The tea stall below the pass at first light
Thirty-eight kilometres in the dark, then a steel tumbler of chai and a cooling engine.
Ghat Road
Get the next stop on my ride, from the road, the garage or the tea stall, every other Saturday.
Pune
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The road so far
Every stop, newest first
Each letter is one stop on the route, in the order I reached it.
Tamhini Ghat, Maharashtra
Malshej Ghat, Maharashtra
Eleven hairpins in the first dry week
After four months of rain, the road is clean, and I finally count the bends.
Mahad, Maharashtra
A night in a garage behind the petrol pump
The owner moved a scooter so my bike could stand, and I slept beside it.
Kundalika River, Maharashtra
The river bridge at the end of the monsoon
A stone bridge, brown water just below the arch, and an hour spent listening.
Varandha Ghat, Maharashtra
Oiling the chain on a wet shoulder of road
What I carry, how long it takes, and why I never skip it.
Pune, the desk
What goes in the journal at every stop
Three lines, one pressed leaf and the odometer reading, before I touch my phone.
Amba Ghat, Maharashtra
Fog on the pass, twelve kilometres at twenty
Visibility of one bike length and a truck horn somewhere above me.
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Downloads
PDF · 32 pages
Western Ghats Route Sheets
Ten day-ride sheets with distances, fuel stops, tea stops and turning points.
About me
I live in Pune and I have owned the same motorbike for eleven years. It has a cracked mirror, a seat I recovered myself and a habit of starting on the second kick. I ride it into the Western Ghats whenever work allows.
I never planned to write about it. I started keeping a note at every stop, a tea stall, a bridge, a night in someone’s garage, and the notes turned into a ride you can follow one letter at a time.