As a three day holiday looms up, I start looking up maps for a longish drive. Weigh options and Tarkarli, Malvan starts looking good for –
- A 500 km run down the legendary Mumbai-Goa NH17.
- Quaint seaside Malvani village known for its beach and cuisine.
Start early and straightaway get on to the Mumbai-Goa NH17. The 20 ltr jerry can mounted on the Thar gives me the comfort to keep stoppages to the minimum.
NH17 up to Nagothane is a rattler with all kind of road works underway. After Kolad the road opens up and the tarmac improves considerably. The monsoon splendor of the Western Ghats too stands out. Stop at Mahad for breakfast. Ghats start right after Poladpur and the NH takes me through Chiplun, Sangameshwar, Hathkhamba, Lanja, Rajapur, Kankavli and Kasal in about 10 hours.
The drive between Poladpur to Kasal is super engaging with moderate to sparse traffic and amazing twisties. A light rain earlier in the morning seemed to have washed the tarmac.
You have to drive through this section, specially the 100 km section between Lanja and Kasal, to believe it. The section has super tarmac and it turns, climbs and falls in a span of seconds. The drive is so gripping that you just want to keep driving just to see what’s around the next curve. I really have to push myself to stop at Lanja for a quick lunch.
Mahad, Chiplun, Hathkhamba (turn off for Ratnagiri), Lanja and Kankavli are good stops for food and fuel.
The Thar was amazing with its high seating, super acceleration, sweet slotting long throw gears and short wheel base that helped me push the vehicle around bends and traffic. And the head turner that this vehicle is, helps cut through traffic.
Kasal to Malvan is another 30 km / 45 minute drive on a pretty decent road that has some good curvy sections and sparse traffic. The rain and mist only added to the fun I was having behind the wheel.
Malvan turned out to be a small town with shops and houses lining a maze of narrow roads. Noticed a decent hotel on the left as I entered the town.
A left, little ahead of the Bus Stand, heads to Tarkarli. This road (about 7 km) is again a narrow road lined with shops, houses, home stays and resorts. MTDC, which is well spread out on the beach is the best place to stay here. Being a long weekend, everything was booked. Some of the other resorts quoted about Rs. 2500/- for a non A/C room, which I thought was expensive. Drove around the Karli river and up to Devbag to check stay options. Anything that looked good was already booked!
The hotel in Malvan, now started to look good so turned around and headed back to Malvan. Malvani Homestay at Wairy-Bhutnath village had accommodation but I was too tired to explore.
Put up at Hotel Maharaj Executive for the night. Tried the Pomfret Thali at Only Fish next to the Malvan dock. While the pomfret was fine, I think the place can be given a miss.
This side of the town I thought was too touristy – the boat ride to Sindhudurg Fort, snorkeling and scuba diving happen from here. The Beach too was a mess. Not to impressed with the stay at Malvan, I was wondering if I should head to Panjim, which is a two hour run from here, in the morning instead.
Captains Log; 0310.2015
Next day 630 am I was back at Tarkarli. Parked at the MTDC parking and headed out on to the beach.
Bird calls got me to quickly change lens from the Nikkor 18-55 to the 55-300.
Got super lucky with a pair of Spotted Owlets!
On the way back I stopped at Malvani Homestay and was amazed with the huge property and clean room at a cost of Rs. 1,200/- per night. The room overlooks a small coconut and beetle nut grove! Cursed myself for not checking out the place the previous day. Immediately went back to Malvan, checked out of the hotel and came back to Malvani Homestay.
I was blown away by the home-made vegetarian food accompanied with my favorite – sol kadhi. The lunch and dinner at the homestay was simply fabulous.
Evening, I was back at the beach to catch the sunset with the Nikkor 18-55 mm lens.
Captains Log; 0410.2015
Started at 6 am for the home run. I was fascinated with the N17 so took the same route back rather than try the Kolhapur route.
530 pm I was home.
