[Chevy_lover]

Originally Posted by ampere

Was this other option via Radhanagari or was it another route to Gaganbawda?
Snaps are very bright.

Hi Ampere, this route is not via Radhanagari and is also via Gagan Bawda. This is the 'old' Gagan Bawda route. Very desolate stretch and difficult to get help in case of any trouble. I would not recommend it at all!

Just wait till you see the rest of the ghat pics! You have to see it to understand what we experienced!!!

Since the pics were clicked in the blazing sun, it turned out very bright. I personally do not like dull pictures!

[khoj]

The crazy bit is that google maps shows SH115 and SH116 as routes from Kankavali to Kohlapur but no SH114 as clearly indicated on the milestones in the snaps.

[Chevy_lover]

Originally Posted by amitwlele

@CL. The last installment of snaps & TL was pretty small. I guess you followed the same route back so no new pictures and experiences to be shared.

I took a different route Amit. And there are lots and lots of pics coming up! This route is also called Gagan Bawda, but it is the old route!

Originally Posted by khoj

The crazy bit is that google maps shows SH115 and SH116 as routes from Kankavali to Kohlapur but no SH114 as clearly indicated on the milestones in the snaps.

I found it pretty weird too! No mention of SH 114!

[Chevy_lover]

We made our way gingerly towards the ghats. It was one of the most deserted and uninhabited stretches we had ever seen and driven through!!!

There were stretches where the road became so narrow for even my Chevy to pass through! At some places there were landslides and people were working to clear the rubble off. It was so creepy!!

We saw only two vehicles coming from the opposite side. I had a difficult time giving them enough space to pass us. It was much more dangerous due to the fact that they never honked at turns!!!

Here are some pics of the old Gagan Bawda route. Don’t even think of attempting this path after dark!!!

[Chevy_lover]

The ghat section was approximately 10 kilometre long. We finally reached the top of the ghat at 5 pm. Our odo read 99,119 kms. We had travelled 36 kilometres from NH 17 through SH 114 and finally reached civilization. We took the left turn from the junction and sped towards Kolhapur. A right turn from that junction would lead towards the new Gagan Bawda and Ponda ghats.

The route was super smooth and I increased my speed to about 80 – 90 kmph whenever possible. There was heavy truck traffic most of the way. We had a hard time overtaking some trucks because of oncoming vehicles.





We saw a sugar cane depot on the way. There were at least two dozen fully laden sugar cane trucks parked in their premises.









A sugar cane farm and its owner's house!











We quickly made our way through the village road and the excellent condition of the road throughout, helped us a great deal in maintaining good speeds. The route was very scenic! My wife was very happy that she could capture some great scenes en route!

We had completely forgotten about our lunch and were driving continuously from Goa. We had covered more than 240 kilometres in less than 6 hours of driving by then. We wanted to reach Kolhapur as early as possible and take some well deserved rest. We decided to break our journey at Kolhapur. I knew some great hotels in Kolhapur and wanted to take rest and drive back to Pune the next day.

[ampere]

CL I must say the roads really lonely! Not even a tea stall? Must be an ideal scene for a dacoit movie! But stunning views.
With light rains, that would be even better!

[amitwlele]

Originally Posted by Chevy_lover

I took a different route Amit. And there are lots and lots of pics coming up! This route is also called Gagan Bawda, but it is the old route!

@CL - I think i jumped the gun and was not patient enough for the next set of pics

Gagan Bawda road sure is spooky and at some points there is no road at all

Any particular reason why you took this route? Craving for some Adventure?

[rajeev k]

Delicious snaps of the delicious food.
Perfect replica of the picturesque locales.
Your ability to churn out excellent photos and narration is remarkably fantastic.
Keep it flowing

[Chevy_lover]

Originally Posted by rajeev k

Delicious snaps of the delicious food.
Perfect replica of the picturesque locales.
Your ability to churn out excellent photos and narration is remarkably fantastic.
Keep it flowing

Thanks a lot, Rajeev. The more I see the photos, I more I miss Goa!

