Ride to lakes around Mumbai - 5. Gadeshwar

Our (me on my Royal Enfield and my nephew on his Kawasaki) last ride, before the second Corona wave struck, was to Gadeshwar lake on the outskirts of Mumbai. It is close to Panvel, at a distance of around sixty kilometres from Mumbai. We followed all mandated Covid protocol of masking, social distancing and not interacting with locals.

It is very serene and a beautiful place to spend some ‘me’ time or with friends.

Carry your breakfast with you, have it at the lake in beautiful surroundings and carry back your trash.

Here are a few pictures followed by a short video of the ride. Enjoy. 

Do check out the video and if you like it do click on like, share and subscribe! Thank you.

Ride to lakes around Mumbai - 4. Shirgaon and Sinchan

During the brief window between the two Covid waves we (me on my Royal Enfield and my nephew on his Kawasaki) rode to check out the twin lakes Shirgaon and Sinchan on the outskirts of Mumbai.

Shirgaon lake is around sixty kilometres from Mumbai and can be accessed via the Western Express or the Eastern Express Highway. We took the Western Express Highway. Shirgaon lake is popular amongst the cyclists from Mumbai who can ride there and then take a lovely cool dip in the lake. This lake is a popular picnic spot so the earlier you go the better it is.

Shirgaon lake

Sinchan lake is another thirty kilometres from Shirgaon lake hence a good idea to visit both in the same trip. This is the quieter of the two.

Sinchan lake

Carry your breakfast with you, have it at the lake in beautiful surroundings and carry back your trash.

Do check out the video and if you like it do click on like, share and subscribe! Thank you.

Ride to lakes around Mumbai - 3. Khand

Soon after the first wave of Covid19, when the travel curbs were eased and everything seemed going back to normal, we (my nephew on his Kawasaki Z650 and me on my Royal Enfield 500) rode to Khand lake which is around 120 kms from Mumbai and can be reached either by Western Express Highway or the Eastern Express Highway. We rode via the Western Express Highway upto Manor from where you have to turn into the interior single lane road and the last couple of kilometres is a bit of off-roading but fun.

Carry your breakfast with you, have it at the lake in beautiful surroundings and carry back your trash.

Here are a few pictures followed by a short video of the ride. Enjoy.

Do check out the video and if you like it do click on like, share and subscribe! Thank you.

Ride to lakes around Mumbai - 2. Usgaon

Just after the first wave of Covid19, when the lockdown curbs were eased and everything seemed going back to normal, we (my nephew on his Kawasaki Z650 and me on my Royal Enfield 500) rode to Usgaon lake. An amazingly serene place to visit on a misty wintry morning.

You can reach it by a couple of routes, one is via the Western Express Highway or the other is via the Eastern Express Highway. There is not a significant difference in the distance, either way it is within eighty kilometres from Mumbai. Take your pick. We took the Western Express Highway.

Carry your breakfast with you, have it at the lake in beautiful surroundings and carry back your trash.

Here are a few pictures followed by a short video of the ride. Enjoy.

 

Do check out the video and if you like it do click on like, share and subscribe! Thank you.

Ride to lakes around Mumbai - 1. Vandri

 There are many beautiful lakes around Mumbai that one can ride to.

The first lake I visited on my bike was Vandri lake in April 2019  when Covid was unheard of.

 It is at a distance of about eighty kilometres along the Western Express Highway between Virar and Manor. As soon as the highway ride starts getting boring, you get the turn off for the lake. After the turn off it is a beautiful ride of approximately five kilometres on a single lane road which am sure will be beautiful during and just after the monsoons.

Met a lot of other bikers there too.

Carry your breakfast with you, have it at the lake in beautiful surroundings and carry back your trash.

Here are a few pictures followed by a short video of the ride. Enjoy.

Do check out the video and if you like it do click on like, share and subscribe! Thank you.

Solo ride to Vittal and back,

Mumbai – Vittal – Mumbai, a distance of just 1982 kms that I rode alone on my Royal Steed for a week in November 2019, has topped my personal best ride list, better than even the 72 day 14072 kms ride that I had done with Aditya Raj Kapoor or the week long Spiti ride that I did with Dr.Alap Mehendale, which were amazing to say the least.

This was a liberating ride for me. I had no peer pressure to keep up to any particular pace nor did  

I have to keep up to the time table set up by somebody else. I stopped when I wanted to and rode when I wanted to at a speed that I thought was best suited to the moment. At the end of the ride I have no regrets on having missed out on capturing some lovely moments of the journey that I will cherish as I captured them all without feeling guilty of having trespassed on somebody else’s time.

I started off at 07.50 am, after a leisurely breakfast of Brun maska pao at home (Bandra east) and headed towards Kolhapur on a cloudy day that was perfect riding weather. Had a beautiful peaceful ride of 351 kms and checked in at Sai International Hotel at Yelur in the evening at 4 pm. 

Witnessed a beautiful sunset, had a great dinner and rested well to set out next day for Sirsi, a distance of 333 kms. This was yet another great ride made fun and adventurous with Google maps which guided me on less travelled routes.

In Sirsi, I stayed at a chilled-out hotel that cost me just 700/-, opposite to the famous Marikamba temple. 

Once I crossed the border to Karnataka from Maharashtra, I realised that food and stay are amazingly value for money, yummy and inexpensive. Had some great medu wadas and a tummy filling thali before resting well for yet another day of riding to reach my destination Vittal, 300 kms away.

