Mountain ranges to the coast

At the crack of dawn we made our way out from Mahabahweshar in the miserable weather. Pia was a brilliant driver getting us down the mountain with limited visibility. Definitely the more cautious driver out of the 3 of us. The upside of the monsoonal rain was the many cascading waterfalls spotted along the road, which didn't make Ruth and I feel so bad in our stylish red and yellow ponchos. Once we got to the other side of the mountain the rain began to subside which was a much welcome relief. This provided the perfect opportunity to complete out challenge of the day - photo with police officers. Along the highway the police had road checks put in place - mainly due to the recent bombings in Pune. A group of officers at a road block kindly posed in some photos for us. One gentleman even got in our rickshaw and pretended to drive it. Of course they had to have photos taken with their phones, so after a mini photo shoot we jumped back into our rickshaw and made our way Ratnagiri.

The only other eventful incident was when I drove us through a small village and in the middle of the road was a tiny puppy. I pulled along side it for the girls to see but instead in ran under the rickshaw, sheltering itself from the rainy weather. Pia was volunteered to retrieve it from the back wheel where it was huddled in a small ball. When we look back it should have been Ruth, since she is the only one vaccinated against rabie infested animals. During the drive we caught up with Team 5, Soren and Eva who had a seriously speedy rickshaw. For a while they were in our sights, but as the roads fluctuated between uphill and downhill slopes we were no match. By around 4pm we arrived at our hotel, located on a beach view cliff. After a quick snack we made our way down the path to the beach below. Unfortunately the snack didn't sit too well with my digestive system and an emergency pit stop was needed. Oh, how I love you, Delhi belly!! The beach certainly had character, red brown sand and scattered along the shore was a shoe shops worth of sandals. No need to go shopping now.