Originally Posted by amitwlele

@CL - I think i jumped the gun and was not patient enough for the next set of pics

Gagan Bawda road sure is spooky and at some points there is no road at all

Any particular reason why you took this route? Craving for some Adventure?

Hi Amit, it was by pure chance that we ended up on that road. It turned out to be the biggest 'adventure' of the entire trip. The road was indeed deserted and we were very happy that we were able to come out of it unscathed!

Originally Posted by ampere

CL I must say the roads really lonely! Not even a tea stall? Must be an ideal scene for a dacoit movie! But stunning views.
With light rains, that would be even better!

Oh yes, Ampere! The road was so very desolate. No tea stall, no tyre repair shop, no bus stop, no nothing!!!

I am sure it will look stunning after the rains! But I hate to think how the road condition will be!

[Chevy_lover]

Our drive through the village road was fantastic and we soon reached Kolhapur city. We passed Rankala Lake en route. There were hundreds of people there enjoying the cool evening breeze.

Our nightmare started as soon as we entered Kolhapur city. If anyone wants to know the definition of anarchy, please ask them to drive inside Kolhapur city after 6 pm. It was so crazy dodging all those imbeciles driving two wheelers and all the other morons driving four wheelers.

Give them an inch to overtake and rest assured that they WILL cut you off in one second. I thought Surat and Salem were the most dangerous cities to drive! My friend Elantra of Team Bhp says that it is Nellore. But after experiencing Kolhapur’s traffic, I don’t have any doubt that those ignominious maniacs really deserve the title! Maybe it is a tie! Let’s leave it like that! The less said about that place, the better it will be for me! The memory of that drive is giving me nightmares!!!

We got lost twice and finally with some help from locals, got back on the right track. We went to Hotel International and checked out their rooms. I had a made a corporate tie up with them and quite a few other hotels, some years back, when I was working for a French telecom company. I was looking after the operations of the whole of Maharashtra region and had made countless trips to Kolhapur. They remembered me quite well and upgraded my deluxe room to a suite! I was really happy with their gesture.

We checked in quickly without wasting any more time. The time was 7 pm and our Chevy baby’s odo read 99,183 km. We had covered 274 kilometres from Anjuna.

We went to our suite.











We freshened up in record time. We were famished by that time as we hadn’t had lunch and ran out of the hotel. I was sure that I would not be driving again in Kolhapur that night. So we hired an auto and asked the driver to take us to the best non vegetarian restaurant in Kolhapur city. I asked him to forget about Opal. He took us to Hotel Nilesh.



The owner instantly understood that we were not from Kolhapur and made sure that one waiter was exclusively with us all the time. We enjoyed being treated like royalty!!! Full marks to the owner for customer service and for making sure that we will be back at his restaurant whenever we are in Kolhapur!!! We had superb Chicken Thali and lots of eggs. The food was in fact very very delicious. They gave us Chicken Pulav in lieu of regular rice and we enjoyed every morsel immensely!!! Their chicken dish was also fantastic! Spicy yet excellently flavorsome!

We finished our dinner leisurely, thanked the owner profusely and walked out of the hotel. We hired another auto and returned back to our hotel. We were really exhausted after the dreadful drive through the ghats and retired for the night.

[amitwlele]

Originally Posted by Chevy_lover

Give them an inch to overtake and rest assured that they WILL cut you off in one second. I thought Surat and Salem were the most dangerous cities to drive!

We had superb Chicken Thali and lots of eggs. The food was in fact very very delicious. They gave us Chicken Pulav in lieu of regular rice and we enjoyed every morsel immensely!!! Their chicken dish was also fantastic! Spicy yet excellently flavorsome!

And i thought in Pune navigating through the roads with bikers was tough. Never been to Kolhapur. I guess would have to experience the nightmare once after 6 PM.

Thank God you did not upload the snaps of the Chicken Thali just as the earlier food snaps of your trip.

[Chevy_lover]

Day 8 - A day for shopping and our return journey to Pune!

