Day 5: Guhagar-Hedvi-Narven-Kudali-Jambhari-Khandala-Ganpatiphule-Nevre-Ratnagiri

Day 5 for some strange reason had an abundance of energy to it. Pushed out by 6.30am, with the temple town of Hedvi as the first halt. The 32km long stretch along gentle hills was covered in 3 hrs without breaking 2 much of sweat. The Ganpati temple @ Hedvi is a colourful piece of art, with an exquisite array of blue, pink & red adorning its structure. The shape is unlike any temple that I have come across till date.

From there on, the objective was to find the ferry that would take me across the creek into Ratnagiri taluka. This, as I was to find out would be a very trivial affair. From Hedvi, headed for Narvan where I hoped to take the ferry; but with the village surrounded by hills on all sides, ferry was the last thing I could look for. Taking directions form the villagers, I was told to head for Tavsal & cross over to Jaigadh.

Reaching Tavsal, one has to cross over a few hills untill you hit upon a flat table land with a T junction. The road on the right leads to Tavsal while the one to the right leads to Padval & further ahead to Abloli. On reaching the junction, from the locals, got to know, I was late for the ferry @ Tasval. So, decided to head for Padval. However it was later informed that , the route to the jetty was Padval was precarious & taking a cycle would be difficult. So the only possible alternative was to head for Kudali & cross over to Jambhari. On such open plains with numerous diversionary roads approaching from all sides, it is always a tricky situation to maintain proper route. Every 15 – 20 min, one might find a solitary motorist passing by or a local; whom, you need to stop for directions.

Reaching Kudali without much fanfare was a relief in many ways, as I was concerned of losing my way on the flat open country. The ferry out here was one of the small motorised boats. This part of Konkan reminded me of the Amazon, with its winding river system surrounded by lush green vegetation.

From Jambhari, the route to Ganpatiphule is reduced to around 19 km, thanks to a new route via Khandala. From, Jambhari an uphill route takes you to the village of Khandala. From here on, it is a straight route via Verwade junction to Ganpatiphule. Given the swiftness with which I managed to reach Ganpatiphule, the next objective was to moved ahead towards Ratnagiri. Based on available info, the new route to Ratnagiri was found to be around 32km ; 15 km less than the normal route.

After a brief visit to the temple & beach, decided to follow the new route & see how far I could reach. Given that I was in far too excited state, pushed myself way beyond to raise ahead towards Ratnagiri. With night fall, cycling along the empty forested route became a pleasure. The 30 odd km was overcome in about 3 hrs. Finally, managed to reach the city of Ratnagiri. At first sight, it was a shocker & it got worse as time progressed.

With no easy accommodation available & my patience running thin, took the rash decision of terminating my goa plans mid way & heading back home. I guess, it was a momentary loss of patience that forced me to hit back by the earliest bus available.

All said, this last day, kind of proved the possibility of covering 100 odd kilometres with load was a distinct possibility.

Though, the final objective of reaching Goa was shelved, it did throw open a lot of possibilities which till only a few days back was only a subject of debate & discussion. With every day being a new learning experience; both about handling the bike & the road; it should lay a good foundation for my future forays into the wild.