Reaching Somnath from Dwarka

Reaching Somnath from Dwarka

Before attempting to write about the Dwarka-Somnath journey i undertook, it would be worth saying a word or two about the Dwarka-Nageshwar stretch and the well laid out road.  The road for Nageshwar begins a km before the Advent cinema and going past the rail track which on the right side has the Dwarka station and on the left the track going all the way to Okha. Having taken a chakda, the commute from Dwarka started at 9.41 and at no point in the entire 16.5-km distance  the road appeared to be ruptured or broken. Heavy rains that hadn't visited the region for long may be one factor combined with all probability of a fresh coating being put to the entire stretch. A cakewalk and this was no small consolation.

Leaving Dwarka for Somnath
Before leaving for Somnath i spent some time in Dwarka post office. "Smile you are on CCTV" is what you come across as you wait for postcards to be posted. The said post office is clean and there are fewer visitors. After post cards have been duly marked, i leave the premises not before handing a picture of Lord Govinda to a staff member.

Near Dwarka Post Office
 It is near rabari gate adjacent to Dwarka post office i wait for a transport for Porbandar.  Adjacent to Rabari gate there is a circuit house board next to which stands a std/isd/pco booth. For now this is effective for fax and xerox as std phone is hard to find. People have been flocking the place for xerox and other queries and perhaps the STD delink is due to falling number of customers . Even near the auto stand inside the Dwarka town which has chaar rasta  the STD booth is not functional. Hotel Toran board and a tea stall (strong tea laced with acceptable sugar can be taken from here) define the surroundings near rabari gate  which has on the opposite side bank of india atm, hotel radhika and pooja.

Left Dwarka at 2.05 in  the afternoon and from here somnath is 231, porbandar  98. You go past a hoarding of Tata Chemicals thanks for visting salt city mithapur. At 3.08 harsiddhi temple is accessed and by 3.20 leave the place to come across a bridge nearby which is under repair.  At 3.45 Somnath is shown to be 159. When Porbandar is 9, Rajkot is shown to be 19 ( probably figure 8 is missing; it should read 189). Going past naval base p'dar . Reach outskirts of p'dar at 4.25. From the mini bus the commuters were in we shift to a shared auto as buses have been debarred from plying in the city with an intent to check pollution.  At Porbandar st bus stand which i am in by 4.40 there is an ad hoarding that says "thinking of growth, think of us" . The Porbandar bus stand is under renovation and hope it meets commuters expectations. In fact there are a large number of ST bus stands across Gujarat and Maharashtra that are under renovation or been completed with success.

 Leave Porbandar ST bus stand at 5, go past gujarat maritime board, cycle stand, scooter stand and  birlasagar b gate. When Madhopur is  between 52 and 50.5 km from here  the road lined with trees on either side remind you of the ride between Udhagamandalam and Coonoor near Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu.  At 6.15 reach Madhopur bus stand and leave at 6.25 .
At 6.35 the bus is on NH 8E, with Somnath 67 and bhavnagar 330.  Before reaching Chorwad at 7.30 there are narrow lanes through which the bus goes and past that there is shri dhirubhai pravesh dwar on right.

 Reach veraval at 8  and Somnath at nine.