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In the series of buld up trips to Leh Ladhak, this one was the second in the series. The first one being Pune - Ganpatipule - Pune in a single day was worth the ride every second!!! Over 650 kms, longest one for me, in a single day was designed for long distance endurance on Highways combined with loads of curvy roads and hills from Konkan area.
The second one, Pune - Bhandardara - Pune, around 405 kms, was more of a ride on small roads ( 2 laned roads ) with medium to heavy traffic and good to bad to worst roads conditions in an April summer heat. Frankly, I was expecting it to be a very dry ride, that would sap all the body fluids, wondering when this would get over, however, I was in for a pleasent surprise!!! Where would I get to see this?
Anyways, we were suppose to be a bunch of 4 riders for this ride, but for some reasons or the other, 2 had other commitments and it was decided that Sanjay and self would be doing the ride as planned. Sanjay had been to Bhandardara last monsoon and I had heard, read and seen his blog on the same. Since then, I always wanted to visit Bhandardara for the awesome views of sheer massive Sahyadri range and of course, the dam itself. We started a tad late at 6:45 AM than we normally do on our usual rides and our first stop was at Bota, around 100 kms from Aundh on Pune Nasik highway, just after Ale Phata. We stopped at Vithal Kamat's for the breakfast at 8:30 AM.
That's Sanjay with his bike
With my bike!!
Had wonderful Onion Uttappa's and hot coffee, we were ready to leave for Bhandardara right away. Bhandardara is around 74 kms from Bota. The road from Bota to Bhandardara is a small road, barely over a lane and a half at its best, but the road was in good condition. The road is full of turns and small ghats and its a paradise for the bikers.
Rock formations on the river bed. Water gushes through this when water is released from the Bhandardara dam.
Sanjay and his bike
The traffic was pretty sparse, thankfully, and around 10:30 AM, we reached Bhandardara. We decided to go around the backwaters of Bhandardara which is round about 50 odd kms. The views are awesome. Road condition worsens in patchs, but overall, its definitely a rode to ride!! I will let the pictures do more talking...
Inspite of being in the April second half, it was pretty green everywhere.
Amazing roads to ride
Amazing Vistas through out the ride!
Dam still holds water, but I am sure it would be a sight to see during monsoon!
Amazing Sahyadri ranges all around
Well earned rests by the bikes! Suddenly after this snap, Camera prompted "Memory Card Full" message. When I checked the same, it was old card that came along with the camera and the capacity was less than 1 GB. I did not want to let go the opportunity to capture the snaps. So quickly deleted some random snaps that did not make sense and reduced the file size of the image to postcard. So the next set of photos are at lower resolution. Please bear with me on the same.
The mighty Sahyadris!!!
Amruteshwar Temple at Ratanwadi, at the base of Ratangarh
Awesome roads continue with green patches all around
We continue to ride around the backwaters and vistas get better at each turn!
It must have been around 12:30PM by now. We stopped in a shade for some rest again. Cool breeze was blowing and we could not believe ourselves that this ride is in summers. Got to experience it to believe it. It was very refreshing break at this point.
Shades of mountain ranges!
Just 5 minutes after the break, we stopped again to eat "Karvanda".Not sure what it is called in english though. There were Karvanda trees all around, but its little early to Karvanda season. In another couple of weeks, one can get ripen "Karvanda" to savour!
Close up of "Karvanda"
On the way back, we stopped briefly at MTDC resort at Bhandardara. Some of the wings were under renovation. We did not see any tourists around. The earlier plan was to have lunch at MTDC resort, but we decided to skip it and head towards Vithal Kamat's again for lunch.
On the way back we encountered again large farm lands of flower cultivation.
Around 3 PM, we reached Vithal Kamat's and had wonderful Misal and Thumbs Up!!! Every ride has to have a Misal session, without which, ride is not a ride.We had covered just over 300KMs by now. Had relaxed lunch and started back to Pune at 4PM. The ride back to Pune was through heavy traffic, but uneventful. Reached home around 6 PM for a refreshing tea again!!!
