its been just 2 months I got married.This Roadtrip made me realize, what does it mean, how the freedom is felt to go on a ride "By Choosing a direction & not the destination."
We ended with going on a Unplanned Destination & Covering Unplanned 1200kms.
Introducing :
Me
Adhir
A 3-Days unsual weekend (22-23-24 April) was nearing. Wanted to go somewhere badly. Last long ride was for Mahindra, riding for a month. But, I wanted to take my bike out & go places. Though didnt have anything in mind, but one thing was decided - "Yes I will ride"
Thought of making it more spicy & different by purposely not choosing a fixed destination this time. But atleast the direction had to be fixed & then will see where to halt for the day. NH4 & NH8 were on question, finally considering the current weather, chose NH4. Which should be relatively cool. Didnt wanted to rip or do a speedrun to reach somewhere far. Wanted to enjoy & feel the ride.
My old & one of the best friends decided to accompany me - Adhir. As he recently bought a P220 DTSi & was also itching for a nice ride.
We started quiet late on the 22nd, around 8.30am. Munched & Fueled up quickly at Panvel & didn't wanted to stop before crossing Pune due to bad traffic experienced everytime ;)
Struggling & Dodging the local riders/drivers finally we where out of Pune & waited for a tiny break at 11.30.
The heat was killing, but couldnt stop us. We moved further still with the big question mark, where to go, where are we heading. But this question gave a wonderful pleasure inside & felt FREEDOM. We didnt have to rush to reach a place. Just keep riding & stop where you want.
Cruising on 80-90 kmph was a bliss on this wonderful highway.
At a toll point, I was riding slowly on the bikers lane. Soon I realized the second last lane was empty which belonged to a car, I thought of flailing through that & a big THUD on my helmet, shoulders. The pole (faatak) was about to close & it banged on me. That broke away
. Nothing happened though. It was of plastic. Thanks again to the safety gears 
. While riding I was just thinking, what if I would have without helmet, what if the pole was of metal 
.Anyways, It was 1.30 noon & waited at a place after Satara where we can have lunch & again THINK what to do next ;) Found a lovely restaurant on the way.
Had some nice chicken & thought of inquiring with the staff if there's any place around or further were we can chill out, stay & spend the next full day roaming around. A senior waiter was kind enough to draw a map on a piece of paper & show us couple of places en-route. We got extremely impressed by the hotel & their staff's kindness. Its true, people in India are very helpful, kind & yes, this is the best place to tour solo or in a group. Places he suggested had couple of holy places & a hillstation. We got inclined towards the hillstation, which was - Amboli. But it was still at a distance of 300 kms & it was already 3pm. So the destination was still not fixed. Still uncertain. Somewhere in our minds, we had Goa also ;) Then thought, lets ride upto Kolhapur & then again THINK or inquire.
Didn't realized when kolhapur was passed, so further with an excuse to ride long, we decided that will keep riding on the same route. If we encounter some place worth staying on the way, then wont mind calling the day off there.
Riding further we entered Karnataka. Adhir abruptly asked me to stop & he felt "Where are we, why is he seeing Sign Boards in karnataka". He initially thought we are going to be in Maharashtra. Showed him the map & told him, we are going to Tamil Nadu. haha..
No, we will again enter Maharashtra. So had some lovely CUP full of tea & again googled in :)
the tourers
Finally we made up our mind, lets go to Amboli. Goa will be very crowded, plus the heat. A hill station & a small village sounds delightful & peace, which we where in search of. It was a lovely route, with pleasant climate & Windmills by-a-side.
It was almost turning dark when we took the SH from Karve.
It was totally dark & felt so cool riding on the hilly Sawantwadi Road. By 10pm we reached our newly discovered Amboli. The climate was just perfect.
Found a descent room with TV for merely Rs. 350
a night, obviously with some bargain. Location we selected to stay, we found it complete worth. As there was only one hotel, where one could find a Beer in entire Amboli, And that was in our compound. The journey couldnt get better. After a 600kms ride, finding a nice small peaceful village, pleasant climate, cheap & descent room, only beer shop in the village just few steps away from me. Vow, what a day. We landed on a perfect location. :D
Next day, we had to visit places, drink (beer is not the only to drink
), witness sunset, drink, sleep What a weekend. Loving It..!!!!It was quiet cold the entire day, more in night. New day.. We just chilled out here & there. Visited some temples, lakes & saw a sunset.
Some pix:
A lovely place which had couple of temples, a small pond & the 'REAL' peace. Sat here for quiet some while & felt pleasant.
Adhir, really feeling lighter
Then we waited by a lovely place with greenery around & a stream of water running..
It was stunning to find this lush green even in this climate
While we clicking pix & playing around at this place,
we could hear a refined sound of some bike/car. If its a bike, then it has to be a superbike. But thought how come a superbike will pass thru this village. So thought it would be a car. But as the sound was nearing, I was getting thrilled & impatient while I realized, its indeed a superbike. And guess what... We saw a solo rider giving us a "fly-by" on a BMW-S1000RR. Woah, Scary....
Both of us went dumfounded & returned back to the room
Evening we witnessed lovely sunset & the various changes in sky color
Next day we started on time around 8.30am
Route we selected to reach the highway (NH4) was little different, which had dense teak-wood trees around & some off-roads.
Atlas touched the highway & where ready to twist some more throttle
After munching some considerable miles, reached pune & encountered the first Rain. Traffic was killing in Pune.
In this tunnel, saw a family of four on a scooter having a crash. Ran & helped them with some basic medication & we headed to our destination back home.
It was a lovely short ride. A worth spent weekend & delighted to feel my bike smoother & refined even though it completed 70,000 kms on this journey.
This is what happened when we Picked up a Direction & Out In Search of a Destination
