Did you enable the commands suggested by powertop ?
Thats exactly what happened to me, for days I was wondering why my Fedora 20 x64 was acting weirdly on USB inserts. When I checked journalctl -f, I found that my system went to sleep !
Jan 29 08:45:27 ruturaj-vartak ntfs-3g[6076]: Version 2013.1.13 integrated FUSE 27
Jan 29 08:45:27 ruturaj-vartak ntfs-3g[6076]: Mounted /dev/sdb1 (Read-Write, label "", NTFS 3.1)
Jan 29 08:45:27 ruturaj-vartak ntfs-3g[6076]: Cmdline options: rw,nodev,nosuid,uid=1000,gid=1000,dmask=0077,fmask=0177,uhelper=udisks2
Jan 29 08:45:27 ruturaj-vartak ntfs-3g[6076]: Mount options: rw,nodev,nosuid,uhelper=udisks2,allow_other,nonempty,relatime,default_permissions,fsname=/dev/sdb1,blkdev,blksize=4096
Jan 29 08:45:27 ruturaj-vartak ntfs-3g[6076]: Global ownership and permissions enforced, configuration type 1
Jan 29 08:45:28 ruturaj-vartak kernel: hda-codec: out of range cmd 0:20:400:fffffbff
Jan 29 08:45:28 ruturaj-vartak systemd-logind[434]: Delay lock is active but inhibitor timeout is reached.
Jan 29 08:45:28 ruturaj-vartak systemd[1]: Starting Sleep.
Jan 29 08:45:28 ruturaj-vartak systemd[1]: Reached target Sleep.
Jan 29 08:45:28 ruturaj-vartak systemd[1]: Starting Suspend...
Jan 29 08:45:28 ruturaj-vartak systemd-sleep[6085]: Suspending system...
Jan 29 08:45:40 ruturaj-vartak PackageKit[2929]: daemon quit
Jan 29 08:46:04 ruturaj-vartak kernel: PM: Syncing filesystems ... done.
Jan 29 08:46:04 ruturaj-vartak kernel: PM: Preparing system for mem sleep
Jan 29 08:46:04 ruturaj-vartak kernel: Freezing user space processes ... (elapsed 0.001 seconds) done.
Jan 29 08:46:04 ruturaj-vartak kernel: Freezing remaining freezable tasks ...
Jan 29 08:46:04 ruturaj-vartak kernel: Freezing of tasks failed after 20.002 seconds (0 tasks refusing to freeze, wq_busy=1):
Jan 29 08:46:04 ruturaj-vartak kernel: Jan 29 08:46:04 ruturaj-vartak kernel: Restarting kernel threads ... done.
I disabled my powertop suggestions which looked like this
Well … I’ve aged. Now in my 7th year of running. I’ve been having problems with my health, my carburettor isn’t functioning that great. I’ve had a few surgeries on it, float pins changed, cleansing, rinsing, you name it. My shockers too have taken the brunt of all the bad roads of Mumbai and cross terrain riding that I’ve seen myself and Rutu through. Other parts feel rusty, like literally. But … I have the burning desire to carry on and he is happy with me… still.
This one was no different story, Mumbai – Mt. Abu – Bhuj and back, another 2200 kms+ of cross-country.
It was December and just like last year where we roamed around the lagoons in Kerala, this time Rutu had the arid India in mind – Rajasthan’s Mt. Abu and Bhuj, Gujarat. Here route.
The mantis, R-15, greets me early morning around 6.00am. She is all shining, showing off her best with her duo, Manas. While I’m still the same, standing tall and strong, no-frills girl. This trip as well, I’ll be hosting the Saddle bags full with road-rascals’ luggage, Mantis’ spares, etc. Rutu comes with the heavy saddles and were off by 6.15am. Rutu is quite protected with Manas’ jacket, over-dressed according to his usual simplistic style of shorts and flip-flops.
