Started early morning@ 5AM from Kandivali. Pillion was my wifey. It was my 1st long(250+ kms) journey on my Enfield so decided to have it with her.
As soon as i reached highway my bike fuel got into reserve mode. After crossing Check Naka had a fill of 7 ltrs at Mira RD and went on towards Thane. I was very curious about the mileage of the bike.
Have to be pretty alert on GHOD BUNDER RD at this time as lots of heavy trucks and carrier try to dominate every other vehicle on the road. Additionally there is a huge line towards other side of rd for Octroi check at Dahisar naka hence you will even find these crazy Trucks running on wrong side of road with Headlights straight into your face.
Once you catch NH3 towards Bhiwandi-Kalyan, things looks pretty well n set. Really enjoyed riding on NH3 at early morning. Crossing Shahpur and Kasara Ghat before the sunlight is really enjoying.Climate was very cool even in April.
I reached Igatpuri non-stop by 7.30 and had a good breakfast at Green view restaurant.just 2 kms ahead of Manas. From there i restarted at 8 and went on straight riding towards Nashik, as it was adviced to me by many to skip GHOTI bypass road and instead reach Shirdi via Nashik due to poor road conditions(which was not very true, realised while in return journey).
Before reaching Nashik, i realised i found a way(left turn from Amand-Trymbak Naka) to reach Trymbakeshwar-24 kms from highway.So i took left and reached Trymbakeshwar by 9. I was very happy for the distance i had covered till now.(200 kms in 4 hrs including half hour break).
Trymbakeshwar is a excellent place. Apart from spritual darshan a Very country side experience.
You will find typical Marathi Mama (white sadra+pyjama with white 'gandhian' cap)all over there.
By 11AM i was done with Trymbak darshan and a bit of window-shopping and wanted to leave for Shirdi immediately.Enquired with few locals and a traffic cop about the best way to reach shirdi and all adviced via Nashik city ignoring Ghoti bypass.
But there was the problem...... it was midafternoon and the city was filled with people and traffic all over.I was lost!!!...anyhow managed to get the correct road by 12 via Sinnar.
And found one of the most horrible traffic( which i beleive wasn't a daily one) of my long rides.
2 way traffic on the road and jammed from both sides. It took me 1 hour to cover that jammed stretch of 15 kms.
From Sinnar junction took left turn and it was a real releiver. On the junction i stopped and had 2-3 glases of Sugarcane juice. relaxed for half hour as it was scorching heat outside and then continued.
From there Shirdi was approx 65 kms, but the ride was amazing as the road were braoder and scenic.
By 2.30 i was in shirdi and it took me 1 hour to find a good + air conditioned + budget room.
Shirdi has changed a lot…… lousy couples+BARS+fast food/Snacks joint all over makes it more of a commercial tourist place and not religious anymore.
[After finding the room had decided to rest till evening and then go for Darshan. But hunger for food and my hunger of exploring pull me out of AC room into the heat. Had some Pizzas@Dominos and on continous request from wifey enter the Shirdi Shrine for Darshan as it looked there wasnt much crowd(atleast from outside it looked so).
It was 4PM There were not much crowd infront of GATE1 or GATE2, we decided GATE 2, covered the ground floor Q in 5 mins and moved to 1st floor of which 1st room was cleared in 15-20 mins and went to another room(big one) which was very much filled.
6 O clock passed and we where in the 1st line of that Q and the entry to another room was after line 8.
It was 2 hours process to clear that room...which was very challenging with the hot climate with no access to drinking water(although there were TAPS n filters but with no proper arrangements).
Once we were out of that room...it cearly put us in front of 'SAI'. Withing 10 mins we were done and out by 8PM.
We were very tired and exhausted but also happy that we had the 2 of the greatest shrine Darshan on the same day.
Went into the hotel room, picked some roadside stall quickies as our hotel only provided 'Andhra Meals'and slept quickly because of tiredness.]
Had put an alarm at 6AM but over slept and woke up at 7. Left Shirdi by 8AM and this time to save time,got onto to Ghoti bypass which was absolutely scenic journey. Huge windmills, High mountains and small roadside joints make a amazing way.
By 9.30 i reached NH3, had some tea and biscuits and left quickly for Bombay.
In next 2 hours reached Kalyan, halted there for some food as the heat was getting high into head.
In next 1 hour i managed to reach home@kandivali by 1PM and let me swear the first long journey on my enfield was excellent.
**************TRIP SUMMARY*****************
Distance covered = 550 KMS (Mumbai-Igatpuri-Trymbakeshwar-Nashik-SHirdi-Ghoti-Igatpuri-Mumbai)
Expenses = 3500INR [Petrol = 1100; HOTEL = 1000; Food n others=1400]
Total Time= 30 hours including 10 hours to-n-fro journey.
