Target Reached

Day 76 – 566 kms (17265 kms total)

The highway 4, south from Pune, is excellent and we made such good progress by the time we reached the halfway point at Kolhapur that we decided to do the full 500+km journey to Goa in one day instead of two.
The Monsoon
At about 2pm it started raining…
We hit a snag at Belgaum where, according to the map, the highway splits and we follow the 4A. No fork in the road and a lack of signposting forces us into the town centre where we acquire the services of a tuk-tuk driver to lead us to the road to Panaji.
From here onward the heavens opened and for the next 3.5 hours we crept through heavy rain, on an ill-maintained road dodging lorries and potholes. The rain is so heavy, even the bikes are beginning to baulk at it with Johns bike becoming a single cylinder machine at times!
The road takes us further south than we need to go before turning back north, to Pamjim just to make certain we get really wet.

We finally arrive at The Casablanca Beach Resort like a couple of drowned rats. Explaining that we already have a booking is not entirely understood, but we get rooms and dump our wet selves within.
stranded ship...

The hotel is 150m from the beach, upon which resides the River Princess, a Russian cargo ship grounded there 8 years ago which they keep trying to re-float.
The staff are very friendly help wherever they can.

The next day kicks off with a visit to Panjim for a look-see via mini cab. We are visited by Craig, who is a good friend of Anji’s. He offers assistance with anything we need and in the evening, invites us to dinner at a restaurant called Sweet Chilli, where a band keep us entertained whilst we tuck into some excellent food. Perhaps we could get used to this!!
Bit of a Diamond is Craig:-))

The next instalment is here

Posted on 6. August 2007 by micki

We are online again – here in Spain (until 24th Sept) and checked your progress. So sorry to hear of your accident. Hope you get some R&R in Goa. Sending you our love, Chris and Roy

Chris and Roy Williams | 7 August 07 | #

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