Hope you liked the photologue. I am very much looking forward to have another ride here in monsoon season. I am definitely sure that the ride would be mesmerising one!!!
takecare and ride safely
Rajesh Kavthekar
The second one, Pune - Bhandardara - Pune, around 405 kms, was more of a ride on small roads ( 2 laned roads ) with medium to heavy traffic and good to bad to worst roads conditions in an April summer heat. Frankly, I was expecting it to be a very dry ride, that would sap all the body fluids, wondering when this would get over, however, I was in for a pleasent surprise!!! Where would I get to see this?
Anyways, we were suppose to be a bunch of 4 riders for this ride, but for some reasons or the other, 2 had other commitments and it was decided that Sanjay and self would be doing the ride as planned. Sanjay had been to Bhandardara last monsoon and I had heard, read and seen his blog on the same. Since then, I always wanted to visit Bhandardara for the awesome views of sheer massive Sahyadri range and of course, the dam itself. We started a tad late at 6:45 AM than we normally do on our usual rides and our first stop was at Bota, around 100 kms from Aundh on Pune Nasik highway, just after Ale Phata. We stopped at Vithal Kamat's for the breakfast at 8:30 AM.
That's Sanjay with his bike
With my bike!!
Had wonderful Onion Uttappa's and hot coffee, we were ready to leave for Bhandardara right away. Bhandardara is around 74 kms from Bota. The road from Bota to Bhandardara is a small road, barely over a lane and a half at its best, but the road was in good condition. The road is full of turns and small ghats and its a paradise for the bikers.
Rock formations on the river bed. Water gushes through this when water is released from the Bhandardara dam.
Sanjay and his bike
The traffic was pretty sparse, thankfully, and around 10:30 AM, we reached Bhandardara. We decided to go around the backwaters of Bhandardara which is round about 50 odd kms. The views are awesome. Road condition worsens in patchs, but overall, its definitely a rode to ride!! I will let the pictures do more talking...
Inspite of being in the April second half, it was pretty green everywhere.
Amazing roads to ride
Amazing Vistas through out the ride!
Dam still holds water, but I am sure it would be a sight to see during monsoon!
Amazing Sahyadri ranges all around
Well earned rests by the bikes! Suddenly after this snap, Camera prompted "Memory Card Full" message. When I checked the same, it was old card that came along with the camera and the capacity was less than 1 GB. I did not want to let go the opportunity to capture the snaps. So quickly deleted some random snaps that did not make sense and reduced the file size of the image to postcard. So the next set of photos are at lower resolution. Please bear with me on the same.
The mighty Sahyadris!!!
Amruteshwar Temple at Ratanwadi, at the base of Ratangarh
Awesome roads continue with green patches all around
We continue to ride around the backwaters and vistas get better at each turn!
It must have been around 12:30PM by now. We stopped in a shade for some rest again. Cool breeze was blowing and we could not believe ourselves that this ride is in summers. Got to experience it to believe it. It was very refreshing break at this point.
Shades of mountain ranges!
Just 5 minutes after the break, we stopped again to eat "Karvanda".Not sure what it is called in english though. There were Karvanda trees all around, but its little early to Karvanda season. In another couple of weeks, one can get ripen "Karvanda" to savour!
Close up of "Karvanda"
On the way back, we stopped briefly at MTDC resort at Bhandardara. Some of the wings were under renovation. We did not see any tourists around. The earlier plan was to have lunch at MTDC resort, but we decided to skip it and head towards Vithal Kamat's again for lunch.
On the way back we encountered again large farm lands of flower cultivation.
Around 3 PM, we reached Vithal Kamat's and had wonderful Misal and Thumbs Up!!! Every ride has to have a Misal session, without which, ride is not a ride.We had covered just over 300KMs by now. Had relaxed lunch and started back to Pune at 4PM. The ride back to Pune was through heavy traffic, but uneventful. Reached home around 6 PM for a refreshing tea again!!!
Hope you liked the photologue. I am very much looking forward to have another ride here in monsoon season. I am definitely sure that the ride would be mesmerising one!!!
takecare and ride safely
Rajesh Kavthekar
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