Tamhini Ghat
The other day Alok called and complained that I have not written anything about our rides together. Now although I explained to him that this is because of a slight technical hitch that he is in Mumbai and I am in Delhi these days and so we have not done rides together lately, I think it is apt that I post some of my earlier published posts for the record and for the sake of the biking partnership we have.
This one is about our ride through Tamhini Ghat and was posted on Royal Enfield's site sometime in January 2005 as "Tamhini Ghat -- Absolutely Stunning Rear Gem of Western Ghats". These RE guys try to make a big deal of everything. ;)
Cheers, S
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Mumbai-Pune via Tamhini Ghat - Shreekant Vijaykar
Date: 18 and 19 Dec 2004
Route: Mumbai - Panvel - Pen [NH-17] - Kolad - Vile - Bhagad [SH-60] - Bhira [Tamhini Ghat] - Tamhini - Mulshi - Paud - Pirangut - Bavdhan - Chandni Chowk - Pune
Pune-Mumbai is perhaps the most connected part of Maharashtra. I know at least half a dozen routes from Mumbai till Pune. Here are some I recall:
1. New Expressway: Mumbai - Panvel - [Toll route Expressway] - Talegaon - Pune
2. Old Mum-Pune: Mumbai - Panvel - Khopoli [NH-4] - Lonavala - Kamshet - Talegaon - Dehuroad - Pimpri Chinchwad - Pune
3. Mumbai - Panvel - Khopoli [NH-4] - Lonavala - INS Shivaji - Mulshi - Paud - Pirangut - Bavdhan - Pune
4. Mumbai - Panvel - Pen [NH-17] - Khopoli - Lonavala - Kamshet - Talegaon - Pune
5. Mumbai - Panvel - Pen [NH-17] - Kolad - Vile - Tamhini - Mulshi - Paud - Pirangut - Bavdhan - Pune
6. Mumbai - Panvel - Pen [NH-17] - Mangaon - Bhor Ghat - Pune
7. Mumbai - Panvel - Pen [NH-17] - Mahad - Poladpur - Mahableshwar - Panchgani - Wai - Shirwal [Satara-Pune: NH-4] - Pune
8. Mumbai - Nashik [NH-3] - Junnar - Rajgurunagar - Akurdi - Pune
Those are the ones I have been on. I am sure there are more. In fact, this subject sometimes seems worth a PhD to me.
Anyway, routes (1) and (2) are most common and need hardly any explanation. Out of these, bikes are not allowed on (1). I have done (2) a zillion times, so find it extremely boring, although some patches on the old road are very nice e.g. Khopoli - Lonavala. It's also got some very good dhabas. You can make a whole lot of permutations between various patches of (1) and (2).
Alok and I had charted (3) last year and the road was still under construction. Otherwise it is a very scenic route. It adds 60km to your journey. The 4th route is rather dull in that the good part of the journey is only Pen - Khopoli, which is not much.
The route through Bhor ghat i.e. (6) is considered dangerous during night time due to thefts. The road, too, is in poor condition.
The last two routes i.e. via Mahableshwar or via Nashik are too long and unless either by itself is the plan, not much of a use.
The one route that is thus left is the lesser-known Tamhini Ghat i.e. (5). Here's an account of this fine and rather unknown route.
Alok and I leave from Mumbai (Andheri) at 5:00 am in the morning. Both haven't slept a wink this night, which is by now a common phenomenon on such weekend rides. Yet every time it takes toll on us by the afternoon of the next day.
Anyway, as we reach Panvel - Palaspe by 6:00 am, and take the right turn for the Mumbai-Goa Highway [NH-17] towards Karnala, we are suddenly hit by what is felt like a huge invisible wall of cold. It may not be really that cold, but living under the city lights, we are not accustomed to any wind or cold at all. With all the shiver and chatter of the teeth, we realize that there is little merit in continuing the march in the dark, and so we take shelter at a local dhaba. A group of locals and truckers have a fire going, and we join them in the circle. We also try to steady our nerves with some chai.
In a while, the darkness seems to reduce in degree and we see a slight mauve towards the East. We start once again and move towards the Karnala ghat. In the ghat, however, we experience the phenomenon of what is commonly called the 'Inversion of Temperature' and so the Karnala ghat is cosy and warm in most places. We reach the plains on the other side and the temperature drops once again. However, it is light by now and thus bearable. The route is covered with slight mist, which adds to the mystery of the journey, and even dull places like Pen appear scenic.
