Roadtrip Day 15: Jamnagar to Dwarka

The worst riding experience of the trip so far

The day started usual for me (at around 6 AM). I was backlogging on the blogs so I published the Day 13 one while I could not publish the Day 14 because of bad internet & unable to upload pics.

The place I was staying at Jamnagar (Amit ji’s home), is next to the airforce base. During morning, I could see planes taking off & touching down for their regular sorties. I happen to see various differnet kind of fighter planes. Also saw one large plane which Amit ji said is of Reliance.

The plan for the day was to leave for Dwarka after doing some sight-seeing in Jamnagar, just the Lakhota lake. I also decided to stop by at Narara beach as Amit ji has told me great stories about it - specially a fish which ‘pouts’ when you press it (I dont know the name of it). Amit ji decided to take me to one place for breakfast & I got to eat Ghookra for the first time. It looked like a variant of Samosa but without any potato in it. We ended the meal with a pan at Delux shop, which seem like a famous pan shop chain in Jamnagar.

By 11 AM I was at Lakhota lake. I had all my luggage packed on my bike as I intend to leave to Narara directly. On the main gate, there were bikes parked outside & I found a corner spot to park mine. There was no security person there but it felt safe to leave the bike with luggage there.

The lake seemed well maintained although the museum at the center was shut due to covid. The lake had Rs 10 as entry fees. Guess if I would have come a bit earlier during the day, it would have been free to enter (for morning walkers).

That is the museum at the center with the pathway to it. There is a ticket center at the start of the pathway

The whole periphery of the lake would be around 2-3 kms but I had no plans to cover it. I left after 20 min. I looked up nearest Reliance petrol pump & found one on the way to Narara. After filling petrol, I was on my way towards Narara.

The ride to Narara was usual, nothing good or bad. I happen to see Reliance Jio office on the way.

Also, met 2 ladies who are walking to Dwarka. Apparently during holi, a lot of Gujrati folks choose to walk to Dwarka & it is a famous ritual in Gujrat. I had stopped on the roadside & was adjusting my bike luaggage while they stopped next to me for the shade. They actually offered me some cold drink & water. Considering they had been walking & I was riding, I felt grateful for their gesture & asked for a picture, to which they obliged :).

I had to take a diversion from Dwarka road for Narara & the road looked fairly deserted. Looks like Narara is not a famous tourist destination. It was both good & bad for me as I like places that have less crowd but very little crowd means hardly any place to eat/drink on the way. I was unsuccessful finding a 5 ltr water can (the previous one fell off from my bike during the night ride from White Rann to Bhuj) & I was traveling with only 2 ltr of water. Anyway, it was just start of the day & the thought did not deter me much.

The last part of the road was actually unpaved but I had fun riding on it. It was a truely solo ride with nobody in the sight :).

I reached Narara entry at around 1 PM & there were very few vehicles parked. I found a shaded spot & parked my bike. A guide was standing nearby who explained that its best to wear shorts & shoes as there would be knee deep water but shoes/sandles are required because of coral. The entry fees for the place was Rs 40 but I decided to not hire a guide whose cost was around Rs 300.

It was a fairly long walk from entry point to the point where you could actually see something. Must be around 3+ kms.

They had put multiple boards on

the way about the sea creatures. This particular board caught my attention. This octopus need some lesson on Sanskar (now guess why & comment :-p)

The experience was decent, I would not call it out of the world, but it was something new walking on knee deep water with dead corals, sea weeds etc. Also, it might be worth hiring a guide as they pick up fishes, small octopus etc to show you, which would be hard to find ourselves. I found a crab picker guy who showed me crabs in his bag, which he had caught during the day.

I swear to god there was a crab here but even I cant spot it now in the picture. Can you.

I was back at the starting point by 3:00 PM as they had told me that the water start to rise again at around that time. At some point, I was the only guy farthest into the water & I was a bit scared of the water rising part, but then, I just decided to acknowledge the feeling & slowly walk back.

If you intend to visit the place, going early would mean you need to walk less as the water would not have receeded that much. But then, the con is that the corals are deep inside. Feel free to take the call appropriately. Hiring a guide is a good idea as I could not really spot corals as such, all by myself.

