Kashid – Riders reunited


Parked on the way
               This weekend, the destination was Kashid, around 100 kms from Navi Mumbai. I’d met with a minor accident a couple of days back, and both me and the bike were a little damaged. But after people coming in and dropping out of the plan, there were just the two of us who would be riding out on Saturday morning – Me and Moses. I had done my first ever ride with Moses in October, 2016 on a borrowed bike.

The Arabian Sea
               We started at 6 AM from Belapur (he started at 5 from his place). The road was supposed to be a national highway, but it had deteriorated badly. It was difficult to ride on it, and the average speed was around 40 kph with the trucks and buses adding to the traffic. Once we left the highway, riding was easier. Although there were a few bad patches, traffic had eased out. We halted for breakfast at a dhaba on the highway, and a couple of other places for clicking pictures.

Sunset
               We reached Kashid by 1030 AM. We found ourselves a resort called Sai Kishan. It was a nice place with a swimming pool as well. And some generous soul had left a pack of chocolates in one of the drawers. We freshened up, and went to the beach for a walk. The beach was around a kilometer from the resort. I was pleasantly surprised to find the beach so clean, and white sands all around. The crowd was concentrated at one spot on the beach where water sports took place. But otherwise, the beach was deserted. It was peaceful. We had a quick snack by the beach and came back to the hotel, to dive into the pool. Most of the guests at the hotel were out, and we had the pool to ourselves for quite some time. After a while, a noisy group came in, and that’s when we decided to head out to the beach again. After lazing around in the sea for a while, we were back at the hotel.

He posed!
               The temperature had dropped in the evening, and the weather was pleasant. We had some delicious sea food (fish and prawns) for dinner. After dinner, we went for a walk at the beach. It was lit up in the moon light, and not a soul around. We sat down for a while, talking, and catching up on what was happening in our lives. We got back to the hotel by midnight. The others were still there, high and singing at the top of their voices. We dozed off in our room, to catch some rest before setting out to explore the next day.

Sunset, and the waves
               We were up by 830 AM the next morning, finished the chocolates, blessed the person who left them for us and had a cup of tea. After freshening up, we started our ride towards the Murud Janjira fort. It was around 20 kms from Kashid, and the entire route was along the coast of the Arabian Sea! It was scenic. We reached one of the ports from where the boats left for the Fort. The Fort was visible from the shore, it was huge! And the walls stood tall, and looked strong enough even after so many years of construction.

What are we exploring today!
               After clicking a few pictures at the port, we saw that there was another port, few kilometers away. The road to that port was over the hill nearby, providing an excellent view of the sea, the fort and the neighboring areas. We rode to the post, stopping en route for clicking pictures. The boats at the other port were the ones with sails. They were huge, carrying at least 20-25 people in a single trip. After observing the view and a few clicks later, it was time for the return journey.

Murud Janjira
               We started our return at 12.30 PM, and it was hot! We had just one break for lunch, which consisted of some more sea food, before continuing the ride till home. We took a different route on the return journey, which had few smooth patches, before joining the rough Mumbai-Goa National Highway again. It was tedious, riding in the heat, with the traffic and smoke from the trucks. I made it home, by 5 PM, little tired due to the bad roads but nothing that a cup of tea couldn’t fix!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kalsubai –Heights of Trekking!

Image
The moon Pun intended in the title! We gathered at Kasara railway station at 4.30 PM. The plan was to get to the base village called Bari, rest for the night, and start the climb early next morning. There were nine of us reminding me of ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’. We got into a cab, which would seat nine, to reach the village. It took us two hours  to reach Bari, and we started to settle into the place that would be our home till our return the next day. We freshened up and went for a walk around the village. The house opposite to ours had a beautiful graffiti painting, done by someone who had also visited the place for the trek. We went to the village temple, where kids were singing bhajans , and it was a wonderful experience to watch them at it. I wouldn’t know if they understood the words of what they sang, but the joy on their faces, as they danced with the little cymbals ringing was pure emotion! Dinner We left the temple after a while, and returned to ou...
Read more

Back to Gokarna - I

Image
I had company I was at Thane station by 315 PM to catch the Matsyagandha express to Gokarna. It left at 345 PM and reached Gokarna by 310 AM. I hoped that it would be late coz 310 AM was too early and I didn't want to spend 2-3 hours on the railway station. The onset of monsoon had worked wonders on the Konkan landscape. The green all around was refreshing to the eye. The roa ds, no longer unexplored, looked enticing! It is a bliss to travel in the rains, especially on the coastal route. It was still a little humid, in another week it would be perfect! My time on the train set the tone for the entire journey. I figured that I was gonna be interacting with quite a few people. The girl sitting next to me turned out to be from my company (Saw the company name on her bag). And there was another set of well-travelled guys who were on their way to Mangalore for their vacation. I played the guitar for a while and that triggered an interesting conversation. One of them filled me w...
Read more

Ganpatipule - On The Road by the Sea

Image
The destination for our monthly ride was chosen - Ganpatipule, a village famous for its temple on the beach. This is where it had all started for me, backpacking solo. My first visit here was around 12 years ago, as a 17-year old. I had come back here around 4 years ago too. And now, I was going back there, on a bike! It was nostalgic. Somewhere near Pali It was our usual meeting spot at 6 AM, the McDonald's at Kalamboli (Ronald McDonald probably knows us by our first names now). The regulars were Sanket, Saurabh, Abhishek and me. Swapnil had been with the gang on 2 rides before this. Ameya and Kunal completed the team. While we had Nitin who joined us only for breakfast. Although everyone met at McD, we went for breakfast at Datta Snacks, which is a famous food joint in Panvel, on the old Mumbai-Goa highway (or whatever is left of it). By the time we started, it was 8 AM, and it was hot already. Our first destination was Harihareshwar. The roads were mostly under main...
Read more