Distance walked 111.4km (By Pankaj somewhat less by Mike)
The day started with a dramatic event at the toll plaza at Shedung. The locals are not very happy at having to pay the toll on the road. We were following behind a overwidth lowloader (a trailer for carrying earthmoving machinery) and Shashikant thought he could get through before the barrier came down by following close behind. It descended onto the windscreen producing a spectular pattern of cracks.
I had a good breakfast inside me and it was not very hot so I was optimistic about the walk. We started walking at 8:45am and made up all the shortfall from the yesterday within the first hour. The road was definitely uphill right from the start with the occasional slight descent but the slope was not enough to slow us down. Pankaj had not eaten breakfast so we stopped briefly near Khalapur for him to eat, but still managed over 9km in the first 2 hours. We did however get taken in by a long accessway parallel to the road but with a fence that had not gap for an exist at the other end requiring a backup of about 200m.
Arriving at Silphata Shahshikant suggested that our climb of Khandala Ghat would be easier if we went up the descent only road that comes down to Silphata (and which local traffic uses going up as well) and then joined the expressway for about 3km (actually 9.2km) to the Lonavala. The first hour up the hill went well with 3km covered. After 2km more I was feeling really stressed and insisted on lying down for a rest. That may or may not have been a mistake. Once lying down my stomach went into reverse. Looking at it now I was carrying enough water to last me for an estimated 8km climb to Khandala. It was actually 17km so there is no way I would have made it on the amount of water I was carrying.
About 15 minutes later a bus came along and we took it down to Silphata where we met up with Shashikant. He took us to a hotel owned by a relative where I rested for while before we drove up the old road (which I still think we should have kept to because support was available but Pankaj and I will never agree on that) to appoint 6.4km from Lonavala exit where we joined the expressway. Pankaj walked from here while Shashikant drove me to the hotel where we spent the night. It was tricky to find and he rang 4 times for directions before finding it. Sachin also had trouble finding it the next day. Pankaj finally reached the top of the climb at about 4pm and Shashikant picked him up and brought him to the hotel before returning to Panvel.
Donations can be made at https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/school-of-walk in New Zealand or https://milaap.org/fundraisers/givealittle-schoolofwalk in India
The day started with a dramatic event at the toll plaza at Shedung. The locals are not very happy at having to pay the toll on the road. We were following behind a overwidth lowloader (a trailer for carrying earthmoving machinery) and Shashikant thought he could get through before the barrier came down by following close behind. It descended onto the windscreen producing a spectular pattern of cracks.
I had a good breakfast inside me and it was not very hot so I was optimistic about the walk. We started walking at 8:45am and made up all the shortfall from the yesterday within the first hour. The road was definitely uphill right from the start with the occasional slight descent but the slope was not enough to slow us down. Pankaj had not eaten breakfast so we stopped briefly near Khalapur for him to eat, but still managed over 9km in the first 2 hours. We did however get taken in by a long accessway parallel to the road but with a fence that had not gap for an exist at the other end requiring a backup of about 200m.
Arriving at Silphata Shahshikant suggested that our climb of Khandala Ghat would be easier if we went up the descent only road that comes down to Silphata (and which local traffic uses going up as well) and then joined the expressway for about 3km (actually 9.2km) to the Lonavala. The first hour up the hill went well with 3km covered. After 2km more I was feeling really stressed and insisted on lying down for a rest. That may or may not have been a mistake. Once lying down my stomach went into reverse. Looking at it now I was carrying enough water to last me for an estimated 8km climb to Khandala. It was actually 17km so there is no way I would have made it on the amount of water I was carrying.
About 15 minutes later a bus came along and we took it down to Silphata where we met up with Shashikant. He took us to a hotel owned by a relative where I rested for while before we drove up the old road (which I still think we should have kept to because support was available but Pankaj and I will never agree on that) to appoint 6.4km from Lonavala exit where we joined the expressway. Pankaj walked from here while Shashikant drove me to the hotel where we spent the night. It was tricky to find and he rang 4 times for directions before finding it. Sachin also had trouble finding it the next day. Pankaj finally reached the top of the climb at about 4pm and Shashikant picked him up and brought him to the hotel before returning to Panvel.
Donations can be made at https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/school-of-walk in New Zealand or https://milaap.org/fundraisers/givealittle-schoolofwalk in India
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