Trip to Bhandardhara and Shrirampur

Another weekend, another awesome trip around Pune... this time, 6 of us piled into Samara and set off for Bhandardhara. We left early this time, leaving Aundh by 630 am, hitting Nashik Road by 700.

A rare sight for me, the sunrise!

Half an hour later, we stopped at Navnath in Rajgurunagar for some delicious misal pav - highly recommended.

The road is in good condition, but most of it is 2 lane, and with heavy traffic, average speed quickly drops to 45-60. Not good if you are on a tight timeline, but we had all the time in the world - and folks in the back even managed to squeeze in some card games.

Our plan was to go through Malshej, so at Ale, we left NH 50 and caught NH 222. Just before Malshej, near the village of Madh, we came across an absolutely beautiful location at the banks of the Pimplegaon Joga reservoir. It was time for a break, and some pictures.

The innocent looking banks of the lake weren't as innocent after all, and it took all the power of the 4L mode to get us out of the sticky clay mud! A few anxious seconds passed before the Endy backed out of the trap.

 
Now a word of caution - follow Google maps at your peril. We soon found out that the promised road from Malshej to Bhandardhara through Vihir and Kotul doesn't exist. The road from Malshej goes along the dam to the base of the imposing hills, and stops there. And probably continues a few hundred feet above from top of the hill. So we had to double back to Otur, then take a picturesque but badly maintained internal road to Brahmanwada, Kotul and there on to Rajur and finally, our destination, Bhandardhara.

Puneites, unless you are brave enough to put your sedan through hell, or you have a SUV, please take the route via Sangamner and Akole.

We checked into Anandvan, taking a 3 bed room cottage for an outrageous 25000 per night off season rate. But unless you are terribly lucky to get a booking at Yash, the only other decent property we found in the area (and it was full), you really do not have other good options, unless you want to try out MTDC or some of the other shadier options. And though expensive, the resort staff is extremely friendly and went out of their way to accommodate every request we had.

Bhandardhara offers some stock tourist places - Wilson Dam, Amriteshwar Temple, Konkankada, and good hiking/trekking options - Ratangad and Mt Kalsubai. We went for a big drive all around the dam waters, a 50 km round trip that covers most of the key tourist spots while allowing you to immerse yourself in the beauty of the unspoilt surroundings.

At night, folks dances regaled us, and a warm campfire lightened up the mood, before we retired for the day.

The next morning, we loved simply driving around, off roading in the pristine and clean meadows and hills in the adivasi reservation around the dam catchment.

After lunch, we left for Shrirampur - passing Akole, Sangamner and Loni.

At Shrirampur, we gorged on the delicious pav bhaji and dahi puri at Shri Saikrupa, washed it down with Cream Cold, and then finally slurped some amazingly refreshing lassi at Parijat.

At 800, we left for Pune via Nagar, the 100 odd km detour to Shrirampur, really having paid off! At 1200, after multiple mini stops along the way, we were back home.

A beautiful trip, with loads of memories to cherish for a long time, had come to an end. Next weekend will be another story...