What usually happens with me on a bike ride is that the blog starts taking shape in my mind as I ride. It was a different case this time round though. For reasons unknown, there were no mental notes made during the entire trip. There were times in last couple of days that I had dropped the ideal of blogging this ride entirely. But then again, a trip without a blog is not complete. So I decided to use a different format this time round. I thought of putting up a sort of trip log, if you will and then some highlights (or lowlights) of that day. What's the use of noting down those odo readings at every halt otherwise.
Background:
We decided to start our trip on 21st and return to Pune on 25th owing to Amit's long standing commitment. :-) The group comprised of six Romans with six horses. The founder member Bandya was not joining in due to personal commitments. So it was me on my Thuderbird, Mandar and Maneesh on their recently bought Bullet Machismo 500s, Vindy on his good ol CBZ, Amit, despite having booked a baby Ninja, on a Pulsar 180 and Dhanya on his Unicorn.
It was decide to move in general direction of Akola or Lonar and halt where we felt comfortable.
Day 1 : 21st Dec 2009
Trip Log:
| Odometer Reading (KM) | Time | Place | Comments | |
| Arrived | Left | |||
| 0 | 06:50 | 07:10 | Vindy’s house | This is where Me, Maneesh, Mandar and Vindya got together to go to our meeting point in Yerawada |
| 8 | 07:30 | 07:45 | Yerawada | This was the meeting point, Dhanya and Amit joined us here |
| 67.5 | 09:00 | 09:45 | Saradwadi | Breakfast halt |
| 121.7 | 10:30 | 10:35 | Ahmednagar | Regroup halt before moving on |
| 184.6 | 11:35 | 11:55 | Nevasa Phata | Butt break |
| 253.9 | 13:05 | 13:15 | Chikalthana | Regroup point after crossing Aurangabad city, here we decide to look for a hotel to have lunch |
| 258.9 | 13:25 | 14:30 | Hotel Abhijit | A hotel on Jalna road. Lunch break. |
| 274.4 | 14:45 | 14:50 | Petrol Pump | Vindy tanked up here |
| 297.5 | 15:10 | 15:15 | Petrol Pump | Mandar had to tank-up here |
| 340 | 16:05 | 16:30 | Sindkhed Raja | Regroup point. Some folks went into Jalna city while Me, Amit and Mandar took a by-pass road. So we decided to regroup at this point and decided that Akola is out of reach so Lonar is the first halt |
| 401.1 | 17:30 | - | Lonar | Night Halt |
Dhanya goes missing...
Yes, at yerawada, Dhanya was the only one who needed to tank-up. So I asked him to go ahead and wait for us. He called us and said he is waiting for us at some HP petrol pump. Many a petrol pumps went by.. no sign of him. Called him up but he was not picking up the phone. Finally at Saradwadi I got a call from him that he is still waiting for us at Shikrapur. The reason why we missed locating him was because he went to a petrol pump which on the opposite side of the road.
Da Romans T-shirts invokes police interest
Yes, the newly made Da Roman t-shirt piqued the curiosity of Lonar police. After settling down in Krushna Lodge in Lonar, we went out for a cuppa tea without realizing that since it was first day of the ride, everyone was wearing the Da Romans T-shirt. There was a police patrol van passing by and they stopped us to inquire what we were up to in Lonar with all in same attire. No hassles though, they let us roam freely.
Day 2 : 22nd Dec 2009
Trip Log:
| Odometer Reading (KM) | Time | Place | Comments | |
| Arrived | Left | |||
| - | - | - | Lonar Crater | Don’t have the Odo as well as time detailes as I did not take my bike for this visit. Vindy will probably have it. |
| 401.1 | - | 09:30 | Lonar | Left from Lonar |
| 425.5 | 10:00 | 10:30 | Mehkar | Petrol and breakfast break |
| 531.7 | 12:10 | 12:30 | Akola | Regroup and refuel point for some. Reached here via Malegaon |
| 582 | 13:35 | 14:40 | Akot | Lunch break and go the directions to Chikhaldara. Aparently two routes are available. One Akot – Paratwada – Dhamnagaon – Chikhaldara, which is supposedly a boring high-way rout. The other Akot – Popatkhed – Khatkali – Semadoh which goes through Jungle. |
| 605.5 | 15:15 | 15:25 | Khatkali | Melghat tiger reserve entrance. You have to pay a fee of Rs. 15/- per bike and Rs. 20/- per person. |
| 686.2 | 17:35 | 18:15 | Semadoh | Searched for the accommodation here but none was available. So decide to go to Chikhaldara. |
| 715.8 | 19:30 | - | Chikhaldara | Night halt after 30 KM of Ghat driving |
एकेका वळणावर बिकट घाट कैसा ?
