Today was going to be a long day and we were sure we had to leave by 6:30 am. We were awake and ready. All set to go, as we stepped out it was dark and extremely foggy. So we waited for half an hour before we could hit the highway. The air was chilly and weather foggy. I particularly like to ride this time of the day when the mist settles down on you leaving that palpate feeling. The air is so fresh that the tiredness just doesn’t dare to set in and you can keep riding on and on! It was exactly the same feeling that I had now. Flyovers were being constructed at many locations enroute, thus forcing us to slow down and take a diversion. But then it was good to slow down at times, especially to enjoy the weather if nothing else.
Taking a couple of breaks we kept enjoying the ride. It had been a pretty smooth ride. And after we crossed Surat it had gotten even better, smoother and faster! We were cruising at a speed not less than 100 kmph. It was fun to ride at the speed of wind! But it turned out to be short lived. As we approached Baruch we found ourselves stuck in an almost 5 km long jam. Though we tried to cut through finding the smallest of the gaps we could we reached a point where we were stranded. There was a huge lorry ahead of us which carried a huge load that seemed to be spilling out from everywhere. It had occupied the space of almost two trucks. All our attempts to find some space to overtake this turned futile. And ahead of this there was plenty of space to escape the crowd. We were even more disheartened.
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| The long traffic jam |
There was nothing we could do. It was a perfect time for break. The helmet came off my head and the slowly the camera out of my pouch. I then did some experiments with the camera taking some photos and having fun. The half an hour waiting time seemed to have vanished in a couple of minutes and we managed to cut through the traffic. A few km later we crossed the bridge over Narmada. The place was extremely scenic but the bridge was narrow with two way traffic on the same. This was the cause of traffic and I did not want to add to the wait time of others by stopping here to click photos.
We reached Baroda around lunch time. It city was 12 km off the highway. We were to meet Anu’s cousin here for lunch and hence we diverted. After the smooth ride this 12 km ride seemed like a punishment. It took us around 45 min to reach because of bad traffic and more importantly the “no road sense” people. And I always thought people in Pune didn’t have any. It is said that if you can drive / ride in Pune you could do so anywhere in the world. However, I would like to differ and suggest all the people who say so to visit Baroda once to have their opinion changed.
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| Some experiements with the camera |
Digvijay – Anu’s cousin was recently married and settled in Baroda. We somehow had missed his wedding. We had been longing to meet him but the plans never materialized. So we had planned a quick visit to him in this trip. He was excited to see us and so was his wife. A long chitchat session was followed by a scrumptious lunch. Their hospitality was an experience to remember.
We had had a long break. We were refreshed. We had to cover a long distance. We had planned to go upto Mehasana to be put up for the night. So we left around 3 pm. Again it was not earlier than 45 min before we could hit the highway.
Bikes were not allowed on the 6 lane NH8 (being an express highway) so we stuck to the old road that connected Baroda to Ahmadabad. It was equally good but the trucks blocked our way many a times. It took us around an hour and 15 min to cover the 105 km distance and we were in Ahmadabad at 6 pm. The journey had been quite tiring so we stayed back in Ahmadabad itself for the night.
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