A cycle trip to Kihim-Last trip of 2018

The year has ended and personally, I have a lot of resolutions and serious study plans for this year. So as I see all the hard work which will come my way eventually, I thought of having some fun to brighten my year end and get started with a refreshed mind for my new year.

So I, along with my 3 School friends departed for a trip (which we had planned together after a long time)a little late than we had scheduled it and started at around 6.30am in the morning. We caught the train to Gtb (Guru Tegh Bahadur) via Kurla. Then, from there, we caught a taxi to Wadala Truck Terminal. We took 4 racing cycles, "Fomas" for rent at "Rent-A-Cycle" and started at 7.30am from there. We went smoothly through the morning winters, zooming our wheels as fast as we can. As the road was empty, we hit the maximum speed in Mumbai itself.



 We reached Mazgaon Dockyard/Bombay Port Trust by 8.45 a.m. and saw all the fishermen and fishmongers trading for the fresh saltwater fishes. As it was a Sunday,(a favourable day to eat fishes)the morning market was crowded. We paid the ticket fair there for the famous ferry wharf at Bhaucha dhakka which is along the coast of Mazgaon Dock.

The ferry boat had 2 divisions. We enjoyed our ride on the basement floor of the boat while our cycles were transported to the Destination in the above division. Our destination was Revas at Alibaug and we reached there in around 1 hour 30 minutes. At first, we had thought of taking the route to Mandwa, Alibaug from Gateway of India but we found that the Ferries at Gateway of India don't take Cycles to Alibaug. So we came to Bhaucha Dhakka. Starting from Bhaucha Dhakka at 9.00am, we reached Revas, Alibaug at around 10.30am. While commuting, bringing snacks along with us swept out of our minds and hence we suffered from hungerpangs. So as soon as we halted at Revas, we jumped to a small hotel to fill our tummies. There we had sufficient breakfast and took something to eat for our next journey. We met 2 cyclists over there and they recommended us of visiting Kihim beach as we were there only for a day's trip. We directed maps to Kihim beach and started peddling, one behind the other, connecting our Bluetooth speakers to our phones for songs and enjoying our ride.The sun was shining brightly by that time. While riding, (since it was my first bicycle gear ride); I was trying different gear combinations and suddenly to my disappointment, the chain broke-down. The informer who had explained the gear system while renting the cycle had warned us that there may be a chain breakdown in case if we don't put it correctly but he didn't tell us how to fix it. There was no help available near me and I lacking the knowledge of fixing it, was myself in a fix. While trying to figure out something, suddenly two cyclists came from behind and extended a helping hand to me. Those two came from Pune and were backpackers of 2-3 days. Conincidently, they were going to the same destination as we were going. They knew the fix for the chain breakage and  I felt at peace. After that, they joined us for sometime and then moved ahead gradually.

The roads were very flat and joy of riding was immense. I am not a hodophile as such but at that time I felt like one. To our surprise, we saw a board named "Mandwa", where we had previously decided to go. So we halted there for sometime and took good pictures. We realised that it was more of a fishing area and not a tourist spot as such. After clicking photos we thought of watching the lighthouse which we was somewhere nearby along the bay according to Google. We travelled to the place directed but we couldn't see the light house. So we started again towards Kihim beach. Two of my friends who were very tired felt that it was unfeasible to reach Kihim beach and make our way back as it was already 1:45 p.m. Our ferry ride back to Bhaucha Dhakka from Revas Dhakka was at 4:15 p.m. So just the two of us decided to go to Kihim beach and come back and and the other two stayed there and decided to explore the nearby places. It was a 10km ride for the 2 of us and we started at around 2:00 p.m. and finally reached the place around 3.10 pm. It was a very tiring ride. Our legs were shivering and our bumbs soared. But the pain turned into relief when the golden sand and the waters at Kihim touched our feets. I had never rode so much on a cycle but  I felt that great things never come from comfort zone and this motivated me to ride the cycle.

The pain wavered in the satisfaction of our accomplishment to reach the beach.  Aware of the fact, that we had to reach Revas Dhakka by 4:15 p.m. to board the ferry at jetty, we didn't wait there for long. We had some lunch and started our retreat to our friends by 3:10 p.m. Also, we took some snacks and fluids to keep up our energy. After continuously riding for half an hour we stoped. That was around 3:40 p.m. and we had covered nearly 7 kms. We started again by 3:50 p.m. We reached Revas Dhakka by 4.25pm. The fact that the Ferry had not left still was heartening. The other two friends had already booked the return tickets for us also and we immediately boarded into the next ferry. The next one and a half hour was relaxing. We talked about each other's adventures and I felt at peace by knowing that the other two friends had also enjoyed their time.

They told us  that while exploring, they found the Mandvi lighthouse and and went through a rare path(with forest like feel) towards the lighthouse.Finally, after reaching they realised that it was not a lighthouse but only a chimney tower. One of them tried to climb the tower and while climbing upstairs his hand mistakenly touched a beehive and they ran for their lives to save themselves from the honey bees attack. They felt it was a humorous event even though one of them received a bee bite.

  

The day turned dark and we saw a cruise passing; which was on its way to 31st December's party. Later we jump down from the ferry, took our bicycles and rode back towards Wadala Truck Terminal. It was a wonderful experience to carry along. Also, I fell in love with cycling. Planning things and getting it done was what I learnt from this trip. To enjoy the small achievements along the path of reaching the final destination was something which this trip subtly taught me. I look forward to do more such trips as they teach us more engagingly than inside the four walls of our formal education.

Edited by-Utkarsha Patankar.

Thankyou.