Trip: Mumbai - Alibaug - Murud - Janjeera Fort
KMs Total: 350 KMs
Bikes: 3 Bullets, 1 Pulsar
Riders: 4 boys, 2 girls pillion
Date: 21-22 July 2007
Meeting point: Center One mall, Vashi, Navi Mumbai.
Stay: Mauli Resort
Trip photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/ujjwal.dey/BBMurudAlibaug
Bombay Bikers is a cool group touring regularly. They announced and organized the Alibaug-Murud trip well in advance and I was very pleased with the whole deal. Things got delayed on Saturday 21st and people showed up finally at 7:30 AM. We rode the highway and had a halt at a dhaaba midway to Alibaug.
The road to Alibaug was smooth. We had some difficulty locating the Mauli Resort where we were to stay overnight. The resort is new and not yet well known in Alibaug. It is at Mapagaon around 8 KMs from Alibaug. The resort is lavish spread around for acres of greenery. There were 2 residential buildings and we were on the first floor of one with 2 rooms and a hall for our use. The stay was cheap at Rs. 500 per day per person inclusive of breakfast, lunch and dinner. It also included our tea/coffee quota. We looked around the place and were very happy with the village settings with a variety of cattle and hens and rabbits and birds bred there. The place also had a nice quaint brook flowing through it with rocks among them for us to climb on and pass the Saturday afternoon. Lunch was delicious and so was dinner. The place is kept clean and very luxurious considering the paltry amount we were charged.
On Sunday we rode to Mandwa beach for a brief stop from where we headed towards Murud via Kashid beach. We were bent upon seeing the Janjeera Fort and we reached there in the late afternoon. We got a ride on a slow sailboat, the only way to reach Janjeera Fort which is built on the sea. The Fort was built on an island using the rocks from the isle. An architect from Africa had designed it for the Nawab of Murud and it took 22 years to build it on the 22 acres of land on the sea. Completely unconquered the Fort was free from Maharaj Shivaji and his son Sambhaji who built a smaller fort in the sea nearby to lay siege. No one including the Moghuls or British could capture this impenetrable fortress where the walls were thick and dark from outside but the troops could see everything outside for miles. The cannons could shoot to a range of 25 KMs. The sailboat took an arc around from Murud to the main gateway of Janjeera and took about 20 mins to reach there. We paid Rs. 50 per person for to and fro ride on the boat; Rs. 10 per person at a bargained rate for a guided tour of Janjeera Fort. We saw the Escape Gate, the massive cannons, the hidden assault hallways, the ponds with sweet water, and climbed on to the top of the fort for an incredible panoramic view of the fort and surroundings.
We headed back from Murud at 6 PM and it was dark when we reached Mauli Resort. We had a late dinner without any complaints from the generous staff at Mauli where we were to checkout that afternoon. So plans went a little awry. But the riders were determined to return to work next morning. I wanted another night at that cozy rural resort. Then we packed and headed into the night at 11 PM towards Mumbai.
Midway we stopped to celebrate our Bombay Bikers founder Kamal's birthday at midnight. Plenty of cheering and birthday bumps for the boy at the early hours of 23rd July. We headed out again in the pitch black route lighted by our sharp headlights and awoken by the sound of the thundering Bullets. NH4 was spooky to say the least, twisting and turning among the forest of the bird sanctuary as they cast weird shadows in the night. We blasted on and kept pace with each other and reached Navi Mumbai. We said our goodbyes and rode hard on the odd hours to get to our homes. I reached my home at 4:30 AM not bothering about the racket I was making in the housing colony. I was too tired and drenched in rain and sweat to worry about whom or what I awoke with my Enfield's royal thumping.
I had a sound sleep after a few smokes and woke up late when office demanded my presence as usual by a rude phone call.
Author: http://www.ujjwaldey.com/
Some cool pics:
1 Rocky Balboa after the 95 step climb to the summit of Janjeera Fort:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/2write/1024530839/
2 At the Chor Darwaza or Escape Gate
http://www.flickr.com/photos/2write/1024530807/
3 Ruins inside Janjeera Fort
http://www.flickr.com/photos/2write/892771794/
4 Zoom in to the Fort
http://www.flickr.com/photos/2write/892771488/
5 At the Mauli Resort brooks
http://www.flickr.com/photos/2write/891601419/
6 Rocks and Greens - Mauli Resort
http://www.flickr.com/photos/2write/891601213/
7 Our Hall and me in Black Tees
http://www.flickr.com/photos/2write/891228317/