Maharashtra Archives : On An Expedition

Ratnagiri trip Day 2

August 12, 2019

by admin blog Cycling Maharashtra

Day-2:

After enjoying the sunrise from the beach I started my 2^nd day journey towards Ganapati pole. Initially the road goes among few villages around 7 kms and then you have to take a ferry to cross the other part of the beach.

Whenever you hear to take any ferry , just be prepared to do a small climbs on the opposite side of the ferry pot.The road goes around the villages on the side of the beach.Many times you will cross the back water with green vegetation at their banks and the fisher man’s boats .

It happened to be one of the scenic road once I reach Are-ware beach on the ways to Ganapati pule and just 24 away from Ratnagiri.

Are ware is a quite pristine beach with clear water and the sand. The crystal clear water and the white sand of the beach will amaze you. This is one of the untouched beach that I ever met in my whole trip.

Sea shells were lying scattered on the beach. Spent some time enjoying the beauty of the blue waves .

Then I headed towards Ganapati pole ,it was just 7 Km away and it goes just side by side of the sea giving you a unique ride of the trip.

You can even see few untouched beaches on the way. Never forget to take some snaps of the sea from top of the road along the way.

There is a famous lord Ganesha temple on the beach.you can even enjoy some of the water sports at Ganapati pule.

The I headed towards Gaigad .O the way You can see Malgund beach.Though the road is almost plain on the beach side, but before reaching Gaigad , a small ascend will be there .On reaching Gaigad you can see a big plan t of JSW energy on the sea side.If you have enough time you can visit the light house and the Karhateshwar shiv temple just 5 kms away from the JSW plant.Click some beautiful pic from the light house of the sea with the groups of pine tress at the bank of the sea .The port of the energy plant was visible from the temple.

Get some fresh water , pouring from a spring in the temple arena. Huge ships carrying coal was seen from the temple.You can even get a glance of the plan around its boundary on the way to the temple and the light house.

Then I headed towards Guhagar by crossing though a ferry from Gaigad.From the Jaigad-Taswal ferry port , the road to Guhagar is full of rolling having many climbs of around 100 mts elivations around the villages and the jungles, but it was fun riding the the afternoon felling the freshness of the air.

It became dark before I reach Guhagar .A bike rider helped me with his head lamp of his motor bike directing me towards Guhagar. Its a small town having a Ganapti temple at the heart of the town and near the beach.The bus stand was also just nearby the beach.IT was also a long stretched beach with few food stalls at the beach .Villages was just around the beach .The coconut trees were making the view beautiful of the beach.

After having my dinner at one of the hotel I pitched my tent at the beach near a food stall.Chilled breeze made me to join a group of unknown friends who were enjoying with some firewood at the sand of the beach.

Kaas Pathar

June 6, 2019

by admin greenery Maharashtra Pune tour UNESCO world heritage site

Kaas Pathar , magnifying spread of the flowers ,a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site.

The spread is so wide at Kaas plateau that it’s looks like a colorful carpet on the valley of Satara.The heights of the flower are hardly 2 feet.Due to the climatic conditions you can even see some small insectivorous plants ,but very hard to notice, so you can get help of any guide available there.

When to visit: It’s based on the rainy season,Once the monsoon ends it stays further 2 weeks. You can plan just after the rainy season is over ,around mid of August till September end. The unique part is that in the same place you can find different flower plants that stays around 2 weeks.Then new plants appears and that cycles continues.

The journey:

Satara is a beautiful hilly district in Maharashtra in the Sahyadri range .The region is fully covered by lush greenery and waterfalls in the monsoon .So,let’s plan to witness the unique biodiversity of this region at Kaas Pathar .

At a distance of 27 KMs from the heart of town Satara , you can plan by public buses travelling to and fro from Satara city bus stand at an interval of time which takes an hour to reach the valley of flower, KaasPathar. Leave earliest by 5.30 from the Satara bus stand to capture some scenic clicks of the hills.

The climbs of the mountains while leaving from the town itself will mesmerize you with the greenery and the smoothly flowing waterfalls through your way.The rocks by the road and the water streams flowing through it will make your journey more memorable.

Feel the glance of a bit of town while going upwards through the gradual inclined road.

Take a breath and enjoy the beauty of the lakes that comes along the way surrounding the Satara hills.

Appearance of color of the hills also get changes on the reflection of the sun light.

On the way you can find few hill side resorts as well .

Arrival to Satara:

If you are planning to travel from Mumbai or Pune,my recommendation is to travel by train as you can experience some of the beautiful train routes in India through the Sahyadri mountain region where you will cross many tunnels.See the countryside of Maharashtra with the farmland of sugarcane.Ultimately travelling by train through the curvy rails surrounded by hills and the water streams is fun and unique.

How to plan for the trip:

Block your time of minimum of 5-6 hours to cover the broad valley of Kaas. Carry some food and water bottle as you have to walk few kms to cover the valley of flower .And also keep a buffer of 1-2 hours to observe the hill side views and the lakes on your way back from Kaas.

At Kaas pathar:

It’s a long walk trail through different entrances to different zones of Kaas Pathar based on the variety of flowers.Try avoiding slippers as some of the part where the terrain is on flat stones and the most of the roads are of gravels and might be sleepary during rainy days.