That's "How come there's a tough mountain pass on every turn" literally in English. Basically there are 2 routes one can take from Akot to reach Chikhaldara. The one most popular is Akot - Paratwada - Dhamngaon - Chikhaldara. The rout is a state highway with good roads and stuff. But the people who got enthused by the fact that we have come all this way on bikes, suggested us to take a route through jungle. We were told that road condition may not be that good but the ride is really good. I am so glad we took their advice and decided to go that way. The road basically goes from Akot - Popatkhed - Khatkali - Chikhali - Harisal (infact 2 KM before Harisal) - Semadoh. The entire stretch of nearly 85KM from Khatkali to Semadoh is a ghat road. The road was turing from good to bad to ugly to good again in stretches and some re-tarring was also in progress. But the scenic beauty as we negotiated the curves was breathtaking.
घर मिळेल का... घर?
We were told at Akot and Khatkali that there is a rest house at Semadoh where we can get a place to stay. When we actually reached there, we realized that there was some sort of forest officers training going on there and hence it was full. We were directed to another guest house 1/2 KM away ( the guy said अर्धा. Mandar heard आठ-दहा). No luck there as well. So the only option was to go to Chikhaldara. It was already dark, and as it turned out, the cold wave reached the area with us. So it was very cold. There are three routes which take you to Chikhaldara from Semadoh. The shortest is a direct ghat of about 30KM. The only issue is the entry on this road is permitted upto 6.00 PM only. The other route is Semadoh - Paratwada - Chikhaldara which is basically around 80KM. And the last one is Semadoh - Ghatang - Chikhaldra which is also a longer one. It was already 6.15PM when we started for Chikhaldara and we had to argue with the security guard to let us through. Post some convincing, he did and it was an expereince of a kind riding in pitch dark in a jungle known to have wild animals with turning roads and only headlights to our assistance. Finally at Chikhaldara we were able to get a place for us to stay.
Day 3 : 23rd Dec 2009
Trip Log:
| Odometer Reading (KM) | Time | Place | Comments | |
| Arrived | Left | |||
| - | - | - | Chikhaldara Sightseeing | Don’t have the Odo as well as time detailes as I did not take my bike for this visit. Vindy will probably have it. |
| 715.8 | - | 15:45 | Chikhaldara | Left Chikhaldara to go to Semadoh for a jungle Safari |
| 735 | 16:30 | 18:30 | Semadoh | Went for 1.5 Hrs jungle safari |
| 785.7 | 19:50 | 20:05 | Paratwada | Went all the way here just to tank-up |
| 819.7 | 21:20 | - | Chikhaldara | Back to home away from home |
The चार बडे बडे tigers in the jungle safari
After the Chikhaldara sight seeing and a fulfilling lunch, we, after quite a bit of deliberations, decided to go for a jungle safari. (Best of the arguments has to be "इतक्या लांब आलो आहोत तर..."). The thing was that we needed to go back to Semadoh at the same guest house where we were refused accomodation the day before. Some guys were running short on fuel and so was the petrol pump in Chikhaldara. Even then we decided to risk it and off we went. We came to know that the safari is allowed only if you have a four-wheeler, that to of your own. So off went Mandar and Vindy in the town to hire one for us. It was a Maruti Omni. After paying for the guide and jungle entry we started off. The safari was boring to say the least. Forget tigers, we did not see an ant. The guide strongly believed in power of silence and refused to break his Maun-vrat come what may. It was at the exit from the jungle trail while entering highway that two bikers asked something to the driver and we heard enthusiastic Dhanya, who was sitting in front seat, shout "हा... दिखे दिखे... चार बडे बडे" As it turned out the poor souls were just asking if the route we cam out from was a short-cut, but it was good enough to throw us in a laughter frenzy.
Cause I need the fuel for the fire to burn
As mentioned earlier, some of us were running their bikes on really low fuel. That was bit fo a concern as we had to start our jorney back, the next day morning via Dharni where the avilability of petrol was unknown. So we decided to go to Paratwada and tank-up. Again the night riding through ghats and the patches of cold and worm sections on the road ("थंड-गार थंड-गार" as explained by Maneesh later) we reached Paratwada and from there finally to Chikhaldara. 85KM of ghat ride in night and cold just to tank-up... beat that!!