From Sirsi to Vittal it was riding in the mountains most of the time. Hence the tree shade was there to filter the sunlight and some amazing sights all along. Had my lunch in KSTDC’s Mayura restaurant in Agumbe. The Mangalore bonda was a meal by itself!

Reached home in Vittal in time for some yummy heavy snacks at 3pm.

Had a wonderful week of temple festivities when the town comes alive to the drum beats, clarinets and saxophones climaxing in a Rath yatra.

Decided to return via the coastal route till Karwar before turning into the interior mountain roads to reach Belgavi. Rode via the patch of road with the sea on one side and the river on the other. Was a beautiful ride all the way to Karwar where I checked into a hotel recommended by a friend, had sea food that Karwar is famous for and started next morning after breakfast for Sai international Hotel in Yelur. This road via the ghats was bad in patches but nothing unmanageable and a great experience.

Had another restful night before starting out on the home run next morning. This route was all along the highway which would have been extremely boring if not for the diversions for ongoing work enroute, on the highway.

Reached home in the evening, feeling on top of the world.

Did my bit for the environment by not buying any plastic bottled water enroute. I kept refilling the bottle that I had carried from home, with purified water available in all the hotels I stayed in.

Camping getaway

Had been reading a lot about some great camping getaways from Mumbai. Finally we decided on this fabulous place called Sahyadri camping in Wai, on the banks of the Krishna River. What more can one ask for? Tents on the banks of a river and easily accessible creature comforts like proper toilets to ensure that the environment is cared for. They also have facilities to cook for you or if you wish you can light up a bonfire and have a cook up outside your tent. All this for very reasonable pricing.

We rode out on a Saturday morning and since the distance to the camping grounds was not much and 

we did not want to reach too early, we rode on to Panchgani and gorged on Pizza and thick 

strawberry shakes in the amazing Mapro garden, before heading out to Wai which was just about 20kms away. The ride was amazing. Generally good roads and pleasant weather to up our spirits.

Had a lovely time setting up our tents followed by a bonfire and a dinner that we cooked of our outdoor favourite – Maggi noodles!

The morning after was spectacular. As I unzipped the tent flap, the view blew me off. Could have 

spent a long long time sitting there but had to get back home too, to ride to yet another piece of heaven elsewhere, some other time.

Soon we wrapped up and started on the return journey. Stopped at a quaint little café on the way 

where tea was served in eco-friendly earthenware cups and there was a swing fashioned by aerial 

roots in the compound.

Click on the link below for a short clip of our ride.

Ride to Spiti..

Ever since I had read somewhere on the internet that Spiti is like a wild child that refuses to be disciplined, I was hooked. And it did not take too long to convince a friend Dr. Alap Mehendale, a mountain lover and an excellent co rider, to take time off to set out on this wondrous ride.

As usual, tapped the information bank, Mr.HV Kumar and subscribed to his plan wherein he and his team would ensure we just concentrate on our ride and leave the logistics to them.

On 28aug2015 we met up at BKC, fuelled up and kicked off at 1030hrs. I know it was rather a late start but there were some last minute things to be  done and what was more important was that we set out! The weather was cloudy and rainy too with the sun peeping out occasionally to dry us. It was a wet and dry ride and we reached Dhule at 1730hrs after riding a brisk 327kms on good roads. A room in Hotel Jhankar Palace was waiting for us in Dhule, booked by the CHD team of HVK, where we

View from our room in Dhule

checked in for the night. The dinner at this hotel was memorable. This was a period when onions in Mumbai were scarce and almost rationed in restaurants. However we were in for a surprise when the ‘Chicken do pyaza’ that we had ordered was overflowing with onions and in addition there also was a plate of onion salad on the side!

Next morning we rode out at 0800hrs and headed towards Chittorgarh, a distance of 539kms and we reached our destination at 1730hrs, again on some good roads but we were startled with camels 

Staple breakfast of aloo parathas

Camels strolling along on the highway

Sev Tamatar for lunch in Jaora, Rajasthan

crossing the highways in a few places. Our night halt in Chittorgarh was in RnB Hotel away from the hustle and bustle of the market place.

Next day we had an uneventful ride of 583kms to Rohtak where we checked in Myna resort of Haryana tourism. The room was big but the airconditioner was a dripper! Seemed like a popular meeting place for the locals. Enjoyed the food there.

The mountains were approaching and so was the excitement as we started our ride towards Chail in 

Delicious Tandoor aloo parathas

Chholey kulchey

Lemon goli soda

In Kurukshetra Pic courtesy Dr.Alap Mehendale

Nearing Chail

View from our room in Chail.

Himachal Pradesh. Had amazing parathas and chhole kulche on the way. The icing on the cake was the view from our room in Jungle Inn resort in Chail.

The dream ride now began as we traversed through the mountains and valleys to Chandratal via 

HPTDC resort 'Srikhand' in Sarahan

Sarahan, Rakcham, Nako and Kaza over a period of six days. I have no words to describe the beauty, thrill and a sense of achievement as I overcame the fear that was brought on by the paths that we rode on. Do check out the images and a video posted below, of that part of the ride to get a sense of how amazing it must have been.

View of Spiti valley from Ke Gompa in Kaza

Enroute Chitkul the last inhabited village near the Indo China border.

Path towards Chandratal

One of the many bridges that we crossed.

Chandratal

The long and winding road.

Rode on the world's most treacherous road

We closed our ride at Solang on the way back, trucked our bikes and flew back home. After the ride in those mountains, riding in the plains would have been so boring.