Coastal ride to Gujarat was the one i was thinking to go from 2017 with my friends and i ended up do it as a solo trip.
I boarded the COA - BVC Express at Secunderabad station and i parceled my bike in the same station by booking it a day before. The actual departure time was 3:00 PM but it came late by 80 min. At 4:20 PM the train started from Secunderabad station. The train would reach Bhavnagar the next day evening, so i thought i should start my ride in the morning.
The next day at around 2:30 PM, the train reached Ahmedabad and almost the whole train was empty after Ahmedabad, i hardly found few passenger in my entire coach, the train was running almost 2hrs late till Ahmedabad but after it crossed Ahmedabad, it took the speed and as i was in the western side the sunsets would be the most beautiful one and i captured one of them from the window.
As i thought i shouldn't ride in the night, so i decided to stay in Bhavnagar and booked a bed in the AC dormitory which was very clean and good for which, the price i paid was just 250/- in Goibibo. The train reached Bhavnagar at 8:00 PM it was a delay of just 15min and i was told that I can collect the bike after 30min. As my dormitory was near to station, first i checked in and put my luggage there and gone back to station to collect my bike. I took my bike came to the dorm and finished my dinner in the restaurant beside the hotel. In the night i ate some ice gola and came back to dorm and inquired about the places to visit in Bhavnagar and i also told that i have to visit the Nishkalank Mahadev temple and asked them what is the time to visit the temple. The hotel owner suggested me to visit Takhteshwar temple & Khodyar mata temple and then head towards the Nishkalank as we can access the temple only after 11:00 AM in the morning on that day.
I thought of starting in the early morning and head towards Somnath via Diu but i also wanna visit Nishkalang temple for that i have to wait till 11:00 AM. With all the confusion, i decided to visit the temple. As i decided to stay back, I woke little late as i should wait at Nishkalank temple even though i start early so in the mean while i decided to visit Thakteshwar & Khodiyar mata temple, by the time i finished these temples it was a bit late and from there I started to Nishkalank Mahadev Temple, this temple is not accessible through out the day, as it submerges in the sea when its high tide and can be accessible only when its low tide.
By the time i reached the temple, the water has already gone back and everyone was moving inside the sea to visit the temple, i felt like i would have skipped one of the previous as they were not much worth when i have to cover a lot in a day. We should walk on the wet mud for about 20min to reach the temple.
While coming back i saw few pople eating colorful ice cream, as i didn't had my breakfast i thought of having it but it was found to be Ice gola which is so yummy.
I have gone inside and done with the temple and came back by 12:30 PM, today's destination for me was Somnath before that the next stop is Alang ship yard.
I tried to ask and enter the ship breaking yard but then i didn't get a chance to go inside and see how they will break the ship, so i just clicked few pics and started from there to Diu and the road condition was very bad, i didn't expected these bad roads in the interiors of Gujarat State and by the time i reach Diu it was almost 7:30 PM in the night. Initially the plan was to explore Diu in the evening and head to Somnath, as i was late i decided to stay back in Diu and explore diu the next day morning and then head to Somnath and Dwarka.
So i checked into hotel and put my luggage over there and took my bike to explore the city. It was a full moon day and the light of moon was so beautiful when it fell on the sea. Later i finished my dinner and went to hotel and slept.
I was sleeping and i heard the noise of waves very close to me, i felt like i was sleeping in the beach listening to the waves. Then i got up and saw my hotel was just 200mts away from the sea. It was already 6:00AM and there's no sun light as i was on the west, the sunrise will be late.
Then i took my bike and started to Ghogla beach, and spent some time there and then headed to Diu Fort for the sunrise, the fort was closed but it was so beautiful and i explored the backside of the fort which was absolutely stunning with beach on all the sides.
I spent some good amount of time and went back to hotel and packed everything and started from there and on the way i don't want to miss Nagoa beach, as it was on the way, i had been to Nagoa beach where the waves are so huge.
At 9:15 AM i started from Diu to Somnath and today's destination is to reach Dwarka. It was worth staying at Diu and exploring it on the next day, if I would have continued my journey to somanth without stopping at Diu, i would have missed such a good beaches. I would honestly say Diu is one of the best place for all the beach lovers.
I followed the coastal line and maintained a decent speed and reached the another beauty Somnath. It took me around 2hrs to reach Somnath from Diu, at 11:30 I reached somnath temple and I parked my bike and I tied my luggage to the bike and went inside the temple. Somnath is one of the 12 Jyothirlingas which has history of being demolished no of times. The temple has still one of the best architectures, though this is not the old temple which got demolished, it was built in the area where the light rays can been seen till the south pole without any obstruction.
