Bangalore-Pune-Mahabaleshwar-Lonavala-Bangalore. 2339km

 Bangalore-Pune-Mahabaleshwar-Lonavala-Bangalore

Last 6 new years had been riding to Chennai for Chennai Open the only ATP tour event in India. This year the tournament is moved to Pune so it was appx 900km ride this time, joined by an pillion one way Akram first timer for an long distance ride, RE bikes are an hell experience for pillion, for an rider its all the luxury in the world till it breaks down in ghat region, my thunderbird which weighs 3 times the weight of me, hasn't troubled  me like this. It withstood my 2339km ride covering the below mentioned places.

Bangalore to Pune via Kolhapur,

It was an late start around 5am still we were able to avoid fog on the outskirts, but it was getting colder as were moving away from city. Our first stop was near Davangere for breakfast as Benne Dosa is popular in Davangere but for our bad luck we couldn't find any hotels on the highway offering Benne dosa, we had idly vada the popular south Indian breakfast dish, nearing Belgaum Akram was feeling very uncomfortable sitting on pillion seat, there were too many short breaks from then on as he was not used to do long rides, We took an long break for lunch in Kolhapur as Mehul was waiting for us in Kolhapur, we left Kolhapur around 4.30pm as per the original itinerary we were supposed to be visiting Mahabaleshwar and reach Pune but due to delay we headed straight to Pune, Akram was in rider seat till dark and I took over from there as it was an weekend  there were many vehicles exiting Pune making three way traffic and blocking the road from all possible directions, for a second I thought I was in Bangalore famous for its traffic jams,  last 10km on highway took more than an hour for us to reach our venue.

New year Dagadusheth Ganesh Temple, Shaniwarwada, Pataleshwar temple

New year blessings from Dagaduseth Ganapathi, very popular temple in Pune, idol can be seen from road side itself, Lord Ganesha is insured for Rs 10million and carrying 40kilos of gold on the idol, source wikipedia.

Shaniwarwada  and Pataleshwar  within a kilometer from Dagaduseth temple is also an tourist spot  inside Pune city The temple is cut from a rock, is dedicated to god Shiva. The sanctum- a cube-shaped room about 3–4 metres on each side - houses a Linga statue- the symbol of Shiva and there are two smaller cells on each side. In front of the cave is a circular Nandi Mandapa, its umbrella shaped canopy supported by massive square pillars. This mandapa is one of the peculiar structures of Pataleshwar. The cave is located at a lower level than the present level of the road and the cave complex. There is an exquisitely carved circular Nandi shrine on the left side of the entrance cave. The main cave is rectangular on plan and has a pillared porch. There are three sanctums in the cave temple and the central one houses Lord Shivalinga.

Mahabaleshwar via Bhatgar dam , Ambade ghat road, Panchagani

There are two roads to reach Mabaleshwar from pune, the route via Pune Surur Wai is faster to reach, but the people who love ghats  and nature can take deviation near Kapurhol will connect  Bhor road, its connects Bhatghar dam too, Bhatgar dam was covered by fog as we were riding early morning it's a huge water body built during British era still stands strong , as it was during winter one side of the ambade ghat were completely dry and brown in color, other side was lush green that's the difference you see in the western ghat belt covering four different states have four different types of green as we reached the Ambade, Mahabaleshwar was 59km from there, longer route but totally enjoyed it.

Mahabaleshwar, as per the local priest there tells the Linga is underground and only the head is seen in the form of Rudraksha (sacred seed used by Hindus). Submerged Linga is around 5ft in diameter, can be viewed from close range no photography allowed. Panchaganga temple where the five rivers Koyna, Veena, savitri, Gayatri and Krishna meet together and come out of Kunda and falls in small water tank.If you ever get a chance to visit Mabaleshwar or panchgini strawberry is very famous and tastes good too, you have to try it.

Lonavala,

Bhushi dam, as it was winter the water level was low, it was a good walk around the dam with sunrise view, before reaching there you will be crossing Lonavala lake in which Tata power is maintaining the lake and an cricket pitch inside the lake area.

Lohagad Fort and Visapur Fort

Well maintained steep roads enroute during monsoon people can see many waterfalls by the road side, situated 3000+ft above sea level one will be spending close to 45min to reach the top of the fort depends on individuals fitness too, ambushed by the black mountains one can hardly tell an fort is visible there, Few kilometers before Lohagad fort towards left side an mud road leads to visapur fort , the pathway to base is being developed, it also located almost 3000+ft like twin towers this too can be called as twin forts where it situated on the opposite hills, in dense green vegetation, got to know the British took cannons to Visapur fort to attack Lohagad fort to plunder its treasure saved by maraths. Later both the forts were taken over by British, if you are lucky you could sight an leopard as the region falls in Sahyadri range.

Karala Caves and Baja Caves,

Karla Caves , are a complex of ancient rock cut caves at Karli near Lonavala. The shrines were developed over the period – from the 2nd century BC to the 5th century AD. The oldest of the cave shrines is believed to date back to 160 BC, the interior roof is being attached with wooden planks in arch shape, and big stupa situated at the end, it too has an wooden reverse pyramid kida architecture, and the carvings on the rocks will leave you wondering without technology  how those people had cut the rocks and carved it also, the saints rooms are also cut from rocks with single cot rooms whre as the cot is also cut from the rock.  less than 5km on opposite side of Karala caves lies the Baja caves, this too has similar carvings as Karala caves with wooden arches and many stupas placed outside with different designs on the top, this looks bigger than Karla caves,  here one can find the Lord Shiva cut rock and double room cots of saints and windows too cut from the same rock.

Return Via Mahalaxmi temple Kolhapur,

As one of my colleague Veeresh wanted to reach Belgaum urgently so he hoped onto my bike, but  this has a iron bum he never complained about his back during the return ride where we had just one stop at Mahalaxmi temple in Kolhapur, the temple doesn't allow an bags inside there are many lockers rooms around temple left my bags and helmet in the locker and headed for darshan it has two separate que for men and women and one good thing about this temple is that there is no special darshan line, everybody is treated equally, from there our next stop was in Belguam for lunch around 2.30pm after dropping Veeresh in Dharwad It was an solo ride home by 9.30 was home for dinner.

Riders,

Santhosh Venkataram

Syed Akram

Veeresh

Short ride Lalit.

Bike Thunderbird 500