We woke up by 8 am on day 8 of our vacation. We decided to take it easy that day as I did not want to drive during day time, as it was quite tiring and we were also addicted to night drives. As far as I am concerned, it is one of the easiest time to drive because of less number of two wheelers and ox carts on the highway.

We got ready and had the complimentary buffet breakfast from the high class vegetarian restaurant in Hotel International. They served Idlis, Dosas and Cornflakes. Tea and coffee were also unlimited. We had a leisurely meal and decided to go for some shopping soon.

We decided to walk to the city centre and not to take our Chevy out of the parking. He was having a very well deserved siesta. I also did not have the enormous energy required to face Kolhapur’s terrible traffic.

We soon reached a shop selling traditional Kolhapuri chappals and other types of leather sandals. We got a good deal for a pair of chappals for my wife. She was very pleased with the designs on display. We had bought a chappal for her in the year 2005 from the SAME shop. I was surprised to note that she was still using the same footwear sparingly. The only modification she ever did was on the sole of that sandal. We always put new rubber sole on Kolhapuri chappals and its life increases by leaps and bounds!

We walked further down the street and saw another shop that looked promising. We liked the sandals on display there and again bought two more pairs. The speciality of those sandals was the supreme comfort they offered!

We decided to check out the shops in Mahalaxmi Temple area and hired an auto and went to that junction. It was so scary even sitting inside the auto. The traffic was outright chaotic. There was a street near the temple which was full of shoe shops. The time was close to 11am by then. As soon as we got out of the auto, touts and salesmen from the shops surrounded us and started pleading with us, to go to their shop first. We went to the nearest shop and saw some great sandals on display. We simply couldn’t resist the temptation to buy two more pairs. My wife was grinning from ear to ear and was totally elated by the wonderful shopping experience. We made our way back to the junction and hired another auto and sped towards our next destination, which would satiate our insatiable appetite, at least for the time being.

Our next stop was Hotel Opal and we reached the place after a ten minute drive. We went inside the restaurant and ordered Chicken Thali. I noticed that most hotels in Kolhapur do not serve Biriyanis. All they had was different versions of Pulavs. Let me share a lesser known fact. If you are looking to taste extremely tasty Biriyanis and authentic Kolhapuri dishes, do try out Hotel Pearl. We have stayed there many times and they serve one of the best Biriyanis we ever tasted in MH!

The Chicken Thali of Hotel Opal was nothing to rave about. We were quite disappointed after the dining experience and quickly made our way back to the main road. The road was still under construction and after a bit of acrobatics, and jumping over the median, we managed to stop an empty auto. The drive back to our hotel was very swift. We were dreadfully exhausted after our extensive shopping trip and the only thought that crossed our mind, was to go back to our room and crash in the bed. We reached our hotel by 1pm. We drifted off into a very deep slumber soon.

We woke up only by 5 pm. We were totally invigorated after the short nap and were raring to go. We had a superb drive ahead of us. We got ready without wasting any more time and checked out of the hotel. We asked the elderly watchman to help us clean our Chevy. He came back with a bucket full of water and cleaned the windshield and all the other glasses. The body cleaning was going to take much more time and we decided to do it after reaching home.

We loaded our luggage in our Chevy and finally bid goodbye to the hotel. We decided to fill up our Chevy before hitting the brilliant NH4. I was always skeptical about the diesel available on NH4 after Kolhapur and we decided not to take any more chances. We drove to an HP pump which was situated opposite to our hotel and filled up diesel for Rs. 1000. Diesel in Kolhapur was costlier than Pune @ Rs. 43.59 per litre.

We started our journey back to Pune after the short refueling stop by 6.15 pm. Our odo read 99,183 kms. We made our way through newly laid concrete roads and reached the highway at 6.25 pm. The journey from the middle of the city towards the highway was only 5 kilometre long.

