Roadtrip Day 6: Shirdi to Surat (but cudn't make it)

[March 14, 2021] The ride was cut short but the day turned out to be the longest in my journey so far.

I guess my last post was incomplete. I forgot to mention about the planning of the next day, which I usually do at the end of the current day. So I was in two minds between heading west towards Ajanta,Elora or heading north east towards Surat. I pinged my Pune friends - Konal & Suparna. Suparna is from Pune & these folks are also pretty avid travellers.

Konal & Suparna on the right

Both unianimously suggested to do Elora caves & Daulatabad fort. Konal even transferred Rs 400 & asked me to hire a guide in Daulatabad fort, as apparently, the secret paths in it are scary & best explained through a guide. It was pretty late (12 AM) by the time we are done discussing all this & thats when I retired to bed with the decision of going west towards Aurangabad (the district in which both these places fall). I had figured this place called Basecamp Backpacker campsite as my destination to camp the next day. It was at the middle of Daulatabad fort & Elora caves. The plan was to checkin to this place, then head to Elora, spend 1.5 hours & then head to Daulatabad fort & get done by 6 PM.

The next day morning I was up early. Did my morning meditation (I had been doing the Isha Kriya most mornings since the start of the trip), got ready & loaded my bike. I then called Basecamp Backpacker folks (I got number from the google map listing) & the guy told me that they are closed on the weekend (it was Sunday) as there is lockdown imposed due to Covid. The person passed me number of his manager Sagar who gave me very unbiased advice. He said that authorities are thinking of shutting down all tourist locations in Aurangabad so coming to that side even on Monday might not be fruitful for me. He also mentioned how various backpackers & bikers have visited his place & empathized with me when I explained to him the effort go to load all the luggage on the bike. I was really looking forward to staying at his place. I still wanted to take my chances that maybe, there might not be a lockdown imposed & I can still see the places.

I decided to order myself a tea & gave half an hour to my inner voice to decide. In the meantime, my ex-colleague from Locus, Jyoti messaged saying Nashikh has complete lockdown over the weekend & if I am going towards that side, I should’nt. At around 10:30 AM, I decided to head towards Surat. For the kind gesture of Mr Sagar, I decided to leave his phone number here - 9545921777 . I recommend the place Basecamp Backpacker to folks going to visit Daulatabad fort & Elora caves. They also have a backpacker stay in Aurangabad city as well.

Shirdi to Saptashrungi

While I was about to start from Sri Balaji Residency, someone approached me & asked if I am from Karnataka. He suggested this place called Saptashrungi which will be on the way for me. I quickly checked it on google map & it is actually on the way. I was not sure if I will actually take a detour to visit this place as previously visiting Kudala Sangama did not turn out to be that great an experience.

Anyway, by the time I started driving, it was already 11 AM. As per google maps, it was a 300 km ride. My first day ride from Bengaluru to Hospet was around the same distance. I started by 11 AM & reached by 7 PM comfortably. Now that I was a seasoned rider, I took the time a bit lightly. It did not turn out to be a good decision & in later part of this post, you would know why.

The path till Nifad were all paved but village roads. So it had less traffic & in general scenic. There were not any trucks on the road. Somewhere while driving, I realized that most big cities in Maharashtra will connect to either Pune/Mumbai . I was actually driving perpendicularly to those paths & hence might not be experiencing high traffic, which was good.

I guess there were bad patches but I do not remember specifically at the time of writing this post. Sunday was lockdown in Nasikh & the areas that I was passing come under Nasikh district. All the shops except kirana stores were closed, even the restaurants & ubiquitious ‘Rasvanti Griha’ (refer to my Day 3 post to know what those mean :-] ).

I noticed multiple grape cultivation on the way. Nasikh is known for vineyards. I was not exactly passing by Nasikh but seems like the cultivation goes ‘far & wide’.

At around 1 PM, I noticed some strange looking mountains. They seemed like replicas, positioned next to each other.