We meet the Bullying Bison just ahead of Dahisar check-post, Bison with her equally amassed rider, JK. Next stop was for a breakfast somewhere on the outskirts of Gujarat, we lay parked like always in a tri-headed formation under a green shed, The touring sisters as we are called. While we bitched about our guys, probably they lechered of others, the usual suspects being Multistrada, CBRs, KTMs and the other voluptuous Rs like 1000R and 1000RR, R1 and so on…
The road till now had been smooth, Mumbai-Ahmedabad’s NH-8 is a well known friend for us tourers. NH-8, keeping to himself, not having a strong character that plays upon us. However the air started getting from little polluted to being strongly particulated by the time we reached Navsari, Surat. The worst when we reached the outskirts of Ankaleshwar, Bharuch. Stretchs of NH-8’s skins too had developed a rash of trash and pieces of cloth! Ya you read it right, pieces of cloth. While our masters never cared to navigate through it, I still felt uneasy touching it. Probably it was too much for the guys as well as they halted for lunch somewhere between Bharuch and Vadodara (Baroda).
Rutu and others were very happy of the Punjabi Thali, a system that the guys weren’t really accustomed to. It had a jeera rice, dal tadka, paneer subji, rotis and buttermilk. Which according to them was easy to pick from the normal useless clutter of a menu card. There on, the NH-8 had a smoother dermis.
The outskirts of Vadodara was a pain, wading through a populous sea of fellow cousins, other automates, cars, trucks. My species wasn’t allowed on the Vadodara-Ahemedabad expressway and we had to go along the trusted NH-8 which was all under repairs, getting its base set, skin relayered, it took us almost 2 hrs to reach Ahemdabad. We were still 144km away from Palanpur our destined stop for the night and it was already 5pm. Our guys decided to take the Sardar Patel ring road and head towards Mehsana where they could find shelter for us and them alike. As we moved through the dark but still assisted by a equally friendly colleague of NH-8, passing through endless number of tolls, our guys perhaps decided enough of the dark darting when they finally stopped at a hotel in Kalol.
Dec 15, 2013
We had already seen JK come down for his smoke, tea so that he could get his bowels moving smoothly. All of them came with the heavy luggage around 8 and we were rolling towards Mehsana when we cut through કર્ક વૃત or “Tropic of Cancer”. Guys had a breakfast in a town called “Unjha” where smells and sights of Jeera or Cumin was all around as Rutu put it.
Palanpur and then Mt. Abu followed. Roads as expected and heard were fabulous in Gujarat. Unlike the Ooty road that I was expecting with series of Hair-pin bends, this one had a single narrow lane climbing all the way up to the town. After finding a parking place and a room for themselves, guys headed for lunch in the town and were discussing typical food-menu while returning back from a restaurant. They headed back into a Gujarati restaurant where there was no one but our guys. It seems they had a rajasthani thali and my guy had Daal baati. They then dessert-ed on Churma.
Me and Bison relaxed while guys roamed Nakki lake. While we checked out an occasional R-15, a roaming CBR-250.. I guess our guys did something similar. The evening was cold when we returned back.
Dec 16, 2013
I guess everybody had slept more than they wanted to. ’cause it wasn’t till 8.30am when Manas came to check his Mantis. We were unsure of the day’s proceedings and we waited while they had a breakfast in the golden sunlight in the almost frosted-dew-drenched garden. When the guys came back to us, it was 10.30pm and it was with their entire luggage, it seems they had planned to go ahead instead of spending time in a typical honeymooner-infested city.
The road to Bhuj had Palanpur, Deesa, Radhanpur, Bachau. Palanpur onwards the road is what I would say too huge, too straight, too nice. It felt like an ant was crawling on a tarred road. Thats the perspective one could get about a 150cc on this road to Bhuj from Palanpur. All that we saw were trucks, long trailers and a few cars if we were lucky. Guys stopped just ahead of Radhanpur to have lunch. It was a small, local road-side dhaba ( a gujarati version of it ). It was 3.30pm when guys were back from food and I heard Bhuj was still 250km away !! But all were bent down and raced along till Bachau about 70km away from Bhuj where we took a road off from the NH/SH. I had lost the track of the road. The sun was setting behind Bachau, and I had to ensure I was bright enough to plough through the dark. Bhuj came by 7.50pm. Where the guys found a posh hotel, Grand 3D which had a huge parking space just for us. I assume it was lavish for them as well. Guys dined at the restaurant next to the parking lot.