And so we reach Pen - Wadkhal and stop at my favourite 'Amantran'. The hospitable and chatty owner of Amantran mistakes Tamhini Ghat as Bhor Ghat and advises us against going by that route, because of fear of thefts. But we confirm that these two are different routes and so move on to Nagothane and then reach Kolad. From Kolad, the route to the right that goes to Roha is quite famous due to the PepsiCo facilities. We go further. Some 10km after Kolad (this is 120 km roughly from Mumbai), we come to a diversion to the left, which says 'Vile Phata' (Diversion for Vile'). The route crosses a railway line and suddenly takes us into a different world altogether.
From here on, the ride is absolutely stunning. The road begins with some sporadic signs of civilization (including the milestone of Pune showing 115 km), which diminish at each turn on the route. Some 16km inside we reach Vile, take a right from the village and start climbing up. The road starts to get higher and more curved. To one side, we see huge rock faces and to the other, deep green valley of the Konkan. It is like climbing up a wall. We stop at some corners; take pictures and ogle at the marvels of the mountains. We see a lot of places where there could be waterfalls during monsoon. We confirm to each other that this place is a must-visit in the next monsoon.
We ride at a very dignified speed of 50 to 60 kph, linger around various spots, take detours in what seems interesting (like one jungle trail leading to an obscure temple in the woods) and generally have a good time. Alok stops over as he sees a little green snake run over by a car, picks up the snake in the last stage of its life, and decides to do his (her? its? only the dead snake knows)...last rites and then buries the snake at one side of the road. We move on.
We hardly see anyone on the road. The mountains are steep and absolutely stunning (I use this phrase again, because this to me is the best description of how I felt here). We can see one mountain built on top of the other, with layers of vegetation in between. It looks just like the landscapes in miniature Rajasthani paintings. One rock face is carved out due to wind and water such that it looks like the hood of Vishnu's Sheshnaag as depicted by Ravi Verma. Incidentally, we also find a trail that leads you to the head of this snake's hood and so do a small dance-sort on the snake's head, if you like.
There is no civilization in the Ghat stretch of about 40km. No villages, no eateries, no petrol pumps. And then, as expected, Murphy strikes me. My 'wolf' goes on the 'fuel reserve'. Anyway, Alok has enough fuel in his tank, that I can siphon out if needed, and so we say 'what the heck' ... and continue with our journey. The mountain sides are so steep that in some parts the sunlight has not yet reached, and by now it's around 11am. We thus move from one sunny and warm patch to another cool patch in shade, like moving on a chessboard. The jungles are endearing in this part of the route. They give you this irresistible urge of abandoning all and walking into their trails. A thought crosses my mind. All these hermits, recluses and sanyasis go to such jungles saying that they are going away from worldly things. But I wonder if they are going 'towards' the worldly things, instead, since these mysterious mountains, these deep valleys and these amazing green woods ARE the worldly things! All along, we are being fooled and we search for the world in our cities, where the world is sitting here happily in a grain of sand.
Anyway, we reach Tamhini, which is a small group of shacks on the other side of Ghat. We have by now climbed the entire rock face, and thus are on the plateau. The road here on has little incline, although it is curved as before. This part of the route goes through a private land owned by Tata Power. There is a hydraulic power plant at Bhira on the way, but all you see from this route is a couple of pipe lines and some OH transmission towers. We reach the backwaters of Mulshi. The lake is serene blue, looked over by a range for beautiful hills on the other side, and the entire landscape is part of a mystic fantasy sequence.
We come out of the Tata Power's gate and reach Mulshi. On the way, we see some tiny resorts. When we checked some of them out, they appeared rather expensive. At Mulshi, we fill up water, and move towards Paud. We go through Paud, cover the small yet excellent ghat of Pirangut, go through Bhoogaon, climb the Bavdhan ghat, and reach Chandni Chowk. Surprisingly, my tank holds the barrel till we reach here, where I fill a little bit of petrol. And so we enter Pune. It is 12:30pm. It had taken us about 7 hours, 250 kms and unlimited pleasure to cover Mumbai - Pune once again.
