We left Diu about 10 days ago and have been on a bit of a roller coaster, into the hinterland we did go. We've had rocks thrown at us, been busted by the police and slept in a house of ill repute. None of this however was as bad as it sounds, let me start at the beginning…
From Diu Marty, Sarah, Denis and I thought we'd save the bikes and out sanity and take the train 1000kms to Vadodara from Veraval (where Denis nearly set our hotel room alight with his petrol stove, but that's another story) Great to see India unfold from the window. It was late by the time we arrived in Vadodara and had a bit of a surprise when there were 2 bikes instead of 3 in the hold. Mild panic, and half an hour later Marty’s bike was discovered in another carriage smelling of fish juice. Nice. Due to a 5-day wedding festival (800 weddings in 1 day) all the hotels were booked out. We managed to find a room near the train station that didn’t bare looking too closely at and God forbid you look out on the window sill. Anyway, we upped and left early doors the next day and after some minor mechanics we left for the hills.
We hit the road and stopped later that day at a village to pick up some supplies for a relaxing and peaceful night under the stars, India it would seem had other ideas. We off-roaded for a while to find a tranquil spot, but with 10 minutes most of the surrounding village has clocked us and came to say hello. Not quite grasping our vision of getting back to nature 1 of the men decided we needed a bodyguard and pledged his allegiance to the campers for the night. At one point after I told him to go home, he wandered off and then a couple of minutes later threw a couple of small rocks in our direction, Denis went in search of the rockefeller and explained as politely as you can at 1 in the morning when you’re tires and someone’s been throwing stones at you that we meant no offence and he could come back to the camp fire as long as he desisted his game. Pride swallowed he came back and then continued to pull Sarah and Denis’ hair for the rest of the night. I’m not sure we’ll be trying that one again!!
Onwards, we left Denis and Sarah at Jalgoan and headed to the Ajanta caves for some good wholesome tourist fun. Very impressive stuff.
We’ve been riding over the Western Ghats for the last few days - the mountain range that separates central India from the Arabian Sea, there have been some fantastic views.
On our way to Mahebaleshwar, a Maharashtran hillstation, also India’s strawberry capital : ) Marty’s tank ran out of petrol right opposite a police check point. Not Good! They tried to sting us for an undisclosed fine for an undetermined (possibly invented) offence. It wasn’t until a good 30 minutes of chat and after Marty had whipped out his chewing tobacco and offered it round to the cops that they let us go with a 5 pound backsheesh fine and a big smile. Once again proving that if you have enough patience, things become a lot easier.
I’m now sat in an exceptionally sweaty internet café in Ratnigiri, 50 km south of Ganpatipule – a beautiful beach where we have spent the last couple of days. Tomorrow we will head on towards Malvan and then, motorbikes permitting the beaches of Goa await us.
