December 22 - 25, 2007

4 days. 1400 kms. 2 bikes. 2 riders. And lots of places. Description of the saga follows.

December 22.

5:30 am
- I manage to meet Randhir, half an hour late from the earlier designated time.
- Early morning mist on the highway. Loads of traffic. Riding under the lights. Covered barely 30 kms in one hour.
- Stop at the sign a bit out of the city saying 495 kms to Pune. Sunlight begins to show us the path more clearly. Its nearly 6:45 am

7:30 am
- Cruising at 90 kmph, when suddenly a cruiser with two people overtake us driving at 100kmph and we give chase.
- next 30-40 kms was spent in hot pursuit with bikes running at 100 kmph +, maxing out at a little over 115 kmph.

8:30 am
- Stop for breakfast. A quaint little dhaba. Puri and subjee. Just 2 more truckers besides us.

10:45 am

- Covered 250 kms when this scenery hit us.
- Not a single soul around for miles.























- Naidurg. 100 kms from Sholapur. Was sorry that we did not have time to visit.






11:00 am
- Indapur Co-operative sugar factory. Uses sugarcane from the plantations around.
- The transportation medium
- Our bike speed a measly 20kmph for 15 mins



12:15 pm

- Lunch at Kamat Hotel (not part of the chain of Kamat hotels I think)
- Fill up bike tank. Check air pressure in tyres. Zoom. Time 1:00pm

1:30 pm

- eeks! We have been dozing on the bike for the last half hour. Bike speed 60 kmph.
- realized our folly and raised speed.

6:00 pm
- Sholapur road outside Pune. 4 lane. Metalled. Divider in between. Drove at 115-120kmph for what seemed like 10 kms. Fulfilled the heart's content.

7:00 pm
- At friends place. Tired. Bums itching. Paining. etc, etc but the heart glad.


December 23

1:30 pm















- Jump into the water. But had nothing to change into.

2:30 pm
-Lions Point. Lonavala. 60 kms from Pune. 625 meters from sea level.















- Butta. Juice. Cold drinks. Against this background.

4:30 pm
- Fighting steep climbs. Non-existent roads. Not a single soul in sight.
- Mulsi Dam lake. Calendar moments.


December 24 & 25

- Random shots

These signs were visible on the part of the highway NH9 when it was part of Maharashtra state.











- Grape vines. (Probable next destination - Nashik. The wine valley of India)












- Awesome pic against the sun. Photographer - Me.














- 7:30 am on Christmas Day. Morning mist. (not fog or smoke!)











- Probably forgot to add. 100kms of the highway went through Karnataka also.













3:00 pm on December 25, 2007.

I barely managed to shrug off the shoulder pack, before collapsing on the bed. Having traveled 1400 kilometers, I realized driving in city traffic is much more taxing on your energies than the highway. The last 30 kms just outside and in the city totally wore me out. But yes! The elation remains to this day. Long standing desire done. Next target - Himalayas.

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There are some pretty high resolution pics in this post. Click on them to get a larger image.