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मिट्टी का बना हूँ, महक उठूंगा…
बस तू एक बार बेइँतहा ‘बरस’ के तो देख…!!!
(Poet Unknown)
Over since last several years I am regular reader of Tourer section of Xbhp and most of my rides are inspired from the travelogue presented here. Many times even I have thought of sharing my riding experience here in form of travelogue however never able to pen-down it. So this is my first attempt to narrate my short ride to Dandeli which I did it over last weekend.
Last couple of years I have been planning to visit Dandeli during monsoon season with an objective to cover all nearby attractions but most of these plans failed due to lack time available in hand. So this year I have decided that if not in detailed lets’ at least have a short express ride to cover beautiful roads of Anshi National Park and take a round trip via Karwar over weekend.
My Dandeli/Karwar express ride idea has been liked by my RE Riding club member Zatin & I am lucky that I got his company. Together we did couple of long rides in past and knowing Zatin's riding style I was really happy that he will be part of this ride.
Plan got charted and dates got fixed two weeks in advance but ever since then monsoon in Maharashtra specially in Mumbai was in total different mood and created a big question mark on our plan... since this was a express ride with the objective of covering around 1500km in two days heavy rain was a concern. It was quite an easy ride with Friday night start however till Friday afternoon we were not sure to go or not to go due to heavy rains hitting all over Maharashtra. Despite all this our desire and passion of riding has solved this dilemma with just few lines of afternoon whatsap chat...
Me to Zatin... Do u see the rains outside...?
Zatin... Hmm
Me... Do u want to ride in this condition?
Zatin... Do u want to ride in this condition?
Me... I am gonna ride...
Zatin... Same here.... let's roll.
And we started rolling on Friday Night around 10:30pm from Airoli Circle.
Before we start further… A Small Introduction of Riders & Pillion...
Me...(Sandeep) ... Ride RE STD500...ride symphony.. Let's ride til Road ends.
Zatin... Ride RE STD500... ride symphony... show me the road where I have to ride.
Deep (Zatin's Friend).... as pillion... I am obedient pillion... Take me with u.
We three on the top of Mollem National Park Ghat Road..
Heavy monsoon has set the ride mood perfect, we got geared fully in riding & monsoon gears and started tackling slowly and steadily the traffic of Thane-Belapur road and it has accompanied us till the fence of Panvel.
By the time we reached reach Lonavala… Monsoon has ranged its final bell…. It was like he want to warn us…. Go back home guys....I am in totally different mood tonight… we felt rain droops like someone pouring bucket of water from sky.
We took this opportunity to finish the packed sandwiches we got with us for dinner and enjoyed them at foggy.. rainy night at Lonavala. By the time rain has subsided we started rolling towards Satara.
Next break panned was at foothill of Khambataki Ghat… till here rain kept our eyes wide open and steaming tea at Khabataki kept us fresh till we reach to outskirts of Kolhapur.
By early morning we reached at Sai International near Kolhapur and this was our planned halt location for morning refreshments. We were happy with our progress so far and took this opportunity to take lengthy refreshment & breakfast break at Hotel Sai International.
At Sai International
Onward Route for the day was planned as… Kolhapur to Belgao (Via NH4)… Kittur to Haliyal to Dandeli to Joida to Karwar & night halt at Karwar.
We want to cover Anshi National Park, Kali River and down-hills of Karwar before sunset and we were on the track considering we reached at Kolhapur by 7am.
We first felt the spike of sleep almost after 12 hrs of riding and we stopped near Kagal for a 30 minutes power nap which made our onward journey more joyful.
NH4 has many green carpets alongside to stretch your legs.
Moderate showers and supper fast NH4 helped us to cruise till Belgaum where we took our next tea break. This break has become fruitful due to yummy Egg Pattice and Slice cake served at small town bakery at Kittur diversion.
First few kilometers from Kittur to Haliyar was having broken surface but it has significantly improved from Haliyar onwards and then almost every corner of hill was covered with Corn Corps. This green carpet was eye soothing.
Bullet was gulping kilometer after kilometers on well laid tarmac and on route towards Dandeli one patch of thick forest road stopped us for much needed photo break.
Rusty Look
Internal roads close to Dandeli forest.
By lunch time we reached Dandeli town where we braked for lunch and had nice chicken biryani. It was quite lighter on pocket considering its test and quantity…. What else rider need after riding almost 600kms…
Post lunch we started our journey towards Karwar via Joida and Anshi National Park. This section was high point of our ride… rain was playing cats & dogs in the middle of thick forest and curves on roads made us crazy to race with raining clouds and literally we chased them till Karwar. It was worthy decision of riding to this part of Karnataka in such rainy season.