While returning the next day on Sunday afternoon, we have plans to come back via the old Mumbai- Pune route [NH-4]. But the Tamhini Ghat is so absolutely magical that we find it blasphemous not to revisit it. So like the usual mad fervour that we have, we pack early and start at 4:30pm in the afternoon so as to be able to cover the Ghat and forest area in daylight. However, at Paud, Alok discovers that his front brake has failed. We try to experiment with it and get it in a slight working condition. We move towards Mulshi, and the setting is again lost. We stop at a dhaba, and Alok goes searching for a mechanic. He comes back without any luck. It is already 6:45pm and getting dark, and we have not even reached the bottom of the mountains. We decide to go back to Paud (10km) and try our luck. We find a mechanic, who finds out that the liners are gone. There is no way we can get new liners in Paud or anywhere before Pune. The mechanic tries to make the existing set work. This takes about an hour. By this time, it's dark proper and we are in two minds. The option of going back to Pune and taking NH-4 just makes me sick in the stomach. On the other hand, some local villagers warn us against braving the Tamhini Ghat in the night time, for fear of wildlife.
After much pontificating, we decide to take a chance, and again head towards Mulshi at about 8:00 pm. We enter the Tata Power gate and feel like we are entering a long never-ending tunnel of darkness. There are no lights, no vehicles going in our direction, no civilization. The only things we can see in the half-moon are the outlines of the Mulshi Lake, the silhouettes of the hills and the curvatures of the narrow winding road. (This is madness, I know. Thank you).
The memory of this night ride (with the excitement greatly increased by riding in the dark without headlights in some patches of the route) is etched in our minds. Alok tries to maintain speed, while controlling his Bullet on the rear brake, which is a huge task. The curves and the sporadic blasts of wind send shivers down our spines. We ride close together, slowly and steadily in the dark. We finally emerge out from SH-60 at 10:00 pm on the Mumbai-Goa road [NH-17] at Kolad. We are exhausted, cold and hungry. So we pull over at a small shack-like eatery called hotel 'Abhiruchi'. A highly recommended place for seafood (pomfret fried) and chicken. We chill out at this place for quite some time and finally pick up the road only a little before 12 midnight.
And so we chart the rest of the journey back to Mumbai on NH-17, cross Karnala, reach Panvel at around 1:15 am and Andheri at a little over 2:00 am. Back to the city lights and heat and dust.
In all, a highly recommended ride at all seasons. Especially for the monsoons. Great landscape, good for mature riding.
Keep Riding,
Shreekant
This one is about our ride through Tamhini Ghat and was posted on Royal Enfield's site sometime in January 2005 as "Tamhini Ghat -- Absolutely Stunning Rear Gem of Western Ghats". These RE guys try to make a big deal of everything. ;)
Cheers, S
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mumbai-Pune via Tamhini Ghat - Shreekant Vijaykar
Date: 18 and 19 Dec 2004
Route: Mumbai - Panvel - Pen [NH-17] - Kolad - Vile - Bhagad [SH-60] - Bhira [Tamhini Ghat] - Tamhini - Mulshi - Paud - Pirangut - Bavdhan - Chandni Chowk - Pune
Pune-Mumbai is perhaps the most connected part of Maharashtra. I know at least half a dozen routes from Mumbai till Pune. Here are some I recall:
1. New Expressway: Mumbai - Panvel - [Toll route Expressway] - Talegaon - Pune
2. Old Mum-Pune: Mumbai - Panvel - Khopoli [NH-4] - Lonavala - Kamshet - Talegaon - Dehuroad - Pimpri Chinchwad - Pune
3. Mumbai - Panvel - Khopoli [NH-4] - Lonavala - INS Shivaji - Mulshi - Paud - Pirangut - Bavdhan - Pune
4. Mumbai - Panvel - Pen [NH-17] - Khopoli - Lonavala - Kamshet - Talegaon - Pune
5. Mumbai - Panvel - Pen [NH-17] - Kolad - Vile - Tamhini - Mulshi - Paud - Pirangut - Bavdhan - Pune
6. Mumbai - Panvel - Pen [NH-17] - Mangaon - Bhor Ghat - Pune
7. Mumbai - Panvel - Pen [NH-17] - Mahad - Poladpur - Mahableshwar - Panchgani - Wai - Shirwal [Satara-Pune: NH-4] - Pune
8. Mumbai - Nashik [NH-3] - Junnar - Rajgurunagar - Akurdi - Pune
Those are the ones I have been on. I am sure there are more. In fact, this subject sometimes seems worth a PhD to me.
