.png)
In the soothing weather of Feb '22, four of the Outlaw Army members decided to take a break on fine weekend from the hustle of outdoor workouts and head towards the sea.
We started out pretty late being lazy and losing time over chit chatting. What was supposed to be an 8am start, became 12pm but nevertheless we were too pumped to bother. Locked and loaded with all the essential camping gear, food and utensils, we fueled up on our motorbikes and zoop! From Kharghar, we took the Kharghar - Pali - Kolad - Mangaon route which was mostly a smooth ride with occasional bumps and took us five hours to reach the Harihareshwar beach. On the way, we halted thrice for lunch, tea and fresh chicken for dinner. We had packed marinated chicken in the ice bags and some ice tea in our insulated bottles. Rest was drinking water.
It was around 5:30pm that we stepped feet on the beach and it was a race against time to find the perfect camping spot with the sunset round the corner. We were amazed with the beauty of Harihareshwar beach as we walked along the sea saluting the golden sun. After few hundred meters, we found a nice clean patch to pitch our tents and unpack our bags. But, the setting sun was too beautiful to let go and we halted everything to enjoy it.
It was now getting dark and we swiftly pitched our tents and prepared for the bonfire setup. Slowly and slowly we had the entire beach to us. The sea breeze had a sweet chill in it while we arranged the wood in one corner. In the other corner it was a beach barbeque setup for our epic dinner :)).
In all of this, time came to a halt. There was no measure of it, no hurry and it didn't command us to do things. In fact, nothing was on our minds than just enjoying the soothing fire and listen to the sound of the sea waves. We grilled some juicy chicken, clicked photos and mostly just sat and ate silently sipping on ice tea occassionally. As the night went by, it got cozier with the cool breeze and the soothing bon fire and slowly we curled up in our tents and dozed off peacefully.
In all of this, time came to a halt. There was no measure of it, no hurry and it didn't command us to do things. In fact, nothing was on our minds than just enjoying the soothing fire and listen to the sound of the sea waves.
It was a lazy Sunday morning, we opened up our tents to the whooshing ocean waves. Still pretty much the entire beach to ourselves, it was a peaceful setting. It was coffee time now, and with the mini camping stove that we were carrying, we boiled water and poured it over some dark coffee powder. The next few minutes were a mixture of warm sun, cool breeze and the smell of coffee! We decided to take a dip in the natural waves of the ocean and boy, wasn't that one hell of a fun. The waves were so high that morning that it pushed us right on the beach with full speed.
Feeling refreshed and energized, it was time to grill some bread on our natural "beach grill". We ate like crazy and were still hungry :P!
Along the beach there were a few eating outlets for visitors but being early in the morning they weren't too busy. We tried our luck whether they could offer us regular water instead of a plastic bottled one, but they refused for obvious reasons. We humans have been polluting the environment just for our convenience and it is hard to be a part of this. But with sea being the only other water source and all our drinking water being empty, we had to buy couple of bottles as it was getting hotter.
It was time to pack it up and move before the sun sits on our heads. Dismantling our tents and filling our rucksacks, we were pretty content and happy. It wasn't the end of the trip though. We had come not this far to not witness Srivardhan. On our way back we had a wholesome fish and chicken thalis from a local joint and were off to Srivardhan (another 30-40 min from Harihareshwar) which was a pretty busy market with so many food stalls. Again, we had ice-gola, vada pav and kokumd soda to satisfy our appetites and get ready for the long ride.
Looking back, it was a short and sweet memorable experience which has paved the way for many more such offbeat things we would want to do in all our travels. I would rather explore things on my own, make mistakes and learn from it rather than go on a pre-planned trip with all things arranged for me, there's little fun in that. Where all the experience lies is in trying out new things, acting upon thoughts and seeing them through. I am grateful to my buddies for being a part of this camping and make it a beautiful memory.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Hi, I am Vidhu Mahana, an avid traveler and a certified fitness coach. You can follow my travel journeys on Instagram @Outlaw_Wander and my fitness page for all the information regarding strength training and nutrition @Outlaw_Lift .