Two Hours

That’s all it takes to reach the Malvan coast from Goa and with the Renault Duster, we found an experience unlike any other

- Afzal Rawuther

GOA IS ONLY TWO HOURS AWAY, REMARKED Abhishek, the shutterbug, as we made our way into the sleepy town of Malvan. Abhishek loves the beach life and having spent the last few years in the heartland, was dying to head to India’s de facto party capital. I don’t blame him. After all, Goa, is the first place you can think of when you think about some fun and frolic on the beach.

I, however, had something else in mind. Almost a year ago, I had scouted the east coast of our country in search of a beach that we could drive on. Call it poor luck or simply too many hooligans driving dangerously and messing up some pristine beaches for us, but we just couldn’t find a patch of sand to drive on. Now, with the Renault Duster AWD for company, we set out to the west, the Konkan coast, to find the perfect patch of sand to drive on.

Accompanying me were Abhishek (who was still hung up on Goa) and Aditya, our videographer as we set about on a 400km roadtrip to Malvan which would be our first destination. Stuffing the boot of the Renault Duster with all our luggage and photo and video equipment for our adventure, we made our way south from our HQ in Pune. But first, we needed to figure out the fastest way there. Enter Google Maps, and we chose the shortest possible route, something we would regret later.

The first half of the drive was easy-peasy. We drove on the Mumbai-Bengaluru highway all the way till Kolhapur. The fantastic surface along with the Duster’s renowned high-speed cruising ability ensured that the first 200km or so were polished off in a hurry. The punchy 108bhp engine along with the six-speed gearbox aided by the light clutch allowed us to maintain triple-digit speeds on the highway with minimum effort.