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The plan of testing my limits in the heat conditions prevailing around Maharashtra in the summer of 2010 came to me from my last unsuccessful trip of "long way down" which got converted into a road trip to Hampi and surely i learnt lot of lessons from that trip as the saying goes "Failure is the stepping stone for progress"
This time i was fully prepared Jackets to to prevent tanning, Balaclava to cover my face, and most importantly the shoes this time it was a Bata Hunter so that the soul remains intact for further information on connection of shoe and heat visit my previous trips travelogue here is the Link of that trip
Start date of the trip 26th March 2010 0845 Hrs
End date of the trip 28th March 2010 17:30 Hrs
Odometer Start 33583 Km
Odometer end 34781 Km
Distance traveled 1198
Petrol cost 700 Rs
Average 85.57 Km/l*
* The average is much more than this because i put 700 Rs worth petrol which gives something less than 14 liters but i am taking 14 liters as a approximation because i didn't keep a track of how much quantity went into the tank just kept a track by calculating the amount spent on petrol.
The day of me starting came i was supposed to start at 0630 Hrs on 26th but snoozed my alarm twice and was able to start at 0800 Hrs from Mumbai
The Vashi Bridge
Encountered lot of traffic jam at Panvel dont know what they are doing both the sides of the road are dug up was able to reach Khopoli at 0945 Hrs started my ascent on the bor ghat and halted at the side of the road to see trucks and st buses struggling to climb even in the 1st gear
My bike on Bor ghat
St bus struggling
Started from Bor ghat crossed lonavala then Kamshet and finally reached the Pune Bombay bypass of Nh4 took the right turn and went upto Kothrud chandni chowk where i was supposed to meet my friend who was accompanying me he has a splendor took some time searching him so finally started from Kothrud
The point at which Old highway merges withe the Express highway for a brief period
Khadki Railway station took this pic when i halted to change the battery of my camera
At this point i knew that i had forgotten to take the map and my friend didnt have one we were supposed to take the SH 60 from pune which goes through ranjangaon shirur and ahmednagar but due to the absence of a map we ended up taking NH 50 which is the Pune Nashik highway even the guys we asked told that this road NH50 (which we later knew) would take us to shirur and ranjangaon later to find out that there is a road leading from a place near Manchar to Shirur we tought forget shirur lets move on destiny had something else in store for us we proceeded and had our lunch at Manchar and saw a map in the hotel saying that Ozhar one of the astavinayak is not so far away so we decided to head there took a cut from NH 50 to Ozhar and we encountered lots of bullock cart carrying tonnes and tonnes of sugar cane it seemed the que of bullock carts wont end only
The hotel in Manchar
Radio telescopes spotted long distance away
My bike
Sugar cultivation
We both on the Road leading towards Ozhar
Our bikes standing on the banks of the river
A long que of bullock carts carrying sugarcane
Taking a dip
It was 3oclock and the sun had completely baked the earth and it was taking a heavy toll on our energy levels and luckily we saw a river a clean river with no pollution enquired with the locals whether there is any Magar (Crocodile) in it or not they said no now it was time to take a deep dip in the river
The temple at Ozhar
With all my clothes wet we started towards ozhar by the time i was in ozhar my clothes were dry had darshan and proceeded towards lenyadri and my god the roads were horrible or should i say there were no roads only patches of tar indicating a road reached lenyadri at 1800 Hrs was amazed to see that the temple is inside a old cave which we had to climb to have darshan by the time we got back from the temple it was 1845 Hrs and starting to get dark and we were nowhere near civilization so we mentally prepared ourselves to drive in the night.
My bike after doing off roading or should i say no roading
My bike near lenyadri one can see the caves in the mountains
I clicked the pics later to see the board that pics are not allowed.
We started from Lenyadri and made a plan to halt at shirdi so started towards Alephata and it was like 10 kms but it seemed like it was something around 30 Km my god what distance it was !! taking into consideration our mind was adapting to night driving.
We reached Alephata at 2000 Hrs and sangamner at 2200 Hrs we proceeded and thought we would have our dinner at some place before Lone which we did and it was pitch dark some state highway worst part it was shivering cold yes thats true it was cold ..........
started from the dhaba at 2300 Hrs and stopped on the state highway for some clicks and as soon as we turned off our vehicles what an awesome sight it was entire Rural Maharashtra illuminated in the light of the moon clicked some pics the traffic was zero nobody in front of us neither back of us.
Midnight on a state Highway
We both photo session in midst of nowhere
Moved on reached Shirdi at 0100 Hrs there was hustle and bustle now came the challenge to find accomadation at mid night we first went to have a cutting at a tea vendor he advised us that if we wanted just an accomadation for the night that is for sleeping purpose it is better to take a bedding from the shirdi trust and sleep in a community hall going by his advice we did the same i never ever imagined in the wildest of dreams that i would be sleeping under the open sky now came the shocker at around 0230 Hrs i got up to see whether our bags are there or not only to find out that a dog was sharing the bed with me near my legs man some how i managed to drive that dog from the bedding and slept. Got up at 0400 Hrs and plans to proceed but something suggested that we were just 1 block away from the temple so lets take the darshan and proceed did the same.
Our bikes at shirdi
Me
Started from Shirdi at 0730 Hrs on 27th Morning Reached Aurangabad at 1130 Hrs went to Bibi ka Maqbara, Panchakki and proceeded towards Ajanta
It was like the sun is trying to burn us finally got the relief from sugar cane juice i gulped two glases and aditya my friend he gulped 3 glasses
reached Ajanta at 0330 Hrs had fried rice a light lunch at Ajanta and went upto the caves to see the paintings.
The entrance to Aurangabad the gates are of the time of Aurangazeb.