After some time, I did see a ‘Rasvanti Griha’ open & I stopped by to have a drink.

I then started riding to Surat again. I suddenly remembered what the guy at Shirdi told me about. Saptshrungi. While checking it on google maps, I quickly realized that these mountains are/in Saptshrungi. I also read one review which said that it is one of the ‘shakt bindu’. It also said about one shakti peeth among 3.5 shakti peeth in India.

This place has definitely caught my attention. Although I am not that religious, but I am in general fascinated with Indian mysticism & mythology. Offlate, I had read a good deal about energy body, marma etc. So the concept of Saptshrungi definitely looked like something I would like to explore. Again, I wanted the decision to be taken by my inner voice & not by my logical mind. After a brief moment of closing my eyes, I turned my vehicle back towards Saptshrungi.

The ride itself turned out to be pretty rewarding. It felt like mini Nandi. The views were pretty good.

I stopped by at an ‘official’ view point & one person selling something there told me that because of lockdown the temple is closed that day. He suggested to stay overnight (there are stay options close to the temple), visit tomorrow morning & then continue on my onward journey. I thought I would probably decide about this later & then continued to the top.

On reaching the top, I had a quick lunch in form of Misal Pav & tea. Left my bike at the restaurant & walked to the temple. It was closed but there was a view to the temple on the top. I medidated for some time sitting there. It did feel like there is some energy around the place but I dont know if it was actually there or my mind just conjured it for my body to feel. Anyway, I decided to head back & not to stay at the place.

Saptashrungi to Surat

On the way down, I noticed this modern but religious art, which seems pretty well done.

I also noticed a door kind of structure on a far away hill. I looked up in google map & figured there are some forts on nearby hills. Maybe, it is the door of one of the forts.

This time also, Google map took me from a route which was semi paved. But it was fun riding on the route. The route had lot of village folks looking at me with disbelief. Looks like very few outsider folks use the road.

Once back on the main road, I continued towards Surat. I soon exited Maharashtra & entered Gujrat. My perception of Gujrat was of a flat state with not much of hills. I realized that the roads are making me gain elevation. It was not really a problem except for the fact that I cant do a high speed ride on these roads & it was already close to 4 PM. Some amount of anxiety did kick in, but guess by now, I have trained my mind well enough not to worry too much about time related issues.

Saputara

I looked at the map to figure out that I am heading to a place called Saputara. Nobody had mentioned anything about the place to me, so I had no idea what it is about. The elevation gain continued for a good amount of time & I knew that I am reasonably high. I only understood the magnitude of height, when I saw some folks paragliding.

After this point, I started descending. There was a large market kind of place that came before it, but since I was time strapped, I did not stop there.

The descent made me look at one of the finest Indian ghat roads that I have ever seen in my life. At the hairpin bents, the road is made as much wide that it can actually have 4 trucks that can pass each other (2 on either side). I suddenly had great respect for Gujrat. I always had heard good things about Gujrat but this time, I was seriously impressed.

The scenary on the way was equally good. I was really rempted to stop. I did, only to take a few pics & then continued forward.

I stopped at a small restaurant whose location was pretty good. I asked the lady there till how far the roads are going to be like this. She said for another 40 odd kms till Waghai. I knew this is going to be a long day. Unfortunately, Google maps never indicated that there are large parts of ghat road on the way & I got fooled with the 300 km distance, which in reality is 400+ kms . Anyway, instead of panicking, I just decided to continue at my own pace. There is this thought that this is an excellent place to camp. Just find a restaurant which is either open entire night or that has folks sleeping in it & just camp outside/next to it. But then I realized that it is not too late to sleep & somehow I could not convince myself to stop there. So I continued.

