By chance, i came back to India from US a month early and it was like it was destined for that wedding of my cousin which was in Konkan.. This trip to Konkan was due for last more than two years and so it was for Linea. The end destination was Gudaghe, a small village about 30 km from Dapoli.
Pre departure discussions, route finalization:
We were 13 people including 4 kids and in three cars. I was very cautious as Linea has a bad clearance for Indian road (my linea is 2010 model, new has enhanced shocks & fiat has increased the GC, at the cost of handling, as some say). Evenone was up for Mulshi road via Tamhini. But then i was skeptical, I asked on my fb to get info about the latest road conditions, as expected my friends Pankaj (www.Pankajz.com) and Deepak Kulkarni (P@P friend) suggested Mahabaleshwar road is the best as it has NH4 connectivity and ghat section road is also good to connect Poladpur to connect to NH17 (Mumbai - Goa). My friend from my childhood Shirish and Deepti's brother Alok also confirmed that Tamhini road is in bad shape @ 40 km.
So these were the options:
3 basic routes:
1. Via Tamhini
1.a via Tamhini > Mangaon > Mandangad > Dapoli > Gudaghe (195km)
1.b via Tamhini > Mangaon > Khed > Dapoli > Gudaghe (217km)2. Via Bhor - 184km
Bhor > Varandha > Mahad > Dapoli
3. Via Mahabaleshwar - 226km
Mahabaleshwar > Poladpur > Khed > Dapoli > Gudaghe
Out of all these Mahabaleshwar was longest route and had 5 ghat sections.
> Khambatki (before Satara)
> Pasarani (after Wai)
> Radtondi (post Mahabaleshwar)
> Ambenali (Post above, Mahabaleshwar)
> Kashedi Khavti (post Poladpur)
So i finalized that linea will go by option 3. Somehow convinced aai baba that this is the best option.
Day 1: Dec 11
We started from Sinhgad road at 7:45AM somewhat late, Nikita and all other added to little late departure against planned 7AM. Filled petrol of 1500 @ 77 INR a litre ( already had around 12 litres in tank). The road was superb, so was the ride. Linea conquered the road like a king. We had to make sure we don't miss the mahabaleshwar exit. We had missed Bhor exit last time while going to Dapoli last time. So you can guess the ride quality on NH4 in Linea.
but to sum up, in less than 2 hours we were at Mahabaleshwar. No stop apart from a break of 15 min in front of Mapro garden for strawberries.
We left without any further delay and stopped to see the Pratapgad from the ghat section. We had sandwiches and some snacks, as Nikita had her breakfast, milk, refused to eat Chocos.
After that we started the descend.. Ambenali ghat, one of the longest one, we zoomed in and just passed it like it was a straight road. The road was good, far better than Tamhini. We reached poladpur and had a break again for tea/coffee for 15-20 mins. and left for onward journey towards Dapoli. We had planned to have lunch at Dapoli, Amrapali, veg lunch home by Mr/Mrs Paranjape, its in a lane infront of Gram Panchayat, Jalgaon.
We waited for other two cars which were coming by Tamhini. But they delayed as another car (which was not initially with us) had an accident, luckily no one was hurt seriously, but car windscreen was damaged, so they dint come along. The initial two were reaching late so we continued and reached the Gudaghe village by 3. In Dapoli, filled the petrol of 500 INR, with a plan to fill again in Guhagar. We had lunch which was great home food.
Road to Gudaghe was horrendous. Linea touched 3 times in total journey all from Dapoli to Gudaghe. This was really Hard.
Day 2: Dec 12,
Wedding day, The wedding venue was home of my uncle, which was decorated extraordinarily. Forget about venues in Mumbai Pune, being in a small village, it looked beautifully decorated. The Linea rested for complete day, I dint want it to go scratching against the worst road.
Day 3: Dec 13
We started our journey at 10:30 and reached Dabhol. I had lot of doubts, as all my cousins warned me that Linea will scratch at bottom as well as front bumper and rear bumper at Jetty. The Jetty was important league of journey. We wanted to go to Velneshwar. We already had a booking for 2 days at MTDC. To my surprise, Linea went just fine and had no problem with Jetty. The Jetty saved us around 80km or driving. The ticket for the luxurious Linea was 123 INR (includes Driver charge) For individual, the price is 10 Rs which is ridiculously cheap. For a normal car such as Indica/WagonR, its 113 INR.
It connects to Veldur. From Veldur, the bad road starts again. For about 4-5 km road is worst but the work is going on and might finish as well in 3-4 months. The Road from that was good.