We came across to small water stream connecting to Kali river and we got stunt with crystal clear water and its blue shade… without any delays we simply jump in it and sat in middle of this stream… this was a heavenly experience for our souls and mainly for our bumbs which were extremely tired by resting on bullet seat…..
Entry point of Kali Reserve from Karwar side.
By the time we reached outskirts of Karwar we were still left with good amount of energy and felt we can ride for next couple of hours and target Madgaon (Goa) as a destination for night stay instead of Karwar. This instant decision has added a great amount of flavor to our ride as narrow road from Karwar to Madgaon via Pollem was a treat for any rider. We njoyed a chase of Madgaon at twilight and settled down in small lodge near Madgaon railway station. This part of journey was like bonus for the day and we enjoyed every inch of road from Karwar to Madgaon.
By the end of day one, we have completed almost 775Km however first 500km were felt like 1000 due heavy rains.
Day 2.
Route Planned for Day 2 was, Madgaon to Mollem vi Ponda, Mollem to Belgao and then Mumbai via NH4.
Goa is known to all of us as Beach Paradise and we were also under similar impression until we hit the Mollem road. The section between Mollem to Anmod intersects Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary and it was treat to eyes to cross this part of forest in peak monsoon season. There were multiple waterfalls on hilltop, valley and Ghat roads covered with thick fog. We spent good amount of time on route knowing we can cover this time gap from Belgaon onwards where we are gonna hit superfast NH4 once again.
Zatin njoying misty air on top of Mollem...
If in case you are sick with Goan beaches and want to explore something new, trust me guys this part of Goa should ranked first.
After drenching in beauty of Western Ghats we reached towards Belgaon and Google map helped us to navigate from busy streets of Belgao towards NH4.
It was customary lunch stop for ‘Tambada-Pandhara Rusaa & Mutton Bhakri’ (Famous Local cuisines) if you are travelling via Kolhapur and we did not broke this custom and then we started dragging our self to muddy potholed crowded city... And on Sunday 9pm we experienced the worst but known traffic at Mumbai entry point... this made us realised that ride and weekend is over and it's time to plan for next one!!!
Hit the bed with thought in mind…..
सजा ये है की बंजर जमीन हूँ अब,
जुर्म ये है कि बारिशों से इश्क किया मैंने…….!!!
बस तू एक बार बेइँतहा ‘बरस’ के तो देख…!!!
(Poet Unknown)
Ride to Dandeli via Anshi National Park & Karwar!!!
Over since last several years I am regular reader of Tourer section of Xbhp and most of my rides are inspired from the travelogue presented here. Many times even I have thought of sharing my riding experience here in form of travelogue however never able to pen-down it. So this is my first attempt to narrate my short ride to Dandeli which I did it over last weekend.
Last couple of years I have been planning to visit Dandeli during monsoon season with an objective to cover all nearby attractions but most of these plans failed due to lack time available in hand. So this year I have decided that if not in detailed lets’ at least have a short express ride to cover beautiful roads of Anshi National Park and take a round trip via Karwar over weekend.
My Dandeli/Karwar express ride idea has been liked by my RE Riding club member Zatin & I am lucky that I got his company. Together we did couple of long rides in past and knowing Zatin's riding style I was really happy that he will be part of this ride.
Plan got charted and dates got fixed two weeks in advance but ever since then monsoon in Maharashtra specially in Mumbai was in total different mood and created a big question mark on our plan... since this was a express ride with the objective of covering around 1500km in two days heavy rain was a concern. It was quite an easy ride with Friday night start however till Friday afternoon we were not sure to go or not to go due to heavy rains hitting all over Maharashtra. Despite all this our desire and passion of riding has solved this dilemma with just few lines of afternoon whatsap chat...
Me to Zatin... Do u see the rains outside...?
Zatin... Hmm
Me... Do u want to ride in this condition?
Zatin... Do u want to ride in this condition?
Me... I am gonna ride...
Zatin... Same here.... let's roll.
And we started rolling on Friday Night around 10:30pm from Airoli Circle.
Before we start further… A Small Introduction of Riders & Pillion...
Me...(Sandeep) ... Ride RE STD500...ride symphony.. Let's ride til Road ends.
Zatin... Ride RE STD500... ride symphony... show me the road where I have to ride.
Deep (Zatin's Friend).... as pillion... I am obedient pillion... Take me with u.
We three on the top of Mollem National Park Ghat Road..
Heavy monsoon has set the ride mood perfect, we got geared fully in riding & monsoon gears and started tackling slowly and steadily the traffic of Thane-Belapur road and it has accompanied us till the fence of Panvel.
