Bhorgiri - Bhimashankar ride

This was my third ride to Bhimashankar.
Earlier two are here
Bhimashankar1
Bhimashankar2

Luckily I got to see Russell viper (घोणस), I could not take close view. Mighty snake disappeared before I got my S5IS out. This one is taken with E63 mobile camera.
Saw this on the road which goes from Tokawade to Bhimashankar (Ghat section)

Bike : Unicorn (Amit Mulay riding, for a change me on pillion seat throughout journey)
Road :
Home to Bhorgiri / Bhimashankar(Pune => Chakan => Khed => Chaskaman => Wadi => Bhorgiri => back till Tokawade => Bhimashankar road) :
Bhimashankar to Home (Bhimashankar => Wadi => Khed => Chakan => Pune)
Total distance must be somewhere around 250 to 300 km.

This ride was planned by Anurag Vaidya, we 6 friends were supposed to go. Saturday night Anurag called @ 10.30 pm saying "me and my friends can not come".
Amit Mulay called me again @ 10.45 saying "lets not cancel it". I told Amit that my bike already has problems (silencer's  support needed welding). Finally @ 11.30 we decided to go!.

We met near my house @ 6.30 am and started for Bhorgiri. As usual I avoided Nasik highway and decided to take Rajgurunagar - Chaskaman dam road. We took first break near Chaskaman dam, second break was at Swayambhu Mahadev temple, after that we directly stopped at Bhorgiri.

Once again I am stuck in busy work schedule, could not write more details...
See picasa link for photos -
https://picasaweb.google.com/adsarode/BhorgiriBhimashankar

Another memorable ride to Bhimashankar

For those who have not read earlier post, I will suggest reading this post first.

Day : 12 Feb. 2011
Bike : Thunderbird twinspark (me - alone :) )

Taken almost immediately after starting return journey

My home (near Kothrud Stand) to Bhimashankar(Pune => Chakan => Khed => Chaskaman => Wadi => Bhimashankar) : @120 Km.
Bhimashankar to home (Bhimashankar => Ghodegaon => Manchar => Chakan => Kothrud stand) : @ 120 Km.

First of all, I was very very frustrated on this day because nothing was going right in life. I eagerly wanted to meet Shambho and wanted his blessings. Fortunately I did not face much opposition to go alone, probably my family knows it very well about the bonding I share with GOD.

I started from home @ 6.25 am in the morning, it was almost dark around me. Good that I was wearing hand-gloves and a jacket, otherwise it was quite cold morning. There was almost no traffic on the road, I should say that the road was almost empty :). I did not click even a single photo while on way to Bhimashankar, but took some quick photos using my E63 on my way home.

Early morning road :), must be taken @ 9 am or so..

I could ride till Chakan or probably till Rajguru nagar with speed of 70 to 85 kmph. I think I even touched 95 kmph sometime. After Rajguru nagar the road goes through village and the condition of road is not so good. My speed varied from 45 kmph to 70 kmph depending on road conditions but again there was absolutely no one around me on the road.
I gave lift to a 4th std. school kid by name Gokul, the kid was very shy. He started crying when his father asked him to go with me, but afterwards he came with me happily.
I had another opportunity to give lift to one elderly person (age 85 years!), when I dropped him he asked me to come for tea. This is something particular I have noticed about village people, if you give little help to them they will offer you something. Really innocent people :).

I reached Bhimashankar @ 8.45 am (quite earlier than expected). This time probably first time I got opportunity to do Pooja directly on the Jyotrilinga pindi. I could feel the blessings of GOD and felt very happy for my efforts.

I started my journey back from Bhimashankar @ 10 am. While coming back also the roads were almost empty.

I tried clicking few photos while on the bike, which might encourage you to go for this ride :)

The road goes through jungle, tried to take snap of trees before entering jungle area

Riding all alone through this jungle area was really a very different experience

Through the tress - you are all alone on this beautiful rode :)

I would like to share/ note one feeling I had during this ride. "It is a myth than I am driving and it is also a myth that the bike belongs to me/ the bike moves because of me. The truth (what I felt) is GOD is making me feel that I am the doer and he is the one who is moving me and the bike. He - the almighty is the one who moves the world, I should be glad for the life / experiences which he has given me. I am nobody but probably a small part of dream which the almighty is seeing. His decisions are beyond my brain to understand but I should have a faith on him that whatever he does is done only for the good."
To put it in a simple quote "Believe in GOD the way a kid trusts his parents, do not doubt just have the faith"

I reached Pune @ 1.15 am. I wish I could have taken few more photos. Somehow that day I did not feel like taking out my S5IS and tripod but I am surely eager to go for another similar ride with camera and tripod!

