Day1: Bangalore - Pune
In this Christmas - New year vacation we (wife and I) decided to do a long, very very long road trip. Bangalore - Gir forest, more than 4000 kms in 10 days. Many thought we have gone crazy. But isn't this why I bought my car.
There are essentially two kinds of human traveller. One who enjoys the destination. The other enjoys the journey as well. But I belong to a third category, I love driving too. To enjoy road trips of this length, it is important that the fellow traveller atleast belongs to the second category. Very important, I must underline the previous sentence. My travel mates did not disappoint me even once.
Getting to the story... We left Bangalore for Pune on 25th morning. Picked up a friend from Diamond District. Night halt was planned in Pune at my friend's place. The plan was to cover the 850 odd kilometers in 14-15 hours. We left at 5.30 morning and according to the calculation, expected to reach latest by 9 PM. The moment we hit the road our equations began to fail. 25th being the start of a long vacation, there was traffic every where even at that time of the day (night for some
).
It took us 9 hours to cover the first 385 kms. Remaining time = 5 hrs; remaining distance ~ 500 kms => average speed required = 100kms/hr. One word for it – impossible. Since I was the only driver I had to keep a cool head. And why not, I know the roads and I know the city just too well (have spent 3 wonderful, youthful years in Pune). This time we had lunch well before our regular place in Hubli. Somewhere between Haveri and Hubli. At around 3 PM we were in Hubli, well behind our schedule. The good thing was that the worst part of the stretch was behind us. Hubli onwards the road is in very good shape. It was here that we ditched our max 90km/hr policy and decided to cover as much distance as possible before dark. For another 200 or so kms the Fabia was belted. You see the 1.2 ltr motor has its shortcomings, but the car more than makes up for it with its wonderful road manners. It is a delight to drive it at those illegal speeds. By 6 we reached the Kolhapur McDonald. Half an hour later we hit the road again. The sun had already said us good buy for the day. Driving under lights is never easy, but the Kolhapur – Pune has sufficient traffic moving at good speed. We stuck to 60-80km/hr speed form thereon.
We reached home at 10.30 pm. Hogged on to the meal already served on the dining table. Played carom and indulged in some interesting conversations including marriage proposal for my friend before hitting the bed. This trip was the longest in terms of time taken, 17 hrs, phew... . What a Day!
Day 2 : Pune - Vapi
Next day, 26th Dec. We meet our old college friends in Pune University. Took some time out to admire the trees that we had planted 3 years ago. They all have grown in sizes that would make any gardener proud. We had breakfast at the old University canteen, bringing back the good old memories. Only that the canteen lacks the basic hygiene. But who is complaining. They don’t fetch votes, do they?
At noon we decided to leave for Vapi. It is a small Gujrati town on the Gujrat-Maharastra border. Approx 300 kms separate the two towns. The connectivity is simple and good. The way is Pune – Mumbai – Vapi (it is on NH8, part of GC). We had lunch in one of the food plaza on the Pune-Mumbai express at Papa Johns. Good pizzas. The only complicated part on this stretch is by-passing Mumbai. This time we could do it without making any wrong turns. The part of GC just outside Mumbai was much better this time. Most of the rough patches were covered. As we distanced ourselves from Mumbai, the road got better and better. There are diversions at a couple of places due to six laning of Mumbai-Ahmedabad stretch of GC. We reached Vapi well before dark and did some shopping.