[darklord]

Day 10:
Junagadh > Statue of Unity > Navsari
3352 km to 3990 km
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Good morning Junagadh:


Today, we are returning to Navsari with a detour to see Statue of Unity. Like yesterday, we have a lot of distance to cover today. Today is also the day that marks the end of our trip. Tomorrow, we begin our return drive to Bangalore.

We had breakfast from the hotel and loaded our luggage. We started our drive by 9:30 a.m.

The start odo for the day:


We drove for a bit on a single lane road:


Soon after at the intersection of the under-construction Junagadh bypass, we joined the four-lane highway to Rajkot:


A 1 hp vehicle:


By 11, we were in Rajkot:


We drove on the Rajkot-Ahmedabad highway yet again for some distance:


We stopped at Bagodara for lunch:








After lunch, we left Bagodara behind and very soon, we turned towards Vadodara through Bagodara-Vataman-Borsad route:




From Vadodara, we took the Dabhoi route to Statue of Unity. It was an ordinary four lane road, as opposed to the highways we covered so far:






There were ample signage along the way:




We were welcomed to the world's tallest statue:


We got parking opposite Ekta Mall, near the assembly point for river rafting:


It was past 5:30 already and as we parked, my sister and dad rushed to the helpdesk to get tickets.

[darklord]

Day 10 cont.:

By the time they reached and the queue got to the counter, they had stopped selling tickets for the statue visit. They suggested getting tickets for glow garden, then going to the bus station near the statue to watch the laser show that starts at 7 p.m. and then go visit the glow garden. So we got the tickets to the glow garden and went to the pickup point nearby and got on a bus going towards the statue.

The sun was setting as the bus journey began:


The first glimpse of the SoU:


The river cruise boat was slowly moving along:


The bus was fast approaching SoU:




Within a couple of minutes, the bus dropped us at the bus station near SoU:


The towering statue of Sardar Patel:


The magic of sunset:


Sardar Sarovar Dam:


People were arriving for the laser show and the huge ground of the bus station was fast filling up with people:


There was still time for the laser show to start, so I walked around, clicking more photos:










Light show of Sardar Sarovar Dam:


At 7 p.m., the lights turned off and the laser show started. I clicked a lot of photos, the below are just a select few. The last two are from a section depicting construction stages:










After about half an hour, the show ended and the lights came on:


The mad rush to get into the buses started; the buses kept coming, got immediately filled with people, and yet there were more people.

We briefly contemplated going to the glow garden, but we were tired by now and the end-of-trip syndrome had caught up with us. We had a long drive left to Navsari anyway, and we decided to get into a bus to the parking lot. Amidst the chaos, we patiently waited our turn and I used the time to click a few more photos.

The rush at the end of the show and the cleaning staff efficiently going about their jobs:


"Statue of Unity" sign at the other bank of the river, all lit up now:


Our wait lasted about 40 minutes and we got into the last bus and by the time we reached the parking lot, ours was one of the last few vehicles remaining:


We began our drive to Navsari:


Before leaving the general area, we decided to have dinner. Veg biryani:


We stopped at 3 fuel bunks before we were able to fill diesel, the first two having run out of the same:


The trip meter read 3840 km, 587 km since the last fill.

GMaps routed us through Movi-Netrang-Mandvi-Manekpor to Navsari. The route was mostly single lane roads, but seemed isolated and though there were trucks and private vehicles on road, some stretches were lonely, which was somewhat unsettling (could have been amplified by the night time and us coming from one of the densely populated places in India).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgEo0UdGvME

While the ladies and the kids slipped off into sleep, my dad gave me company and I drove nonstop and reached Navsari around 1:30 a.m.


Our trip had come to an end. Tomorrow, we start our drive back to Bangalore.

[darklord]

Day 11:
Navsari to Kolhapur
3990 km to 4603 km
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We woke up late after sleeping in to get enough rest from the busy schedule of the past two days. Another round of luggage rearrangement and reloading was on the cards since mom was returning home by train, accompanying some relatives and we also had to reload the luggage that we had left behind. All of these meant a very late start, around 1:30 p.m. Since we knew Kolhapur was achievable from our onward drive, we aimed to reach Kolhapur, take a break and continue the next morning towards Bangalore.

With that in mind, we started our drive from Navsari:


Hotel Uday Palace, Navsari, had an eye-catchy appearance:


As we approached GJ-MH border:


The road was smooth:


After about 1-1/2 hours of driving, we crossed into Maharashtra and stopped for lunch.

The man and the machine:


Veg manchurian:


Veg pulao:


The ubiquitous chaas:


While we were munching rotis, he was waiting to munch miles:


Munching it:


An interesting feature:


As we approached Mumbai, we again lost a lot of time approaching and crossing Vasai bridge due to the traffic:


As we approached Thane:


GMaps routed us through Mumbra:


We stopped for a tea break and a vada pav at Mumbra:




We got stuck at multiple traffic jams en route Panvel, but there were also free-flowing traffic in places:




We again took the Mumbai-Pune Expressway:


Bhatan Tunnel:


It was getting dinner time and we stopped at a food plaza to have our dinner:




As we resumed our drive, somewhere ahead, there was an accident or breakdown and we got stuck for nearly an hour in the traffic jam that ensued. We got to Pune late and this allowed us relatively easy crossing of Pune.

New Katraj Tunnel:


We drove on and as we reached Satara, it was nearing 1 a.m. We toyed with the idea of staying at Satara, but everybody was comfortable pushing on towards Kolhapur and in fact, the kids were comfortably sleeping already. We drove on and reached Kohlapur. We got accommodation at Hotel Sony Palace. We had handbags ready with just the necessary items for a night's stay and we quickly settled in and went to sleep.