Anyway, routes (1) and (2) are most common and need hardly any explanation. Out of these, bikes are not allowed on (1). I have done (2) a zillion times, so find it extremely boring, although some patches on the old road are very nice e.g. Khopoli - Lonavala. It's also got some very good dhabas. You can make a whole lot of permutations between various patches of (1) and (2).
Alok and I had charted (3) last year and the road was still under construction. Otherwise it is a very scenic route. It adds 60km to your journey. The 4th route is rather dull in that the good part of the journey is only Pen - Khopoli, which is not much.
The route through Bhor ghat i.e. (6) is considered dangerous during night time due to thefts. The road, too, is in poor condition.
The last two routes i.e. via Mahableshwar or via Nashik are too long and unless either by itself is the plan, not much of a use.
The one route that is thus left is the lesser-known Tamhini Ghat i.e. (5). Here's an account of this fine and rather unknown route.
Alok and I leave from Mumbai (Andheri) at 5:00 am in the morning. Both haven't slept a wink this night, which is by now a common phenomenon on such weekend rides. Yet every time it takes toll on us by the afternoon of the next day.
Anyway, as we reach Panvel - Palaspe by 6:00 am, and take the right turn for the Mumbai-Goa Highway [NH-17] towards Karnala, we are suddenly hit by what is felt like a huge invisible wall of cold. It may not be really that cold, but living under the city lights, we are not accustomed to any wind or cold at all. With all the shiver and chatter of the teeth, we realize that there is little merit in continuing the march in the dark, and so we take shelter at a local dhaba. A group of locals and truckers have a fire going, and we join them in the circle. We also try to steady our nerves with some chai.
In a while, the darkness seems to reduce in degree and we see a slight mauve towards the East. We start once again and move towards the Karnala ghat. In the ghat, however, we experience the phenomenon of what is commonly called the 'Inversion of Temperature' and so the Karnala ghat is cosy and warm in most places. We reach the plains on the other side and the temperature drops once again. However, it is light by now and thus bearable. The route is covered with slight mist, which adds to the mystery of the journey, and even dull places like Pen appear scenic.
And so we reach Pen - Wadkhal and stop at my favourite 'Amantran'. The hospitable and chatty owner of Amantran mistakes Tamhini Ghat as Bhor Ghat and advises us against going by that route, because of fear of thefts. But we confirm that these two are different routes and so move on to Nagothane and then reach Kolad. From Kolad, the route to the right that goes to Roha is quite famous due to the PepsiCo facilities. We go further. Some 10km after Kolad (this is 120 km roughly from Mumbai), we come to a diversion to the left, which says 'Vile Phata' (Diversion for Vile'). The route crosses a railway line and suddenly takes us into a different world altogether.
From here on, the ride is absolutely stunning. The road begins with some sporadic signs of civilization (including the milestone of Pune showing 115 km), which diminish at each turn on the route. Some 16km inside we reach Vile, take a right from the village and start climbing up. The road starts to get higher and more curved. To one side, we see huge rock faces and to the other, deep green valley of the Konkan. It is like climbing up a wall. We stop at some corners; take pictures and ogle at the marvels of the mountains. We see a lot of places where there could be waterfalls during monsoon. We confirm to each other that this place is a must-visit in the next monsoon.
We ride at a very dignified speed of 50 to 60 kph, linger around various spots, take detours in what seems interesting (like one jungle trail leading to an obscure temple in the woods) and generally have a good time. Alok stops over as he sees a little green snake run over by a car, picks up the snake in the last stage of its life, and decides to do his (her? its? only the dead snake knows)...last rites and then buries the snake at one side of the road. We move on.
We hardly see anyone on the road. The mountains are steep and absolutely stunning (I use this phrase again, because this to me is the best description of how I felt here). We can see one mountain built on top of the other, with layers of vegetation in between. It looks just like the landscapes in miniature Rajasthani paintings. One rock face is carved out due to wind and water such that it looks like the hood of Vishnu's Sheshnaag as depicted by Ravi Verma. Incidentally, we also find a trail that leads you to the head of this snake's hood and so do a small dance-sort on the snake's head, if you like.