Dec 17, 2013
I had heard many talks about the White Rann of Kutch, typically about the big-ass Bullets’ ride on the white sand (Thats what I thought initially – white sand). We were cruising up north towards Dhordo which was about 20km away from Hodka, the junction for getting to White Rann of Kutch or Kala Dungar (literally – Black Hill). The plan was set to get to Kala Dungar first (East of Hodka) spend time there, have lunch, then move down back to Hodka and west towards Dhodro for the White desert.
Kala Dungar was a small mount about 500m above the ground. While we were parked on the edge of the hill over looking the Great lake of Kutch which extended beyond the horizon. The blue of the water easily mixing through the hazy gray. Guys spent more than an hour on the hill enjoying the scenery. All of them more accustomed to watch a sea with lush green forests of Konkan and the Western Ghats, but this was different, a huge lake right between a desert!
On our way down, Rutu decided to stop by the “Torna resort” which seemed like cottages for staying. When we reached there, a huge pathani fellow with Orange colored hair welcomed us in. Another fellow asked them to wait as the lunch was being prepared. After more than 2 hours or so when the guys were back, they were discussing all the they had found about this place, proximity to Pakistan, the inflow-outflow of people, herds. More than 5000 cattle roaming owner-less in the Pakistan side and Indian’s greed to get some of the cattle for themselves and their mystic stories of crossing the border and sometimes getting trapped in the other country, stories similar for people on both sides of the border.
We finally descended Kala Dungar not before 3pm, and head towards Dhodro. When we finally reached, Guys were perplexed to find out that they didn’t have a ‘BSF-pass’ that was required to visit the White Rann. It was to be obtained at Hodka chowk. Rutu asked the BSF guard if they could let them through, so came their boss, a guy in Green civilian T-shirt and a camouflage pants and military boots. I heard their conversation…
– Sir, let us go through, we kept asking all the while for pass and we were asked to go ahead.
– OK, you dont’ have a pass, you have not paid
₹100, which was to be used for Kutchi people’s development. What will you do for the country if I allow you to go ?
– Sir, we pay tax!
– That’s OK, but pledge, keep you hand on your heart and say, you’ll help a person of India.
– Sir, we swear we’ll help.
We heard guys later say, that initially they felt he was just joking, but he was damn serious. Then I overheard Rutu speaking with JK and Manas
– When I asked him “Sir mera Driving ID, I’ve given, but I don’t know your name. If I return late in the evening in the dark, where shall I get my ID from ?
– To which he replied “जिस भरोसेसे हम आपको जाने देरहें है, उसी भरोसे से आपको मिलजाएगा !”
Rutu admitted he didn’t have guts to argue further…
The White Rann, as we had initially thought, it was made up of white sand, But we were wrong. It was the white salt that had crystallized over the wet salty mud flats, that created an illusion of a white sand desert from the distance. As the sun went down behind the salt pans, the moon still waited, when it finally came up so did the glowing crystalline salt. It was yellow at first, but then turned into blue. The beauty increasing by the minute. Around 7.30pm the guys came back and we headed out of the Rann Utsav area, and halted just on the outskirts for tea. After 15mins, we were back on the road cutting through the slightly chilly desert. In the day what was my first ride through a desert, yellow-brown arid flats. The vegetation only a little bushy shrubs, throny trees and some weed, An endless flat area where one could get lost with no guidance of any landmarks, like hills, big trees, water, just arid flat land. Now the scene was dark, today was a full moon, shining bright, but it was still not enough and I was limited to 60 kmph. Only when there were bold road lines, would I be upped to 70kmph. If a reflector lined road was in sight, I was stretched to 90kmph in the dark. We came back at the hotel around 9.30pm where the next day was more of local sight seeing and relaxation, easy on us bikes.
Dec 18, 2013
A pair of owls in the park
The next day, we headed first towards the Swami Narayan temple, new temple built after the quake. Post the 99 crore worth institution we headed towards the Rajendra Park, which is in the middle of Harmirsar Lake. A beautiful park in the centre of the city. It had a very calm appeal to itself, we though I didn’t sight any couples enjoying the lonely, yet very peaceful and safe place, I’m sure it was one of the places where people from Bhuj came by to enjoy family time or cuddling time with their lovers. Next stop was the palace museum after which we headed for lunch, Next up – to the back of our hotel, the Bhujio fort. Rutu was eager to reach the top of the fort, JK didn’t even try. Manas trailed behind but finally manged to reach the top. I’m sure they had a good view of the city there. The day had been easy on us bikes, not a lot of revving just idling through the city. The day after was gonna be again on the road. Off to Mumbai via Ahmedabad, Vadodara.