I spent almost around 2 hrs inside the temple and even the lingam inside the temple is very huge, later i came out and explored the geeta mandir, triveni sangam & to the somnath beach and had some fruits as i didn't find time to eat and then started from there at 2:00 PM.
The weather was little hot and roads were still continued to be bad, though i was travelling through the coastal region i haven't encountered the beach beside the road till now. Its already been 2 hrs of ride from Somnath and its 4:00 PM in the evening then the road was slightly going up and up and up, then suddenly came the sea just beside the road and that place was worth stopping and that's the Madhavpur beach, every bus which was going on that way was stopping there for few minutes, so that people can go and see the beach, there i ate the Ice gola and drank some coconut water and spent almost one hour in the beach.
Its 5:00 PM now, Porbandar was 50Kms and Dwarka was 150Kms from there, from here there were no of wind mills through out the journey till the Dwarka, there were lot of windmills on the way and lots of streams joining the sea.
I don't have the plan to visit porbandar which comes in the middle but after i came closer to Porbandar, i just saw Kiriti mandir board which was just 4kms away. Kirti Mandir was the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi, so i changed my mind and headed towards Kirti Mandir, there was some construction work going on as the Gandhi Jayanthi is 2 days away and our PM Narendra Modi is about to visit the place.
At 6:00 PM, I reached Kirti Mandir and explored the place, took some pics and saw the place and the room where Mahatma Gandhi was born and then started from there at 6:30 PM.
Now that the challenge is I have to reach Dwarka and its gonna be dark within an hour and the roads are still very bad. Very soon it became dark, the road was even more bad, and lot of vehicles are coming from the opposite direction with high beam lights and when they pass me the dust on road used to fade the helmet visor.
When i was around 30Kms before Dwarka, the bike stopped just in front of the petrol bunk, then i refueled my bike and continued my journey, through the journey was just 30Kms from there it was tough on those roads with the vehicles high beam lights are coming from opposite direction. Somehow, I managed to reach Dwarka by 9:00 PM, and someone said that the temple is gonna close by 9:30 PM. So I just parked my bike and went inside the temple for darshan.
After the darshan came the secondary things, the first of them is to find the hotel to stay, I managed to get it for 300Rs/- very close to temple and i put my luggage there and was searching for the restaurant to eat. It was very late by that time and everything was closed, then i found one small Dosa shop and finished my dinner and came back to hotel and crashed on bed.
The destination for today is Jamnagar as i booked my train from Jamnagar and wanted to parcel my bike in train and board the same train which is at 3:00 AM in the midnight. So today my plan is to explore Dwarka, Okha, Beyt Dwarka and Narara Marine National Park in Jamnagar.
I woke up early and started to Dwarka beach on bike, it is very near around 750mts from the hotel.
Though the weather was humid, the sea water which touched my legs was so cool and i could feel the pleasant atmosphere near the sea. This was the sea which submerged Lord Krishna's Kingdom around 5000 years back.
I spent sometime there and headed to Dwarkadeesh Temple for the darshan, the Dwarkadeesh temple here in Dwarka is one of the Char Dham and is one of the Sapthapuri.
I finished my darshan & finished my breakfast and was checkout the hotel and parked my bike and started exploring the other side of the Sudhama sethu.
Then at 10:00 AM I started from there to Okha, on the way to Okha, after crossing the Dwarka city i found a temple in a deserted and barren land which was away from the city and got to know it is Rukhmini Devi (wife of Lord Krishna) Temple. So i visited the temple and got to know the fact that this is the only temple of Rukhmini Devi in the whole world and there is a reason why this temple was far away from the Lord Krishna's Dwarka.
At one time Lord Krishna wished to invite the sage Durvasa for dinner and accordingly he set out with Rukmini to the ashram of Durvasa who agreed on the condition that they pull the chariot in which he would travel. They agreed but, on the way, Rukmini became thirsty and asked Lord Krishna for water. He struck the earth with his foot and Ganga gushed forth. Rukmini quenched her thirst. Durvasa was watching and flew into a rage because he was not offered water first as a person is invited to dinner, etiquette dictates that the host should not eat until the guest has been satisfied. In his rage, he cursed Rukmini that the couple would always live apart. This is the reason why the Rukmini Devi temple is not adjacent to Dwarkadheesh temple but it is at a distance. It is also noteworthy that the temple stands on barren land amid rocks bereft of water and people who come to this temple would donate water.
Now its time for Beyt Dwarka, its already 10:30 AM and to go Beyt Dwarka, one has to go in a ferry from Okha port. So i reached Okha at around 11:20 AM and parked my bike and boarded the local ferry to Beyt which would take around 30min. They would take a charge of 20 Rs per person one way.
