After Royal Enfield’s OneRide to Shivneri Fort it was difficult to be at home and spend whole weekend doing nothing. On a fine weekday initiated discussion about weekend ride in group. After lot of discussion decided to ride to Varandh Ghat which is around 80kms from Pune, India located between NH4 and Konkan. Created Facebook group event and invited many.
Many were “Interested” but only two responded- “Going” and that was more than enough.
And when you actually want to ride count doesn’t matter. But yes, good company matters.
Few well wishers suggested not to go there as the roads are in very bad condition. But those comments about road and its bad conditions I was more excited for the ride because smooth roads never make good riders.
Including me there were three riders. Preetam Bala and Sachin Kumawat.
Many were “Interested” but only two responded- “Going” and that was more than enough.
And when you actually want to ride count doesn’t matter. But yes, good company matters.
Few well wishers suggested not to go there as the roads are in very bad condition. But those comments about road and its bad conditions I was more excited for the ride because smooth roads never make good riders.
Including me there were three riders. Preetam Bala and Sachin Kumawat.
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| We three riders and with our beasts. |
It was around 5.30am in the clock and we met at the start point which was Wakad Bridge on Pune-Bombay Highway. At the last moment we again got into discussion about the place. We all started looking at the maps. And after few minutes of surfing finally agreed for Rajmachi. We started thumping towards Lonavala for a ride to enjoy beautiful morning.
As per maps we were supposed to take a right but which right we weren’t sure. We choose the second right, after riding few meters asked a guy who was walking in opposite direction about way to Rajmachi and he suggested us to avoid this way, asked us to take a U-turn and look for another right on the same road because the road we are heading is in bad condition (no road I should say which came up as a surprise for us after few minutes) but we are riders.
And riders never miss an opportunity to explore new roads. Looked at each other and without uttering a single word we got answers.
Lets Ride On This Road..”A road less traveled”
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| I was trying hard to save my beast from stones. [PC : Preetam Bala] |
We started and just after few meters we got clear indication that this is going to be a serious off road ride as there was literally no road, just a trail for cattle. But we kept riding towards the destination. We took many breaks in between to enjoy the beauty and to capture them in our digital cameras
When you enter the vicinity you will be able to see small huts and tents on both the sides of road. They are for home stays and night camping. And these is exactly what you need when you want to get rid of all city chaos. A jungle — perfect camping site, a tent and peace. Locals in this area have commercialized all these facilities and you can avail them by paying very reasonable charges.
You can easily get home-stays in range of ₹300 to ₹700 and food at cost of ₹70 to ₹150 per person.
We reached Rajmachi fort around 9am. Had breakfast on a local shop which was actually a home and they cook food for visitors. After few minutes of rest and photo-shoot we started our return journey.
This time we took the usual road to reach Lonavala and the road was in very good condition which we skipped and decided to take off road. And I am very happy about our decision that time. Yes, off course it was worth taking risk.
Views from Hill Top was as usual mesmerizing. I wonder how beautiful it would be in monsoon. I have added this place in my bucket for trek in month of July-August.
We all Reached Home Safely after extreme off road with lots of memories and pictures in our gadgets.
