My First trip with ‘Uni’
Ganpatipule 21 and 22 September 2008:
21st September 6:30 PM: Nothing was planned till now and then the bolt of lightning struck me; I decided that I’m leaving for Ganpatipule on bike which I christened ‘Uni’. I knew nothing about this place except that it had a beautiful white sand beach and a temple of Lord Ganesha right on the beach.
7 PM: Once decided that I’m leaving then started the other questions in my mind, where is it?…. got to know that it is near Ratnagiri, how to go there? Hmmmm look at me I’ve decided to go and don’t know how to reach there… but thanks to technology called mobile phone I searched for routes to reach there and also made a mental note of the major towns that I had to cross on the way.
Found that there are 3 ways to get to Ganpatipule. Gosh so much of confusion already but I was driven such that I had to go and there was nothing that could stop me from it. So now, I decided it was time for some consultation, called up a friend of mine who knows that part of the country he suggested to experience 2 routes of the 3 which I had never seen. Simultaneously I got things that are required for the journey, I always travel very light but am prepared for anything on the way, so it was time for some shopping. Shopping and consultation was going on simultaneously, and by the time I finished shopping it was 8:30 PM but consultations still continued even while munching food (Dinner) the small wonder of today’s world (mobile phone) was glued to my ear and my mouth was doing two things at the same time, talk and chew (in that order).
10:30 PM finally things packed, route frozen, checked with ‘Uni’, everything was in order. It was decided that I was leaving the next day at 5AM (now, 5 AM for me is midnight) so that I could reach at around noon (the approx distance is 350KM).
22nd September 4:45 AM: Now things start to get interesting, it is dark still, my situation is like the student before the exams, never been to this side of the country, 350 KM, alone on bike taking a route not known and many other questions. Facing all those questions I put my jacket and got my riding gear in place and looked at ‘Uni’, I felt it said, come on hop on lets enjoy this journey. And today while writing I can assure that it was the right thing to do.
22nd September 5:00 AM: Uni is all set to go and I’m too… and we leave…. The journey becomes exciting as I leave the city limits and head towards Mulshi….. It was an amazing sight of the backwaters, I had seen something like this only on the idiot box (TV) and this place was so amazing… after soaking the sights it was time to move forward…. next I hit the Ghats (thamini Ghats) the road was not so good but the thrill of riding on winding road in the Ghats when the sun is just peaking through the clouds was amazing. In that process I crossed over a layer of clouds and was an amazing feeling. Uni was very happily enjoying whatever the road was throwing at it even more then I was, I guess… I could have stopped there and looked at it for eternity but I was reminded that this was just the beginning and I had a long way to go so we started again.
7:50 AM: The next stop was Mangaon; it was a small stop for breakfast. Twenty minutes later we started again, we were on Goa highway, the road surface was amazing and Uni was urging me to push it harder and more I push more it wanted…. we were cruising happily with boosts of adruline in between. We hit Ghats again near Chiplun, these were amazing again… the road surface was good and the twists and turns kept me in the thick of action. Me and uni were twisting and turning at 65 to 70 kmph and I felt like a MotoGP racer.
It was exciting and it was no stopping till the stomach said please feed me… we stopped at a road side dhaba. It was a little break of 5 mins because the excitement was so great that I just munched whatever was there, fastest to prepare and easiest to eat. During that time I just checked with the mobile map the distance and the next land mark.
12:20 PM: I was at the turn just before Ratnagiri where the road leads to Ganpatipule. And we head there……………. about 30 mins in the ride I could smell the sea and I was anxiously waiting to see it and at 12:54PM I saw it.
1:00 PM: we reach the zero mile of Ganpatipule… we head towards the MTDC resort which according to the map was right beside the shore and it was actually beside the shore (hahahahaa). I and Uni had done 350Km approx in a time of 8 hours and now that we had reached my body demanded much desired rest. After lunch I rested till 5PM.
5:30 PM: after the much deserved rest now was the time to freshen up and enjoy the beach. To start I decided that I first go to the temple and take blessings then continue with the beach. I thought that I would take 20 mins or so… but the temple had such peace and calm so I decided to stay for some more time…… it was a wonderful experience…
After an hour I ventured out on to the beach after feeding myself and checking with Uni. Uni was perfect and so was I.
Beach was amazing, much more then the pictures can tell….. (I have added some of them here). I still have no words to describe I will leave you to find them by looking at them here.
I was on the beach till the dinner time……… the call of the sea was too much to handle so I ventured on the beach again after dinner… I sure don’t remember the time I slept but I for sure know that I had to get up early.
23rd September 4:40: I woke up early because I wanted to go to the temple for darshan before I leave.
5:20 AM: I was in the temple and the calm of it lured me again to spend some more time there………….. After some time I was reminded that I had to travel back to Pune again.
5:40 AM: it was time to say good bye to the place and my return journey started again. This time I decided to take another route back home, Via Bhor. The early morning view of the Konkan and the Ghats of Bhor was a sight that only one can experience.
1:25 PM: We reached home.
This was a journey I under took last year and it still remains fresh in my memory. Some sights of the journey are included here; I hope they give you a glimpse of what I experienced.