The Road from Guhagar to Velneshwar exit was awesome, just awesome. Even being in hard rain hit area, the road was in excellent shape, with lots of trees. Two laned with marks and with dividing white line,
We reached Velneshwar and had lunch at MTDC restaurant. In the meantime I kept searching for petrol pump and i could not find one. Anyway, we had good time at Huts at MTDC. The view was beautiful. The resort is situated at top of Velneshwar so you get a fantastic view of Beach and palm trees. The sound of waves is just too good. Evening we spent at MTDC only as girls were tired and needed little time on swings. All the equipment was in good shape, as they were new.
Evening again we had food at restaurant, I dont know what people expect, the location is pretty outside and you dont get anything in vicinity. I had read the reviews stating bad food @ MTDC, but just to find that the food is not that bad. Fish depends on catch so you cant really expect the food like you get in city. They had Pomfret, some tried but i was good with Veg... We spent some time outside listening to sound of waves, the wind was blowing. and then we all went to sleep.
Day 4: Dec 14
We started our journey post breakfast at MTDC, Pohe/Upama. We went to Hedvi, famous Ganesh Temple. Then after I started panicking suddenly the Range on Linea started showing 54 km based on amount of petrol remaining.
There is a place called Bamanghal. Its a place where sea water rises from a ridge. someone gave us direction we went in the direction for 5km just to find that its wrong. We came back finally found correct road and then it was also around 3 km inside main road. Nikita was sleeping so I dint go ahead but rest all went and saw it. What i heard was, the place was good but the water was not coming that much as it was low tide. Now i was almost cursing for not filling more petrol as the range had dropped drastically and it gave me a buzzer with a notification low fuel warning. First time outside city and no where near petrol pump.
We came back to Velneshwar (which was around 7-8 km) had lunch at Gokhale Home food. Came back to MTDC
Evening we had fun at the beach. Had to park Linea on the side of the road. Evening I wanted to check about the reserve capacity of linea but there was no 3G. I tried on 2G but in the end called a friend who has Linea. He told me that the reserve is around 6-7 L which should be good for a ride of around 60-70km.
But it sounded way earlier than my final day run to the pump.
Day 5: Dec 15
Everyone was furious at me as linea was buzzing in between small runs. I have had a fight over it with my mother and sister. Deepti was quite cool trying to cool me down.
So as decided on 14th night, I woke up early and left to fill the Italian beauty. As soon as I reached the top of road, trip meter started showing 54 km range which was blank earlier. I was relaxed as usual. Now there was no one in danger of strangling in between. More concerned about Nikita though we had another car, it was Maruti zen estilo and we were 6 adults 3 kids. I went ahead to Shrungaltali comfortably and filled the Petrol.
Evening we had fun at the beach. Had to park Linea on the side of the road. Evening I wanted to check about the reserve capacity of linea but there was no 3G. I tried on 2G but in the end called a friend who has Linea. He told me that the reserve is around 6-7 L which should be good for a ride of around 60-70km.
But it sounded way earlier than my final day run to the pump.
Day 5: Dec 15
Everyone was furious at me as linea was buzzing in between small runs. I have had a fight over it with my mother and sister. Deepti was quite cool trying to cool me down.
So as decided on 14th night, I woke up early and left to fill the Italian beauty. As soon as I reached the top of road, trip meter started showing 54 km range which was blank earlier. I was relaxed as usual. Now there was no one in danger of strangling in between. More concerned about Nikita though we had another car, it was Maruti zen estilo and we were 6 adults 3 kids. I went ahead to Shrungaltali comfortably and filled the Petrol.
The best part is the road from Velneshwar to Shrungaltali is AWESOME.. There is so much of rain however the condition of road is really good. Shame you Pune district guys. Even after paying a toll the Paud - Mulshi road, is bad. I know the main aim for the toll is to maintain Lavasa road, but still.
Came back to Velneshwar before 8AM, had breakfast no one was aware.. Dad came to know about this, said I could have come, he was never in any argument but I dint wanted him to get involved too.
We left Velenshwar late at 9:30-10AM reached home by 6PM after spending lot of time for food on NH4 at 3PM odd.
All in all it was a fabulous ride with Italian beauty.
Lets see where we go next, may be little less bumpy ride..
Came back to Velneshwar before 8AM, had breakfast no one was aware.. Dad came to know about this, said I could have come, he was never in any argument but I dint wanted him to get involved too.
We left Velenshwar late at 9:30-10AM reached home by 6PM after spending lot of time for food on NH4 at 3PM odd.
All in all it was a fabulous ride with Italian beauty.
Lets see where we go next, may be little less bumpy ride..
