[yogesh.8984]

Had a plan? Not really. Called a friend on Saturday night and he was a game for a weekend getaway for a one day return trip on Sunday. And we set off!

Something about the destination – Tamhini Ghat is a popular destination for such outings during and post monsoon days for its delectable Sahyadri’s mountain ranges, backwaters from Mulshi dam, dense woods and scenic greenery. It also serves as a connection to Kokan region from Pune. This area is also well known for Tata Power’s 3 MW solar power plant spread across 13 acres.

Six of us, myself, wife and our 5 month old kid daughter, friend, his wife and their 7 month old kid son, set off at 9 am in the morning from my place in Pune. We chose to go via Hinjwadi – Paud – Mulshi way. This road has several indifferent patches in between but other options are also not any different.

Reached first pit stop after 40 minutes of relaxed drive. This was a small snacks joint situated close to Mulshi Agri Tourism Center and surprisingly good with its Vada Sambar (batata wada with sambar) and coffee.





Ladies enjoyed a little stroll with kids in the nursery close by (managed and maintained by Mulshi Agri Tourism).





Took to the roads in a while again and kept crawling (yes, crawling) for some time as the road was almost completely broken.



It was worthwhile however as we started seeing blues of Mula river water and the skies above, and greens of the landscape around. No matter how many times you have seen this, it is always so mesmerizing to see nature’s colors in their full grandeur under lively sunshine. Hope below pictures do some justice.





Barring those bad patches, there are some mouthwatering winding sections of the road in Tamhini Ghat. Taking each turn was adding to the zenith of joys with iVtec under the hood also singing in unison. Forgot to mention earlier about my steed – Honda City iVtec – lovingly called as White Lilly in the family. Whenever we approached flat tarmac in the greens, White Lilly was pretty eager to attack the corners with abundant zeal. Not so much when there were broken roads and there were many of them as well.







Reached Vithal Kamat’s restaurant at noon and had a leisure lunch. Food served there was of decent quality. They have a good parking space with a beautiful view of hills and lake. This is unlike many other restaurants in the area where they have roadside parking which is bit dangerous with fast moving vehicles on the road.



White Lilly had a great view ahead from its parking place.



After having a lunch, drove around the Ghats for some time before finding a place where a little trek in the woods ensued. It was amazingly refreshing resting in the woods while sun was beating down hard in the afternoon.





Started the return journey at around 4 pm. Took a customary tea break at Basho’s which also has a nice river view of Mula river. Returned home with another one hour of relaxed drive.

Some more pictures below.









Can’t help but to say this while concluding the write up – felt so rejuvenated after the trip that completed this write up within an hour of reaching home (while watching India dominate Australia and retaining numero uno ranking in ODIs). Thank you very much for reading thus far.

Couple of points to remember while taking Tamhini Ghat roads –

1. No cell phone range for entire Ghat section
2. Sparse fuel pumps
3. Very limited good quality eating joints

Parting shot

[silverado]

Originally Posted by yogesh.8984

Tamhini Ghat is a popular destination for such outings during and post monsoon days for its delectable

Barring those bad patches, there are some mouthwatering winding sections of the road in Tamhini Ghat.

Vithal Kamat’s restaurant at noon and had a leisure lunch. Food served there was of decent quality. They have a good parking space with a beautiful view of hills and lake.

Tamhini's close proximity to Pune is its curse. This is a destination best avoided during peak monsoon season weekends.Traffic on such days is bumper to bumper and crowds are insane.

People these days resort to idotic behavior just for sake of that perfect selfie.

I did Tamhini - Pali - Eway - Wakad trip in single day in September as I did not wish to drive back on same road due to patchy road conditions.
Drive from Tamhini to Pali was fun since road condition is excellent.

Tamhini road was re-laid around March this year and it was at its best.
Vitthal Kamat had really good tea, but food was ok.

It gets for parking and good view that it offers.

[yogesh.8984]

Originally Posted by silverado

Tamhini's close proximity to Pune is its curse. This is a destination best avoided during peak monsoon season weekends.Traffic on such days is bumper to bumper and crowds are insane.

This is true for almost all places nearby Pune like Sinhgadh, Lonawala, Kaas etc. I rather prefer taking a day off than visiting these places on weekends.

Originally Posted by silverado

People these days resort to idotic behavior just for sake of that perfect selfie.

Couldn't agree more.