[earthian]

Originally Posted by sswaroop

Saw that blinkers on approach all through out the ghats of MH. Is this specific to MH alone?

No, i think these are now the "norm". Quite irritating. When the visibility is low, the blinkers come on, as an alternative to fog lights. The other irritating practice, and dangerous too, is the practice of turing on the right blinker, as a signal for you to over take.

All these point out to the absence of training, checks and tests before getting a licence. Most of these drivers look at you with an amazed, "can such a person exist" look on their face, when you point out that these are wrong.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

What a detailed nice travelogue this is! Kudos to tall boy Parag.
If my observation is correct, you never miss a chance or keep finding a chance to visit Maharashtra. Parag, Welcome to Maharashtra unlimited for unlimited times.
Nice beautiful pictures with equally good narrative.
I feel that you guys missed few " must see locations " along the route you had driven, hahaha, see I am giving you clue to find another chance to visit Maharashtra.
Waiting for more from you.

[nitinbose]

This is simply a trip of a life time, something that would be cherished for long! The success factor was purely because every member had the same DNA.

[ajindal]

Wow ! Wow ! Wow! Great trip and great captures. The weather, the roads , the surroundings all look so inviting. Great work to capture the do's and dont's. Feel compelled to take a similar trip as soon as I can get a chance.

[CarMind]

Superb and a beautifully narrated travelogue. That tarmac, the lush greenery and all that rain, the company of your buddies and their cool machines, what more we can ask for in a monsoon drive.

Originally Posted by arun_josie

Very true. And now we can add Baleno petrol as well to this list

Talking about the Baleno here, how was the overall performance on all that twisting ghat sections, the broken roads and rains, and then the fuel consumption?

[vivek95]

Rating well deserved 5 stars for this intoxicating stuff. Thanks Parag for taking us on a virtual journey to this surreal land of Sahyadris and Konkan in Maharashtra. Your attention to detail including the planning and logistics part is commendable. Awesome travelogue, crisp pics and nice videos. It's always an ethereal experience to be in Western ghats in monsoons and driving on roads like NH17, Amba ghat NH166 is super fun. NH17 Bombay--Goa is my all time favourite too and I am one of those few who wishes this piece of road to never get 4 laned though I am aware it's the need of hour keeping in mind growing traffic and safety concerns. Its people who have made this beautiful road dangerous to drive but sadly this road has been labelled "inherently" dangerous. However, ardent nature lovers and driving/riding enthusiasts like us will always love NH17 in its present avatar - a good, old fashioned 2 lane highway passing through as many as 12-15 ghats between Bombay and Goa, the highest number on a single stretch of highway within a short span of 590 kms , in this part of the country. And as Arun pointed out, the connecting ghats to NH17 each have a different look. The character of Western ghats right from Kerala to Igatpuri/Talasari in Maharashtra changes every 100 kms or so. In West India itself there is noticeable difference between ghats, no need of going too down South Eg :- Chorla, Anmod etc. vs Amba, Gaganbawda etc. vs Malshej/Bhandardara ghats etc near Pune/Mumbai. What I have noticed, ghats in MH are more of cliffs opening up to superb clear vistas and valleys as compared to ghats in KA which are covered with thick foliage all year round. Nevertheless, each one is beautiful in its own way.

I should mention here the alternative interesting Marathi name of the ever beautiful Maharashtra state no.4 i .e "Sagari Mahamarg" ( Coastal highway). The name "Sagari Mahamarg" perfectly connotes the unique character of this highway and makes anyone pack bags and get ready to go.

Congratulations to you and your group for successfully completing this awesome monsoon drive in an awesome way. It's just 1 more year or so that we will be getting to experience the beautiful NH17 in its classical form, because once the 4 laning strikes this region, lot of trees along the highway will be felled, umpteen diversions put in place and what not. People who have never visited NH17 and wanting to do so should hurry up before it loses its old world beauty !!

