The time was here to end the summer with a nice long ride in the mountains or rather the hilly terrain of Maharashtra.
So had a chat with my Doctor rider mate to decide the where and how to go for it. It was imperative that he was free at the same time as me and also to check whether his Royal Enfield was riding fit to accompany my Royal Enfield in the hot sunny long ride.
The first destination that came up was the obvious one – Mahabaleshwar followed by Panchgani and Bhandardara. These were immediately shot down for we were not looking for destinations but for an all-day ride through the back roads. We were not interested in riding on highways or expressways. We wanted to go for a ride in the back of the beyond! Riding on the highways and expressways was sleep inducing and boring. It was more like going from point A to point B and back again without the scenic wonders that one would encounter on the back roads. After a bit of brainstorming session we arrived at a decision. To ride the twists and turns on the road between Igatpuri and Manor. We had done this ride individually in the monsoons when it is heavenly but never together and in the peak of summer!
So that was it and we decide to end our summer riding season with this twists and turns ride and heat up the curves on this sector!
Here are a few pictures of our ride and oh yes, half way through the ride we did have a break to fill our growling tummies.
It has always been our practice to carry some sandwiches or wraps to ensure we don’t stay hungry. This is because we love to eat sitting under the shade of some tree out in the open rather than sitting and eating in some claustrophobic hot and humid dhaba or restaurant. And we also love to eat when we want to and not when we come across an eating place. This helps us concentrate on our enjoyment of the ride rather than looking for a place to eat. In addition we are assured of a hygienic meal in the middle of nowhere!!
This time my riding mate told me he had heard of a new food delivery app called FoodPanda which had tie-ups with some of our favourite eating places in Mumbai and would home deliver our orders for free too! So he had ordered some delicious wraps, which we gobbled up sitting under a huge gracious banyan tree seated atop a hill with a cool breeze blowing to keep us cool!
This ride too was as wonderful and now looking forward to a monsoon ride in the hills!
