Jawhar

  From Bahndardara to Jawhar, once again was a delightful ride. The sun, although, had become a little stronger but the weather was still monsoon & so the landscapes were still lush green & the breeze cool. As you leave from Bandardara, to head for Jawhar you take the Ghoti road, which again is in good condition up to Ghoti toll. From here you'll take a diversion on to the Nashik - Jawhar road.

ON the way you'll encounter some of the small waterfalls & valleys as in these pics.

Malshej Gaht - Bhandardara

Bhandardara

   Our next destination was Bhandardara, which in fact was the primary discovery on television as I have mentioned in my previous post. Malshej Ghat happened only because it is on the way to Bhandardara & as you’ve seen in the pictures there isn’t a better season than the monsoons to be in Malshej.

    Bhandardara also, is a hill station located in Maharashtra on the Rajur-Ghoti road. Being a hill station it enjoys a pleasant climate year round but the monsoons, as I witnessed make the destination exceptionally beautiful. The highlight of the visit there was the Lake Arthur & a Dam ‘The Wilson Dam’ constructed around it, during the pre-independence era.

    The MTDC resort in Bhandardara is located ideally, such that it’s opposite the lake for you to enjoy the view of the vastness of the lake & the cool wind that blows from that direction. It’ll make you wonder if you are indeed in Maharashtra so close to Mumbai where, if you live in the suburbs you seldom can feel any breeze let alone enjoying open spaces.

    The picture above was captured as we sat at the shore awaiting sunset. Its magnificent vastness & the beautiful color along with the small timid waves makes for a splendid spot for one to feel peace & harmony.

 
    Picture above is exactly as it can be viewed from your room at MTDC Bhandardara.

    MTDC here, I admit has a good location, however, the rooms were not exactly in the best conditions. The walls were soaked in water due to rains & smelt of mildew as soon as we entered & that made it loose the Brownie point, although, the bathroom & beds were acceptable for the tariff applicable. There are a couple of other lodgings around MTDC but I found their room charges extremely steep.

Here’s how you get to Bhandardara from Malshej Ghat.:

    Continue on from Malshej towards Ottur, which is 25 km from Malshej. Once you reach Ottur, you have to look for the ‘Ottur Bus Stand’ as there is a deceptive left from the main road which one might miss easily. We reached Ottur right around lunch time & found a reasonable good hotel here to have our afternoon meal. A chilled beer followed by a Chicken masala prepared in rural style with Chapati the added excitement & vigor for the future journey, just another 70 km. In fact, here we encountered the best State Highway with immaculate road conditions complimented by excellent weather & breathtaking landscapes on the way to the next junction, which is Brahmanwada.

Somewhere as you reach Brahmanwada, the roads intersect with the Akole-Rajur road & which is where you’d have to change your course towards. Rajur being the next point you’d have to reach before nearing Bhandardara. Locals are helpful & every few kilometers if you feel skeptical about the direction you are traveling, asking a local villager on his bicycle will guide you pretty efficiently. As a matter of fact, it is here at Rajur that will interest adventurers as the trekking destination ‘Harihchandragad’ falls in this Taluka. Again, the diversion for reaching Harishchandragad at Rajur is not very evident & a local will help you identify the left you are required to take on the Rajur-Bandardara stretch.

Harishchandragad, is popular amongst trekkers for it allows both mature & amateurs to scale the height without a lot of difficulty, yet giving the expected exhilaration of climbing atop a mountain & the view of a lifetime. It is considered a little troublesome climbing in the monsoon due to the rocks surface being slippery so do wear the right kind of shoes. My wife & I successfully scaled to the top however, we decided from a distance to the destination to retract as the rocks became a little too slippery. Dilemma is not always good, especially in such situations. So, we mutually agreed to turn back & descended the mountain & as most, who have trekked, will know that a descent is always more tiring than an ascent, taking almost twice the effort & time to reach the bottom. Once down the hill, it started to pour & were we glad that we had decided not to continue our trek atop. From here we rode back to Bhandardara & that evening I treated myself with some chilled beer & hit the bed early.

700 Km

700 Km. – Of visual & sensual bliss.

                As you know now that we had chosen the destinations largely factoring the budget & time it’ll take for us to cover the journey. Google Maps is a known & accommodatingly accurate application to give you details on the distances between destinations/major junctions on your way. So, before setting out just get a rough idea of how much time it should take for you to cover distances such that you don’t have to travel post sunset. i.e. If you’d want to avoid traveling in the dark. Needless to say, I am contesting for those who find romance in riding than using other mediums of travel. However, it still is a matter of perception & I can only respect others’ perspectives as much, even if they choose otherwise.

         To travel 700 km., that’ll take 5 days to satisfactorily make your vacation leaving you feel un-winded, you don’t need much to carry. Of course it’s your take to decide on how many pairs of clothes are necessary & I sure can tell you that any heavy luggage you might decide to carry on your backs while riding will become a pain in the backs as time passes. Eatables can be limited to a couple of biscuit packets & a small packet of candies. Rest you will find there are hotels along the way that will cater to your hunger & thirst every few kilometers. It’ll come handy if you have smart phone which has a navigation application on it. Of course, there is network availability all through the journey except when you might venture out for trekking. There are a couple of very interesting ascends (Gads/Hills) around our destinations, we’ll arrive at shortly.

