CKRT Day 04 - Guhagar to Ganapatipule

Continued from CKRT Day 03 - Anjarle to Guhagar

Route: Guhagar -> Velaneshwar -> Hedvi -> Tavsal -> ferry -> Jaigad -> Malgund -> Ganapatipule

Who let the what out?

We got up quite early in the morning. It was a fresh, cold morning. There was no trace of any ghosts around, nor did we remember hearing anything. I almost rolled on the floor laughing when Pravya told me his predicament in the middle of the night when he wanted to take a leak, and he didn't have anyone to watch his back because I was fast asleep. Alone in that setup, in the middle of the night, was just too much.

After strolling on the Guhagar beach, and again gorging on the home-made Thaleepeeths, we left for Velneshwar. Velneshwar has a colourful temple and a white-sand beach. Nothing outstanding as such. We had another round of breakfast there, and moved on towards Hedvi.

वेळणेश्वर मंदिर (Velneshvar Temmple)
		Beach behind the temple

हेदवीची ब्राम्हणघळ (Bramhanghal of Hedvi)

The road to Hedvi, is typical Konkani, and passes through dense jungle. Hedvi is a very small town with a small beach and a rocky coast. The beach is backed up by a dense सुरुचं बन. Nice relaxing location. Hedvi is known for a strange geological setup called ब्राम्हणघळ (bramhanghal). A small crack in the rocks comes in almost 15-20feet from the sea and creates a very narrow 10-feet deep and 20-feel long gorge. During high tides, the tidal water comes rushing inside the crack and breaks at the end of the crack with a loud bang. All the way making a loud roaring sound. I am told, during the high tides of monsoon, the tidal fury is so powerful, that it creates a 25-feet high water-coloumn when the tide breaks at the back of the crack. We moved around in the area for sometime, and then started towards Tavsal.

ब्राम्हणघळ (Bramhanghal) Top Viw
	ब्राम्हणघळ (Bramhanghal) Front view

तवसाळ आणि जयगड (Tavsal and Jaigad)

Tavsal is quite closeby from Hedvi. This time we had to wait for about 10-15mins for the ferry boat. That rest was much needed, and nobody complained.

Enroute Tavsaal

We got down at Jaigad after boarding the ferry. A road takes you first to a Jindal factory and then bifurcates into two - one towards Jaigad and one towards Ganapatipule.

Jaigad, like all other forts we had seen so far, is a fort in ruins. When you check out the views, it's quite clear the kind of hold the fort would have had over the creek. It's a strong hold and whoever controlled Jaigad, quite naturally controlled the naval movements in the creek. Vantage point.


Now, though, children use this fort as a cricket playground! There is hardly anything left there to see, apart from, of course, the views - probably because it's difficult to ruin the views with apathy.

After taking photos, and roaming around on the fortifications, we moved on towards our destination for the day - Ganapatipule.


गणपतीपुळे (Ganapatipule)

The road to Ganapatipule is smooth and well laid, but through a barren land for most of the time. Sometimes a coastal sea-side drive pops up and recharges one for the next bout of barren land. But otherwise, it's quite a boring ride. We passed through Malgund, which is closeby Ganapatipule, and has a nice beach. Malgund is the birth-place of well-known Marathi poet - Keshavsoot (केशवसुत - कृष्णाजी केशव दामले)

We got to Ganapatipule, found a room, checked into it, threw in our luggage, and rushed to the beach hoping to catch the sunset on the horizon.

It was a demoralizing sight - the beach. We couldn't decide whether the human sea was more potent or the natural one. It was a huge crowd, and all types of lame beach activities were going on. We trudged along the beach for a long time, in search of a comparatively less populated area, which eventually we found and perched there to observe and click the sunset as and when we desire.

The sky was a bit cloudy, and the hide and seek of a setting sun behind those clouds, was quite an interesting sight, especially with some fishing trawlers in the foreground.

Small Day

Eventually, after the sunset, we got back to our room, and got busy with the daily chores. I had carried couple of 6mm ropes, around 12-feet long, with me, just in case, and they had turned out to be immensely useful for drying out our clothes. Some knots that I had learned during usual preparations for climbing, were turning out to be highly practical and useful.

All in all, it was quite a slow day in comparison with the previous ones. In stark contrast, the next day, with Vijaydurga-Devgad as the destination, was going to be the most hectic and anxious day of the whole trip. Adding to the anxiety was the confusion about the connectivity from Jaitapur and Madban.

After dinner, we went to sleep wondering about the plan for next day.


Next: CKRT Day 05 - Ganapatipule to Vijaydurga