The monsoon arrived early this year, but it was me who was late for my maiden monsoon ride. Apart from being my first monsoon ride of this season, this was also my first real solo ride. I had been trying to get some friends to go on a ride since the past 3 weeks, but it never worked out. Half of them were enjoying at the Himalayas, the other half didn't want to ride in the rain, and there were a few that agreed but always made stupid last minute excuses. Frustrated with plans being canceled, and sad to see the weekends with perfect weather go to waste, I decided to ride solo.

I packed my bag and set the alarm for 5:30 am, but for some reason it didn't go off and it was already 7:30 am by the time i woke up. I looked out the window, it was raining. I still managed to convince my self to get ready with hope that the rain subsides by then. At 8:30 am, the rain had become less, so it was time to leave. I crossed Ghodbunder road and reached NH3 from where i had to ride around 100kms to the village of Ghoti. Somewhere along this road i noticed that the low oil indicator on my console started blinking, so i stopped by the side of the road and checked the oil level, but it turned out to be fine. After that the fuel gauge showed that the tank was almost empty, so i opened it to check and found that it was full too. it seemed like the rain was messing with some of the sensors causing the incorrect readings. since there was nothing to worry about, i carried on with the ride.

The rain was getting worse and i was getting cold, that called for a tea break. I spotted a dhaba just before Kasara ghat and had tea there while waiting for the heavy rains to pass. I couldn't take the camera out all this while because of the rain, so i decided to make the most of this break and take a few pics from within the dhaba itself.




The area behind the dhaba



After the hot cup of tea, I moved on towards Kasara ghat. This is where the fun began. As i gained altitude, the temperature kept dropping and it started getting foggy. When i reached the top, the only colour i could see was white. The visibility had dropped to almost zero. I wish i could have taken a picture, but once again, i couldn't get the camera out because of the rain. As i moved on towards Igatpuri, the fog lifted and i could see the roads clearly again. I rode nonstop from here to Ghoti, from where i had to get off the national highway and switch to the state highway. I always beleived that the smaller highways are where the real ride begins, and this was no exception. Luckily there was no rain on this side of the ghats, so it was time to take the camera out.

From here onwards, the roads were surrounded by a green carpet on both sides with some hills in the backdrop









As i moved on, the surroundings just kept getting better









and as the road curved it's way uphill


The aerial view of landscape below got even more stunning



Once i reached the top, i stopped by the MTDC resort for a quick lunch of egg burjhi. After lunch, i stopped by the lake for a few clicks. The lake was still pretty empty, probably because its still early monsoon.



The next place that i had planned to visit was ghatgarh. I asked a few of the locals and they showed me the road that goes there. They also told me that I would have to ride 23km's to ghatgarh and then ride all the way back since it was a dead end. It was already 1pm and i wanted to start back early to make it before dark, so i was having second thoughts about going there. After some time calculations, i decided to give it a shot since i had come so far already. That was a decision i would not regret. This road has got to be the highlight of the trip. It has got to be one of the most beautiful roads i have ever been on. Even though i was getting late, i couldn't help but stop for pics every now and then. Here are a few pictures from this route.















The road condition was bad, that made it extremely difficult to ride above 40, so it took a lot of time to cover those 23 km's. Somewhere near ghatghar, i spotted a sign board saying "konkan kada" so i decided to check it out. It was a view point that overlooked a huge valley with a dam in the middle.











Since it was almost 2pm, i decided to turn back from here. I wasn't going to take any more photography breaks so i packed the camera and set off. It was mostly a non-stop ride back home from here. I took a short tea break after descending Kasara ghat, which thankfully was clear of fog this time. There was no sign of rain either, so the return journey was pretty quick on the butter smooth NH3




I reached home at 5:30 pm, with ample of daylight left and a strange sense of satisfaction on completing my first solo ride. I enjoyed it pretty much. It wasn't boring as i thought it would be, on the other had it was much more fun since i could ride at my own pace, stop anywhere for pictures, go anywhere i wanted to. Going by this experience, there would be more such rides to come.

Total trip distance : 400 km's
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