Roadtrip Day 18: Beyt Dwarka to Veraval (Somnath)

After a long time, had no-bike-issue-day (touchwood). Enjoyed the ride but the best part was the stunning Somnath temple view in the evening

The previous night happened to be the worst night for me so far. I had this constant nagging feeling that someone has entered my tent & trying to steal something. Maybe, it was because I left my luggage in the bike, which was parked in the petrol pump at Okha. I had woken many times in the night, switched on the light, checked my stuff. Finally, I decided to be up by 5 AM.

While I was busy publishing the Day 17 post, I noticed Mittal bhai & his photography team got up too. Mittal bhai had mentioned that he would go for swimming in the ocean at 6:30 & I was trying to complete my post prior to that, but looks like their plan changed because at around 6:45, when I came out of the tent, the entire crew seem to had left for shooting.

I had morning tea & left the camp by 8:00 AM. The walk from the campsite to ferry point was around 1.5 kms long. I decided to have breakfast at ferry point as it was not ready at campsite & waiting for it would have meant delaying my departure. There is only one prominent restaurant at ferry point & the guy over there said it would take 10 min for ‘gaathiya’ to be ready.

While I waited for it, one cow literally pecked me, on the back of my neck. She seemed hungry & insistent as the shop guys tried to shoo her away multiple times but she kept coming back. I decided to share some of my gaathiya with her at the end. Overall, I started to like the whole ‘cow culture’ at Dwarka/Gujarat in general.

I headed towards ferry point & boarded one parked there. The ferry departed in like 15 min. I had a glimpse of the under construction bridge again. This is from the Dwarka side & seems much more complete than the part on the Beyt Dwarka side.

Just to get you an idea of how the ferry looks, it pretty much reminded me of the movie Swadesh, in which Shahrukh sits with village folks in a ferry.

After reaching Okha, I picked up my bike & started riding towards Somnath. I was pretty certain that my bike & luggage would be as is when I left it, so I was not really concerned about it. But I am not sure if deep down I was really sure & hence the sleepless night maybe.

The path to Somnath made me navigate through Dwarka & I passed the road to Hotel Kavya (the place I stayed in Dwarka). I also noticed the Dwarka city entrance which I did not when I roamed around the city as it was night then.

My next stop was Porbandar. i had to cover 260+ kms & Porbandar was midway between Okha & Somnath.

The road was pretty good & surprisingly very empty. There were no trucks at all & some cars passed by occasionally. As usual, I could see umpteen windmills on the way. The terrain was mostly barren but scenic. The road, for the most part, looked like cement road as it has whitish color to it. There was a train track that also ran alongside the road for a decent time.

I happen to spot some igloo kind of structure too, but wasn’t sure what they were.

I crossed a large backwater before Porbandar. I needed to look into the google map to figure out if it is a backwater, lake or a river which is unusually large at that place.

I came across a couple of cyclone refuge camps that Govt has created closer to villages that seemed cyclone prone. I had never seen this kind of thing before.

The ride so far was turning out to be a disappointment. My expectation was that of East Coast Road (the road that connects Chennai to Pondicherry) where the sea is visible from the road. Here, that was not the case. It was also reasonably hot.

I reached Porbandar at around 1 PM. It has become hot & instead of taking bypass road which Google was showing to me, I decided to go into the city, hoping to find some decent place to eat/drink so that I can pass some time to avoid riding in the hot sun. I knew that I am doing well in terms of timing & I should be able to reach Somnath well before sunset, so I was relaxed & could afford to waste time :). My bike was holding up well & the road was pretty good, so it all seemed good. Looks like my temple visit seems to be paying off :-D.

I got into the main market & had two sugarcane juice glasses at a road junction. Right opposite, there was a guy who seemed to be shaking glasses the way bartender make cocktails. In Gujrat, I was having hard time reading what is written on the boards as Gujarati script is not exactly Devnagari, but close. I figured it is something to do with Lassi. I realized I dint have a lot of cash (I had to pay cash to campsite folks where I stayed), so I first headed to one of the roads hoping to find an ATM, which I found within 100m from the junction. I came back, loaded with money & parked my bike next to the lassi cart. It was a flavored lassi with icecream topping. For 30 bucks, it was reasonably filling. The lassi guy started having conversation with me & suggested some sight seeing places in Porbandar - Kirti Mandir (I had seen sign boards of it when I entered Porbandar) & Gandhiji’s home. I decided to skip the mandir but go for Gandhiji’s home. It was around a km from the place. It was decent, well maintained place without any entry fees. There was no designated parking but a shopkeeper nearby hinted me to park the bike in a lane next door, which I conveniently did.

