Matheran was not in my mind the night before the bike ride. I was thinking to take out my bike and simply stroll around. The place wasn’t fixed but I was planning to have some hilly ride. Finally decided to ride to Matheran from Mumbai.

Matheran is a popular hill station around 100 KM from Mumbai. It is a popular weekend getaway for Mumbai folks.

Technically this was going to be my first solo bike trip. Although the total distance was not more than 250 km to and fro but for a newbie it was nothing more than an achievement.
Woke up at 6 AM took the camera, bike papers and a bottle of glucose. Since fuel was in reserve I was worrying whether pumps would be open in the morning luckily it was.

Let the ride begin

Since the ride was 100 KM one way I was not worried about the routes. Just noted some intermediate spots. First one hour was nice, cool and fast. Crossed Thane via Ghodbunder and reached Mumbra. Post Mumbra the state highway passes through a locality. Roads are bad with unregulated huge speed breakers. I bet Car underbelly would bump many time in that route.

Rode for half an hour and was greeted with shining road with a new layer of tar. Roads were empty, wide and little or no vehicles. That blank stretch of road was tempting and I started gaining speed.

Got my first bike safety lesson

But this was a nice mistake! I was around 100 kmph. I could see a small river bridge on the road ahead. Didn’t thought of lowering the speed as I thought I could cross easily. Just when I came closer the picture changed completely. Tar road suddenly ended and dusty patch with stones appeared. It was not possible to cross it at 95 kmph so braked hard really hard.

My rear tires floated from left to right and right to left continuously. I was losing control. Tens of accident and post-accident scenes rushed simultaneously. Barely I kept my bike upright on the stone road and somehow managed to cross the river.

I was numb for next 15 seconds with my heart pumping hard. Finally, I came out with a resolution ‘DON’T OVERSPEED WHEN YOU HAVE NO IDEA OF THE ROAD AHEAD’ and Ride to Enjoy.

Soon reached the base village of the hill station and started riding up the winding roads. It roughly takes 15-20 minutes to reach the top. Parked my bike outside the tourism office since you are not allowed to enter the hill station with your vehicles. You can use Hand Rickshaw or horses for mobility on the hill station. Horses are costly, they can charge you Rs.250 from the main gate to market, this would be around 10 mins saddle bump.

I had visited Matheran before so I had little interest in seeing the points. Also unlike Mahabaleshwar, Matheran has fewer points. Anyways I believe it is tourists who look for points. A traveller or a seeker should try to relish from start to end. Instead of concentrating on certain spots of interests a seeker should see the whole trip as one little experience 🙂 What do you say?

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Spent some time roaming in the market in Matheran. Jumped in a restaurant for lunch, unfortunately, it was not good. It was around 2 PM I decided to start the return journey.

Returning is always quick but it was very hot and dry. It was feeling like someone is blowing a large hair dryer at you and the newly built tar road was compounding the heat. I was drenched in sweat and took multiple breaks for 8 glass of Ganna juice and 6 glass of Nira nearly 3.5 liters. After all, it was a hot afternoon of May.

Reached home around 4:30 PM and ended the tour with a soul-satisfying bath.

Hope you liked it! Do leave a comment, it means a lot to me.

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