The grounded flowers are so widely spread at Kaas pathar that you will be lost by looking at its beauty.

Kaas lake is at one side of Kaas Pather that you can view from the plateau .

If you have some buffer time and left with some energy, go few distance ahead on the other of the pathar and get a glance of the huge windmills and the wall like rocky hills .

I was pleased to talk with few local guys explaining how blissful they are residing such an environmentally fresh and pure bio-diversified area .They also talked about the availability of wild animals those generally come out at night at that region of valley.

Being an unique place for research and botanical adventurist at Kaas , you can also meet lots of enthusiastic researchers and volunteers there .

Being an responsible visitor:

Keep this incredible Kaas with its virgin form without disturbing it’s natural habitat by littering of plastics ,or any kind of chemical usages around this region.

Official site:https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.kas.ind.in/&ved=2ahUKEwiOgdPvstTiAhVC63MBHfFCAasQFjAoegQICRAB&usg=AOvVaw0gqu6GtfSfdz0OayrF3lTS&cshid=1559808360402

Panshet parikrama cycling expedition Pune

Rolling road by the bluish water surrounding the lush green hills-Around Panshet lake

November 21, 2018

by explorethelifeblog Camping Cycling Maharashtra Pune

The bluish water and the surrounding hills at Panshet dam

Want to go for weekend adventure trip around the bluish water surrounding with lush green hills ,lets ride around Panshet lake. Lying along the green belt of Sahyadri mountains,Panshet dam is built over Ambi river situated around 40 km southwest of aPune city. A perfect gateway to enjoy with the nature near the city.

Let’s call our trip as Panshet parikrama, as it goes around the lake by the narrow roads around it. You can observe the bluish color change of water upon the sunlight reflection. Sharp hairpins of the off road , few climbs makes your legs burning and same way enjoy the thrilling off-road downhill as you are flying on the road inside the jungle .

Lonely road along the hill side , lake at one side and the lush greenery on the other.

Panshet parikrama,Panshet dam,around panshet cycling tour — peeping through the bamboo trees

Never underestimate the sip of water on you ride.

Just imagine that scenery that we practices as drawing class with the hill reflected on the lake with those thick bushes.

There are plenty of resorts and farm houses around the dam. Never forget to taste a delicious authentic Maharashtrian meal from the kitchen of villagers.

Panshet parikrama,Panshet dam,panshet cycling tour — Delicious Maharashtrian dinner at a village kitchen

Pitch your tent and enjoy the chilled misty night nearby the water. Sun rise from the distance hill with the vibrant sky was just magnificent for a click.

Panshet parikrama,panshet dam — Couldn’t help restricting for a click with the golden sky with the rising sun.

Do you want anything more on such a village life amidst the scenery landscape closest to you city. So pack your tent and go for the parikrama on next weekend.

Elevation graph

cycling route around Panshet dam — google map route with elevation

pune-to-ratnagiri-cycling-konkan-cycling-at-Anjarle-beach.JPG

Witness the best of rolling road in Konkan, the short climbs and the beaches on the saddle-Cycling from Pune to Ratnagiri

November 14, 2018

by explorethelifeblog Camping Cycling Maharashtra Pune tour

To witness the best of rolling road in Konkan, the short climbs and the beaches by your road I started my day around 8 am leaving from Satara with some beautiful sunrise view on the way behind some hills raising through the morning fog.Straight rays of raising sun was clearly visible behind the clouds from distance .

Th road goes around the hills , few wind mills were visible from the road on the distance hills. Mostly it was downhill from Satara.the fog was covering the base of the hills like a dense bedsheet.

Theflat road goes along the sugarcane firms.TillSatara it was a six lane, then continued with 4 lane concrete road.It connects from Satara to Kholapur.The road connects with kale-Pachwad road, where we need to continue with the state highway .Most part of the road is covered with trees both the ways.

You can see the sugarcane firms in the villages by the road.I came across many tractors carrying sugarcane to the factories.

On the way you can see some wind mills lining at the top of the hills.You can even see from very near in few part of the road.The road was bit small elevated and have to ascend few climbs till Malkapur.The rolling road and the climbs made me to take a rest under a banyan tree for few minutes after my lunch at Malkapur town.

After few Kms from Malkapur you can fly with the downhill of Amba ghat . I clicked some beautiful views of the ghat with clear visibility of the road going around the ghat.You can see some shops roadside selling Konkani products .I had a Kokum-soda water to make myself cool and it was healthy also instead of drinking some coke.

After the ghat , it started with the beautiful Kokan villages with dense forests around and these rolling road.Ienyoyed the sun set on the road itself. Before reaching to Ratnagiri you have to climb many smaller ghat .It was already dark before I reach.

After around 2 hours of riding at dark I finally reached Ratnarigi town.After having dinner at a hotel I headed to a Malvar beach which was 3 Kms from the town and I pitched my tend on the beach itself over water.

The light house was just on the other end of the beach,and I was enjoying the rotation of the lights .

Few tourists from Mumbai was keen to interact with me about my solo trip as it looks to be strange from them to ride such a long distance solo. A health freak senior man even advise me some of the heath tips to keep my energy maintained throughout day just by taking 2 spoon of honey at the empty stomach in the morning. I was excited when they even captured some clicks with me with my bike.