Dec 19, 2013
We left early morning around 5.45am first towards Bachau, then connecting NH 8A, leading us straight to Ahmedabad outskirts. The road not that great till Ahmedabad, I had hoped the regal layout as had it been towards Bachau from Palanpur, but wasn’t that grand. Guys had a lunch after we moved along Ahmedabad outskirts via Sardar Ring road towards Vadodara. We passed Vadodara early by around 4.30pm we had covered 430km+ in less than 12 hours and were more than half way to Mumbai, guys wanted to rest. They decided initaly decided to head towards Bharuch, but then relented to JK’s antics and stopped at Karjan at a motel near TBEA factory.
Dec 20, 2013
Heading on the road around 6.30 am in winter in Gujarat around Bharuch is dreaded nightmare for a Asthmatic patient. Its cold, the heavy air settling over Narmada and its tributaries. Adding to it the pollution of all the industries near by. A place somewhere on the outskirts of Navsari was selected for breakfast around 9.00am. There on we fired all cylinders till we had crossed the Maharashtra border and the Beer Bars greeted the travellers just along the highways, still riding .. the Mantis came from behind, Manas indicating Rutu to stop. He said he was feeling very very drowsy. So we came to a halt in the jungles before Manor. Where were side-standed and guys had a nap of 30mins. Virar, Vasai wasn’t then far away. Wished the Bison a goodbye around 1230pm and then reached home by 1.30pm. A journey through the arid Gujarat and borders of Rajasthan had come to an end almost 2200km in the running.
At times riding through rough terrains, bad roads and steep ghats, you’ll always want that the journey should be over. But when we reached Tiracol, Goa it seemed like – What !? Already there ? It meant that we had no more travelling to do on our cycles enjoying those jokes with Surya, Puru, the good downhill slopes through dense trees, the slow climbs overlooking huge beautiful beaches.. All was over.
When I finally locked my cycle in my building, Even though I had some ruptured skin down my bum, I felt I wanted more.. What would now remain of this whole journey (probably once in a lifetime) was fond memories, discussing events in the office with friends..
We left early for Devbaug. At the beach the guy charged us ₹300 for a minute’s ride opposite Devbaug to Bhogave beach. From there on we trotted on foot to reach a road leading to सागरी महामार्ग (Coastal Highway).
There on the roads were always up, down, winding, scenic till we reached a ghat prior to Vengurla. Where the road climbed, not just it but it worsened just stones stuck in tar, the upper layer of tar had weathered away. Our cycles too took the brunt of the bad roads. When we reached down Vengurla almost as soon as the ghat ended, our wrists were aching. We had some heavy breakfast of ‘misal pav’ and carried towards Goa.
Uncle in the centre offered us the refreshment in the grumpy man’s shack
On our way just prior to Arawali, an uncle waved Surya asking him to stop. He asked about our trip and said that it was his dream in his youth to do the same, he then invited us to eat ‘unforgettable groundnut ladoos’ (similar to groundnut chikki). Had tea in the shack selling those as well, all on the house. We thanked the uncle and carried towards Redi and then Terekhol (Tiracol). The ferry just evaded us but it came back soon. The ride to Goa crossing the state border was free !!
Aarambol’s Sweet Lake
And there we were having crossed 4 district boundaries and 1 state border in Goa. Tiracol to Aarambol wasn’t far away another 20mins and we rented out a sea-side room for the night. In the evening we went to the Sweet Lake and had a good swim.
Day in numbers
Distance: ~60km
Ghats: 4
Cycling Time: 7:15 hrs
Water Rides: 2
Relaxation Time: 1.30 hrs
Dec 7, 2013 – Day 8 to Succorro, Goa and back to Mumbai
to Succorro, via Mapuca
I planned the next day I’ll have a visit to my sister’s place in Succorro. So we left around 10.30 having breakfast, tea, icecream and lunch. It seemed as we ate more than we rode. We had confirmed a bus back to Goa which would ensure our cycles too got a ride back which departed from Mapuca. So after an enjoyable time with my sister and her family we headed back to Mapuca for our journey back to M U M B A I.