[addyhemmige]

Simply Beautiful!! It is a treat watching all the pics in this travelogue and makes me want to see the locations live. Thank you Parag and your drive mates for putting up this travelogue (and making us jealous ). Although I did get a consolation by doing a Monsoon Drive closer to home, I sure would have loved to join the MH trip also

[sairamboko]

Awesome travelogue!! Kudos to everyone!! I have a question for you - how do you fight the fatigue? My drive is a nano and i am tired after every trip especially the legs and shoulders. Can you suggest some tips? Usually my wife and my kid -2 yrs old accompany me. We take enough breaks because we have to stop often for my kid. Even after all this I am tired in a simple route like Bangalore to Coimbatore.

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by CarMind

Talking about the Baleno here, how was the overall performance on all that twisting ghat sections, the broken roads and rains, and then the fuel consumption?

My friend was very happy with the way his baleno handled on those twisty ghats section and on the bad roads. He got a FE of 20.XX (Petrol), this was measured based on full tank-full tank. In city he consistently gets around 15 Kmpl.

[vagabond128]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

[*]Stick to the left, always - ...

Why left lane?

I was thinking about which lane is the safest. I read a few articles on internet. Different people seems to have different opinions on this. There was an interesting article where someone tried analyzing accident data to figure out safest lane. It had some counter-intuitive findings.

Apparently, answer to this question is not really straightforward.

Has this been discussed on TBHP in past?

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by vagabond128

Why left lane?

Answered in brief here right on the same Travelogue:

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ml#post4030552

I was thinking about which lane is the safest. I read a few articles on internet. Different people seems to have different opinions on this. There was an interesting article where someone tried analyzing accident data to figure out safest lane. It had some counter-intuitive findings.

Yes, in reality, no lane can be the safest but when driving on Indian roads where we drive left, it makes more sense to stay on left although there are a lot of points that can counter this as most drivers don't follow any lane discipline at all.

Apparently, answer to this question is not really straightforward.

It certainly is not but these examples can help you:

• On a Dual carriageway, the last lane (near the median) is to overtake - Simple as that
  
  
• No need for statistics but look at number of slow moving trucks on the fast lane and now assume you are at cruising speeds on the fast lane and the road curves right - Bushes in median don't really allow you to spot this crawling truck doing 20kmph while you are at 100. Not a good situation to manage at all even if you think you will move to the slow lane. Now, imagine there are 5 cars behind you when this happens! Hope you will get an idea now
  
  
• You may again want to argue that this can happen even when sticking to the left lane but remember that the visibility is always here and the fact that "room to escape" is more when on left lane than the lane next to the median where there is no real shoulder
  
  
• Water logging/Aquaplaning - As you may have noticed, areas near the median are notorious for stagnant water captured after rains and with highway speeds, passing over these can result in aquaplaning and some serious consequences. Another advantage - You really won't get splashed with a lot of water from the opposite side traffic when you are not closer to the median
  
  
• Unauthorized or authorized break in the medians - A tractor popping its ugly head right onto your lane, Someone ahead of you suddenly deciding to make a U-Turn and slamming the brakes
  
  
• More often than not, you will also notice that these days, a lot of morons park their car right on the fast lane to attend a breakdown/Puncture - Trucks and cars included
  
  
• Cattle, Cyclists & Pedestrians can always jump in front of you from that median and give you some anxious moments

Lastly, when I mention stick to left it doesn't mean you zig-zag and try to stay left 50 times in 100 seconds. It only means, drive on the left lane as much as possible depending on the merit of roads and the traffic conditions. For instance, I wont drive on left lane on busy bypasses where vehicles stop frequently - Buses, Autos, Tempos, 2 wheelers.

[vagabond128]

Thanks Paragsachania,

Good learning for me.

What about 3 carriageway? Do you think middle lane works better in that case?

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by vagabond128

What about 3 carriageway? Do you think middle lane works better in that case?

Absolutely. Much safer is the middle lane on dual carriageway with 3 lanes on each side.

[Fauji]

Thanks Parag. Beautifully written and beautifully captured. In our bucket list for long time. We did Konkan in winters. But driving in monsoon is different experience all together. We missed out on HVK Monsoon drive at last moment due to some emergencies.

[srividyaramnath]

Konkan at its best. We did this route last year when we drove down to Goa, but missed the monsoon fun.
Next year I am not going to miss this drive at all though I had to this year.

Excellent pictures and a very excitement filled travelogue. Thanks for helping me relive my trips on this route.