I had a leisurely bike ride (a bit too leisurely) and a small hike to the hill-fort of Sarasgad near Pali last week. Shri Ballaleshwara Ganapati at Pali being one of the sacred Ashtavinayak deity, the religious sentiment attached couldn’t be underplayed.
The group comprised of 6 riders and 5 pillions, most of them more of trekker and less of rider. As we always did on our previous rides, we decided to meet up at Panvel bus stand at 11.30 PM on Saturday night. The time schedule was surprisingly not manipulated too much and we managed to set the throttle revving at 11.45 PM. Some of the indolent ones managed to skip their home made meals and forced a halt at Palaspa naka, famously known as the Dutta Snacks junction.
Some Chinese menu was quickly savoured and we moved on towards Pen, taking one of my favourite routes, NH 17 linking Panvel in Maharashtra with Edapally in Kerala. This 1269 km long road passes through the western coastline of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala. However, we had not even 10 percent of this route to be covered and we quietly moved through the smooth boulevards.
As such most part of the route is good and enjoyable, but the curvatures and banking offered by the stretch of road as one approaches Karnala is surely one of the best rides and a treat for any rider. Not only is this portion specklessly smooth, but it also offers ample of curvatures with wide flanks to run-in hard and enjoy the tilt. Couple that with the undulating gradients and it just is… Awesome! Also this stretch of the road is peculiarly characterized by cooler ambiance.
Passed the stretch in in a jiffy and moved on further. Another few minutes of revving and came Pen. Aniket, one of the pillion, has a weekend home (which is reduced to year-end home) at Pen. We decided to take a nap and move on towards Pali early in the morning. 11 trekker, riding over a weekend, a night halt, all geared up for a trek after a long time and did I think of having a quick nap? Absurd! Most of the time went by chirping away at some pointless banters. And when the sleep penetrated the ambiance, it was already 6 AM. 22 sleepy eyes freshened up and hit the saddle.
Rolled leisurely till Wadkhal, helped ourself with some misal pav and tea and then rolled even more leisurely till Pali. It was 8.00 AM by the time we reached there and a further delay of 30 minutes saw us stepping out to climb Sarasgad just when the Sun was starting to get hotter. Cameras were out, and I was busy with my handycam. SOme photos, some masti and the stroll kept on nearing the Sarasgad bastion, which appeared atleast somewhat closer than what it did 30 minutes earlier then. The sun was shining harsh on us by the time we managed to scramble up the upper slopes and enter the fort through the wonderfully carved entrance.
We reached the base of the upper cliff and lay for a cooler break under shadow cast by the overlooking massif. Lying nearby is a huge water tank scarped in the belly of Sarasgad massif. The tank does hold water, but is not potable anymore thanks to the mindless visitor who have converted this place in to a dumping ground for plastics. It was just 10.00 AM now and we had plenty of time in our hands to manipulate the schedule as required. We decided to make the best use of time on hands by indulging ourselves in the tank cleaning process. The water was shallow which allowed us to enter the tank without much trouble. We tried and removed as much plastic we could then – it amounted to 3 big bag-full of plastic. We removed substantial amount of waste from the tank and packed it in plastic bags so that we could easily carry it till the base for disposal. We could not clean the tank completely, but we definitely removed a hell lot of plastic debris and initiated a small process towards it, thereby feeling good.
We moved on further circumnavigating the massif. There are numerous rock hewn caves, some big and some small in the belly of the massif along the circumference. The fortified walls and crumbling bastions evoked a blended emotions flavoured with the nostalgic pride and neglected present of such magnificence. After completing the circuit we moved up to the top of the massif by 1.30 PM. It was really hot and humid then. We paid our obeisance to Lord Shankar in a temple atop and later relaxed for a while under the shade enjoying the cool breeze. Off went the sweaty T-shirts and it was just pure pleasure to enjoy the cool breeze bare bodied. After some wafer and other snacks being gulped, we started on our descent. The descent was nothing to write about, under the hot sun, over the scree slopes and some thorny bushes. We completed the descent and reached Pali at around 3.00 PM; visited the temple and soaked ourselves in the sanctity of the place.
Lime juice, buttermilk, amla juice and so on rehydrated our parched souls as we recuperated ourselves. Got a pack of Kandi pedha as Prasad and moved on towards our parked bikes to hit the saddle once again. We embarked on our return journey at around 4.30 PM and by then the sun was getting mellow. The ride was quite steady and pleasant with stopovers at Pen for the famous Ramwadi tea. As always riding through the Karnala boulevard was a pleasant experience once again.
Reached Kalyan at around 8.00 PM and after a cold shower hit the bed to drench into the rigmarole awaiting me on Monday. The memories as always are ever fresh!
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