I changed back to my trousers & shoes at my bike. It was silent & peaceful there, so I decided to meditate a bit. I started to ride back & decided to click pics at some locations that I found nice during my onward ride.

While I had stopped on the way to click pics, I noticed 2 vehicles standing like 100m away from me. They were not there when I had come to the place. They looked like govt vehicles. I sensed that I could be in trouble & I started to ride back again. They were all staring at me when I crossed them. It looks like the area was sensitive & I would suggest people not to stop on the unpaved road.

I guess this was end of all the good things for the day. The road from here to Dwarka was BAD. The 4 laning work was in progress & most of the times, the roads were patchy & full of traffic from both sides. At around 4:30 PM, I noticed a sudden jerk in my bike when I applied my front disc brakes. I stopped at a certain distance & noticed that one of the nut that hold the disc brakes, has fallen off. ‘Not again’ was my first reaction but by now, I am well prepared when I see issues with my bike :).

While I was inspecting my bike, 3 guys approached me & asked me if I need help. They told me that there is royal enfield service center but I need to backtrack 11 kms. They also called the owner of the place & told him about me. I thanked them & decided to ride to the service center. In hindsight, it seems like a bad decision but guess, everyone is an expert in hindsight :).

I did ask their names but then I do not remember it now. They were volunteers who are helping folks who are walking to Dwarka. Only one of them could speak proper hindi, rest were just managing with Gujrati. They look a bit daunting but were nice guys.

At service center, I got attended to fairly quickly. Ajay, who is the mechanic, did try to fix the issue. I also took the bike off after half an hour, only to realize the nuts were loose & brought it back. Ajay confessed after sometime that it is beyond his ability & we jointly tried to find a solution together. At around 7 PM, he managed to make the nuts hang till I reach Dwarka & suggested to me to see a mechanic there. With mixed feelings, I bade him farewell & started my ride towards Dwarka.

I would like to mention name of Jitu bhai, owner of the center, who promptly allocated folks & did not take any money from me. At the time of writing this post, I had messaged Jitu bhai for help in Dwarka & he promptly sent me contact of Manish bhai, their most experienced mechanic, in Dwarka. Jitu bhai can be reached at 9427235556 on Whatsapp.

The roads were bad, it was dark & dusty & the disc brake assembly is now making ‘striking noise’ when the bike hits a bump - guess that was the most challenging experience I had to ride. I was a bit scared from my past night riding experience at Bhuj but thankfully, there were no insects on this road. I had also bought a new pair of goggles at Jamnagar for Rs 400 & they actually helped my keeping the glare of the incoming vehicle at bay. The only challenge was that there were folks walking at the edge of the road & they were not visible till my bike is like 50m away. So I had to ride slightly at the center of the road.

At around 9:30 PM, I stopped to inspect the disc brake assembly. The lower part of it had come off completely from the nut. So I decided to release it & hang it, as I was scared that if it gets released by itself, it might get stuck in the spokes of the front wheel which can pretty much cause a nasty accident.

There was a left turn that I need to take before Dwarka & the road became pretty nice after that. The views around the road seemed great but it was pretty dark by then. It felt like I am riding with water on both sides. I guess I would probably get to see it better during my ride towards Somnath in later part of the trip.

I had looked up places to stay in Dwarka at around 11 AM when I was at Lakhota lake in Jamnagar. I had found a place called Hotel Kavya which had decent reviews on Google. Unfortunately, I could not find any ‘ac dormitories’. I called up the number on google map & the owner Himanshu picked up. He mentioned Rs 500 for non AC room & I liked the fact that I did not have to haggle with him. I reached Hotel Kavya at around 10:30 PM. The room was good, bathroom clean & folks looked helpful. So I checked in. They helped me locate Srinath dining house & suggested to have my dinner there. The Gujrat thali there costs Rs 130 & it was decent for the price.

Post dinner, I retired to bed. The next day will be dedicated to finding a mechanic to fix my disc brake assembly. Over & Out.