Western Ghats of Maharashtra in Monsoon 2011 Day 2

Day 2 14th August 2011

I woke up only at 8 am known that they had to start from Devanagiri and ride till Belgaum. Today’s plan was to reach Amboli for the night. It was a hill station in the MH. This is the first Ghats we will be riding on. It was just around 70 kms from Belgaum. We kept it less today as they are already riding till Belgaum. I went out for a walk to the nearby market place after having breakfast in the hotel I stayed itself. The name if the hotel was Udaya Bhavan it’s located at RPD cross road. It was just 300 per night for single person. The room had a double bed. The food was also awesome udipi style and was very cheap!!!
Steve wanted to check his bike at a HeroHonda service centre. But today being a Sunday the service centre was closed. When I was walking out looked at my bike and found that the rear tyre had less air pressure. Went to a nearby petrol station and checked for air. Rear had 10 ps less than what I filled in Pune. Suspecting a puncture I was looking for one on the rear tyre. Found a nail on the rear. So went to a nearby shop to fix the puncture. The guy removed the nail and looked if air was leaking. It didn’t. So it was all good. I went back to my room geared up took the luggage and checked out of the room. It was around 12. So had lunch at same place and called the guys. They were some 50 kms before Belgaum and told that Steve lost his mobile phone somewhere while coming. He told that the electrical issue is sorted and it’s random. It was good for now. He wanted to get a sim for the same number and a mobile for temporary use. I tried in the market and found that they required a FIR copy to prove a duplicate sim card. I sent a SMS to yuvi asking them to come towards the Amboli road and proceeded towards the outskirts of the city. I was waiting for them on the road towards Amboli at a bus stop.



After some 20 mins I saw Steve’s yellow zma and yuvi’s black 220 coming towards me. I waved hand and stopped them. We had a brief chat for 10 mins and started towards Amboli.



From the morning Nitin(bladerunnerz) was SMSing me asking about my whereabouts. He told me that he is starting from Pune and will join us at Amboli. He will be joining us for two days. I kept updating him on our whereabouts and proceeded.

I was leading and we were proceeding towards Amboli. Soon after entering MH, the road conditions worsened. We were riding on potholes filled roads. Experienced light showers. They both didn’t have lunch so stopped at a dhaba for lunch.




I called Nitin, he told me he was some 20 kms before Amboli. A board at the place where we stopped said Amboli was 22 kms. So I asked him to wait there and we would catch up. After riding for around 7 kms the ghats started and didn’t see Nitin anywhere. Then I realized he must have been on another route. Sent him a msg that we will meet at Amboli. First sight of the ghats was exciting. Roads were good on the ghats. Enjoyed the uphill ride to Amboli.






We saw two waterfalls on the route and met Nitin on the way to one of the falls. After a quick intro session we rode together to Amboli. It was a very small hill station with limited accommodations. Looked at a room with beds for four but the walls were all wet. We went and searched for better options and came back to the same room as none were available. Took the same room for 1000 per night. It was a long weekend and the rooms were priced double.
Amboli was very foggy and a bit cold. After a decent dinner we went back to room. Drops of water were leaking inside the room. Cursed the room and hit the beds after discussing the plan for next day.