The place has some part which seemed artificially built & some is the original house, albeit refursbished. Looking at the pics below, it would be clear.

There is Kasturba devi’s house too, which is around 50m behind Gandhiji’s house. I went inside that too. It had very similar structure to that of Gandhiji’s house although photography wasn’t allowed in that house for some weird reason.

After spending like 30 min, I was ready to resume my ride to Somnath. Just at the outskirts of Porbandar, I saw this structure, which seemed intriguing. So I clicked a pic. If someone kno

ws what this is, please do put a comment.

I happen to see some part of beach which seemed like consolation. But the real treat was sudden appearance of canopy & dense trees next to the road. It was a view worth stopping & clicking the picture. I would totally recommend to folks to NOT take the bypass exit of Porbandar, but rather enter & exit the city, to pass by the road in the pic below.

The canopy part faded pretty soon & then appeared the toughest part of the day. Ride in hot sun. I could see mirage on the road. The last I saw was during my day ride from Bhuj to Dhordo village in Kutch. The air has started to feel warm & I was concerned that if it gets hotter, I would be looking at the north Indian hot winds locally known as ‘loo’. But thankfully, it did not get that hot.

One more thing I noticed in the highway stretch from Dwarka to Porbandar & even after Porbandar is - lack of small roadside shops/dhaba. I saw some big hotels as soon as you exit Dwarka but post that, it was all empty. I spotted one shop & was quick to turn back. I was also feeling pretty sleepy & desperately wanted a tea. Due to lack of shade, I parked my bike slightly inside the shade area of the shop itself.

[Insert pic of the bike parked inside]

I had to kill time as it was pretty hot to ride. I figured that I had looked up Somnath Rest House in Veraval for stay but had to spoken to them for bed availability. I used the time to call them & got confirmation of bed availability in AC dorm. I called my wife who was busy on a meeting. So finally I ran out of ways to kill time & started on my ride again.

I reached this place called Madhavpur & suddenly the beach came to the sight. I could not stop myself from uttering ‘wow’ . This was probably one of the finest views I ever had riding next to a beach.

A closer look at the map revealed a turn towards sea side at/around Madhavpur beach.

The road from Madhavpur to Veraval was pretty green. Infact, at some point, it felt like you are riding in Kerala. It was a very enjoyable ride I would say.

I reached Veraval at 6 PM & stopped right in front of Somnath Rest house. I realized that it is right at the bus stand, so the place was fairly crowded & noisy. I also noticed that there is no dedicated parking but you can park on the footpath opposite the hotel. The hotel is located on the 2nd floor of the building & the staircase looked pretty dirty. But I had similar experience at Be Happy Guest house in Surat & the dorm actually turned out to be pretty good.

I asked folks to show me the dorm & it looked decent. The toilets were clean too. I decided to check in, take a bath & then head for the Somnath temple, after grabbing a quick bite. I was riding towards Somnath temple at around 8 PM. The path google showed was pretty horrible as the entire stretch had fish smell. Later, while coming back, I was guided by a person whom I had met in the temple. He brought me from a longer route but it was much more pleasant.

Somnath temple was the best experience of the day for me. The temple looked so magnificient with the lights on. I would recommend visiting the temple at around 8 PM for less crowd, great lights & a show that starts at 8 PM (which I missed because I was late). The show ticket cost is Rs 30 & is worth it. I guess it has voiceover of Amitabh & it talks about history of Somnath & Jyotirlingas in general.

One hack I did was to park my vehicle at parking of Sagar Darshan Guest house, which is behind Somnath temple. There was large parking & it looked like a place where you can leave things behind in your vehicle (which I did, I did not unpack sleeping bag & mat this time).

Once back to hotel, I wanted to have some sweet. I saw this Bhagwati Dry Fuit & Dish Gola & casually asked shop owner the most popular dish they have. He pointed to the first entry & I said ok. It was a very unique kind of icecream. It was not really just ice, nor it was ice-cream. It was something that I cant describe. I would totally recommend having it if you happen to be in Veraval/Somnath.

Nayan bhai, owner of Somnath Rest House helped me come up with plan for tomorrow. I will be visiting Triveni Sangam & then heading towards Diu. Then I will come back to Veraval, load my bags & head to Sasan Gir. He recommended tour of Devaliya park & not the regular safari (the latter is more expensive, time consuming & lesser chance to spot lions) & then reach Junagarh & stay there. I would probably spend 1-2 days in Junagadh & then head out to Rajkot.