The dates were final but the plan wasn't. I'd planned to start on 28th Sept and be back on 2nd Oct. The destination was going to be somewhere in Konkan, as the rains had only just subsided and i was expecting mindblowing greenery en route.

Its 27th and i am toying with the idea of canceling the ride. That was not to be
Sat till late night on 27th and finalized the plan and halts and started early morning on 28th. The destinations were going to be at Guhagar, Malvan and Amboli. Onward journey via NH17 and return journey via the NH4. But i altered it on the last day i.e. 1st Oct. I did not cover Amboli and started the return journey on 1st Oct itself via the NH17 (for no particular reason as such).

The NH17 was a pain until Pen, but beyond it was very good.. maska to say the least.

I was still 20 kms away from Khed, and the road felt dead straight for another 12 kms or so. Beyond Khed, the roads seemed to be banked by red mud.. thats a soothing sight to see sometimes, when you are weary of the city life
About 9 kms to Chiplun encountered a diversion to Guhagar, which was about 42 kms from here. This stretch was an amazing stretch of sorta village road with almost everything from squirrels, butterflies, chameleons and god knows what not crossing the road before you. The butterflies were in abundance. A lot of them becoming martyrs after banging against me jacket, visor and faring. I am sure there must be dehshat among them... "here comes the butterfly slashing monster!!!" LOL

This mesmerism costed me some patience. I am still 25 kms from guhagar, when i happened to notice the fuel meter. It had red lined! With no petrol pumps in sight took a forced break to ask and came to know that there's one near the hamlet called Tali. I usually have a extra 1litre can of petrol with me, but the previous day, strangely enough, all petrol pumps in my area were closed in the evening. However fueled the bike as well as the can and went ahead to Guhagar.

Reached Guhagar at about 1:30 PM. Found a lodge in Guhagar - Sagar Lodge (02359 240347) - which charged 200 bucks for a night (a room with TV). Rested for a while and started for Hedvi Temple, which was about 25 kms from Guhagar. The drive to Hedvi was mindblowing again - a village road, with farms, sea-shore, plantations enroute. While traversing this path, except that of the nature, you would not want to hear any sound... not even that of the engine. Thats precisely what i did partly on the return journey - turned the engine off on downward slopes.

Back to Guhagar in the evening, upon switching on the TV, caught a glimpse of the Singapore F1 Grand Prix. But the guhagar beach had to take the priority over the GP. Went to the beach and took some shots before retiring for the evening to the GP that eve.

Day2 was a journey to Malvan. Up to Ratnagiri, took the interior route (something which i wanted to take for almost the complete onward trip from Mumbai, but did not know of any). Like the Chiplun - Guhagar route, this route too was mindblowing. Most of the route wasn't good enough to go beyond 55kph, but such was the scenery around, you would not want to go beyond 30kph!

Had breakfast at Ratnagiri and proceeded to Malvan. The complete route taken from Guhagar was:
Guhagar - Tali - Abloli - Ratnagiri - Hathkhamba - (NH17) - Kasal - Malvan - Tarkarli.

Tarkarli is about 6-8 kms from Malvan city. Went looking for a room in Tarkarli. Found one "under construction" one near the beach - "Visava" (02365251106). Under construction meant that only the exterior was under construction... inside the room it was very complete (with TV again ) It was about 5:00PM. caught up with my late lunch and came back to get a view of the sea-shore at Tarkarli. However it was overcast and cloudy with too less light at 6:00 pm, hence could not get any good clicks.

I'd happened to see a Thunderbird at one of the resorts with a Pune number on it. Went out to meet these guys to start a conversation in the evening. Came to know they were Freelance Photographers out on a 8 day trip and had already covered Goa, Sawantwadi, Amboli etc. Coincidentally they were also a faculty with a college in Pune teaching a one year photography course. Mayuresh (one of them, the other was Vinay) helped me with a crash course in photography This was going to be useful, because, henceforth all the pictures were in Manual Mode (and with almost perfect exposures )

Day 3 started with an attempt to visit Sindhudurg fort. However this was a failed attempt as the they do not start the boat until there are at least 15 people on it. (The disadvantage of visiting in the so called "off-season") So went ahead to see other places around - the Rock Garden, the Rosary Church and the Tarkarli backwaters at Dhamapur. Breakfast was at Hotel Santosh.. tried ussal puri. Tasty.. very tasty i must say.

Before visiting Dhamapur, lunch was due. Went to the hotel Bamboo (near post office). Wanted to taste fish in Malvan, hence ordered. And mind you, after lunch was done, i was an enlightened man... the fish was so so tasty.. i can never forget. To sum it up, if you haven't tasted Malvani food, your experience is heavily incomplete!! That goes even for vegetarian food though.

Dhamapur is about 20 kms from Malvan. The place is an excellent place to stay, if you decide to do that. They've got rooms costing Rs 500 (with common WC) and Rs 700(with attached WC), Boat rides, a machan meant for bird watching (which was still to be repaired though) and for the adventurist, probably a small hike too (though i did not go in, i did notice some slightly dense forestation which could be interesting to explore) [They can be reached on 02365 280792]

Back from Dhamapur, it was going to be another failed attempt for the Sindhudurg fort... this time after a 2 hour wait.

In the evening went out to click the sunset at Tarkarli. Had made up my mind to take a dip after i had placed the camera and other stuff back in the room. And i did precisely that.

While speaking to Balu (the owner of the lodge) in the evening, i came to know that this place has Dolphin rides, Snorkeling etc too.. but only in the "season". His place's got a huge backyard extending upto the seashore. He would have tables at the shade of the coconut trees, have campfires at night, provide home made malvani food to the tourist... all in the "season" (DAMN!! DAMN!! DAMN the "season"!! )

In the evening i had kinda made up my mind to shorted the trip and skip Amboli. So next day was going to be a trip back home.

Day 4 started with a final attempt to see Sindhudurg (i did not want people to say "WTF! You did not see Sindhudurg!!??" ) Went to the boat station and gave the ticket vending girl my number to call me when there are enough people (they claim to do that, but she never called, though i saw a boat leave when i was a couple hundred meters away upon returning). Before i came back i went to see the Ganpati temple nearby they claim to have made with a expense of 1 crore, the idol made completely of gold (so they claim). Its a nice temple.

Back to the port, while waiting met two guys who were on a bike ride too on their way back to B'lore and Chennai respectively from Pune. They seemed to be my messiahs... got the ride to the fort and spent an hour there.

Frankly i could not enjoy the fort itself much. Its not much of a fort, its a small village within the sea. It did not have any canons, chambers etc that forts normally have. Though the place is nice for photography.

I was back in my room at Tarkarli at about 1PM and was toying with the idea of covering the distance of over 500kms back to mumbai in the rest of the day. Started the journey at about 1:30 PM. But the task was going to be impossible considering the fact that i strictly do not drive at night. I gave up the commitment to reach mumbai at about 6:30 PM, took a halt at Khed, and booked a "permit room". This was the dirtiest place I'd stayed.. you would not feel like removing your shoes while you're sleeping on bed!! Payed 250 bucks for it and slept off after having a drink.

The morning was going to be an early one. Started the journey at 6:30 AM. Nice misty roads encountered on the way back.. loved it.

By 11:30 AM i was back home sipping some hot tea

Total distance covered was about 1250 kms mostly on NH17
More pictures here

PS: Thanks to Ar. Santosh Pednekar, his blog and his suggestions (on email) the plan and hence the trip turned out great