Weekend Trip to the "Gibraltar of the East".

[NiteshP]

Hello guys, this is my first post in this forum, hope you guys will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed traveling to this place.

here it is .....

It was raining since last two days, the weekend was approaching and my wife was going to be away for a few days. I sensed this as an opportunity to spend the weekend outside Mumbai, called Ashutosh immediately to ask him if he was willing to come along. As usual he was more than happy and we were all set.

The place that we were traveling to is in Central Konkan at about 205 Kms south of Mumbai, on the hills of Rairi at the height of 2700 feet. The unscalable rock face challenged even the experienced climbers; there was only one path up which passed through the fortified doors of the fort. This fort was called as the “Gibraltar of the East” by the British, most of us know it today by the name of “Fort Raigad”.

We had two days and Raigad was just 200 odd kilometers, so we decided to start late. Our plan was something like this
Day 1: Travel up to Mahad and stay there for the night.
Day 2: Start early, visit the fort and return back to Mumbai by 9:00 PM

On Saturday I woke up early at around 9 AM and packed my stuff. Took my Indica Xeta to the Fortune Motors workshop in Wagle Estate, Thane and replaced a damaged wiper (turned out to be wise decision), tanked her up and went back home for some food.
As planned I picked up Ashutosh from Mulund checknaka at 12:30 in the afternoon and off we went. Next stop ….. 5 Kms after Panvel, we stopped here for a photo session. Will upload the snaps soon.

 

[NiteshP]

Here are a few Images taken during our first halt

Me and my Xeta

Here are some Stats:
Route until now:
Thane City –
Kalwa Creek Bridge –
New Mumbai (NH4, Roads are not so good) –
Kalamboli Circle (Turn Right towards old Pune road) –
Panvel –
After crossing ONGC Colony turn Right and take the NH17 (Mumbai-Goa Highway).
Distance Traveled:
36 Kms
Time Taken:
1 Hour 15 Mins (because of bad roads and traffic up to Panvel)


Got to go now, will post the remaining part soon.

 

[Neil.Bhujbal]

Hey nitesh that was a short but sweet experience buddy.

Waiting for the snaps.

 

[vijay]

NiteshP, welcome to TAI and good to hear from you starting from your travelogue.Awaiting to read another part, share pictures and also vehicles FE if you can.
Enjoy your stay here.

 

[raj_5004]

the first pic is awesome buddy. such good roads are a rare sight in india.

 

[vroom]

Nitesh,

Thats a nice beginning!! Keep going and let us know your adventures.

Cheers,
Vroom

 

[Crazy cat]

A good start. Hoping to see some more pics and the rest of the experience. What was the mileage during the trip?

 

[Zinam]

Hey Nitesh!

Welcome to TAI & have a great stay!

BTW good write up & pics are good. would like to hear more on your trip.

 

[NiteshP]

Thank you Guys for all the replies, the FE during the trip was approx 14.2 KMPL, which I think was quite decent for a Petrol Indica, considering the fact that the AC was switched on during the entire trip.

Continuing with the Post now.

The Road up to Panvel was OK but after you leave panvel, the road condition improves dramatically and it is pretty smooth sailing up to “Pen” (except for a few small patches). It was raining in Mumbai, but there were no rains near Panvel as it is evident from the photographs above, but that was going to change pretty soon. The sky was getting darker as we were approaching “Pen” and soon it started to drizzle. The lush green rice fields around “Pen” were very soothing. The drizzle soon turned into downpour and visibility was reduced to less than 20 feet. The wipers were finding it difficult to keep the water off the windscreen.

Our smooth cruise came to a gradual halt as there was a long queue of trailers, cars, SUV's in front of us. This is a common site on this stretch of 5 Kms between “Pen” and “Wadkhal naka”. The road splits at Wadkhal, the one which goes straight takes you to Alibaug via the Karle Kind (Pass) and one towards the left is the continuation of the NH17, that’s were we were heading.

It was still raining heavily but the traffic had reduced after Wadkhal naka and it was a smooth sailing up to Nagothane. That’s where we stopped for lunch. Here are some of the snaps taken during the journey from Panvel up to Nagothane.

Stretch between Wadkhal naka and Nagothane.

The hotel (forgot the name) at Nagothane where we had our lunch.

Here are the Stats:

Route until now:
Arnala Bird Sanctuary –
Pen –
Wadkhal Naka –
Nagothane.
Distance Traveled:
40 Kms
Time Taken:
1 Hour

 

[Arun]

Nice experience buddy.
Just one question, who is Ashutosh? [stupid]

 

[NiteshP]

Ashutosh is a college friend. Always ready to skip work and travel.

 

[Crazy cat]

The mileage is decent for an Indica petrol, but i expected more. Nice set of pictures.

 

[vroom]

Nice stuff!!! I always enjoy reading travel experiences and this piece was so well written.

Cheers,
Vroom

 

[Renegade]

Hey Nitesh
A very well written travel experience.
How about a TAI Drive to any such location after a meet,we can be back in a day.A quite calm drive will be a very good idea to end a meet

Mumbai TAI Members lets get ready for it.

 

[NiteshP]

Hello Guys, sorry for the delay, was busy during last few weeks (Office shifted to Powai) hence could not post. Continuing with the Post now.

After lunch we decided to make a dash towards Mahad as we wanted to reach there before sunset and find a decent accommodation for the night. The rain had seized by now leaving everything wet and green. The black tarmac was looking pitch black and new and the Xeta was more than happy at speeds between 80 and 100 Kmph. The road up to Mahad is superb except when passing through some town or village. Here are some snaps taken between Nagothane and Mahad.

Savitri River near Mahad

Just before entering Mahad we saw some caves on a hill on the left. We stopped and tried to see if we can get some information about them from the locals, but there was no such luck. First we thought of going up the hill to explore the caves. But Ashutosh suggested that we get to Mahad first (Which was just 3 Kms ahead) and book some hotel for the night. We decided to come back to the caves after booking a room. Two minutes after the caves we reached at crossroads, the one going straight ahead was the NH17 on which we were traveling, the one going towards the left would take us to the Fort Raigad and the one going towards right took us straight in to the town of Mahad.

Here are the Stats again:
Route until now:
Nagothane -
Varasgaon –
Mangaon –
Lonere –
Mahad -
Distance Traveled:
74 Kms
Time Taken:
1 Hour 45 Mins