[midlifecrisis]

Guys, did the Indapur-Baramati-Jejuri-Saswad-Pune stretch last night, as suggested on this forum. The road to Baramati is decent except the last 10 km approaching Baramati. After that the road is really good. Only, for those doing this stretch at night, please note - ALL ONCOMING TRAFFIC HAS REALLY HIGH INTENSITY HEADLIGHTS. EVERYONE, EVEN THE MOTORCYCLES HAVE 100/130s. IT WAS HELL FOR ME. THE HEADLIGHTS COMPETE WITH DAYLIGHT AND THE ROAD FROM 12MATI TO SASWAD IS REALLY "TWISTY".
Your best bet is to hide behind a MH State bus. These guys drive fast and you're shielded from the headlights.
Appreciate the response to my route query. However, I'm surprised Ashish(don't mean to sound ungrateful, he's really helped me out earlier) didn't post this warning earlier. If you're doing this route, have a battery of Hellas fixed.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by midlifecrisis

1] The road to Baramati is decent except the last 10 km approaching Baramati.
2] ALL ONCOMING TRAFFIC HAS REALLY HIGH INTENSITY HEADLIGHTS. EVERYONE, EVEN THE MOTORCYCLES HAVE 100/130s. IT WAS HELL FOR ME. THE HEADLIGHTS COMPETE WITH DAYLIGHT AND
3]THE ROAD FROM 12MATI TO SASWAD IS REALLY "TWISTY".
I'm surprised Ashish(don't mean to sound ungrateful, he's really helped me out earlier) didn't post this warning earlier. If you're doing this route, have a battery of Hellas fixed.

1] Earlier, Indapur-Baramati road was as bad as any state road should be but recently the work is going on to re carpet the surface.

2] I am surprised to know that everyone in my area has fixed 100/130 headlamps, even i have done it and i suppose it is common now a days.
Lagata hai, when you traveled on this stretch, vo amavas ki raat hogi!

3] Baramati to jejuri is 50km fast road, but road is not that twisty.
There are only three deadly curves on this stretch and rest of the road is pretty straight.
Again jejuri to saswad is really wide and straight road, only one curve is really scary near saswad.

Now a days, all tourist buses which earlier were using nh9 between indapur and pune are using baramati route to avoid all the hassle facing on nh9.

[Ushuaia]

Ashish/RanjitP,

Which route as per you would be more efficient (time)

Sholapur Mohol Pandharpur Satara Pune or through Baramati or Phaltan

I dont have an option to drive thru daytime so would be starting Hyderabad at 9PM - 10 PM,

How bad is the older route between Sholapur to Pune,

Any insights would help!

Thanks,

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by Ushuaia

Which route as per you would be more efficient (time)
Sholapur Mohol Pandharpur Satara Pune or through Baramati or Phaltan
I dont have an option to drive thru daytime so would be starting Hyderabad at 9PM - 10 PM,

As you are strating from hyd at @9-10pm, i will recommend you to drive on NH9 from hyd to pune.
I will not recommend to go via baramati/phaltan/satara etc for night driving.[ safety and security first]
If you are driving during daytime after solapur, then only go via baramati route.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by Ushuaia

Ashish/RanjitP,

Which route as per you would be more efficient (time)

Sholapur Mohol Pandharpur Satara Pune or through Baramati or Phaltan

I dont have an option to drive thru daytime so would be starting Hyderabad at 9PM - 10 PM,

How bad is the older route between Sholapur to Pune,

Any insights would help!

Thanks,

Totally second Ashish's opinion,if you are leaving Hyd at 10pm,you would exit Patancheru only by 11-1230am(assuming you are not living in the kukatpally or surrounding areas).

You would reach Solapur between 330 & 430am,stick to Nh9 after that.Baramati route is advisable only if you reach Indapur around 6am.

[CANPUSH]

Saswad Jejuri road has some deadly vertical curves. They have reduced a few but few are still there. Road just dips a few meters and climbs back. Effect is - on an empty road a vehicle suddenly emerges from ground (From the dip).

After Jejuri if you take Nira - Baramati road, 6 kms from Jejuri is Daundaj khind. This vertical curve was most dangerous. This curve was deep enough to hide entire bus in it. I have not traveled this section in last three years but I was a frequent traveler on it before. Hopefully they have corrected it in last three years.

Frequent travelers to this section can throw more light. (100-130 w).