The highway was one of the smoothest we have seen in a long time and we pumped up Chevy’s accelerator. Within no time we were cruising at 90 kmph. The time was past 6.30 pm then and the sun was getting ready to go down the horizon for his siesta. It was still a bit bright and the twilight conditions made the drive extremely dangerous. I switched on my headlights and projectors. There were hundreds of bikes on the road and the buses and trucks were on a suicide mission to destroy smaller vehicles and anything moving slower than them in their path. We found it quite difficult to overtake and I used my horn extensively. Thankfully, my Hellas were working perfectly after the quick tune-up earlier in Mapusa.

We reached Kini toll plaza by 6.45 pm and paid Rs. 52. We had covered just 20 kilometres in 20 minutes. Even though we maintained about 90 kmph whenever possible, our progress was hampered by the frequent rendezvous with slow moving trucks on the right lane.

It became completely dark pretty soon and slowly the two wheelers on the road became less and less. But we still could not keep up good speeds consistently because of the incredible rush in the highway. We reached the Taswade toll booth at 7.15 pm and paid Rs. 52 again. Our odo read 99,270 kms. There was a huge queue at the booth and we took about 10 minutes to cross the booth.

The drive after this area was really superlative. The road condition was excellent and I drove at 100 – 110 kmph whenever possible. There was a long line of vehicles keeping up my speed and following our Chevy. There was a white Safari from Kolhapur, who was tailing me crazily at three digit speeds without leaving enough space for panic braking. I wasn’t too keen on getting my Chevy’s behind kissed by the Safari and brought down my speed to 70 kmph. He overtook me from the left and started leading the way. We were content following him for a long time at a safe distance.

We crossed the Anewadi toll booth by 8. 10 pm. We had covered 138 kilometres in less than two hours. There was a long line of waiting vehicles there also. I did a big mistake here. I saw the Safari going off road and go straight for the left most toll booth. I thought that the driver must be a local and would know the easiest way to the booth very well. I followed him and got royally stuck out of the road, in the mud path , as there was already a queue of waiting vehicles on the left side booth. About 20 other vehicles had followed us out of the road and all of them got stuck because of the Safari driver. No other vehicle was willing to give us space to join the queue.

We spent about ten minutes trying unsuccessfully to join the line. Finally, a kind trucker guy gave us enough space to drive in. But he cut off the gap completely as soon as we got in front of him and the other vehicles were left waiting. I was very embarrassed by this incident and waved to the kind trucker. He just smiled adding to my embarrassment. We finally paid the toll of Rs. 45 and were so relieved to get out of the mess. I made a promise to myself never to repeat the mistake and to always stick to the first three lanes to reach the toll booth faster.

Our drive was very swift on NH4. There were hundreds of sugar cane laden trucks and tractors occupying the road and we were quite irritated when they took an eternity to give us side. Soon we saw red lights flashing ahead of us and saw the RTO from Mumbai in his Bolero. We decided to tail him and followed him at a safe distance. Our Chevy’s Hella lights were performing exceptionally well and we were really enjoying the drive. I overtook the Bolero and the white Safari and sped off at 130 kmph. I never saw them again!

One word of sincere advice to my readers, who might drive on this route on a later date. Please be extremely careful when you try to overtake heavy vehicles from the left side. There are hundreds of bullock carts plying on this highway. They always keep to their left and it is very difficult to spot them all of a sudden, because they have no lights at all. They do not even keep a kerosene lamp in their cart!!!

I saw a Scorpio’ driver apply sudden brakes, when he tried to overtake a Volvo bus from the left and all of a sudden, he found his vehicle just inches away from a bullock cart. I was right behind him, keeping to the right lane. There was no way I could give space for the Scorpio to come back to the right lane. He literally stood on his brakes and we heard the squealing of the tyres for an eternity. I hope he and his vehicle escaped unhurt.

The drive was superb throughout and we did not stop anywhere. We reached the Khedshivapur toll booth by 9 pm. Our odo read 99,396 kms. We had covered 208 kms in less than 2.5 hours. Our average speed was an astounding 83 kmph. This was the best speed we had ever achieved on NH4!!!

