May 15, 2011
Another weekend, another shot @ biking. This time it was Thokarwadi Dam, Kamshet, Taluka Maval, District Pune.
The long winding road after the left @ Kanhe village just 7km ahead of Kamshet took us through a long tar ribbon bordering the parched dams of Nethersule and Thokerwadi
Thokarwadi Dam Bike Ride
Last Sunday, 27th Mar 2011. Two hell-boys, me and Manas had been to this Slope on the hill near Kamshet. So what’s different – except that we trekked the mount with our bikes.
Get to Kamshet, NH4 (NOT MUMBAI-PUNE EXPRESSWAY)
I love my state, Maharashtra. Recently had been to this lovely little trek (only 2 hours for climbing) of Ratangad, BUT … BUT a very long way to the base village, Ratanwadi.
The path to Ratangad was showered with the lovely hills, mountains en-route through one of the loveliest lakes in India, The Bhandardara lake (Wilson Dam). The road winds through the Igatpuri range, first roaming around some of the virgin hills and then through the emperors, starting with Kalsubai. The pinnacle with a small hump at the very top, a very distinguishable feature, keeps overlooking your ride/drive right till you climb Ratangad.
The base of the mountain, Ratanwadi is a small village of not more than 200 dwellers. It has an ancient temple, Amruteshwar along the banks of the Bhandardara lake. The village itself is on the opposite end of the Dam, hence about 1/2 hrs boat ride from the dam or 20km of ride from the Dam. The lake at the village provides with perennial water supply and free natural swimming pool unmatched in its beauty, surrounded with peaks of Kalsubai, Ratangad.
From the top of Ratangad, one can view the adjacent magnificence of the Sahyadri Range, next to Kalsubai are Alang, Madan, Kulang mountains (one of the difficult climbing routes – for guys like us). On the otherside is the intimidating “Ajoba”
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| Lonavala Bike Ride Jan 10 |
Manas’ Album
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| Mumbai – Vadkhal (Junction where u split either towards Panji/ Ganpatipule OR Alibag) |
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| Vadkhal to Indapur |
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| Indapur – Kashedi (Kashedi is one of the longest Ghat in the whole route) |
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| Kashedi – Chiplun |
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| Chiplun – Sangameshwar |
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| Sangameshwar – Chiplun DO NOT TAKE THE FIRST RIGHT TO GANPATIPULE AFTER SANGAMESHWAR TAKE THE RIGHT AFTER THE NIVALI GHAT (निवळी) |
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| Ganpatipule – Jaigadh (via Malgund) |
Had been on a 332km return trip to Bordi, Dahanu from Mumbai.
 Manas’ Bordi Album |
 my Bordi Album |
At the last trek event, Manas the ‘biker’ had put a request for a bike ride, then I’d said I’d probably be at Bangalore, but if I’m back we could plan one to Malshej Ghat, which would be a wonderful ride on the NH 222. So faithfully, Manas called at 9.30pm in the night, checking if I’m available, and I was, instantly – Next day @ 8.00am plan was fixed. Vj (moronzkreacionz) couldn’t make it. So with just 2 of us, it was on my bike, Honda Unicorn (150 cc, 13.3 bhp @ 8000 rpm) was to lead us to Malshej on 18 September 2010.
Manas made it to my house on time, and we left instantly after a tea. I was the first to ride till Kalyan-phata, where we took a right for Murbad. We stopped at a local Udipi restaurant to have a tea break, it was 10.30am. There on we moved through the outskirts of Kalyan reaching Shahad where the NH 222, Kalyan, Maharashtra to Nirmal, Andhra Pradesh was waiting. I let Manas ride.
Just after Murbad one of the lovely local town en-route to Malshej, there was a रास्ता बंद demonstration, by locals to criticize the inefficiency of the local govt, police to prevent thefts on the road. The whole road was barricaded with burning tires. Luckily being on a bike, we were able to circumvent after moving ahead of a kilometer long train of parked cars, buses and trucks. The road was a little bumpy, probably rains doing its damage near the earlier end of the ghats. But it smoothed out later. The sudden view of the big Malshej ghat region in front of us was captivating.
As the ghat started, so did the streams, waterfalls around the road. As we moved ahead, one waterfall right on the top of the road cooled off the heat and the grime that we had collected. We moved ahead, both of us were hungry. It was almost 12 in the noon. We moved towards the tunnel, where we stopped and went towards the needle point. Enjoyed a few snaps and back on the bike. I chose to move right towards Khubi phata, where the nostalgia inducing roads of Harishchandragadh awaited. Still further we went right to the gorge that divided the view of PimpleJoga Dam and the Madh village on the other side. We returned back from that gorge and were lucky to find a shade of a tree well made to sit. And as if that luck wasn’t enough, there was a Hand pump as well. We cleansed ourselves and went back to the tree where we had the तिखट मिठाच्या पोळ्या and Orange juice.
We decided to even clean our bike, so filled a plastic bag with the water at the hand pump and chilled the black seat of the bike and the engine. Yet again on the bike, we moved ahead checking which waterfall should we spend some time and have a clean shower! We went pass through 3 falls, until we spotted one just on the road, which had no one. And the fall came from atleast 30 feet above the road. We drenched ourselves in the cold water and mounted ourselves us again for the trip back to Mumbai. We left the ghat around 2 with Manas riding the bike and me as a pillion.
On our route back, luckily the road block had cleared near Saralgaon (सरळगाव), and we moved ahead towards Kalyan. At Shahad, we exchanged our seats and zoomed till my place where we reached by 5pm.