Day 4 : 24th Dec 2009
Trip Log:
| Odometer Reading (KM) | Time | Place | Comments | |
| Arrived | Left | |||
| 819.7 | - | 08:10 | Chikhaldara | Started journey back |
| 897.9 | 10:25 | 10:50 | Dharani | Breakfast break. Shortly after this we entered MP border |
| 984.2 | 12:15 | 12:45 | Barhanpur | Includes a police check and a tea-break |
| 1024.1 | 13:35 | 14:35 | Muktai Nagar | Lunch halt |
| 1073.7 | 15:50 | 16:25 | Jamner | Butt break |
| 1104.8 | 17:00 | 17:10 | Phardapur | Looked to see if we can get accommodation. None was available so decided to move on. |
| 1142 | 18:00 | - | Sillod | Halted for night at a very bad hotel |
Show me the papers
It was only the second time in the entire trip that we were stopped by the police. This time though it was in Barhanpur, MP, and the police were the traffic police. They stopped us and started chatting with us as even they were amazed at seeing us having come all the way from Pune on bikes. Time to open the saddle bags and show them the papers. Mandar and Maneesh, their bikes being recently bought, did not have a RC card. That's Rs. 50/- each if you are interested to know. After they were satisfied and we were out of Barhanpur, where we should not have gone in the first place had we not missed a turn to go to Ichhapur, we regrouped where Amit told the story of how it was a close shave for Dhanya. Dhanya has this habit of not carrying his papers whenever we are going out of state and he was asked by the Barhanpur police to stand to the side because of that. It was only because the rest of us showed the papers and a bit of chit-chatting with them about places to see in Barhanpur that the police got distracted and we were able to sneak him out without them noticing. Time for me to blast off my anger on Dhanya who finally admitted that he did not forget the papers. He, in fact, had lost them long time back.
You call it a hotel?
Well, we had earlier planned to halt at Ajintha, but realized that no accomodation was available, it being a eve of a long weekend. So we decided to drive-on upto Sillod and halt. The place where we stayed was an MTDC approved hotel called Hotel Yuvraj which looked OKish from the outside. Now I must make it clear that our expectations from a hotel, when on a bike ride, are very very minimal. But as the case was, I can go on and on about the problems we faced there. So I will cut it short and say this. Avoid Hotel Yuvraj at all costs. Sleep by the road side, if you have to. But don't stay in Hotel Yuvraj. Lock is the only thing that can save this hotel. :-)
Day 5 : 25th Dec 2009
Trip Log:
| Odometer Reading (KM) | Time | Place | Comments | |
| Arrived | Left | |||
| 1142 | - | 09:30 | Sillod | After breakfast and petrol for some, started the journey back. |
| 1205.5 | 10:45 | 11:00 | Aurangabad | Regroup stop. Did not actually regroup here. |
| 1271.5 | 12:30 | 12:45 | Nevasa Phata | Petrol and bike repair halt |
| 1327.2 | 13:45 | 14:30 | Ahmednagar | Bike repair halt |
| 1335.4 | 14:40 | 15:40 | Kedgaon | Lunch break |
| 1414.3 | 17:05 | 17:15 | Shikrapur | Butt and tea break |
| 1448.4 | 17:55 | 18:20 | Yerawada | Time to say goodbye and stuff |
| 1458.4 | 18:45 | - | Home | Yeahhhh |
Bang... bong... phatt... phoot
That's Vindy's bike on the last day of the trip, if you are wondering. Basically it was mis-firing massively and the overall speeds were limited by it. Even at full throttle, the bike would decide what speed it wanted to go and rest of us would just follow Vindy at that speed. The speed varied from 40KPH on a climb to 75KPH on slopes and on an average 65KMH on flat terrains. At Nevasa Phat I decided to do something about it and failed. At Nagar we showed it to mechanic and replaced the spark plug. That failed too. Just as I am typing, I am being told by Vindy that it was a loose connection of couple of wires that was causing it. Tightening them fixed the issue. So much for a ride at 60KPH.
Bottom da lines:
The punch line on Da Romans T-shirt is a Javed Jaffery dialogue from some movie "When in Rome do Da Romans." This trip did a good justice to that line. Wherever we went, we became that place. That's why, like all other trips, it was an unforgettable experience which will remain with all of us for a long time.
Check out some snaps from the trip here and here.
Vindy describes his experience here while Amit also talks about the ride here.
Note: Neither Google Maps nor MapMyIndia has the road from Semadoh to Chikhaldara marked on it, but the road is there for sure.
Da goods da writeups!
ReplyDelete