[hvkumar]

Yes, your GM for Mahabaleswar is fine. The juction at NH4 is popularly referred to as Mahabaleswar Phaata and there is good signage at that point.

Pune-Shirdi on NH50 is fine (2 laner), and Aurangabad-Pune is even better (4-laner)

[jeevmenon]

Thanks a lot, HVK. Good, maybe a 2 day plan to North MH is better. I am just back after the Mettur-Kollegal battering. I would like a peaceful time driving this vacation. So which route do you suggest if I have to go to Shirdi from Ambarnath? And from Shirdi to Aurangabad? And back to Ambarnath?
Pune has better connectivity to these places? Oh OK - maybe NH222 and then NH50 is easier from Ambarnath.

So, the Mahabaleshwar phaata is at the end of Panchagani-Wai-NH4 on the GM blue-route I pasted. OK. Thanks.

[jeevmenon]

Thought, thought for 2 days. Read dreamdiesel's post and as he mentioned somewhere post-monsoon is the best time to go even though the roads are bad. So what to do? NH17, NH17 in my head all the time. 10 days vacation - once a year. Now is the time. MH again? I don't know when. Panditji, koi to hal hoga?

(A) Onward, Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani via detour on NH4 and back to NH4.

(B) Return, can I tailor it a bit like Panvel-Pen-Ganpatipule-Ambaghat-Kolhapur (No Malvan, No Ratnagiri) approx 450 km. Out of which atleast dreamdiesel's explanation says - Kolhapur-Hathkumbe = 120 km should be ok. Panvel-Chiplun = 220 km should be ok as HVK says. So that leaves us 110 km of unknown roads. Chiplun to Ganpatipule to Hathkumbe. Maybe I can manage? Help!

[ampere]

Jeev check with DD. See his TL. He took that route (Kolhapur-Ratnagiri-Ganapatiphule-Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani)

He did not go directly to Mahabaleshwar. You may also get some ideas.

[jeevmenon]

Thanks, Ampere. PM to DD 2 days back did not help. He seems to be super-busy. (Just checked his last update on his TL was on Tuesday noon and today is Friday. Is he done with the TL?) His TL does not mention much about road conditions. HVK sir has mentioned about the road from Chiplun to Ganpatipule being bad, but somehow I am having sleepless nights about just having to do the famed NH17 and Ganpatipule - a different greenery (velvet spongy/mossy thin green sheet over hills - from Bekal/chikmagalur/kudremukh kinds) than Kerala (jungle-kind/trees/coconut-groves/rice-fields.)

[ampere]

What I gathered from the TL was that NH204 is in good condition
(Best way to go from NH4 to NH17). (Deviate at Kohlapur)

Ganapatiphule/Ratnagiri to Mahabalsehwar via NH17 (deviating at Poladpur) should be OK and not that bad. That is what we need to confirm.

[hvkumar]

NH17 between Nivali (where you turn off to Ganapatipule) to 10 kms before Chiplun is bad.
Pholdapur to Mahabaleswar is also bad.

Ambernath to Shirdi & back:
Ambernath-Kalyan-Igatpuri-Nashik-Sinnar-Shirdi-Shani Singnapur-Aurangabad-Ahmednagar-Shirur-Chakan-Talegaon-EXpressway-Panvel-Ambernath

[jeevmenon]

OK. So thats 74 km on the NH17. How about from Nivali to Ganpatipule? 30 km one-way, So 74+60 = 134 km. Hm. I will not take Poladpur-Mahabs. I will rather scale it from the Satara-side up bound.

Shani-signapur -> The bike ad which mentions about the houses here without doors.

724 km - Round trip around Shirdi-Aurangabad-Pune. A bit too much and would take 3 days. When will I have fish-fry made by MIL at Ambarnath?

[jeevmenon]

DD is back and got a response. The verdict is out! So our math tallies with what DD has mentioned. 74 - 10 (from HVK) of bad road. He said 50-60 km of bad road between Chiplun (+10km) and Ratnagiri (-25km.) No issues from Nivali fata to Ganpatipule. So my estimate 30 x 2 is out. Also Ganpatipule-Kolhapur there are 3-4 stretches of 1-2 km of stones and slush. Add to this Panvel to Chiplun to be ok. So I have to negotiate 60 odd kilometers. Worth the trouble I feel, by TLs that I read, post-monsoon greenery, once in a blue-moon to MH due to leave-from-office constraints. 20+30 either side of MM-Hills done in Mettur-Kollegal last month. Maybe one last time, hmm...

[hvkumar]

Shani Singnapur - I don't know about "door-less" houses, but there are rascals at the entry point to town trying to stop your car like ruffians, directing you into "private" car parking lots - for a fee, of course - when there is an excellent free car parking lot opposite the shrine itself!

And you won't find any good eating joints in town - simply go a couple of kms out of town towards Shirdi and there are lots of restaurants.

[MX6]

I eagerly searched for doorless house and every house I saw had a door. May be they don't lock it. So after 2 - 3 houses, I lost interest and was instead looking at the crowd all around. But I did hear that there are many houses without doors.

And I went to the central free parking area bang opposite to the temple. And at a corner they have free toilets.
And the toilets didn't have doors at all.

[jeevmenon]

Now that this thread has got more viewers my question on the Nice road on page 1 is still not answered. Take a look and help me out. Thanks. Good one about the toilet without doors, MX6!

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Shani Singnapur - I don't know about "door-less" houses, but there are rascals at the entry point to town trying to stop your car like ruffians, directing you into "private" car parking lots - for a fee, of course - when there is an excellent free car parking lot opposite the shrine itself!

+1 HVK sir. When I was last driving with my KA registered car from Shirdi to Shani Singanapur, There was this chap on a HH Splendor wanting to catch me since about 3-4 Kms. When he finally did, he tried cutting me and parked his bike in the middle of the road and started walking towards my car. I was shocked while he was approaching closer and was double shocked when he started conversing in broken tamil which I could seldom understand but made a guess that he was trying to sell me something.

He starts his bike, keeps looking back every now and then and ensures that we follow him and in Singanapur, he makes an entry in to a complex and our car follows. Even before we unlock and get down, he appears with 3 orange dhotis and tells us that its mandatory that we wear it and enter the temple for which we declined since we knew.

Fearing damage to the car if parked wherever it presently was for declining to become his prospective victims, we moved the car and parked it right opposite to the shrine for 'free'.

[Rajiv-Bang]

[quote=paragsachania;2090696

Fearing damage to the car if parked wherever it presently was for declining to become his prospective victims, we moved the car and parked it right opposite to the shrine for 'free'.[/quote]

This is very common in Shani Shignapur, I have faced this practically everytime time, they invariably fleece people who are not aware. Best thing to do is park opposite the shrine. Go to one of the shops near the parking lot & ask for items you want to offer & make sure you confirm the amount to be paid before you go to the temple.

[jeevmenon]

How to get to Raigad fort? GM shows via Mahad. So south bound NH17 from Pen, reach Karanjkhol and 23 odd km north bound. Did anyone do this recently?