Woke up bright and early today.. 530am.. not by choice, more so because of ample sleep since I had slept.
Headed out to the beach side for a nice long walk. Not a soul in sight. Clean shore for miles around. This was an ultimate private beach. The beach crabs were going about their business running from hole to hole, scurrying as stray dogs came by. No traffic noice, no humans to pollute the silence. It was breathtaking.
Headed back to the homestay after an hour and was given a breakfast tea. The kitten kitu was already nosing around my stuff. Freshened up, packed my bags, paid my dues to the host – 700 bucks… About $10 for the stay as well as the fish last night. Loaded up the bike and left.
There was still no cellphone coverage here. The views to the next destination were nothing short of breathtaking. As the sun rose up, the dry grass on the roadside started shining its various shades of yellow, brown, golden, and I had to stop everywhere to take pictures.
Had two ferry crossings to do today, which would save me a total of 150 kms of ride. On these ferrys the crowd knows each other, I’m guessing because they do the same commute on the same ferry everyday. And they always tend to talk to you to ask where you are going where you are coming from etc. One of the ferrys was delayed by 30 minutes because a bus got stuck on the ramp while boarding it. After a lot of geniuses trying wooden planks and pressure Jack’s, the bus was on board. Here I also met an Australian couple touring across continents on their bikes. They call themselves v2r as in ‘we two;tour’. Chatted with them a little and headed on to my destination which wasn’t very far from there.
The stretch was all along the coast, narrow roads within the mountains, right next to the coast, and every now and then you could see glimpses of the beachfront below. Beautiful !
Thankfully today’s ride wasn’t very long, since I’ve developed a severe case of carpal tunnel syndrome. Not as bad as it sounds, it’s irritated nerves and numbness on the hands. I’m guessing it will take a few days to go away once I return.
Reached ganpatipule and checked into the MTDC hotel there. Friendly staff, room overlooking the beach, good food.. that’s all I need ! Had a heavy ‘surmai fish thali’ lunch and roamed around the resort. Come evening and I was hungry again. Headed back to the restaurant, had anither heavy meal..
Reached back to my room after that and started feeling all drowsy. Decided to call it a night and crashed at 930.
Tomorrow will be a long ride..
