400 Km drive on a single day! Silvassa and Nargol!

We were supposed to leave at 6.30 AM on Saturday morning. True to form and expectation however we ended up waking up at 7.30 and after a whirlwind 60 minutes we had managed to pick Dripto up from his house at Powai and were on our way to Silvassa and Nargol. I was slightly nervous and excited as this would be my first single day drive of around 400 Kms - I had previously driven around 300 Km on a day trip to Bordi but that was with my brother - in - law who did not actually drive much but provided the mental relief of there being a reserve driver if required. This was different as my younger brother and wife do not drive and I was all geared up. The route was pretty straight forward. Hit the Western Express highway and keep driving towards Gujarat, we had seen exits towards Silvassa on our way to Vapi and were reasonably confident of locating the same.

We made good time (hitting average speeds of eighty kmph) till just before Manor and stopped at a roadside resort for some Chai and breakfast at around 10.30 . Refreshed and happy (having seen South Africa at 6 for 2), we hit the road again after thirty minutes. We were then however reduced to travelling at snails pace as work on one side of the highway had caused single lane traffic for a good five odd kilometers. With oversized trucks and aggressive Toyota Innova tourist cars we landed up spending a good hour and a half just which made the 5 km seem like 50.

The traffic was however a lot better post the stretch of road repair and we took a right from Bhilad. There is apparently an exit for Silvassa before Bhilad from Talaseri but we missed that as the signages are not too great. Around 12 kms after taking the right from the highway we were in the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Dadra and Nagar Haveli is built around the two settlements at Silvassa - the capital and Dadra. The road from the highway takes you to Silvassa first. Road in DNH are neat and well maintained, lined with trees on either side. The Daman Ganga river flowing through the UT seems to be the focal point for tourism with a number of resorts offering water sports facilities. I am sure that the place would be quite beautiful during the monsoons with the rived gushing through but unfortunately we were in the wrong season and the Daman Ganga was completely parched and reduced to a brook.

We stopped at one of Silvassas better known attractions, the our lady of piety church and after stopping to take the mandatory snap proceeded to Dadra and the Vanganga lake which offers options for some boating and is clearly Damans most popular picnic spot. We then drove back to Silvassa and had a pretty decent chicken and roti lunch at Hotel Greenwood. It was now time for the highlight of the trip - Nargol beach - the spot where the Parsees first landed.

To drive to Nargol we first retraced our path to Bhilad and drive the other side exactly opposite to Silvassa on the road that acts as a short cut. The road is narrow but is in a decent condition, although the problem is the lack of sign posts which makes one stop regularly and ask if one is going in the correct direction. The main approach to Nargol is from Vapi and that is where the short cut finally leads to after a thirty minute (15 km drive). One then proceeds to Nargol village and then onto the beach. One can either park the car in the village and walk to the beach. We however crossed the village and took the one pitch road on the right which seemed to lead to the see. At the end of the road was the largest tract of virgin beach I have seen in Western India and the place is a veritable paradise lined with pine trees on one side.

We spent some thirty minutes on the beach and then proceeded to drive back to Mumbai - almost missing the left and going towards Vapi in the process. We left Nargol at around 5 PM and managed to reach Powai by 8.30 PM, happy, tired and with plans of going back to Nargol one day with time to kill and a large picnic basket.