ST Bus was scheduled at 8.00am, we already at the ST depot by 7am, ensuring our cycles were ready (handles turned, etc) for the bus ride. The bus took off and reached NH 17 via Hathkhamba. It took the bus around 6 hrs to reach Malvan bus depot. When we assessed our state of the cycles. Puru’s rear rim’s spoke were broken. Rest of the cycles seemed OK.
We took a lunch near the ST depot and headed towards Tarkarli which was about 7km from Malvan. The road was smooth tar one spinning through lovely canopy. We fixed a hotel room and went for a evening stroll on the beach which was just opposite to our room. Me and Surya were so excited with the long beach that we went for a jog for about 4km or so. The ended relaxing, watching TV, enjoying sea sounds.
Day in Numbers
Distance: 7km
Dec 5, 2013 – Day 6, Malvan and Tarkarli
This day had no cycling at all. But decided to go to Malvan town, fix Puru’s cycle and roam around. Fixing a geared cycle’s rear broken spokes is a big task. We knew it then. Luckily there was a guy in town who could do that. A temple awaited us next and a hotel just adjoining to the temple. We asked for उकडीचे मोदक, and the lady said ‘u’ll have to order atleast 10′. Me and Puru looked at each other laughing, “No problem, bring ’em on !”
breaking the Cashew shells
Malvan’s waters are clear and pristine with a lot of wildlife. We even found a black sea urchin in the rocks of the water. On our way back, we visited the Laxmi Cashew Factory, Surya trying his hand at breaking the Cashew shells.
The evening had a little more cycling in store, a Devbaug visit to check with the locals about a ferry / boat ride down south side of the devbaug backwaters. On our return, we took the ‘National Highway 17’, as put by the fisherman for the beach ride back to Tarkarli in the low tide.
The sight of Jaigad from Velneshwar makes you impatient, makes u do the distance…Jaigad was on the otherside of creek. Our first stop was atop hills and back down to the sea level – Tavsal jetty. The road wasn’t good, and we nearing Tavsal gave us more beautiful scenery that awaited us further in our journey, the water now starting to turn bluer than the initial murky color that it had, the vegetation deeper and dense. We had a nice stop at Tavsal, savouring sweet tangy taste of Kokam sarbat.
The ferry took us to Jaigad, where we had to climb a hill again and down to Ganpatipule. We reached Ganpatipule around noon and decided to have lunch. The last day at Velneshwar we had come to a reassessment of our itinerary, we decided we’ll take a bus to Malvan, save 2 days which we could use to rest and enjoy at Malvan and Aarambol, Goa. A quick lunch and another big climb of Ganpatipule to Ratnagiri (sea-side route).
Puru soon found out his rear tyre was punctured.
I and Surya were waiting for Puru when we saw him walking pulling his cycle. A scene we had got accustomed with during steep climbs. We refreshed ourselves in a deserted shack’s cool shadow. We climbed back again, the nightmare of any cycle tour awaited. Puru’s rear tire was flat. We managed to get Puru in a tuktuk with cycle in rear and me and Surya went on the lovely roads overlooking the beautiful beaches south of Ganpatipule. It was one of our most lovely routes.
having strange kanda bhaji, Mandvi beach, Ratnagiri
Ratangiri was closer than we thought, around 4pm we were there. Puru waiting for us after getting his tire fixed. At the ST stand we found the Malvan bus at 4 had already left and another one for Sawantwadi at 6pm would drop us to Kasal. Deciding against the night travel we found a hotel to stay and headed towards Mandvi beach/jetty. Not a great one, but we relaxed along a beach side shack sipping tea and strange oval cut कांदा भजी.
We had a big ghat to cross just ahead of Anjarle, but again local fishermen advised us an alternative route for Harnai, via the fishing village. Again a boat ride took us through Anjarle’s creek. In the haste of the yes/no to reach we took a wrong turn (well a right one for cars, bikes) towards Dapoli for which we had to climb a huge ghat, a good road SH 4 though, but thats not what we had planned, we wanted to go coastal through Murud (Ratnagiri), Ladghar beach, etc.. However this long ghat took us through to Dapoli town.
