[magiceye]

Just as summer was coming to an end I embarked on a solo ride on my Royal Enfield 500 Classic ‘Desert Storm’ for a ride along the 500kms long Konkan coast in Maharashtra.
Kicked off my ride at 6am on a Tuesday morning to ensure that I do not have any problems for accommodation enroute as inevitably weekends bring on the hordes of tourists out to have a beach time!

As always my 1st stop was at Sai Snacks near Panvel for a hearty breakfast of ‘Kandey Pohey’ followed by a refreshing cup of hot chai to lead me on to NH17 onward to Alibaug.

Took a short break of around minutes just before Alibaug, checked the route details as given Mr.Kumar H.V. and rode on to Kashid and Janjira Murud to the

Rajapuri wharf to get across to Dhighi on a motor boat. This point is common for boats that take you to the mid sea Janjira fort and also to Dhighi.

Once our boat docked in, we were told to get on and wait while they lifted the bike into the boat. Once in the boat the bikes were lashed on to each

other and a pole in the boat. It took us about 20 minutes to get across after which the bikes were offloaded after we had got off. The process of loading

and offloading the bike into the boat was scary and was enough for me to promise myself not to do it ever again.
From Dhighi it was a beautiful ride all the way to Harihareshwar via Diveagar and Shrivardhan. Checked in at a homestay ‘Om Shree’ in Harihareshwar and was fortunate that they could cook up a decent lunch thali for me. The staff is very courteous and helpful. The room was clean air-conditioned and did have a tiny toilet but no wash basin. Had to pay Rs.1600/- for the room. All along the route there was no provision in any of the hotels/motels/homestays for single bedded rooms. I had to pay for a double bedded room with a miniscule reduction in tariff.

After resting for a couple of hours walked to the Harihareshwar temple and

then on to the beach for a session of sun set photography.

Set off for Bhagamandala jetty (5kms away from the homestay) next morning at 9am as the ferry to take me across to Bankot was at 0930hrs. This ferry

was the type where I could ride my bike on and off the ferry so was a beautiful experience. Had 2 more ferry crossings before reaching Ganapatipule, Dabhol to Dhopave and Tasval to Jaigarh.
The route to Ganapatipule was very scenic as we passed through Dapoli and Guhaghar. The amazing part of this entire route is that from one village to

another you either are crossing a ferry or going over a hill! And there is hardly any traffic all along. You own the road!

I checked in at ‘Atharva’ homestay in Ganapatipule. Paid Rs.800/- for a non-air-conditioned room. Clean room and toilet. Only tea/coffee/bottled water available. For meals you have to go out.

Spent the evening visiting the temple and the beach. Due to the popularity of

this temple the beach just outside the temple is a litter bin. It is unfortunate

that responsible tourism is not inculcated in our tourists.
Left for Tarkarli next morning at 7.30am and reached at 1.30pm. Checked in

at ‘Leesha’ homestay for Rs.1500/- for an air-conditioned cottage. Had an excellent home cooked fish thali and as usual went to the beach in the

evening for a cloudy sunset.
From Mumbai to Tarkarli had covered a distance of 650kms over a period of 3 days all along the coastal route. It was a delightful ride.
Rode back to Mumbai from Tarkarli on NH17, a distance of 543kms in 11 hours of sedate riding with breaks enroute for breakfast and lunch.
Overall an amazing ride!

[jacs]

I would say "Desert Storm in Oasis" would be a more apt title seeing the boat and junkar ride. Thanks for sharing. I am sure you would still have many photos which you would want to share with us.

[roamer]

Nice log Deepak! While on way from bagmandala, hope you visited beaches like karde, guhagar, velneshwar. Also at Tavsal was the ferry like the agardanda type or the barge type at Harihareshwar?

[venkatt1800]

Magiceye, Nice colourful post from you. Is the "OmShree" homestay at Harihareshwar a good ie safe option for families? I am planning a Konkan ride during September and Harihareshwar temple visit is in my wishlist. How is the quality of food in the homestay? Do they have the local Non-veg delicacies. Would be nice if you could add some snaps of Om Shree. Also, is the beach at Harihareshwar clean enough to spend a few hours ?

[magiceye]

Originally Posted by jacs

I would say "Desert Storm in Oasis" would be a more apt title seeing the boat and junkar ride. Thanks for sharing. I am sure you would still have many photos which you would want to share with us.