Mumbai to Malshej Ghat:

     Google Maps will tell you that it’s 125 km approx. between Mumbai & Malshej Ghat. So, even at an average speed of 40 km/hr with breaks for rest/breakfast, it shouldn’t take more than 3 & 1/2 hrs for one to get there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malshej_Ghat

       The link offers you a good idea on the periphery, of the destination you might visit. As mentioned on the website, the best time to visit Malshej Ghat is during monsoons. I was in Malshej on the 21^st of August & it was just as I’d hoped it to be.

     This was how we were welcomed. As soon as we started to ascend the Ghat (700 mt above sea level), the weather became simply enigmatic, cool & visibility was restrained to only a few meters.

     We chose to take the Ghodbundar Road instead of the LBS-Eastern Express Highway as Ghodbundar is close from our origin point.

      
     The pic was shot by my wife (pillion) using a P&S, when we were on the Ghodbunder Road.

Since we knew that it’d take us right around 4 hrs to reach Malshej Ghat & because we’d also planned to continue on to Bhandardara from Malshej the same day, we left from home at 6 AM. This was ideal cause the weather was cool when we left this early in the morning & as we progressed on to our journey it was just painted with different strokes of green. That, in fact kept the weather suitable for us to keep going without a lot of breaks as we did not feel fatigued at all.

                                                               

     For a city rider like me, the State highways were pure bliss, due to both, well maintained roads & the surrounding landscape. Also, the traffic of any other kind of vehicles also was very low giving us the privilege of privacy.

     That’s my wife in the rear view mirror, capturing the bend.

     On the way to Malshej, one will encounter numerous streams & some of them so inviting that you can’t resist cupping your palms to collect the flowing chilled stream to drain that cupful down your throat. That’s unpacked, non-branded but surely the real mineral water you’d want to taste when you get an opportunity.

    

  

     This is a view of the ghat of Malshej that is popular for its waterfall. For someone who arrives unaware of the fall ahead invariable gets drenched in the cold waters even as the distant fall breaks into fine particles spraying your face with its misty feel & wind blowing through your hair. If you’ve enjoyed this then you’ve managed to enjoy 50% of the experience at Malsej ghat. However, for the remaining 50% you’d have to be an adventurer as the ghat offers a few treks along the streams & in the monsoons they are a little wicked to handle as most steep & slippery treks would be.

     This place, you see in the above pic, is very close to MTDC Malshej & appeared to be a rather recent development arranged by the Tourism department with its rock tiled flooring intact & railings in sturdy condition. Also, it appears that the stem of a tree has been maintained to add to the décor of the point. At its extreme, it gives you a beautiful view of the valleys clouded by the monsoon fog. Spending a few minutes is soothing.

     Well, a good 45 min to an hour spent here worked just right for us. And the vendor selling steaming hot bhutta (Corn) adds just the right amount of romance to the overall fun & excitement. The MTDC accommodation is like any other in the state & can be recommended for a stay. Although, as I mentioned earlier, since we had planned to be in Bhandardara before dusk, we hopped on again onto our motorcycle & started to descend towards Ottur.

The Plan

Vacation is necessary. For everyone, it not only gives you respite from the daily rut of life but also allows you to think laterally. I say this because, even a going on a vacation these days has become an activity for most of us City dwellers. An activity that will have us go through various websites or in some cases to approach tour organizers or travel agents to find about best deals to explore new destinations, either heard of from friends, colleagues or relatives.

In most cases, a defined budget & time will determine what the vacation will be like, which is true and cannot be overlooked. However, it is this very narrow approach towards gearing up for a vacation, that can kill the essence of making fullest leisure of it. Hope you address your vacation as an activity of leisure or what the heart desires rather than something that looks like a To-Do List.

Here's how I came about planning mine. Of course, like I've admitted to the fact that one cannot ignore time & money, nor did I. I was considering taking a break & knew that it had to fit my time & money bill. Which left me with choices of flying to destinations to save time but because the cost would be more the destinations were more likely to be frequent flight cities. As most of us know that high air traffic routes will have lesser cost involved, this would allow a breather for my pockets. And then the places to stay would be a standard 2/3 star.

All this changed. A show on an Indian travel channel was presenting the beautiful Hill station of Bhandardhara, Maharashtra. The host for that particular show really showed great pleasure to be part of it (for reasons I think was the splendid place he stayed at - Anandvan Resort, Bhandardara http://www.anandvanresorts.com/). So, as it happened, I immediately turned on my internet & googled the rest of the itinerary.

The Machine

The Machine aka Monu

Monu??!!... If you wonder why Monu, it has a reason. The Unicorn has a rear Mono-Suspension. Just its best characteristic needed to be appreciated. So, my personalized name for it 'MONU'. Let me know how you like that.

This Pic above is at MTDC Resort, Bhandardara.

Side View, Front view.. Nothing more to it. Yet, there is some elegance or appeal to the way the bike appears especially when it is stands inclined to the ground, with its head tilted. For those who don't know how to get your motorcycles to pose like this, then just make use of the side stand.

Also, to the right of the pic is the cottage we were accommodated into for the 2 days we spent in Bhandardara. To the left (or facing the open balcony to the room), is the beautiful-scenic-vast Arthur Lake. (Not seen in this pic, there will be more to come).

That is a close up of the speedometer. For this device told me at the end of the journey, the distance I had traveled (679.5 km) for traveling from Mumbai-Malshej Ghat-Bhandardara-Jawhar-Mumbai. Monu has done clocked 36,920 km as on the 25th Aug 2012. Monu's DOB: 29th Sept 2007.

That my friends is the mighty, unrelenting, loyal Monu right outside my house, post the expedition.