Saputara to Navasari

I soon crossed Vansda Nation/Forest park . The road post Waghai has not become as good as I thought it would. The time was close to 7 PM & it has become dark. I continued to ride as per google maps direction. I was started to feel exhausted too but I was determined to reach Surat. The roads were not helping that much. The insect attraction to the headlight forced me to keep the visor down. But the visor had become dirty due to the full day ride which impacted the visibility. Anyway, I decide to ride at around 60 kmph with the visor down. It was a tad too dark to notice the villages that I am crossing.

At some point, I came to the main highway road, which was 6 lane wide & had heavy truck traffic. For a change, I liked to ride on it because it did not have the insect problem anymore. My vehicle also got into reserve mode somewhere prior to Navasari. I looked up for Reliance Petrol Pump & found one on the way between Navasari & Surat, around 30 odd kms away from my the then location. I decided to ride to the petrol pump. While looking for petrol pump, I also tried looking up for restaurants on the way to the pump. There is a Village taste garden restaurant that had decent reviews. It was on the other side of the road but I decided to take a pit stop there, eat & then head towards Surat.

The food at the restaurant was ok. I asked the waiter about Gujarti special dishes. He said some name but then he said it will be prepared Punjabi style. I was a bit tired to have a conversation & just said ok to him. After having dinner, I looked up hotels. I figured that if I stay in Kadodara, I do not have to take detour towards Surat & then can continue on my onward journey to Ahmedabad the next day. I zeroed it on a few hotels & called them too. I had called Be Happy AC dormitory as well which is inside Surat. I decided if I do not get a good hotel in Kadodara, then I will drive to the city.

& the dreadful thing happened

With the plan, I decided to ride towards the Reliance Petrol pump. 50m before the pump, my bike stopped. It felt like the battery is completely dead & none of the horn, indicators etc are working. In my bike, you need an active battery to even start the bike & keep it running.

I realized I was standing on the main road so I pushed the bike to the petrol pump. I was a bit surprised as I had got battery checked before the trip. I was reasonably sure it cant be the battery. I called up my local mechanic in Bangalore who asked me to check the fuse. There is a spare fuse & I replaced it but nothing happened. It was 10 PM by then. I then approached the petrol pump folks enquiring about mechanic & they told about some shops next to restaurants 500m away.

I went there & figured there is only one mechanic who has gone to his home. There is one guy from adjacent shop who understood my situation & then offered to ride me the nearby village (around 100m) where the mechanic lives. We went there, were able to locate his house but he was fast asleep & all effort to get his attention failed. That is when I figured that I need to wait till morning to get my bike repaired.

The problem is now to find an accommodation. There are some hotels at around 2-3 km distance but that would mean leaving the bike unattended with all the luggage. I thought it to be good opportunity to finally use my camping gear in the petrol pump & spend the night there. The petrol pump guys were not open to the idea first. But after some amount of meeting & discussion among themselves, allowed me to camp at the far end of the pump. The permission came with the condition that I need to wind up my tent by 5 AM as their supervisor comes by 6 & he might not like me tenting there. I agreed & quickly put together my tent. By the time, I went to sleep, it was 12 AM.

I did not have very great sleep as I was concerned of my luggage. Thankfully, the light was in a way setup that the bike shadow was getting casted on my tent. So if someone comes around the bike, I would have probably figured it.

I was a bit shy clicking picture of my tent in the night as I was not sure what petrol pump guys would feel. When I got up in the morning, there was a large truck parked beside me, which conveniently hid me from the petrol pump folks. I used the opportunity to click some pics.

I was ready with the tent packed by 6. I walked to the nearby restaurant where I went to figure out the mechanic in the night, for having tea, as there was nothing much to do till 8 AM.

P.S. Thanks to my wife Lakshmi & sister Arti. I called up my wife as soon as the bike broke down. She alongside my sister searched franatically for bike repair contacts in/around my area. They got contact of one Mr Dilpesh, who later turned out to be the owner of the Royal Enfield Service Center in Navasari. Mr Dilpesh promised to send folks in the morning & also tried helping me get an accommodation in the night. Although I chose to just camp at the petrol pump.