Thursday, June 29, 2006

The Carbon Cycle Part 1


It wasn't my idea, I must accept. But I supported it whole heartedly. Deep came up with this brainwave of going to Chiplun on our cycles. We did a practice trip to Karnala (55km) down the line from Mumbai. Had a decent if not amazing time then.
So we started. 18th of July, 4.30 am Dadar. By the time we reached Vashi, we had our first problem. Deep's brake came off. Neither of us knows how, but it did. So that was our first repair stop. We reached Panvel in light rain and a rainbow to the west. Thats Deep, at Panvel ST stand waiting for a cup of life giving tea.(Fig. 1).
Enroute to Karnala, the bird sanctuary, Deep had a fall. Nothing of much significance but it left him full of mud. So we had to wash up at a roadside well where truckdrivers were having a bath. So I, having nothing else to do, chatted with them. They were impressed by our plan and offered advise about road traffic and stuff like that. Pretty cool for the general opinion of truck drivers. And while all this happened, our bikes rested. (Fig. 2).
We were already behind schedule with the brake break and the fall break. There was Karnala, far away in the fog(Fig. 3), a distant target we had set for yourselves but were still far from it even though the deadline had passed. It was actually a pleasant ride, and we knew we could make it upto Mangaon (our planned night halt) till the evening. so it wasn't all that bad to be late. Soon we managed to make our way up Karnala. And who should meet us but Gangal in person. He had been wanting to come with us on a cycle but had been unable to find one. (Yeah, as if they're 'found' anywhere.) He happened to select the same day to go and visit his cousins down south, which was a nice coincidence. So we talked said our final good-byes and then his car went zooming up the slopes which slowly but steadily started climbing.
This was just past Karnala from near the Yusuf Meherally Centre at Tara.(Fig. 4). Thats the whole of Karnala fort. Its an easy one to climb, even all the way to the top. Do go there. After we left this, we went downhill towards the creek to be crossed before Pen. The map had shown a small distance between Karnala and Pen, we expected to cover it in about 20-30 mins. As it turned out, it was not only long but also had a huge number of ups and downs on the road. So we painfully reached Pen about an hour and a half late as compared to our schedule. Then we had a glorious breakfast of 2 double burjis each with about 6 pieces of pav (again, each.). Posted by Picasa

2 Comments:

Blogger Katha Collage said...

Nice description..but come out your once-a-year posting routine..and blog more often!!
keep blogging, cheers!

June 29, 2006 at 11:16 PM  
Blogger omai said...

nice write up.. I wished I had made the trip too :)

September 23, 2006 at 3:26 AM  

Post a Comment

<< Home