Memorable ride to Bhimashankar

Day : 01 Aug. 10

Left to Right => Girish, Ashish, Suhas, Jyotish

Bike : Thunderbird twinspark (me and Jyotish), CBZ xtreme (Suhas and Girish)
Distance :
Kothrud Stand to Sadhu Vaswani Chowk to Bhimashankar(Pune => Chakan => Khed => Chaskaman => Wadi => Bhimashankar) : 124 Km
Note : There is turn immediately after Khed/ Rajgurunagar ST stand if you want to go by Wadi/ Chaskaman road - ask the local people for directions.
Bhimashankar to Kothrud Stand (Bhimashankar => Ghodegaon => Manchar => Chakan => Kothrud stand) : @ 124 Km

Rain : Almost throughout journey, medium thunder showers.

Road condition is mostly good - advantage of Chakasman road is less traffic and
 great scenery

Road condition : Mostly good -
Chaskamam - wadi road condition is good and
road via Ghodegaon is also in good condition. (This road is broader but has much more traffic as compare to Wadi road)

Lessons learned :
1. Do not stretch schedule too much.
2. Do not keep distance more than visible range from fellow bikers.

Extra caution : Do not rely on mobile or phone network. You may not get any opportunity for telephone communication in 20-30km radius from Bhimashankar.

Thanks to many blogger users who have written good information about Bhimashankar and the roads. Thanks to almighty god Mahadev for making our ride safe.

I started from home @ 7.10 am - reached to Jyotish's home (near Sadhu Vaswani Chowk) and then we two reached Bhosari to join our friends. Instead of planned 5-6 riders we were only 4 - others did culti.com :P. We started our journey @ 8.30 am from there.

We thought it is only 80km road from Bhosari - so we were not worried about schedule. We took first break at Chakasman-dam. The dam site is beautiful and probably it was just trailer of the beauty of mother nature ahead.

Second major stop was near Bibi-gaon. There is Swayambhu temple of Mahadev. Girish told us that the mandir (temple) is good and lets visit the temple on top of hill. The temple is really beautiful and one can get superb view of the region from this location. Good thing is the sadhu-baba in the temple allowed us to take photographs :).

Swayambhu Mahadev Mandir

Chaskaman dam - taken from Swayambhu Mahade temple

Another photo of Chakasman - taken from Swayambhu Mahadev Mandir

Photo of road - taken from Swayambhu Mahadev Temple

Afterwards we went to Girish's cousin sister's home. His sister gave us tea and prepared delicious lunch. I think this is first time I have taken lunch in proper village home (home with farms around). By the time we started for our planned destination - it was 2.30pm and Bhimashankar was still 32Km ahead. We thought it as 30-40 min journey.

We travelled 10Km or something and we were unable to find our fellow bikers Girish and Suhas. Mobile networks were not working!. We then started for the ghat (which is little difficult from the wadi side - I think the one from Ghodegaon side is different ghat and is easy). The scenery around the ghat is very beautiful - most of the ghat goes through forest area.
We waited again in ghat section for Girish and Suhas but could not get them :(. Finally we decided to reach temple. When we were @ 10 km away from the temple it was @ 3.20pm time but it feeling like it is 7pm. Because of clouds there was very less day light. There  were boards around informing the animals found in the jungle area - includes bibatya (leopard / panther). I was using my TBTS high-beam light but could hardly see anything beyond 5-10 meters (no wonder my judgement went wrong on 1-2 turns). I was really afraid - thanks to Jyotish who convinced me that nothing is wrong lets go!

Om Namah Shivay - Bhimashankar temple photo from one of my earlier trips

We reached temple @ 3.45pm. I wanted to call home and asked there for coin-box phones but even those were out of order :(. There was unexpectedly very long queue for darshan. We waited in queue till 4.30pm and hardly reached upto chappal stand (I was convinced that we wont get darshan unless 6pm). I convinced Jyotish to start for return journey - we were still unable to find Girish and Suhas.

While coming back - it started raining heavily - somehow the road was very clearly visible (mist was almost completely gone!) and we really felt like Bhole has blessed us. The scenery around was heavenly beautiful, there were high green mountains around. I could see at least 3-4 waterfalls in those mountains. Some mountains were covered by clouds and it was wonderful experience to see this scenery. One could also see one dam in valley. In my opinion this road from Ghodegaon side is easy one it afterwards connects to NH50. I would still say that it is worth riding from Wadi road at-least once.

What happened to Girish and Suhas => Somewhere they took wrong road and went to Bhorgiri instead of Bhimashankar :).