While all other friends were still sleeping, myself and Sandesh got ready for the return adventure. Sushil's parents were awake, and his mother prepared a cup of tea for us. When we started the air was a little warm and humid, and full of smell from the sea shore. The normal morning sounds were yet to start. As we moved from Ratnagiri to Hathkhamba, we were facing east but there was no sun to face because we crossed the eastward journey before sunrise. By the time we turned left on the Goa highway toward Mumbai, we had caught up a nice rhythm and good speed.
The journey towards Chiplun was faster than we expected. It was just the two us, and both of us were energised with the three day rest. By now we were used to the highway travels and the truck drivers that crossed us at a high speed. The roads in Konkan are narrow, and a bicycle in the left lane meant a bit of irritation to the drivers. To overtake us they had to take extra caution, and also had to lose speed sometimes. Understanding their difficulties we were cooperating with them as much as possible, allowing them to cross maintaining their speed, but it was not always possible.
Wasting very little time for breakfast in between, we reached Chiplun just before noon. As per the plan Chiplun was our destination for today.
“What are we going to do for the rest of the day?”,
“We have travelled only 90 kilometres so far, we can definitely go a little more before we call it a day.”
It is hard to say who was saying it to whom, but it looked like both of us were thinking on the same lines.
While we were having lunch in a roadside shop we evaluated our options. One was to go north towards Mumbai. The next possible place for an overnight stay was “Bharana naka” or Khed which was about 30 kilometres. The other road was going towards the East. We could have crossed the Ghats within 40 kilometres. We decided to take the new route. There were several advantages. We could have crossed the ghats on the first day itself. As we were fresh and energetic, it made sense to travel the difficult part first. We could have travelled through a different region, seen different places, and yes, without thinking much, we decided to take the new road.
The road before lunch was covered with trees, also it was early hours in the morning. As we turned right, the situation changed completely. Since the direction of travel changed towards the east, shadows of the trees refused to cover the roads. With a full stomach and hot sun and tired limbs, we started to feel the difference. After a journey of a few kilometres, the ghat started. The road to Koyananagar is also known as the “Kumbharli Ghat”. It is a fairly long ghat covering more than thirty kilometres in length.
Something completely unexpected was waiting for us just around the first bend.
“Loose gravel and a smell of molten tar”. Yes, the road repair work was in progress. “My God, this is going to kill us.”
Hot sun, loose gravel (khadi) on the road, boiling hot tar on the surface, wood fire that was used to boil the tar and the smoke added to the steep upward slopes. Initially there was a hope that once we cross the repair zone, we will be OK. The repair zone did not seem to end. The work was going on simultaneously at multiple places. There were zones where it was just impossible to paddle the bike, that required us to walk and push the bicycles along with us, making sure that the feet did not slip off the chappals and touch the ground. We did sympathise with the labourers who were working all day and in many cases bare feet.
We reached the top or the place called “Ghat Matha” exactly at 5 in the evening. Now a days you will see a small shop selling tea / coffee etc, at "Ghat Matha". Many years ago there was nothing. The moment we noticed the downward slope in front of us, we literally threw away our bicycles, and jumped on the ground lying flat. The support from the ground and whatever little grass that was there, was feeling like a 'Thai massage' to our feet.
The day was not over yet, but there was no more energy left. It will be prudent to take some rest and get started again in some time.
* For comparison, Khopoli is 61m above Lonavala is about 622m above MSL, so the Khandal ghat is 541 meters difference. Travel distance is roughly 15 km.
Whereas Chiplun is at 7m above MSL, and Koynanagar is at 897m above MSL. That is an 890 meter difference and the on road distance is 30 kilometres. So it was like climbing Khandala ghat two times. That was after cycling 80 KM from Ratnagiri.
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