There is no civilization in the Ghat stretch of about 40km. No villages, no eateries, no petrol pumps. And then, as expected, Murphy strikes me. My 'wolf' goes on the 'fuel reserve'. Anyway, Alok has enough fuel in his tank, that I can siphon out if needed, and so we say 'what the heck' ... and continue with our journey. The mountain sides are so steep that in some parts the sunlight has not yet reached, and by now it's around 11am. We thus move from one sunny and warm patch to another cool patch in shade, like moving on a chessboard. The jungles are endearing in this part of the route. They give you this irresistible urge of abandoning all and walking into their trails. A thought crosses my mind. All these hermits, recluses and sanyasis go to such jungles saying that they are going away from worldly things. But I wonder if they are going 'towards' the worldly things, instead, since these mysterious mountains, these deep valleys and these amazing green woods ARE the worldly things! All along, we are being fooled and we search for the world in our cities, where the world is sitting here happily in a grain of sand.
Anyway, we reach Tamhini, which is a small group of shacks on the other side of Ghat. We have by now climbed the entire rock face, and thus are on the plateau. The road here on has little incline, although it is curved as before. This part of the route goes through a private land owned by Tata Power. There is a hydraulic power plant at Bhira on the way, but all you see from this route is a couple of pipe lines and some OH transmission towers. We reach the backwaters of Mulshi. The lake is serene blue, looked over by a range for beautiful hills on the other side, and the entire landscape is part of a mystic fantasy sequence.
We come out of the Tata Power's gate and reach Mulshi. On the way, we see some tiny resorts. When we checked some of them out, they appeared rather expensive. At Mulshi, we fill up water, and move towards Paud. We go through Paud, cover the small yet excellent ghat of Pirangut, go through Bhoogaon, climb the Bavdhan ghat, and reach Chandni Chowk. Surprisingly, my tank holds the barrel till we reach here, where I fill a little bit of petrol. And so we enter Pune. It is 12:30pm. It had taken us about 7 hours, 250 kms and unlimited pleasure to cover Mumbai - Pune once again.
While returning the next day on Sunday afternoon, we have plans to come back via the old Mumbai- Pune route [NH-4]. But the Tamhini Ghat is so absolutely magical that we find it blasphemous not to revisit it. So like the usual mad fervour that we have, we pack early and start at 4:30pm in the afternoon so as to be able to cover the Ghat and forest area in daylight. However, at Paud, Alok discovers that his front brake has failed. We try to experiment with it and get it in a slight working condition. We move towards Mulshi, and the setting is again lost. We stop at a dhaba, and Alok goes searching for a mechanic. He comes back without any luck. It is already 6:45pm and getting dark, and we have not even reached the bottom of the mountains. We decide to go back to Paud (10km) and try our luck. We find a mechanic, who finds out that the liners are gone. There is no way we can get new liners in Paud or anywhere before Pune. The mechanic tries to make the existing set work. This takes about an hour. By this time, it's dark proper and we are in two minds. The option of going back to Pune and taking NH-4 just makes me sick in the stomach. On the other hand, some local villagers warn us against braving the Tamhini Ghat in the night time, for fear of wildlife.
After much pontificating, we decide to take a chance, and again head towards Mulshi at about 8:00 pm. We enter the Tata Power gate and feel like we are entering a long never-ending tunnel of darkness. There are no lights, no vehicles going in our direction, no civilization. The only things we can see in the half-moon are the outlines of the Mulshi Lake, the silhouettes of the hills and the curvatures of the narrow winding road. (This is madness, I know. Thank you).
The memory of this night ride (with the excitement greatly increased by riding in the dark without headlights in some patches of the route) is etched in our minds. Alok tries to maintain speed, while controlling his Bullet on the rear brake, which is a huge task. The curves and the sporadic blasts of wind send shivers down our spines. We ride close together, slowly and steadily in the dark. We finally emerge out from SH-60 at 10:00 pm on the Mumbai-Goa road [NH-17] at Kolad. We are exhausted, cold and hungry. So we pull over at a small shack-like eatery called hotel 'Abhiruchi'. A highly recommended place for seafood (pomfret fried) and chicken. We chill out at this place for quite some time and finally pick up the road only a little before 12 midnight.
And so we chart the rest of the journey back to Mumbai on NH-17, cross Karnala, reach Panvel at around 1:15 am and Andheri at a little over 2:00 am. Back to the city lights and heat and dust.
In all, a highly recommended ride at all seasons. Especially for the monsoons. Great landscape, good for mature riding.
Keep Riding,
Shreekant
Comments
I just completed same track and enjoyed reading your travelogue
regards
milind
Regards,
Shreekant
like ur night drive experience. and i m eagerly waiting for holiday and we frnds nw planned for tamhini ghat drive nxt sunday.
thnx for sharing such wonderful experience. i enjoyed reading this .
amol oak...