By the time we reached reach Lonavala… Monsoon has ranged its final bell…. It was like he want to warn us…. Go back home guys....I am in totally different mood tonight… we felt rain droops like someone pouring bucket of water from sky.
We took this opportunity to finish the packed sandwiches we got with us for dinner and enjoyed them at foggy.. rainy night at Lonavala. By the time rain has subsided we started rolling towards Satara.
Next break panned was at foothill of Khambataki Ghat… till here rain kept our eyes wide open and steaming tea at Khabataki kept us fresh till we reach to outskirts of Kolhapur.
By early morning we reached at Sai International near Kolhapur and this was our planned halt location for morning refreshments. We were happy with our progress so far and took this opportunity to take lengthy refreshment & breakfast break at Hotel Sai International.
At Sai International
Onward Route for the day was planned as… Kolhapur to Belgao (Via NH4)… Kittur to Haliyal to Dandeli to Joida to Karwar & night halt at Karwar.
We want to cover Anshi National Park, Kali River and down-hills of Karwar before sunset and we were on the track considering we reached at Kolhapur by 7am.
We first felt the spike of sleep almost after 12 hrs of riding and we stopped near Kagal for a 30 minutes power nap which made our onward journey more joyful.
NH4 has many green carpets alongside to stretch your legs.
Moderate showers and supper fast NH4 helped us to cruise till Belgaum where we took our next tea break. This break has become fruitful due to yummy Egg Pattice and Slice cake served at small town bakery at Kittur diversion.
First few kilometers from Kittur to Haliyar was having broken surface but it has significantly improved from Haliyar onwards and then almost every corner of hill was covered with Corn Corps. This green carpet was eye soothing.
Bullet was gulping kilometer after kilometers on well laid tarmac and on route towards Dandeli one patch of thick forest road stopped us for much needed photo break.
Rusty Look
Internal roads close to Dandeli forest.
By lunch time we reached Dandeli town where we braked for lunch and had nice chicken biryani. It was quite lighter on pocket considering its test and quantity…. What else rider need after riding almost 600kms…
Post lunch we started our journey towards Karwar via Joida and Anshi National Park. This section was high point of our ride… rain was playing cats & dogs in the middle of thick forest and curves on roads made us crazy to race with raining clouds and literally we chased them till Karwar. It was worthy decision of riding to this part of Karnataka in such rainy season.
We came across to small water stream connecting to Kali river and we got stunt with crystal clear water and its blue shade… without any delays we simply jump in it and sat in middle of this stream… this was a heavenly experience for our souls and mainly for our bumbs which were extremely tired by resting on bullet seat…..
Entry point of Kali Reserve from Karwar side.
By the time we reached outskirts of Karwar we were still left with good amount of energy and felt we can ride for next couple of hours and target Madgaon (Goa) as a destination for night stay instead of Karwar. This instant decision has added a great amount of flavor to our ride as narrow road from Karwar to Madgaon via Pollem was a treat for any rider. We njoyed a chase of Madgaon at twilight and settled down in small lodge near Madgaon railway station. This part of journey was like bonus for the day and we enjoyed every inch of road from Karwar to Madgaon.
By the end of day one, we have completed almost 775Km however first 500km were felt like 1000 due heavy rains.
Day 2.
Route Planned for Day 2 was, Madgaon to Mollem vi Ponda, Mollem to Belgao and then Mumbai via NH4.
Goa is known to all of us as Beach Paradise and we were also under similar impression until we hit the Mollem road. The section between Mollem to Anmod intersects Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary and it was treat to eyes to cross this part of forest in peak monsoon season. There were multiple waterfalls on hilltop, valley and Ghat roads covered with thick fog. We spent good amount of time on route knowing we can cover this time gap from Belgaon onwards where we are gonna hit superfast NH4 once again.
Zatin njoying misty air on top of Mollem...
If in case you are sick with Goan beaches and want to explore something new, trust me guys this part of Goa should ranked first.
After drenching in beauty of Western Ghats we reached towards Belgaon and Google map helped us to navigate from busy streets of Belgao towards NH4.
It was customary lunch stop for ‘Tambada-Pandhara Rusaa & Mutton Bhakri’ (Famous Local cuisines) if you are travelling via Kolhapur and we did not broke this custom and then we started dragging our self to muddy potholed crowded city... And on Sunday 9pm we experienced the worst but known traffic at Mumbai entry point... this made us realised that ride and weekend is over and it's time to plan for next one!!!
Hit the bed with thought in mind…..
सजा ये है की बंजर जमीन हूँ अब,
जुर्म ये है कि बारिशों से इश्क किया मैंने…….!!!
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