Woke up by 7:00 AM & in no time realized that all my acidity issues are vanishedJ. Packed my entire luggage & loaded my bike when Bipin loaded himself in his car.
“Sigonappa… Bye! Happy journey… (Catch you next time.. Bye! Happy journey…)” Bipin said with all set to move.
Bid byes to Bipin & John while covering my bag with thick polythene sheet against rain. With all set to move out of Mumbai, filled fuel in NH-8 & took the same by-pass route to get out of gigantic city of dreams. But unlike during my Rajasthan trip, I wasn’t lucky enough this time & had to spend around 2.5 Hrs to be on NH-17. Man o man! Traffic doesn’t move at allL. Adding to irritating traffic was unbearable tourbling rain. Even crossing Panvel was problematic due to diversions on NH. All in all, it was around 11:30 AM when we both landed on NH-17 fighting against traffic & rain. After crossing Panvel, saw a board which said right direction to Goa & I took that route gladly. Here begins my expedition on scenic Konkan coastJ.
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| Greenish NH-17!!! |
The road was smooth 2-Lane with greens all over. Few hills were even covered in fog. I was enjoying the moment to the core with rain god slightly drizzling, neatly leyed tarmac & greens on either side of the road. As I was dead hungry, was in search of Hotel for food & suddenly, a small white board read, ‘Vithal Kamath 3 Kms!’ I dint give second thought to stop there & grabbed 2 Misal Pav’s in spite of seeing Dosa items in menuJ. It was already 12:15 NOON & I was wondering if I am eating breakfast or lunch.
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| Breakfast @ Vithal Kamath |
Assuring my tummy is completely filled & it doesn’t ask anything for few hours, got back on bike continuing the ride in rain. Konkan offered me its uqniue greenness but due to rain, I could not capture them. Dealing with opposite heavy vehicle traffic which throws good amount of dusty water was kinda troublesome but I had no other go till I quite NH-17. But against my expectation, NH-17 offered me good roads with very few bad patches. Enjoying my ride in Konkan, crossed Pen asked locals,
“Bhaiyya, Alibag???”
“Yeh raasta seeda jao!!!”
“Raasta achha hain??”
“Ha…”
“Baarish ke vajah se pani toh nahi hain na raaste main???”
“Arre kuch nahi…”
In no time, I was on rural road & boy! It was just breath taking. It was only 3 colours all around. Green offered by nature, brown offered by rain water & black offered by road. All in all, 25 odd Kms of rural ride was mind blowing. Reached Alibag & could not find any lodges which put me in a worryL.
“Bhaiyya, yaha rukne ke liye lodge hai kya??”
“Aage jao! Milega…”
After searching for a while, found a lodge named Abhiruchi & as I stopped my bike, a middle aged person came down,
“Bhaiyya, lodge hai kya???”
“Hai…”
As he showed me the room,
“Kitna hain??”
“Paanch sou…”
“Arre bhaiyya, thoda kum kardo yaar! Ek din ka toh baat hain…”
“Kitna doge bolo..”
“Theen so pachhas…”
“Teek hai.. Kitne aadmi hai tum??”
“Akela…”
“Kaha se??”
“Bangalore”
“Achha, Toh Indian hai na.. ”
After making an entry in his register, unloaded my luggage & got fresh. Confirmed with lodge guy that I can visit beach after 4:30 PM & took good rest as it was just 2:30 PM.
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| Konkan I am in!!! |
Evening, stepped out to beach seeking direction from locals. After 5-10 mins of ride in tiny town, was in Alibag beach & it was very nice with cool breeze hitting me heavily. Also could see people walking to the fort which is in between the water but I didn’t take the risk with my camera & even the water wasn’t clean. Sat in a bench nearby clicking good amount of snaps.
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| Alibag beach welcomes you!!! |
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| Fort in water... |
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| Alibag beach |
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| Tides looks scary |
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| Wanna Horse ride??? |
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| People walking to fort!!! |
After spending quality time there on beach, got back to my room working on blogs. For dinner, went to a nearby hotel & grabbed Pav Bhaji & Vada Pav. With the plan of taking rural route to Murud tomorrow, crashed hoping to get up on time.
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