A trip to Mahabaleshwar

With its verdant hills, soaring peaks, breath-taking valleys, lush flora, acres of evergreen forests, and a pleasant climate, Mahabaleshwar is one of the best hill-stations in Maharashtra. It is a great destination to visit throughout the year, except for the monsoon months. For us it was a 235 km jolly ride in mid-December. Now, there were many questions on our mind and must be popping up in yours too, “Which route to take?”, “Where to stay?” etc. After much thought we were finally ready with the itinerary of our trip. Our plan was to leave early morning on Saturday and get back home on Sunday. This time around, we were six comrades on three bikes!

The riders and their beasts

So as planned, Saturday morning, we jumped out of bed, met at Powai at 6 am sharp and kicked off our trip towards our destination. Reaching Powai was timeless, however Panvel took longer, due to the never ending bumper-to-bumper city traffic. From Panvel we traveled through National Highway 17 (NH17) to the town of pen and then connected to the National Highway 66 (NH66) all the way to Mahabaleshwar. There is always an intense feeling on the mind while travelling through NH17 as it is the most accident prone highway in India. Long rides makes you hungry very fast, thus once we were through with NH17 we halted at a highway dhaba to have some morning highway delicacies.

Having omelette pav and missal pav at NH66

The roads of the NH17 were narrow and kind-of a one way for vehicles to pass, which made it really hard to overtake vehicles. After NH17 the road turned up to be better right up to Mahabaleshwar. There were many ghats along the route and the scenic beauty was just increasing exponential as we went further towards our destination. It was a great ride through the hills!

After 5 hours of riding with many halts to click-away the beauty of nature we were finally close to Mahabaleshwar. Close to the city we spotted a decent looking Hotel thus we thought of inquiring about a one night stay. The Hotel was pretty decent, the room was comfy for all of us to stay and it was only 5 km away from the city hence we decided to stay here. The room was huge and could easily accommodate eight people and the stay for one night was just one thousand rupees, it was an awesome bargain!!

We rested for some time, freshened up and got out to visit the sites around Mahabaleshwar. The first place we visited was Pratapgad fort, for which we had to ride back 20 km in the opposite direction of Mahabaleshwar city. Tip: You can save a lot of time if you visit the fort on your way to Mahabaleshwar. The fort was easy to access and the view from above was sensational. We trekked till the top of the fort, clicked some beautiful images of the view and then were back on our way to the city.

Pratapgad Fort

It was already dark in the evening as we strolled around in the market. The market was flooded with tourists from all over the world. We had the famous Mahabaleshwar strawberry shakes which lived up to the expectations and without saying, were absolutely delicious. We also picked up some strawberries for home. After some hours of roaming about in the market it was late so we decided to have dinner here itself. To get back to our room we had to ride through the pitch dark roads in the hills which was bit of a scary experience.

The next day according to our itinerary was the day for visiting the various tourist-points in Mahabaleshwar. We got ready, packed our belongings and checked-out from the Hotel as we were going to take a different route back home. Out of all the sites in Mahabaleshwar we chose a few to visit as all of these sites almost looked alike and also we were limited on time as we had to visit Venna Lake and Kaas plateau on our way back home. We visited Ludwig point and Elephant point first. The view of these points was breath-taking with all the surrounding hills.

Ludwig Point

Elephant point

We had lunch in the city and then set off on our way towards home. It was afternoon and the sun was burning. After about a 30 min ride, we reached Venna Lake, which was surrounded by trees and the shade from the trees helped us escape from the blaze of the sun. Visiting the lake turned out to be a good decision, it was beautiful, calm and very peaceful. At Venna Lake a local told us about a strawberry farm nearby where we topped up on our strawberry stock.Tip: It’s better to buy strawberries from the strawberry farms as you can choose the strawberries as well as you get them for a better price. The farm owner even allowed us to pluck some berries right from the farm.

On our way back we decided to go a bit off route just to get a glimpse of Kaas Plateau, but it was mostly dry without any flowers. The best and only time to visit it would be the latter half of the rainy season. Anyway this route took us to Satara and from there we took NH4 all the way back home to Mumbai. The roads till Satara were a mix of good and terrible conditions but the ghats were once again the highlight of this route. There were many long stretches of road where we couldn’t see a single soul till far but the roads were in the best condition and the view was exemplary. As we were already late we didn’t halt for pics but kept on cruising and enjoyed the blissful ride.

Venna Lake

Venna Lake: A view from above!

As always the trip back home was never ending. It was a very long ride as we had to ride 350 km. We all were at 100 km/hr plus all the way, but it still did not seem to end. After riding for almost 5 hours we reached Panvel where we waved goodbye to one of our riders. In another hour the trip had already ended, we were all at home lying down tired from the outstanding 700 km round trip with a thought in the back of our head, “Where should we go next?”

Two day trip to Murud Janjira

After taking a break from our previous trip to Malshej Ghats we were again in the researching phase about which place to explore next! Into the middle of the monsoon season, we still had a list of places to visit during this nature-friendly time. After lots of research and scrutinizing places around Mumbai, we unanimously decided that our next biking expedition will be to the town of Murud. Now we were a group of eight friends but had only 2 bikes for the trip. Thus we planned to take a car this time and our two favorite bikes – Hero Impulse and the Yamaha Fazer!

We started gearing up for the trip right away by getting our bikes serviced. We also pooled our savings for the trip and we were raring to go! We commenced our trip from one of our friends place in Borivali. Although we left early we were stuck in the busy city traffic. Our bikes slipped right through it but the car couldn’t, thus we halted for the car at Powai.

