". I thought, "you illiterate jackass, can't you even read??", and told him the name of the owner. Then he asked the RC book, which he flipped through meaninglessly like a zombie.

"License?" he asked. I flipped it out of my purse and showed it to him.

"PUC?" he asked , which was promptly shown to him . Convinced and disappointed that he won't be getting his "ghoos" or that he won't be able to tear a "Pouunch"( receipt), he let us go, resuming his sweep to catch more bakraas.

How sick & low these idiots can get? May be some higher up asked for their "hafta", hence all this natak!!!! Normally these idiots are least bothered about fellows who flout traffic rules, even if you drive past them talking on your mobile.

So an advice, to whoever takes this route. Keep your car papers well arranged in your car & always wear your seatbelt. You never know when you might encounter such idiot policemen.

[skanchan95]

An update:

The horror stretch near Narwal has now been largely repaired and the road is now good ,except for a ~200 meters stretch where bridge repair(rebuilding) is going on.