My bike outside Bibi ka Maqbara
Bibi ka Maqbara a copy of Tajmahal.
A refreshing drink
Fully prepared to beat the heat
This time i was fully prepared Jackets to to prevent tanning, Balaclava to cover my face, and most importantly the shoes this time it was a Bata Hunter so that the soul remains intact for further information on connection of shoe and heat visit my previous trips travelogue here is the Link of that trip
Motorcycle travelogues by thousands of xBhpians from across the world.
Start date of the trip 26th March 2010 0845 Hrs
End date of the trip 28th March 2010 17:30 Hrs
Odometer Start 33583 Km
Odometer end 34781 Km
Distance traveled 1198
Petrol cost 700 Rs
Average 85.57 Km/l*
* The average is much more than this because i put 700 Rs worth petrol which gives something less than 14 liters but i am taking 14 liters as a approximation because i didn't keep a track of how much quantity went into the tank just kept a track by calculating the amount spent on petrol.
The day of me starting came i was supposed to start at 0630 Hrs on 26th but snoozed my alarm twice and was able to start at 0800 Hrs from Mumbai
The Vashi Bridge
Encountered lot of traffic jam at Panvel dont know what they are doing both the sides of the road are dug up was able to reach Khopoli at 0945 Hrs started my ascent on the bor ghat and halted at the side of the road to see trucks and st buses struggling to climb even in the 1st gear
My bike on Bor ghat
St bus struggling
Started from Bor ghat crossed lonavala then Kamshet and finally reached the Pune Bombay bypass of Nh4 took the right turn and went upto Kothrud chandni chowk where i was supposed to meet my friend who was accompanying me he has a splendor took some time searching him so finally started from Kothrud
The point at which Old highway merges withe the Express highway for a brief period
Khadki Railway station took this pic when i halted to change the battery of my camera
At this point i knew that i had forgotten to take the map and my friend didnt have one we were supposed to take the SH 60 from pune which goes through ranjangaon shirur and ahmednagar but due to the absence of a map we ended up taking NH 50 which is the Pune Nashik highway even the guys we asked told that this road NH50 (which we later knew) would take us to shirur and ranjangaon later to find out that there is a road leading from a place near Manchar to Shirur we tought forget shirur lets move on destiny had something else in store for us we proceeded and had our lunch at Manchar and saw a map in the hotel saying that Ozhar one of the astavinayak is not so far away so we decided to head there took a cut from NH 50 to Ozhar and we encountered lots of bullock cart carrying tonnes and tonnes of sugar cane it seemed the que of bullock carts wont end only
The hotel in Manchar
Radio telescopes spotted long distance away
My bike
Sugar cultivation
We both on the Road leading towards Ozhar
Our bikes standing on the banks of the river
A long que of bullock carts carrying sugarcane
Taking a dip
It was 3oclock and the sun had completely baked the earth and it was taking a heavy toll on our energy levels and luckily we saw a river a clean river with no pollution enquired with the locals whether there is any Magar (Crocodile) in it or not they said no now it was time to take a deep dip in the river
The temple at Ozhar
With all my clothes wet we started towards ozhar by the time i was in ozhar my clothes were dry had darshan and proceeded towards lenyadri and my god the roads were horrible or should i say there were no roads only patches of tar indicating a road reached lenyadri at 1800 Hrs was amazed to see that the temple is inside a old cave which we had to climb to have darshan by the time we got back from the temple it was 1845 Hrs and starting to get dark and we were nowhere near civilization so we mentally prepared ourselves to drive in the night.
My bike after doing off roading or should i say no roading
My bike near lenyadri one can see the caves in the mountains
I clicked the pics later to see the board that pics are not allowed.
We started from Lenyadri and made a plan to halt at shirdi so started towards Alephata and it was like 10 kms but it seemed like it was something around 30 Km my god what distance it was !! taking into consideration our mind was adapting to night driving.
We reached Alephata at 2000 Hrs and sangamner at 2200 Hrs we proceeded and thought we would have our dinner at some place before Lone which we did and it was pitch dark some state highway worst part it was shivering cold yes thats true it was cold ..........
started from the dhaba at 2300 Hrs and stopped on the state highway for some clicks and as soon as we turned off our vehicles what an awesome sight it was entire Rural Maharashtra illuminated in the light of the moon clicked some pics the traffic was zero nobody in front of us neither back of us.
Midnight on a state Highway
We both photo session in midst of nowhere
Moved on reached Shirdi at 0100 Hrs there was hustle and bustle now came the challenge to find accomadation at mid night we first went to have a cutting at a tea vendor he advised us that if we wanted just an accomadation for the night that is for sleeping purpose it is better to take a bedding from the shirdi trust and sleep in a community hall going by his advice we did the same i never ever imagined in the wildest of dreams that i would be sleeping under the open sky now came the shocker at around 0230 Hrs i got up to see whether our bags are there or not only to find out that a dog was sharing the bed with me near my legs man some how i managed to drive that dog from the bedding and slept. Got up at 0400 Hrs and plans to proceed but something suggested that we were just 1 block away from the temple so lets take the darshan and proceed did the same.
Our bikes at shirdi
Me
Started from Shirdi at 0730 Hrs on 27th Morning Reached Aurangabad at 1130 Hrs went to Bibi ka Maqbara, Panchakki and proceeded towards Ajanta
It was like the sun is trying to burn us finally got the relief from sugar cane juice i gulped two glases and aditya my friend he gulped 3 glasses
reached Ajanta at 0330 Hrs had fried rice a light lunch at Ajanta and went upto the caves to see the paintings.
The entrance to Aurangabad the gates are of the time of Aurangazeb.
My bike outside Bibi ka Maqbara
Bibi ka Maqbara a copy of Tajmahal.
A refreshing drink
Fully prepared to beat the heat
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