Thank you so much. Glad you enjoyed it. Pleasure to share.

Originally Posted by roamer

Nice log Deepak! While on way from bagmandala, hope you visited beaches like karde, guhagar, velneshwar. Also at Tavsal was the ferry like the agardanda type or the barge type at Harihareshwar?

The Tavsal Jaigarh ferry was a barge

Originally Posted by venkatt1800

Magiceye, Nice colourful post from you. Is the "OmShree" homestay at Harihareshwar a good ie safe option for families? I am planning a Konkan ride during September and Harihareshwar temple visit is in my wishlist. How is the quality of food in the homestay? Do they have the local Non-veg delicacies. Would be nice if you could add some snaps of Om Shree. Also, is the beach at Harihareshwar clean enough to spend a few hours ?

Omshree is decent and safe for families. They do not have a restaurant and serve veg food. Harihareshwar is a clean beach. You may try 'Harihareshwar Beach Resort', slightly more expensive but they have a multi cuisine restaurant and beach facing cottages too.

[thumpingheart]

Awesome stuff. I was just planning the exact same ride from Pune - Alibaug - and then same route as yours. Was contemplating locations like Kashid, Anjarle/Kelshi, Ganpatipule and then Malvan/Tarkarli as stops. I am inclined towards really off beat beaches to stay rather than typical ones to stay away from crowds. Lets see. May do it solo or may be with a buddy of mine. Great to read your post.

How were the road conditions in general? Of course after the monsoon things may be drastically different but still as a general pointer. Enough petrol bunks right?

[AKS]

It was Friday evening that we (my friend and me) decided that we will do a Short Road Trip on my CL500 up to Pondy. We wanted to leave early but due to some pending office work we started at 12:15pm on a Saturday. We first got geared up (half helmet, jacket, shades,boots and gloves) and headed over to the Fueling station and got the bull fueled up.

As soon as we reached Tidel Park and sensing the traffic we decided to take the OMR instead of ECR. At 01:15pm we stopped at a mosque (exactly before the link road to ECR) prayed and again started at 01:45pm. Yet again we stopped by Mudaliyar Kuppam at 02:30pm for a quick stretch and munch. By now my pillion was complaining about "HIS STIFFENED BACK"! But, we had to go on so we started again at 02:45pm and decided not to stop in between as Pondy was only 70 odd kilometers away. And as expected we reached at 03:30pm.

As soon as we reached the city we rushed towards a regular hotel (as we were hungry) and attacked on some meals for our tummy's. After lunch we went to the beach and wanted to enjoy the city for sometime. We were lucky enough to witness a ongoing shooting( some Tamil movie) taking place there, then we were strolling up and down the beach for 1.5 hours and then we agreed to sip some coffee and head back. At 05:15pm we got ready and headed towards Chennai. Again at 05:50pm we stopped by a mosque near outer area of Pondy (took 20 odd minutes for our prayers).

At 06:15pm we started from the mosque with full energy and excitement and now The Story Changes : Since it was my first ride, I completely forgot about my night riding gears (full helmet or clear glasses etc) and it was terrible to ride in complete darkness. People / animals crossing suddenly on the highway, no road lights or reflectors etc. Things further became worse when something (a bee or a stone or whatever it was) came across directly in my right eye and THAT'S IT.!!! My eyes started watering, irritation increases plus I couldn't pull over as the area was so dark and scary. So i decided to slow down but kept riding and after few kilometers things were normal again.

With being back in action and riding with full excitement, I was surprised to see as how the oncoming vehicles (Buses and Trucks) were ruthless to give way. They literally came onto my lane and forced me to get off road and halt completely. This annoyed me at the beginning and wanted to reciprocate but my pillion reminded that we were in a 2 wheeler and I was in my senses again. So took the safe route and kept continuing .

At 07:30pm we reached Mahabs for a quick stretch and we started again at 07:45pm. Having entered the city, the traffic was manageable to pass by and reach our homes at 08:45pm.

Things learnt from this trip:
1. Plan your trip completely and carry adaptive riding gears
2. Make sure you and your pillion is ready for the Trip - "Painful Excitement" (just kidding)
3. Start early and reach early
4. Avoid night riding as much as possible
5. A Good camera to collect memories
6. Ipod / MP3 player (with your favorites songs) to keep you entertained all the way

Cheers.!!!
Accrum