15th August 2015, 6:00 am.
Started early with little snacks and in few hrs I was out of Maharashtra borders. You can feel you are in Karnataka, roads feel like heaven decorated with lots of trees and flower plants , peacocks and sky get more colorful and dramatic.
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| Early mornning breakfast point |
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| Bangalore Highways |
To GOA, there us a turning after Nipani which we have to follow and it will end up in Goa highways, crossing some of the beautiful terrains, jungles, waterfalls and streams. Before turning for GOA, I had my breakfast, meet many bikers of Kolhapur who are again on Enfield doing some Independence Day Ride.
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| Kolhapur Bikers |
But most interesting was when I meet one more cyclist who was riding from Bangalore to Leh. We discussed for hours, regarding respective experience on cycle touring. It was cool meeting this guy, he shared lots of information, as he had already done many rides like this. The coolest guy I meet, he was travelling all alone and he was also happy to see me as mentioned " a cyclist after 13 days of the ride".
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| This is the cyclist, who is going leh from bangalore |
Soon we bid good bye to each other and started towards our respective destinations. Goa is not only about beaches, it holds much more, the flora fauna, the beautiful jungles, majestic ghat sections, and soon it was raining. Even though I was carrying my raincoat, I didnot used it, was not interested to spoil the fun of riding in rain shirtless. Removed my shirt, shoes and was riding as fast as I can in that rain, it was too fun. Kids crossing were shouting as I waved my hand.
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| Who says road bikes cant do offroading |
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| Dark forests before Amboli Ghat |
Reached Amboli Ghat around 1pm, being weekend, it was overcrowded resulting police had to jumpin for creating space for ongoing vehicles. One of most beautiful and picturesque place to be in monsoon, complete valley was covered with green and colorful trees, with clouds passing by making the place like heaver. I spend few minutes enjoying whole scenario and started , after that it was downhill for 10 to 15km. I had to be cautious of bad roads, but there were none, that 30 min was best moment of the whole ride, crossing effortlessly.
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| These guys took lots of my photographs |
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| Amboli Ghat Waterfalls |
After Amboli Ghat I entered the last city of Maharashtra, Sawantwadi. a simple and beautiful city surrounded by mountains with a lake in between which is a popular place in the city. I spent some time relaxing and enjoying the evening sun going down. It was slowly getting dark I was approx 50km more from Mapusa, increased my speed to reach my destination in time.
But guess my fate was bored of all good things that happened to me. And the real game started. The highway was too dark and only light I was having was a small torch and the ongoing veichles, adding to my misery there were many small but very bad patches which are enough to bring a road bike down to earth. I missed one such pothole a very small one, and then,
"Thud, thud"
And I knew the inevitable had happened. I was stuck in a dark highway 50km before goa, surrounded by dense forests, with no lights and with my bike gone flat.
But there is always a hope, saw a small restaurant nearby, went there and started repairing, as I was riding a road bike, so the tyres are different, glad I had one extra tube, changed it, repaired the second one. After 4 to 5 trial and struggle which lasted for 2 hrs I was ready with my bike, but it was not in perfectly repaired. Seems im not jack of all trades after all.
But there is always a hope, saw a small restaurant nearby, went there and started repairing, as I was riding a road bike, so the tyres are different, glad I had one extra tube, changed it, repaired the second one. After 4 to 5 trial and struggle which lasted for 2 hrs I was ready with my bike, but it was not in perfectly repaired. Seems im not jack of all trades after all.
With a broken bike,, plus the uphills and the dark rainy night, I was sure, not even superman can help me to reach Mapusa City
Somewhere around 11pm , I managed to enter goa, found one resturant, had my dinner. After talking with restaurant owner, he allowed me to camp in resturant itself, as I was his last customer and he was anyway going to close. Problem solved. Spent few hrs talking with the cook and guard regarding my trip. Sometime it is really fun to talk and spend time with strangers. That night I can never forget.
16th Aug 2015, 6.30am
Woke up. packed tents and other stuffs, repaired bike properly and after a good breakfast I was again on the road enjoying beautiful morning of Goa. Everywhere it is green and clean, not much crowd, cheap rates and awesome weather. Sun was shining bright as if welcoming me to my destination.
In few hrs I was at Calangute Beach, had awesome breakfast, a bear, went to shack and spent rest day having fish, resting , enjoying beach and cool breeze of sea.
In this whole trip I saw lots of ups and down literally, meet so many people, spent best time being myself, enjoyed riding in rain, playing in water stream, eating most tasty food, talking to many people about my self, my trip. Over all , this trip gave me things which I was carving for long. Complete Freedom. Now what can be better way than this to celebrate the Independence Day.
Somewhere around 11pm , I managed to enter goa, found one resturant, had my dinner. After talking with restaurant owner, he allowed me to camp in resturant itself, as I was his last customer and he was anyway going to close. Problem solved. Spent few hrs talking with the cook and guard regarding my trip. Sometime it is really fun to talk and spend time with strangers. That night I can never forget.
16th Aug 2015, 6.30am
Woke up. packed tents and other stuffs, repaired bike properly and after a good breakfast I was again on the road enjoying beautiful morning of Goa. Everywhere it is green and clean, not much crowd, cheap rates and awesome weather. Sun was shining bright as if welcoming me to my destination.
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| Resturant where I camped at night |
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| Morning Breakfast |
In few hrs I was at Calangute Beach, had awesome breakfast, a bear, went to shack and spent rest day having fish, resting , enjoying beach and cool breeze of sea.
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| Calangute Beach |
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| Fort Augwada, took my bike inside as there was no security. |
In this whole trip I saw lots of ups and down literally, meet so many people, spent best time being myself, enjoyed riding in rain, playing in water stream, eating most tasty food, talking to many people about my self, my trip. Over all , this trip gave me things which I was carving for long. Complete Freedom. Now what can be better way than this to celebrate the Independence Day.
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