After sometime we regrouped and started travelling towards Kashid via Panvel. We halted at Panvel to not only have breakfast at McDonald’s but also use the toilets as we were not going to find any after this for a long time. After a brief 20 min halt we started our ride again. We were travelling via NH17 which gave us the chance to revisit our first road trip destination Karnala which brought back pleasant memories.

After NH 17 we were en route to Kashid via the coastal route which was quite narrow and bumpy, but the view of the sea on the side of the road nullified the bumpy ride. This road also gives you a glimpse of the rustic Konkan beauty. For the beach enthusiasts Alibaug comes on this route and you could have a peek there as well though we gave it a miss as we were already behind schedule.

At one point there were trees on one side of the road and on the other side there was the serene Kashid beach. We reached Kashid around 12:30 pm and started searching for the guest house we had booked. We had a hard time searching as there was no one on the streets to guide. Finally one of us spotted a sign pointed towards our guest house, which completed our search. The house was beautiful and we were welcomed by the owner who lived there with his family. They showed us our rooms which were decent for the price we were asked to pay. We quickly took a power nap and then decided to go to Murud which was approx. 18km from our current location. Once we were ready to leave, we all realized that none of had fuel in our vehicles. It was a petrol crisis as we had to travel back 10km in order to fill fuel. Now Murud was 30 km away from us, but our love for the roads left no regret in our hearts and we started racing towards Murud.

After 40 minutes of riding when we got the first glimpse of Murud-Janjira fort, it left a “wow” expression on our faces. We all knew that it was a fort which was built in the middle of the sea, but seeing it in person exceeded our expectations. We immediately captured the gigantic fort on our cameras from different views  and headed towards the fort.

We had to sail on a boat to reach the fort. The boat ride was pleasant and the fort grew huge with every passing minute as we approached it. It took us approx. 20 min to reach the fort from the shore. The best part of the fort was that the main entrance was only visible when we reached very close to the fort which is one of the specialities of this historic beauty. It was a scary moment when we were asked by our helmsman to jump from the boat in order to get into the fort with the waves continuously dragging the boat away from the entrance. With the help of the guides we managed to get into the fort. The fort was unusually ginormous! Once we were in, our guide started telling us the history of the Janjira fort. He told us everything; right from the entry point, what each building represented, the canons, to the secret path to get out, etc. It was hard to believe that the fort had two fresh water bodies within it, although it was surrounded by the salty sea water.

On our way back from the fort we decided to see the sunset in Kashid beach. The part of the beech we halted was completely deserted. Kashid is one of those beaches you can never go wrong with. It was that place where you can let your hair down after a tiring day. You are greeted by the white sands and lush greenery around the beach. The waves were unusually high. We rested on the sands waiting for the imminent sunset. The panoramic view of the beach left us enthralled. Finally it was time for the sunset and in that moment I swear we were infinite.

As all good things come to an end, it was time for us to get back home. We decided to take a different route back to Mumbai. We took the Murud-Roha road and connected on to Khopoli-Pali road and then the old Mumbai-Pune highway to get back home. This road is a scenic beauty in itself though not like the coastal road. Thought initially the route was rough with numerous potholes the later part was fun as we had to ride through the ghats. The numerous small towns and villages along this route were a sight to watch. Crazy music, cold weather and some real dumb talks all along the way is what really makes these trips fun. It was a long ride home, we all reached home safe and sound with awesome memories made from visiting an amazing fort. This trip was yet another milestone for us and there are still many more to go…

Our one day trip to Malshej Ghats

It had been a long time since our trip to Karnala fort, owing to our hectic college life! Now we all had bikes to explore all the unknown destinations. After some days of brainstorming about our next destination we zeroed in on Malshej Ghats, as we had read  that it is one of the best ghats for riding to our hearts content especially in the monsoon. Friends and acquaintances at college got a whiff of the road trip plan and started asking if they could join us which resulted in the addition of three more companions.

Our trip began early in the morning with five bikes and nine friends on our way for an adventure filled trip. We traveled from Borivali via Thane towards Kalyan. The roads in Kalyan were in a horrible condition with countless potholes which slowed us down a bit, however that too gave us the off-road feel. 

When we entered the ghats we were welcomed by nature with lush greenery. To our good fortune it began to rain and the glory of the Ghats were revealed to us. The roads turned wet from the continuous drizzles of rain. It felt incredible to see how the monsoons had brought Malshej Ghats to life with innumerable waterfalls surrounded by greenery . The serenity of the Ghats was something unexplainable.

There was a waterfall every 500m of our ride which tempted us to soak ourselves, but we had to keep moving as we were limited by time.

Riding through the fog was yet another great experience we witnessed here. We were honking at regular intervals in rhythm to stay together while going through the dense fog as our vision was limited to 10 meters which was an adventure in itself!

After completing our cruise through the ghats we headed to Shivneri fort ,the birth place of Shivaji Maharaj. The fort was about 18 km ahead of the ghats. Unlike other forts  trekking was not required.

 From up here we got a stunning view of all the surrounding small towns.

Within the fort we caught the view of some 17th century structures including the quarters where Shivaji Maharaj was born. After exploring the fort and all the structures, we found a place to rest and have our lunch. There was no place selling food in the location of the fort or along the ghats. We were saved yet again! because we carried our own packed lunch and water. We enjoyed eating in silence, enjoying the tranquility of mother nature’s work around us.

The ride back from the fort was exhausting and as we all were wet from the frequent drizzles of rain, we decided to stop by a waterfall and refresh ourselves in the cold streams of the waterfall. Now it time to get back home after an exhilarating and engaging day right from the Ghats to the Fort, not to forget about the welcoming waterfall. The ride back home was peaceful as we had to ride the ghats again battling through the fog.

MALSHEJ GHATS was like a dream come true; the ride was amazing, mother nature was in its full glory, the experience was exceptional and it is surely the kind of place we would visit again soon!