In rural maharashtra people travel a lot between small towns and villages. The roads are not always straight, hence they tend to use high power bulbs to get additional visibility. Particularly, in Baramati area there is lot of bullock cart traffic during crushing season in the night. It helps if you have powerful light on such occassion.

[Ushuaia]

Ashish/RanjitP/Canpush,

Guys thanks for your insight, I too am keen on NH9 since I've done this a good number of times and somehow been able to adapt driving styles (Read, volvo's and ST buses)..

RanjitP,
I am in Malaysian Township hence getting to BHEL is not much troublesome, also choosing later than 9 PM helps since most of the Volvo's leaving for Pune/Mumbai would have left by then.

Thanks again for sharing your insights!

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by Ushuaia

Ashish/RanjitP/Canpush,

Guys thanks for your insight, I too am keen on NH9 since I've done this a good number of times and somehow been able to adapt driving styles (Read, volvo's and ST buses)..

This time you would have to factor in the road conditions as well between solapur and pune in addition to the buses.the road is a nightmare at the moment.

[midlifecrisis]

Originally Posted by Ushuaia

Ashish/RanjitP,

Which route as per you would be more efficient (time)

Sholapur Mohol Pandharpur Satara Pune or through Baramati or Phaltan

I dont have an option to drive thru daytime so would be starting Hyderabad at 9PM - 10 PM,

How bad is the older route between Sholapur to Pune,

Any insights would help!

Thanks,

Returned by the Pune-Saswad-Jejuri-Baramati-Indapur-Solapur-Hyd road on Monday.
Ashish is right, in the day time the road seemed less twisted. Maybe I was very tired.
Also, I don't know if everyone now has fitted 100-130w as I had a problem with bright lights even from Solapur to Hyd. I think I've just gotten old as the last time I did this trip was a year ago.
The Solapur - Indapur stretch is still very frustrating. I would preferably do Solapur - Mohol - Pandharpur - Phaltan - NH4 - Pune.
Ashish had once told me an awesome road( a couple of years ago) when I was returning from Mahabaleshwar. It was from a point called Vatar Phata on NH4 to Phaltan. But he knows the current conditions and security issues best.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by midlifecrisis

1] I would preferably do Solapur - Mohol - Pandharpur - Phaltan - NH4 - Pune.
2]Ashish had once told me an awesome road( a couple of years ago) when I was returning from Mahabaleshwar. It was from a point called Vatar Phata on NH4 to Phaltan. But he knows the current conditions and security issues best.

1]If you really want to avoid nh9 between solapur to indapur then avoid pandharpur-phaltan road and take pandharpur-Mhaswad-satara road.


2] Though road between satara and vathar has been recarpeted, vathar to phaltan is not that good road.
Further phaltan to pandharpur has many stretches of bad road, particularly near velapur.

[neel385]

Planning to drive down to Mumbai from Bidar in the first week of October. My plan is to drive down to Sholapur after work on D1, stay the night at Sholapur and thereafter drive down to Mumbai on D2. Any idea on how much time will it take to get down to Pune from Sholapur following the Sholapur-Pandharpur-Mhaswad-Satara route?
There seems to be road from Sholapur to Pandharpur via Tirth and Kurul. Any idea on how the roads are on this stretch?

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by neel385

There seems to be road from Sholapur to Pandharpur via Tirth and Kurul. Any idea on how the roads are on this stretch?

One year back, i traveled on this stretch,
the road was good with less traffic.
Don't know about latest condition on this stretch.

[Dadi Bhote]

Originally Posted by neel385

Planning to drive down to Mumbai from Bidar in the first week of October. My plan is to drive down to Sholapur after work on D1, stay the night at Sholapur and thereafter drive down to Mumbai on D2. Any idea on how much time will it take to get down to Pune from Sholapur following the Sholapur-Pandharpur-Mhaswad-Satara route?
There seems to be road from Sholapur to Pandharpur via Tirth and Kurul. Any idea on how the roads are on this stretch?

The route from Sholapur via Pandharpur, Mhaswad to Satara , should take 5 hours , there after the Highway to Pune and on to Mumbai is very good and can do min 100 kmph average. I travelled this route early this month. The stretch via Tirth etc I have no idea about.

[Ushuaia]

Prepped up the car for travel this weekend, since between this and next weekend car would travel 2100 Km's. Pune would be my base for cpl of days.

[neel385]

^^ Do let us know about the condition of the roads and the route that you have decided to take! All the best and happy driving!