Beyt or Bet in Gujarati means a space surrounded by water or an island. So the island that got cut off from Dwarka by water is called Beyt Dwarka. It is also said that the famous Krishna Sudama story took place here. Sri Krishna temple is the most important temple at Beyt Dwarka. It is the reason that millions of pilgrims take boat rides from Okha. Now, this is not one temple but a group of many small temples. The Murti of Sri Krishna here at the Dwarkadhish temple is believed to be built by Rukmini 5244 years ago after Sri Krishna left his body. All temples in Beyt close around 12:00 noon and re-open in the evening around 5:00 PM. I finished my darshan and started back to Okha in a ferry and reached Okha by 12:45 PM.
Now the plan is to visit Nageshwar Jyothirlinga which is at a distance of 20Kms and in the middle came the Gopi Talav but the talav was dry, there is no water. I headed to Nageshwar and this is again one of the 12 jyothirlingas.
I visited the temple and the crowd was less and finished my darshan quickly, people who have nagadosha etc would perform the pooja here.
The next stop was Narara Marine National Park, this is at a distance of 120Kms and 20Kms before Jamnagar. The time was 2:00 PM and i didn't have the lunch too. I thought of having the lunch once i reach the National park and after around 2hrs of ride we should take left from the highway and goinside another 18Kms then came the road to national park, it was calm and there's no one on the way, initially i thought is there a national park here? But i could find the traces of park as i could see the sign boards and the boards of birds and sea animals. After the long ride inside came the offroading, and i could see the sea on my right.
At around 4:15 PM i reached the national park and I came to know the the park would be closed during the monsoon and will again open after Oct 15th, and eventhough i came 15 days before opening the park, i should visit this place only in low tide, then i could find the different fishes, octopus etc.
With all the disappointment i had to leave the place then someone over there told me to visit the jetty on the way back, you would atleast sea the good place. Then on the way back, i took right and headed to the jetty, the place really good, there was a straight road and both the sides there is a sea. The same thing as in Dhanushkodi but the Dhanushkodi is more beautiful than this with left side Bay of Bengal and right The Indian Ocean.
I spent over 2hrs here taking pics and I don't wanna leave this place and i wish i could see the sunset from here but it would be too late by the time i reach Jamanagar as i have to book the parcel of my bike to transfer in train.
At 6:15 PM, with the heavy heart, I had to leave this place and by the time i reach Jamnagar it was around 7:20PM and while on the way to Railway station, I found a beautiful temple on the right and don't wanna miss this temple. So i took the right and headed to this beautiful Swami Narayan Temple.
At 7:45 PM i started from here and by the time i reached Jamnagar Railway station it was 8:00 PM in the evening and felt that i successfully completed the ride, then came the twist in the trip.
My train to Hyderabad was in the midnight at 3:00 PM and i have enough time to pack my bike and book the parcel but the thing is, this is not the 24 hrs process in Jamnagar and the parcel booking section office is from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM, i tried to pleas them saying my train would leave in the night but they said me to come next day morning at 9:00 AM for parcel booking. I tried every possible way and understood that this wont happen now. The have 2 ways now, in another 100Kms comes the Rajkot which is somewhat big station than Jamnagar my work might finishe there and what if even tell me to come the next day morning at 9:00 AM? Then comes the another option, I should go directly to Ahmedabad which is even more big station and even the train will reach at 10:00 AM to Ahmedabad the next day morning but the thing is for me to ride till Ahmedabad i have to ride again the whole night as it is 300Kms and would take 6-7hrs from Jamnagar.
Now its time to ride Rajkot, time is around 8:30 PM and its 100Kms from here i refueled my tank and started from there in the dark, luckily the roads were good today from Dwarka till Rajkot. At around 10:30 PM i reached Rajkot and again the same thing normal parcel booking was closed and they would take only if it as a luggage for this we need to have confirmed ticket of that train and luckily i have everything here and it costed me around 3500/- for the bike to transfer from Rajkot to Secunderabad. At 3:00 AM, the train arrived and i boarded the train along with my bike which is booked as luggage and here comes the another twist, my boarding point was at Jamnagar and i boarded at Rajkot, the TT of train didn't came to us till Ahmedabad. When the train was nearing Vadodara a new TT came and said that you didn't showed the ticket at your point and your ticket will get cancelled and was always on me till Mumbai and after that another TC boarded the train and i explained the scenario that slept as soon as i boarded the train with all these ups and downs i reached Hyderabad the next day morning at around 9:00 AM.
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