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Highway diaries: Riding along NH8
The National Highway number eight is a biker's dream come true says Ananjan Chaudhuri who rode with his friends from Mumbai to Dudhani in Silvassa. Here's his travelogue!
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It all began with an early morning dash to meet up with the gang at 8am near Fountain Hotel, a prominent landmark on the outskirts of Mumbai
Being a weekend, we all overslept, as usual, but somehow ended up meeting at 8.30am even though, we barely got any sleep due to the excitement of a road trip the next day.
As always, immediately after meeting up with Sabya, Neel, Akshay and their 'better halves' -- Bajaj Pulsar 180, KTM Duke 200 and Honda CBR250R, we spent a few minutes admiring each other's bikes and catching up.
This gave Sabya a chance to click a few photographs on his Canon DLSR 60D.
As you can see from the quality of the photographs, Sabya was the official photographer for our trip, and what a mind blowing job! We were simply awestruck after we got hold of them!
Well anyway, on with the story: Four clean bikes, four petrol heads, full petrol tanks and the empty National Highway 8, what did 'ya expect!
And so it begins… our escapade to the remote village of Dudhani in Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
Highway diaries: Riding along NH8
Dudhani is a beautiful and remote village, off the Madhuban Reservoir, approximately 164 km from Mumbai. The NH 8, in Sabya's words, was like a runway.
I managed to reach top speeds of 135kph on my Yamaha R15 Ver2. The control of the bike at high speeds was simply tremendous, perfect amount of traction control on curves. Akshay managed to pull a mean 145 kph on his Honda CBR250R.
The ride so far was thrilling, as we had experienced during one of our previous rides to Kelwa Beach on the same highway.
Years ago I had the opportunity to drive to Dudhani via NH 8 in my Mahindra Bolero Invader. Ever since that drive, I've always wondered what it'd feel like to ride on this highway. And so far it was thrilling to the core. I was hoping this road would never end.
After a 45-minute ride, we stopped at a small restaurant for a quick bite and were off again. only to be over taken by a group of super bikes, speeding towards Gujarat. Out of the entire battalion, a few which caught our eyes were a sparkling yellow Suzuki Hayabusa, a Kawasaki Ninja 650R, a BMW R1200 GS and a Honda Repsol CBR1000RR!
Mind you, the bikers were wearing full protective gear. Now that's a true role model! After crossing the Maharashtra border, we rode for another 50 km and entered Silvassa, the capital of the Indian Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
We immediately came across a humongous temple, and it was amazingly gorgeous!
We decided to take a small break and venture into the temple.
Highway diaries: Riding along NH8
Unfortunately a huge picnic group of four buses, filled with school children arrived to create havoc! Watching the kids, armed with footballs, cricket bats, mobile phones and Tablets (Yes, you read that right) stir up a storm; we decided to hop on our bikes and zoom off.
Immediately after deviating from the Silvassa Township, we were greeted with a rarely used tarmac road that leads to the Dudhani Jetty end point.
FYI: every corner of this stretch of the road was like a MOTOGP racetrack!
The perfect avenue... brings a smile to your face doesn't it?
It passes through luscious green hills, small villages, rivers and finally ends at the Madhuban Reservoir.
Although before reaching the jetty, we did get a chance to stop by an old bridge and enjoy the view.
It was beautiful!
Highway diaries: Riding along NH8
After reaching the jetty, we ventured into the waterside Dadra and Nagar Haveli Government Resort, only to find out that the rates for the AC cottages were an absolute steal.
We settled into a spacious cottage and decided to stretch our legs atop an old house boat and enjoy some of the waterside views which surrounded.
Dusk, the resort's restaurant was also quite good, though it didn't offer a lot of choices. It is also, one of the only ones in the area.
While Sabya and I struggled to wake up the next morning, Akshay and Neel managed to have a quick ride around the place.
We had to begin riding back on an empty stomach as the hotel restaurant was yet to open up.
As soon as we reached Silvassa, the heavens opened up and it started pouring cats and dogs.
So we decided to take shelter at a small roadside stall and stuff ourselves with some freshly-fried samosas.
Highway diaries: Riding along NH8
Throughout the return journey, we faced continuous rainfall.
However, it didn't deter us and we kept on riding. And our bikes functioned marvellously.
Considering it was a Sunday, there was less traffic on the highway. However, this changed the moment we reached closer to Mumbai.
Our last pit stop was along Ghodbunder Road, from where we had started out.
Then we parted ways, but not before deciding where our next trip was going to be, somewhere in the Sahyadri Mountain Ranges.