One of the best parts about living in Pune is the excellent weather. And the bestest part about it is the plethora of choices in places to visit over the weekends or holidays that it offers. You want to trek, go cycling, biking, long drive, swim, adventure sports – you name it and Pune and the surrounds will offer you. Rainy season accentuates the beauty several notches more.
My Royal Enfield Desert Storm was craving for some taste of
the mountain green. I had done two Pune – Mumbai – Pune trips on my ‘Storm’ but
that’s about the exposure it had to the mist. So this one Saturday I decided to
take it for a climb. And climb it literally was - 1312 meters above sea
level (Pune is 560)
Joseph and me started early morning at 7.30 and rode towards
Sinhagad. My car was my carrier the last time around I went to Sinhagad and
this time it was the storm and boy the difference was telling. The power of the
500 cc engine just dragged us like a bison. Our plan was to ride via Khed –
Shivapur while ascending and descend via the Khadakwasla route. I had used the
Khed – Shivapur route before so was quite confident of the way.
The morning chill made the ride very pleasant. We were
barely out of Katraj that my wallet somehow slipped out of the shorts and
spilled all my money and cards and receipts on the road. Joseph and I spent
some 15 minutes in the careful re-collection of my wallet residents. Careful, I
say because there was continuous flow of cars and bikes on both directions.
Some cars even stopped but left as soon as they realized that this wasn’t a
shower of money.
We reached the base of the fort in about an hour. It had been ages since I saw a rainbow
piercing the clouds but from here we spotted a beautiful Rainbow emerging from
the mountain and travelling through the clouds. I was carrying my camera and it
was a perfect moment for my 1st capture of the day. We could see the
Khadakwasla dam at a distance and the view was just breathtaking. The sky was
clear and the fog hadn’t taken us captive yet.
We wandered around clicking the various historic corners of
the fort including Lokmanya Tilak’s Bungalow – this bungalow that has had
visitors including Gandhiji during the freedom struggle, Shivaji’s Brave
Lieutenant - Tanaji Malusare’s tomb, various small temples, Kalyan Darwaza etc.
Joseph was my model who added essence to my clicks of the fort area. His
ability to pose so effortlessly can be matched only by Mamooty in his Mundu
Vesti ;-). We spent some nice, meditatingly calm moments in the far end of the
fort where there were no visitors when we reached. I absolutely loved this side
of the fort. We had some Bhajiya and Chai from one of the many eateries –
managed by the villagers and headed down to Khadakwasla.
As we crossed the Sinhagad forest area and were approaching
Khadakwasla Dam, we noticed that Panshet is about 25km’s to the left. So we
changed the plan and rode towards Panshet. We decided to visit Khadakwasla on
the way back. Some 4 km’s ahead we saw that Rajgad is about 30 km’s to the left
off the road towards Panshet. So we decided to cover Rajgad as well that same day.
The day just got a little more exciting. Road to Panshet is well maintained and
since it runs parallel to the river it had beautiful places to take halts. We
nevertheless fought the intermittent rains and reached Panshet in like no time.
To our surprise the place was extremely well maintained with good water sports
facilities, a few decent restaurants overlooking the lake, children play area
and ample space for family picnickers to put down their blankets and food
basket. We spent some time here, clicked some pictures and then rode to see
Rajgad.
I knew that Rajgad will not be like Sinhagad, as in we won’t
be able to ride all the way to the fort. There would be a bit of trekking and
we didn’t have time for that. But Joseph was so immersed in the beauty of the Greens
and Blues and intermittent whites that he was difficult to convince. So we rode
towards Rajgad. We passed a few villages and some bad patches of road – so bad
that some cars just decided to revert back from there – no jokes – later we
found that all were lady drivers (I aint implying anything here). We were
crossing a mountain which we thought will lead us directly to Rajgad however to
our dismay Rajgad’s base village was 20 km’s from there. That spiraling road and
the surrounding mountains were absolutely mind-blasting (Russell Peter types).
We decided to click some pictures and spend some time there – letting ourselves
free. Absolute Bliss!! If only we could have had the liberty to release some
Holstein Friesian Cows in the meadows and make some European style cottages and
serve some cheese and chocolates, voila! We would be in Switzerland. It was so
beautiful.
We were here for about half an hour and we didn’t have even
one car pass us; just one herd of cows and the cowboy. I tried my macro skills
and took some pictures which made me feel good. Hope you like them too. Its
here Joseph took a picture of mine with my desert storm (first pic at the start of the blog) that I believe is one
of my best so far. Thanks Josie!!
Coming down was tricky as it was continuously raining, the
visibility was low and the bad patches were kind of disorienting my bike to
perpendiculars. But I managed to get Joseph to SafetyJ. Khadakwasla Dam was very
crowded. Punekars call it the chowpatty of Pune. I heaved a sigh of relief that
we went to Panshet and almost Rajgad and didn’t waste our afternoon in
Khadakwasla. But for the fact that we were there I clicked some pictures and
off we left towards NH4 via the Sinhagad road and headed back to Koregaon Park.
By 6.30 we were home. Imagine such a good ride, so many awesome
places, wonderful clicks, meditating silence surrounded by the mountains all in
half the days distance.
Pune - Kass Plateau – Thoseghar waterfalls – Sajjandad –
Pune will be next on 2nd October 2012.
Stay Tuned!!
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| Red Whiskered BulBul |
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| Khadakwasla |
