TrEk FoR LiFe: Poladpur

Day 5

2009-12-29 – Ganapathipule:

We started quite early and headed off to Neveli (Ratnagiri District). Our plan was to hit Gangapathipule. We were informed that there were no direct busses. On hitting Neveli we waited for an hour; not a single bus showed up. Raghavendra losing patience tried his luck with Lorries. It was indeed a good idea, but it was a loaded lorry with construction grade jelly. The girls took the Drivers Cabin, the guys had to beat the dust and harsh sun in the open back. The drive lasted an hour and half.

From 2009-12-29 - Ganapathipule Beach

Ganapathipule was not crowded unlike the other places we had visited so far. The beaches were clean. When we took a dive the weather was cloudy and chilly. The beach has a long sand line and you got to walk a long way to get water at your chest level. Soon we freshened up and got to Ganapathipule temple. The temple here has no kind of intricate carvings and appears too simple.

From 2009-12-29 - Lorry ride to Ganapathipule; Raghavendra Posing

After dinner we took a walk along the beach. I wanted to experience the Royal Beach entry via MTDC beach resort stairway. We sneaked into MTDC and took the stairway as planned, we did not run into surprises.

From 2009-12-29 - Ganapathipule Beach side view

Day 4

2009-12-28 - Mahabeleshwar + Panchagani

It was quite disappointing on reaching Mahabeleshwar, the place was owercrowded with hawkers & tourists. There were traffic jams too.

From 2009-12-28 - Poladhpur

We visited the famous Mahabeleshwar Temple,

From 2009-12-28 - Poladhpur

and a couple of View points before heading off to Panchagani. In Panchagani we were keen on Table top View point and nothing else.

From 2009-12-28 - On the way to Mahabeleshwar

We took a long circular walk in the hot hot sun. The place was indeed good with a couple of water spots and panoramic views.

From 2009-12-28 - Fresh Strawberries

On our way back we our driver was kind enough to take us to a Strawberry farm where the girls had the opportunity to hand plucked half a kilo Strawberries.

From 2009-12-28 - Straberry Flower

However the girls were stupid enough to pluck unripe and disfigured Strawberries, when given the luxury to selectively hand pick the Strawberries.

We spent the Second night at Poladhpur. We took a late night walk along the Poladhpur ~ Mahabeleshwar Highway in cool and pleasant weather. We also stayed up playing Addictive Poker

From 2009-12-28 - Mahabeleshwar - View Point

From 2009-12-28 - Panchagani- Purushottam Posing

From 2009-12-28 - Panchagani Table Top View Point

Day 3

2009-12-27 - Khed -> Mahad -> [Raigad Fort] -> Mahad -> Poladpur[halt]

From 2009-12-27 - Raigad - Rohit,Gururaj,Raghavendra,Purushottam,Hamsa

Raigad or Rajgad ?:
It was a moment of confusion on reaching Khed, after speaking to various conductors, inquiry sections in the bust stand and the general public not many knew about Raigad nor Rajgad, each gave different answers, we soon realised Rajgad and Raigad were indeed two different Places both in Maharashtra.

From 2009-12-27 - Raigad - View from the shortcut

Our intention was to Reach Rajgad near Pune, we finally ended up in Raigad.

From 2009-12-27 - Raigad - Just before the Re-union

But Raigad wasn’t disappointing either, just that our initial planning and places to visit had to be reshuffled.

From 2009-12-27 - Raigad - Purushottam

On reaching Raigad we had plans to take the rope way, on seeing the waiting list we decided to trek it up; our turn was scheduled at 1800 hours.

From 2009-12-27 - Raigad - Scenic View

Early during the ascent Guru went out peeing, and a shortcut was discovered.

From 2009-12-27 - Raigad - View Point

The group forgot to communicate Guru about the alternate route we intend to take, the group split into 3 and we ended up in a 2 hour delay before re-grouping.