A Bike trip To Ratnagiri. Review on Ganpatipule

The bug in my mind suddenly arose one fine Saturday morning on the 22nd of Jan.

I decided to go to Goa with my friend on the bike.

Started from Dadar,Mumbai where I live, early in the morning at 600hrs.

The tank was filled to the brim and the Fiero F2 was ready to roll.

The road to Goa is via Panvel. We took the National Highway 15 that goes through various beautiful places including the very scenic Chiplun.

The weather was pretty cold and we encountered some real cold winds just after crossing Panvel.

The morning Neera was refreshing. This is a sweet drink extracted from the sap of palm trees and is fermented. So if you happen to have neera at evening it is bound to have some alcohol content in it.

The road as expected was very good.

The bike maintained a steady speed of around 80-85 kmph on a practically smooth and deserted highway going upto 104kmph( top speed achieved with pillion) in the stretch beyond the village of Roha.

The main constraint was time and when we reached Ratnagiri, 389 kms from Mumbai saw that our trip to Goa would have to be cut short.

Had our lunch at a small and inexpensive road side dhaba.

Asked the waiter at the dhaba regarding what all could be seen at Ratnagiri.

The waiter indicated some places and we went to Ratnagiri instead.

Ratnagiri is famous for its Alphanso mangoes but unfortunately this is not the season.

We checked into a very modest lodge on the main road by the name '' Dattatray Lodge'' that charged an inexpensive Rs 100/- for a night for a double occupancy.

The room did not have an attached bathroom.

The rooms with attached bathrooms cost Rs 250/- a night which again is pretty cheap.

Went to see the Tibah Place and the place where the hit film Dil Chahta Hai was shot.

If you people remember the place where the three friends sit on the wall overlookin the sea and the mountains is actually here.

It simply is beautiful.

The temple of Ganpati pule is just 30 kms from Ratnagiri.

The temple is located on the beach.

The sunset point is another mind blowing place. Here you can actually get yourself photo graphed with the setting sun on your palm.

We started for Mumbai the following morning from Ratnagiri.

The sleep was comfortable.

The return journey was a bit slow to start with as we encountered heavy fog and the ghats were pretty stiff.

Infact my friend Prosenjit SenSharma who courageously gave in to my madness, got real scared when I narrowly missed a bend. But that was the only close call as the fog was thick and by the time we reached the plains and had a deliberately long breakfast the weather was much clearer.

We returned to Mumbai via the Beach of Alibagh.

However insted of going to Alibagh we went to the virgin beach of Nagaon that is around 7 kms from Alibagh.

The whole beach was practically deserted and the only people to give company where the ''Kolies'' or the fisherman tribe.

Returned to Mumbai on the Sunday evening covering around 811 kms in two days.

The bike gave a very respectable mileage of 58 kmpl despite riding it in the Power Mode for the considerable time and encountering many Ghats.

Friends, next trip will have to be Goa and this time will have sufficient time on hand.

Wait for the next travelogue.

Till then all your suggestions and brick bats are welcome.