Further from Dapoli we climbed yet again, we were still climbing, never had come down the elevation we had gained for Dapoli. The destination now was Dabhol jetty. This would take us down south into the heart of Ratnagiri’s infamous Power project, Enron. Now christened as Ratnagiri Gas and Power Private Ltd. The last 10km to Dabhol were downhill, entirely. We wondered if we had to climb it, it would’ve taken our heart out! Dhopave jetty, south of the creek and we had to climb again rising into Enron. However the roads were good and the down hill was long and easy which helped us cover more distance. Coming down overlooking Guhagar was a delight.
coming down from the infamous ‘Enron’ towards Guhagar
We stopped at Guhagar town, refreshed ourselves with biscuits, tea, Glucon-D, etc. and head for Velneshwar which was another 20km of ride. But the sun was easier post 3pm. and we hand another ghat to climb. Once we took a right turn for Velneshwar another hill welcomed us. Puru got down off the cycle, I slowed down, checked with him and he replied
कुछ नही, आराम !
… we didn’t care where we sat and ate..
Another few kms and I was famished ! I had a very short and quick lunch at Dabhol jetty, since we had a quick ferry to catch in 40mins around 1.30pm. Now with all the ghats that we had climbed, the battery entirely drained out. I found myself dizzy, empty stomach. We stopped by road, and ate Parle’s 20-20 biscuits and Glucon-D. With a more than a partial charge, we were ready and headed into the lovely Velneshwar beach.
A small village, Velneshwar has the entirety of the beach’s length as its boundaries. From the beach’s north end one can see Jaigad’s JSW plant and Jaigad light house. We stayed at a beach side room, clean even with a TV set.
It was my first time that consecutively I was gonna do another 60km+ stretch on cycle. Bum a little sore, but doable.. The lovely small ghats enroute to Shrivardhan via Aaravi was morning bliss. Surya getting some Salman Khan styled photos (also read as without T-shirt).
We halted at Shrivardhan for ATM, coconut water etc and headed towards Harihareshwar, just as long the name is.. so seemed the distance. The ghat to Harihareshwar was never ending, the worst part – heat! Konkan doesn’t honour Dec. 1. Heat stays and so does the humidity. Puru’s cycle and its bag weight too show what is extra / unneeded at such a trip. We had to stop on the ghat under a tree where we felt we couldn’t move ahead without some Glucon-D. The ghat had started post a dry barren flat road which had the sun drain us out. We reached fairly early at Harihareshwar, 11.15am. But we felt we had travelled 100km+ thanks to the Konkan terrain and the sun.
Enjoying under a tree near Bagmandla Jetty, Harihareshwar
Post food we moved towards Bagmandla jetty, where the govt. ferry service would’ve made us wait for more than an hour, the private one was earlier. Opting for it, we waited for it under a banyan tree, a typical tree with a peripheral wall around it so that travellers like us could rest. It was there where we found our ‘guide’ or rather a misguide. He said that we could go to Kelshi (our scheduled day-2 destination) via a shortcut, then Ganpatipule was just 40km ahead of it !!! Yes you guys read it right he said Ganpatipule. When that Ganpatipule distance came out his mouth, I knew he wasn’t to be believed. He kept talking, friends, bullet riders, etc. Of all the crap that he gave us, two things were right – Bagmandla to Bankot, You change districts, Raigad to Ratnagiri and there was a ferry (boat) ride at Kelshi and a huge huge shortcut!
Bankot, Ratnagiri. We had crossed into the famous Alphonso mango district. Guys on the ferry had warned us that ferry at Kelshi was not to be relied on. They said luck could help us get through. We still believed and kept asking the local fishermen about it, they were happy enough to send us that route, बोटी मिळतील, We would get boat rides.. Bankot to Velas we had to walk, climb on footsteps through a sea side terrain of rocks, sand, beach and get on to the road which connected Velas.
