Sunday 2nd December:
Start: 24,405
Finish: 24,663
Distance: 258
Route: Satara – Wai – Panchgani – Mahabeleshwar – Poladpur – Kolad – Albaug
Hotel: Radisson
Today
This was a revelation. An early start and we had 35km ticked-off before 08.00. The highway we had left the previous day, continued to hold few surprises and enabled us to make good progress until reaching Wai.
However, partly due to leaving early and the fact the early morning pollution had not been burnt-off, it was at ‘brass monkey’ temperature, so there was an enforced pause to get the sweaters out.
So, having reached Wai and confirmation we were on the correct (without any backtracks) cross-country road to connect us back onto the N17 (or N66), we decided to treat ourselves to a coffee & cake.
Wai was a typical example of a non-urban village. There appeared little organization, lots of contradirectional traffic conflicting with various animals, pedestrians and the general melee of the morning.
My hands were already beginning to feel the chill and with the climb into the hills, this was unlikely to improve.
The local baker couldn’t provide coffee, so he took us down the road to the guy who did do the best in town. So, the usual 5 way explanation about ‘black coffee’ produced a very passable cup. A share of some very ordinary packet biscuits and ready for the off….but not before the original baker engaged TB in conversation and gave us each one of his favourites cakes and wished us a safe journey….another example of their disposition…..they are just great.
The early start brought us into play with various mornings activities. The usual assortment of freight vehicles, only empty, as they made their way to the cane fields…various other loaded trucks, tractors and trailers with all sorts of equipment and people….stacks of people perched in, on or amongst whatever was being carried. I think health & safety departments are redundant in these environments.
On this topic, the same applies with the police…every now and again we pass a ‘check-point’ on the roadside. Sometimes they are having a conversation with a driver (almost always a biker), but as previous experience has shown, only 10% respond to police directions.
Even with moving police vehicles, they are also required to ‘get out of the way’ if an oncoming vehicle is ‘double banking’. One assumes, they do become involved with law enforcement when there is actual contact between vehicles…..yet to be proven !
There is plenty of activity. The women and some youngsters have carts full of multi-coloured water bottles or heads precariously balancing one or two of these on their head. It has been a constant as we have travelled through many villages, the women walking with such grace, balancing bundles of wood, water, baskets of food. They are always impeccably dressed with brightly coloured sari’s…..and always busy.
They have obviously been out much earlier, as they make their way home with large bundles of wood.
Front yards are also full of activity, as individuals are milking or feeding cattle, loading carts, cutting wood. It’s all hussle & bussle.
It is still cold, as we start the 1400m climb. The roads are not too bad for a rural location and then as if out of nowhere, there is a significant change to the surroundings….the road surface improves and there is a hint of European roads, with tree lined verges.
As we pass Parsi Point, the signage changes. There is a spa resort, a theme park and the character of the place takes on a completely different feel.
There are substantial properties set back from the road. Restaurants and cafes have lost their impoverished facades. Lads are riding scooters that have plastic chairs (as many as 20) stacked and straddling each side of their bikes. The verges are clean of rubbish and as we climb, it continues to improve.
We start seeing tourist buses and vans and people are moving as though they all have a purpose. A young man crosses the road in front of us, leading a beautifully groomed horse….what’s happening here. This area is like a haven and like nothing we have been through before.
This is personified as we pass a sari clad woman in the middle of the road, sweeping the limited amount of dust into the sides. This is remarkable. There is advertising for fresh strawberries and roadside stalls begin to appear.
After several kilometres, the road begins to plateau and we come to a check point, where there is a line of vehicles waiting, tickets being purchased and drivers being directed to parking areas. We are waived through and just around the corner, all is revealed……we pass a large flat sports area with white tents and gazebos, with a number of well-dressed men with immaculate looking horses…..this was polo ground and we were obviously passing through before the start of the tournament.
This was a side of India that we had not encountered. It was like a well-kept secret, we could certainly have spent time here and even used it as a stop-over.
It would have been only a couple of km’s further on, that we were treated to another spectacle. A drum group were pounding out a loud and rhythmic beat, coloured smoke filled the air and hundreds of boys and girls were running through the smoke and up the hill, covered in different coloured chalk. There were parents taking photo’s and a great sense of enjoyment, as the procession of kids continued coming.
One can only assume, it was a festival or the end of term.
The road now began descending from Mahabaleshwar. It was steep with tight hairpins, providing memories of a long distant past when TB and I were riding the annual competition of the ‘Circuit de Pyrennes’ from Pau across the Pyrenese into San Sebastian and back. The roads, the views, the challenge was equal to anything we had experienced all those years ago. It was too good to miss and there were several pauses to take in the views and photo’s.
Plus, it was still pretty cold and yours truly was uncertain as to whether he still had all his fingers, so photo stops were a welcome relief to do some counting !
It was not long before the enjoyment from this unique part of our journey gave way to a return of the pot holes and variable road surfaces. However, it was so good whilst it lasted.
Down from the Purandhah Hills and the pristine forested hills of the Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary and through to Delvi, Kolad and our return to the congestion of the 166A leading to Alibaug.
The call of our first ‘pit-stop’ over three weeks ago was waiting. So, it was a welcome sight to see a familiar establishment and know that a great shower and a cool beer was in reach. This was complemented by a very pleasant ‘hello sir, welcome back’ !
‘My apologies, but do you have a booking reference’ ? ….there was no record of last nights on-line booking….not even under the recently acquired membership number….then the conundrum was solved…you are booked for the 2nd January, not December and we are heavily booked for tonight !
The Duty Manager not comfortable with seeing a grown man cry, asked us to take a seat and after a long wait he rewarded us with a room. It was not our preferred, but what the hell….it was a room and it is still the same beer……joy !
The rest is as you would expect. Robin was still looking after the outside pool area, he remembered the beer we liked and plied us with continual replenishments of the crisps bowl.
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