Quick tour to Ranjangaon

Hi All,

Last weekend, 25 Nov. 2007, we visited Ranjan Gaon, the place famous for Vinayak temple.

Actually, till noon of Sunday, we planned nothing. But, after finishing all the weekend routine stuff (marketing,house cleaning etc. [off course, majority of it completed by Anagha]) we come to know that we had spare time, which could be utilised for riding :)

So we decided to go for Ranjan Gaon, the place 70 km from Chinchwadgaon. We kick the bullet at 12:30 pm and we were at Ranjangaon by 2 pm. We adopted the route Chinchwadgaon - Dapodi - Kirkee - Yerwada - Kalyani Nagar - Shikrapur - Ranjangaon.

The temple is in good condition and has flavour of Peshwa style architecture. After spending an hour we start return journey. We adopt the same route while coming back, but one can take right turn from Shikrapur to go for Pimpri- Chinchwad.

Thus by doing this journey we had covered all the ashta-vinayak's temples.

Ganpati Bappa Morya :-)

Trip To Malwan

Hi Folks,

We are back with our account of yet another biking trip we had last weekend.The motivation was a cousin's engagement at Kolhapur.

We went on the bike to Kolhapur and extended it to go to Malwan.

Started from Pune on Wednesday ( 14th Nov 07) afternoon at about 1:00 PM and reached K'pur at 6:30 PM. We could have reached at least 45 minutes earlier but made a wrong turn and had to criss cross through the market area, which costed us some time.The road from Pune to K'pur ( 248 KM) is fantastic and it's a breeze to ride through. We took just three breaks , each lasting about 10 minutes.

The Bullet is so comfortable on the highway, that you hardly feel the time and distance. Also, we realised that the monster gives a good average if we maintain a speed of 60-70 kmph, rather than speeding crazy on the highway.

We halted at K'pur on Wednesday, attended the function on Thursday morning and started for Malwan ( 15th Nov 2007). There are two access roads to Malwan from Kolhapur. One is via Gaganbawda ( Let's call it GB) and one is via RadhaNagri - Phonda.We took the GB route. So from K'pur, it was GB ghats, Vaibhavwadi, Tarele, Kankawli , Kasaal and to Malwan. The distance is about 166 KM's. The road till you cross GB is BAD. Once you reach Vaibhavwadi, you are on NH 17 and the road is fantastic again. The road in general is curvy so it takes a little longer to cover the usual distance. We started fromK'pur at 2:00 PM and reached Malwan at 7:00 PM sharp. However, due to early winters, it got dark quite soon and it was an effort for Paresh to drive through.

We stayed at Annapoorna Niwas in Malwan, which is 3 KMs from Malwan on the Tarkarli road. The place is good, quite homely. Paresh had made the bookings from Pune itself. But when we reached there, we realised that there was no need to panic for housing. The place is full of bed and breakfast facilities. Except for the MTDC guesthouse ( which is normally overbooked), Tarkarli has ample options at reasonable cost. We paid Rs. 400 per day for a room, with attached wc. It had just bare basics: a table, 2 cots with mattresses and bed sheets. However, the owners are a very cordial family and ensure that you have a good experience with them.

They serve both veg and non veg food and it is very cheaply priced. You must try the "solkadi" there, which is a beverage made out of a sour fruit called kokum. It's simply amazing :-DWe called it a day and hit the sack soon after checking in and having dinner. Friday was spent lazing around through out the day. In teh evening we walked by the sea. The Tarkarli beach was just about 100 meters from Annapoorna Niwas and man! what a clean beach it is! Absolutely virgin!The whole shoreline is nothing but pure golden sand and serenity. The absence of bhel puri walas and other edibles has ensured that there is absolutely no gvarbage on the beach.

Tarkarli is connected to Devbaug beach which is the last piece of land of Malwan. You see the next shoreline of Vengurla from devbaug. Saturday morning, we rose early and took a walk along the beach. After breakfast, we headed for devbaug, which is about 8 kms from Malwan and 5 kms from Tarkarli. There is a very good bus service from Malwan to Devbaug, at least one bus every half an hour. Devbaug is also a very clean beach, and offers boating facility.
This place also offers to take you to dolphin Point, where they say you can see Dolphins. We met one of the visitors from Mumbai, who had ancesteral property in Devbaug. He told us that there are no dolphins in this part of the see. The boat walas actually show another breed of fish, which jump in to the air for breething..... and so that washed off our plans of watching dolphins.

However, after spending some time at Devbaug, we headed for Sindhudurg...The mighty water fort. It was built in late 17th century by Chantrapati Shivaji maharaj to ensure a prescence in coastal maharashtra. Also, the location was very strtegic- between goa and mumbai. By having a fort at such a point would ensure an eye on both the Portugeese as well as the Brits.We took a ferry launch for reaching the fort. It is about 2 Kms from the shore and there is a ferry service available from 9;00 Am to 5:00 PM. The ferry waits for the tourists at the fort for 1.15 hours and brings them back. Guides are available who help the tourists with the information about the fort.

The fort has a lot of specialities and unique features. It has the marks of Shivaji Maharaj's left foot and right palm. There is a coconut tree with two branches....a nature's miracle. The fort also has the only temple with Shivaji Maharaj's idol. The wells on the fort are a constant source of sweet drinking water inspite of being surrounded by the sea all around.It was a good trip to the fort. Both paresh and me left imagining how it would have been to be born 400 yeqars back!!!!

Upon return from the fort, we had a HUGE lunch at hotel Chaitanya. You will come across this name in alot of blogs about Malwan. The food is good but the prices are on a little higher side. There are other options also available. However, it's ok to go once during the stay.

The evening was a quiet walk in the market place, where we shopped for cashews, malwani masala and few other goodies to bring back home.

We called it an early night as we had planned to start early on Sunday morning. We left Malwan at 6:30 AM and hit the NH17 in about an hour. From Kankawli, we proceeded to Chiplun via Rajapur, Lanja and Hathkamba . The road is good but quite curvy. Our earlier plan was to reach Pune via Poladpur - Mahabaleshwar - Banglore highway. We rached Chiplun at about 1:30 PM. Folks there cautioned us that it might get very late to reach Pune by the Poladpur way. So we took the alternate route of Chiplun - Kumbharli Ghat - Karad - Pune ( via Pune - Banglore highway). The ghat is quite nice and the road is good.

We reached Karad at 4:00 PM and pune by 8:30 PM.

We rode for around 500+ km's on Sunday and over all 978 KM's. The bullet really proved it's worth this time.

We are now looking forward to a longer trip across the states. Will keep you folks posted.

Until then,

Happy biking ;-)