[darklord]

Day 12:
Kolhapur to Bangalore
4603 km to 5262 km
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Today is the concluding day of our trip. We will be returning to Bangalore and stay for a couple of weeks at my sister's place and return to Trivandrum after that.

By the time we got ready to leave after the late bedtime yesterday, it was already 11:30.

Start odo for the day:


We soon entered the highway:


Pretty soon, we crossed the border and entered Karnataka.

We were yet to fill diesel after the full tank from near Statue of Unity, so the first order of business after crossing the border into KA was to fill diesel.

We stopped to have a tankful from Nipani:




We had run 803 km since the last tankful.

We hit the excellent 6-lane portion of the highway yet again:


I briefly stopped to take a photo of Suvarna Vidhana Soudha:


One of the countless tractor-trailers transporting sugarcane:


We drove on:


It was lunch time by now and we stopped near M K Hubli for lunch.

We resumed our drive post lunch:


Still a long way to go:


Hubli Bypass which had tormented us on our onward drive was mostly trouble free today:


We quickly put the single-lane Hubli Bypass behind us and reentered the multi-lane highway:


We drove nonstop, except for a tea break, till we spotted this beautiful sunset near Ranebennur, the last for the year and for this trip:




We stopped at a fuel bunk to use their facilities and did a courtesy fill:


Took a dinner break near Sira:




We drove nonstop then on. Upon reaching Bangalore, yet again, construction in NICE road delayed us.

As we exited Bannerghatta toll booth...


...and drove on towards Jigani, the New Year was being celebrated:




We reached home shortly after.

The end odo:


The amount of luggage held by Safari in the boot, a couple of bags are missing from the photo:


Old, discontinued, niggly, dusty...still munches miles after miles for breakfast, lunch, dinner and as a midnight snack, yet never fails to bring a smile to me or my family each time we travel in it:

[darklord]

Some random observations/thoughts/notes:

• Total toll: Rs 5465.
• Total diesel: 350 L worth Rs 32,128.
• Total cost of stay: Rs 46,900 for 6 nights.
• We covered 5 states, never stopped once by the police, not even at the borders.
• Tea in Gujarat. The smallest of paper cups and the smallest quantities.
• Dry climate. Going from tropical Kerala, I began to have slight nose bleeds from dry nostrils.
• The nose recognizes Gujarat industrial areas sooner than the eyes. A few areas had worst of industrial smells.
• Hindi worked for us everywhere. Of course, English at bigger hotels.
• Rarely used the car a/c while we were in Gujarat.
• North of Mumbai, we never saw a KL, TN, or AP car while we were there. Saw one TS Baleno and a few Bangalore registered cars.
• Went to Gujarat and did not go to Gir? Lesson; book the safari slots well in advance.
• When are we going to Kutch? Kutch nahi dekha, shaayad kuch nahi dekha?
• Dwarka and Somnath each need a night's stay and a day to see the temple and nearby attractions.
• What next? Himalayas? Confidence levels are high. My dad mentioned about Manali-Jispa-Leh road. Do we dare?

An older photograph to wind up for this time:

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[JayG]

Thanks for sharing those pleasant memories for lifetime.

[Rajjay]

I really appreciate your patience for writing such a wonderful, detailed travelogue.

[RunGaDa]

Beautiful picture studded travelogue. Gives a very crisp summary at the end. I am amazed at your patience to organise pictures, write about each one and complete this marathon write up.
Well, more amazed at you completing 5000+ kms in 2 weeks.

[Blacktop]

Excellent travelogue. Beautiful pictures, crisp narration. Equally incredible as the trip is the faith you have in the high mileage run Safari and its impeccable performance. Impressive.

[aravindhunt]

Nice travelogue in a nice car. Crisp writing and was hooked till the end.

I was in Gujarat for 3 years and your travelogue brought those nostalgic memories back, especially the small cups of tea. Thats because the Gujaratis used to have lots of teas at frequent intervals. Thats odd for us South Indians who are used to 'jugs' of coffee/tea

[thirugata]

Well detailed blog with loads of photos, it was a delight to read. Thanks for sharing.

Let me add this: If you plan to visit Gir, do consider Diu, it is worth a visit.

[jerrindanny]

Beautiful pictures, excellent narrative and a total inspiration. Appreciating your effort to take pictures at each point and building up this amazing travelogue.

[Sa!lor]

Hello
Very good detailed travelogue with pictures, I stay in Vadodara and my previous house is just across the street to Laxmi Vilas palace.
I was about to mention you visiting junagadh but not doing safari in Gir and you already addressed it.
Yes safari gets booked in advance so have to book it atleast 15 days before travel dates.
Also statue of unity is best visited with one night stay planned to cover all the attractions.
As you did not have any advance bookings made I was just wondering why you did not cover statue of unity after Vadodara itself while going Ahmedabad as you had a relaxed journey that day.

[mah45]

Awesome write -up.
Kudos to your energy to drive all this distance and even within Guj, there seems to have been some hectic driving.

The other day when I saw a Travelogue from Libran about his trip from Pune to SOU, I was wondering if we can ever drive from Down South to those locations.
But your travelogue and the comments from Narayans80 in the other thread seem to suggest it's possible.

Just a query, if one has to cover each of the locations you visited like Dwaraka, SOU etc in a more relaxed way, I assume it would take another 3-4 days easily ?
Thanks for sharing.