Coming down the hill from Velas towards Kelshi ferry point
Ahead of Velas was another ghat, rocky, full of red stones, red sand and bad roads. The decent was a full speed one, our suspensions just mildly protecting our frames and our shoulders, but Surya’s thirst for a down-hill full speed decent knew no boundaries, bad roads, steep slopes, incoming traffic, nothing stopped him.
Down the hill, we were straight at a creek. We couldn’t see any jetty! all we saw was some fisherwomen getting off the trucks, tempos, tuktuks and walking straight into the ferry. We asked one for Kelshi, she pointed us straight towards a small village across the creek. The sand/soil was too wet to walk with shoes, we tied them on our cycle frames and walked into the creek. It was lovely! Our cycles, us and a huge tropical Konkan scenery. We were thrilled to get to this end and already said that this crossing was ‘पैसा वसूल’ part. A boatman just had taken a woman on the otherside and while rowing, he shouted that he’ll be back, just wait. When back, what we saw was not really possible. In his small boat, we had to cram 3 cycles and 4 people. The boat all by itself was something of a canoe and just as much of imbalance with such a payload.But Mr. Abbas, was confident and led us through and even posed for our cameras while we toiled to keep the boat aflot.
The most beautiful crossing we had, we walked about 15min in wet sand, shoes hanging on the cycle to get near small boat ferrying people across either side of creek at Kelshi
The small boat ride of less than 10mins led us to Kelshi village, probably my ancestors’ home. A girl helped us clean our foot in her backyard and then we rode through our 2nd favourite road types, cycling through narrow village roads, winding up and down houses, small shacks, etc. We reached Anjarle beach again during sundown and decided that would be our stop for the day. We had 10 उकडीचे मोदक (rice flour steamed encapsulating coconut with jaggery – konkan sweet dish) as well at dinner 😀
Gateway of India / Apollo Bunder, Mumbai for Ferry
7.40am
Left Madve jetty for Alibaug
8.40am
Alibaug
9.10am
left for Kashid
11.15am
Kashid Beach
12.15pm
Left for Murud
1.30pm
Murud
4.15pm
to Dighi
4.40pm
Dighi
6.00pm
Diveagar
Rewdanda Bridge
The first day – From Madve to Alibag we covered almost 20km in an hour. This made us very optimistic of our distance covering abilities.. only that this route didn’t have any ghats. After पोहा at Alibag, we moved on towards Kashid, which had a ghat just before Kashid beach invited us with its beauty. Our first ghat of the ride and it took our breaths out ! we relaxed for almost an hour at Kashid beach on hammocks sipping coconut water.
coming down to Rajapuri jetty
Murud wasn’t far away, we reached by lunch time had a lunch on the sea-side hotel overlooking the bright beach ahead of us. Our original stop was at Murud but since we were this early at our destination, we thought we should move on further, Diveagar. The ferry at Rajapuri made us wait for almost an hour. This hour though was well spent, interacting with the individuals, checking the routes, ferry rides, etc. It was here that we got to know that a ferry exists down south of Harihareshwar at Bagmandla to Bankot (Thank god, it exists! Else we would’ve required another 100km+ to reach Velas beach side). We commenced our 2’nd ferry of our ride, Rajapuri, Murud to Dighi. The road from Dighi was bad, period. It didn’t improve till we climbed the first ghat just next to the Dighi jetty, came down when it improved.. Diveagar was there almost by the setting sun, evening in its prime. We looked for room to stay, and day 1 was done.
This day had no cycling at all. But decided to go to Malvan town, fix Puru’s cycle and roam around. Fixing a geared cycle’s rear broken spokes is a big task. We knew it then. Luckily there was a guy in town who could do that. A temple awaited us next and a hotel just adjoining to the temple. We asked for उकडीचे मोदक, and the lady said ‘u’ll have to order atleast 10′. Me and Puru looked at each other laughing, “No problem, bring ’em on !”
The sight of Jaigad from Velneshwar makes you impatient, makes u do the distance…Jaigad was on the otherside of creek. Our first stop was atop hills and back down to the sea level – Tavsal jetty. The road wasn’t good, and we nearing Tavsal gave us more beautiful scenery that awaited us further in our journey, the water now starting to turn bluer than the initial murky color that it had, the vegetation deeper and dense. We had a nice stop at Tavsal, savouring sweet tangy taste of Kokam sarbat.