The highway was so very congested the entire time we were driving and we must have seen and overtaken at least a couple of thousand trucks and buses en-route. The fastest I drove on that day was 145 kmph after passing Anewadi toll booth and just before reaching the Mahabaleshwar turn off. I used both my projector lights whenever needed and could keep up optimum speeds. The road condition of NH4 was so good that I could maintain 100 – 110 kmph consistently.

After passing the last toll booth before reaching Pune, Khedshivapur, we encountered some crazy bumper to bumper traffic. We still managed to squeeze past the slower vehicles and entered Pune city by 9.20 pm. Our odo read 99, 416 kms.

I quickly switched off the aggressive highway driving mode and chose the more sedate city driving style. We entered Pune through Katraj and soon passed Dhankawadi. We reached our locality in quick time and entered our township at 9.35pm. We were so relieved that we reached home without facing even a single major issue, except an out of sync horn, during the entire trip.

We parked our Chevy and let his sweet heart idle for a minute. His roar sounded as sweet as it did, on the day I bought him!!! I switched off his engine one final time. Our closing odo reading was 99,425 kms. We had taken about 3 hours and 20 minutes to cover the 242 kilometers from Kolhapur. We had driven 1293 kilometres in total.

Our overall average speed was about 75 kmph and the top average we achieved before entering Pune city, was an incredible 83 kmph. Our mileage for the entire trip was approximately 12.56 kmpl with 100% AC usage and about 30 minutes of engine idling with our AC switched on.

I was pleasantly surprised by Chevy’s performance many times. I had started using System D diesel additive after my last service in Pashankar Auto and the subsequent fight there. I have mentioned about it in my Chevy’s ownership thread. I also used STP’s Diesel injector cleaner once before this trip and the additive worked wonders and Chevy’s pickup and torque is simply awesome now!!!

Finally, before I sign off, let me extend a sincere word of thanks to my readers for coming with us to Goa and experiencing all the mouthwatering culinary treats through my pics. A special thanks to readers who followed this log, replied/ commented regularly and rated it! This was undoubtedly one fantastic foodie trip and we enjoyed like there was no tomorrow!

Now it is my turn to thank my dear wife from the bottom of my heart! She spent countless hours writing the log book and keeping tab of the fuel and other expenses. She took some breathtaking snaps from impossible angles and one can never tell that most of the pics of the gorgeous NH 17 and the stunning Gagan Bawda were clicked from a moving vehicle and that too, when were driving at high speeds! She has managed to eliminate any camera shake even when we were driving in three digit speeds!!!

I salute her passion for photography and I am happy to note that she has improved by leaps and bounds in action photography! Without her help, I could have never written this log and this trip would never have materialized! She shares an avid interest in travelling and photography with me!

I also thank all the moderators and especially GTO for their support and for maintaining the quality of Team BHP. I have uploaded over 4200 pics in all my travelogues. Without the moderators’ approval, it wouldn’t have been possible!!! I am proud to be a member of this wonderful community!!!

So folks, I hope all of you enjoyed this little travelogue of mine. This is Chevy Lover signing off (with a heavy heart)! I hope to be back soon with another edition of our ‘incredible road trip’ series!

Here are the links to some of the travelogues I have written in Team BHP.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...anal-ooty.html

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...g-gangtok.html

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ity-world.html

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...elankanni.html

The End.

[ampere]

Great story CL! I hope there are many more incredible series to come!

PS: But I still like the Velankanni story! (You know why. It involves Ooty )

[amitwlele]

@CL i have been following this TL right from the beginning and it has been a real joy. Special thanks to your wife as well for the wonderful snaps.

Would hope that your next journey would happen soon. Till then...

[roamingrao]

I know of a couple from Pune who, in their chevy, drive to far off places on their wedding anniversary and share their experiences and annecdotes in this forum. Their narration holds us spell bound and makes us travel with them. Their photographs are a treat to the eyes and shows us details which a normal eye would have missed. Their intention in bringing all these to us is unparalleled.

Another of their 'incredible' travelogue has just ended or i would rather say, the next one would begin soon !

We look forward to many such from them and pray and wish they have a wonderful life ahead together !

A big salute to the couple who write here under the name Chevy_lover.