[adiiityaaa]

Kunkeshwar is a village located in the Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra, India. It is home to Kunkeshwar Temple, which is dedicated to lord Shiva. A family trip had been due for a long time, and as the Diwali vacations rolled around, it was the perfect time to visit the holy temple.

#1 - Planning the Route:

As the festive season had started, we were in our native town, Kolhapur, to celebrate Diwali along with the family. Finally after Bhaidooj, it was time to leave. Started the journey after enjoying a delicious thali at Parakh.

The route was planned while finishing the meal, and this is how it goes:

• To Kunkeshwar: Kolhapur-Majnal-Gaganbawada-Kharepatan-Nandgaon-Kunkeshwar
• To Pune: Kunkeshwar-Devgad-Vijaydurg-Rajapur-Malkapur-Karad-Pune

#2 - Starting the Journey:

We started our journey from Kolhapur at 1pm after filling up the Bharat Petroleum, Fulewadi. A quick car checkup along with washer fluid, tyre air pressure and brake oil topup was completed and we were good to go. Due to peak traffic hours and poor road conditions, it took longer than expected to reach our first checkpoint. Diversions and road works at some points made things worse. However, soon after, greenery took over and calmed down the frustration. We had a quick stop at Gaganbawada and refreshed ourselves with Kokam Juice.
The views once you enter ghat section while going downhill are breathtaking! Mountains and Forest enguled in clouds are heaven for the eyes. The bad roads, however, still persist. One needs to be careful as the ghat has a steep slope and sharp curves, hence do check your brakes and brake fluid before starting. The journey from Kharepatan to Nandgaon brings a smile to your face as you enter NH66 and find approximately no traffic, leading to complete flooring.

The road after turning from Nandgaon onto Devgad-Nipani highway is single laned, but is surrounded by pure greenery and a sweet, chill weather. You soon start loosing greenery as you start approching Konkan region, but the road conditions do not disappoint you, especially the roads nearby Valivande feel as if it were a set from a movie.

Excitement starts to creep in at Lingdal Titha, where you hop onto Kunkeshwar road. The condition of roads here detoriate at some points. If you notice, you will find good roads where you have Maharashtra Tourism boards. Partiality? Anyways, you will notice some good houses and might envy the lifestyle of the people living there [honestly, I did].

Finally, you will start noticing greenery again. This is the point where you have reached Kunkeshwar!

#3 - Exploring the Konkan:

• Kunkeshwar:
  The first thing which we did was to enter the temple. Normally, you are allowed to enter completely inside, however, as were late, panditji asked us to come in the morning. A quick photoshoot followed and then we went to beach. If you notice, you will be able to see small shivlings on the rocks nearby. A guide nearby told us that there are around 90 such shivlings nearby.
  
  Coming towards dinner, there are limited seafood eateries available in the region. Hence, we planned to go to Devgad for dinner. After scrolling through maps, guides and making some calls, we stumbled upon Hotel Nikhil. They served authentic Konkan-seafood and the Solkadi especially- trust me, it was one of the best. You will not find such taste anywhere in Pune, such was the taste.
  
  
  
  
  Now for our stay, we wanted a resort which was nearby to beach: it makes no sense to choose a resort which requires you to travel in your vehicle while you are wet in seawater. Again, limited options and there are some house-stays which had common bathroom: a red flag. We finally checked-in in Dinmangal Residency: AC Rooms, Washroom attached to Room, Affordable rates, extra matresses [extra charge for the same] and most importantly: parking space. The owner was friendly too. Rooms were clean and comfortable with hot water supply available from 6am to 830am. Owner also mentioned that they had a hall available which can accomodate 9-10 guests at once.
  
  
  
• Day 2:
  Went to beach early in the morning to experience sunrise scenery. The beach here is dangerous due to its sloping shape and depth. Please take proper care while entering waters, joy can turn into tragedy in matter of seconds. Moreover, the beach is less crowded as visitor either prefer to stay away or only come to visit the temple. One good thing from this is, the water is really clean. Overall, the tides make you feel calm and daily stress is completely replaced by peace.
  
  
  
  
  For breakfast, you have many options right outside the mandir. Poha is must try in the region. After breakfast, we freshened up and went to darshan. Number of visitors increase after 9am, which leads to formation of lines for darshan, however they do move ahead quickly. You can also do Abhishek and other spiritual activities right in the temple, just make sure you carry all the required things. Milk is a must, but if you forget, Panditji do have it.
  
  
  
• Devgad:
  
  After checking-out, we steered into Devgad. It is around 6km from the hotel and a new route has been laid, which passes along the coast. This soothing scenery takes you through greenery and along the sea. There are two main tourist attractions in Devgad:
  1. Devgad Fort: There isn't much to see there, so we omitted it this time.
  2. Devgad Windmill Farm: Situated on a cliff right beside the Devgad beach, this farm is powered by Suzlon Energy. A garden as well as selfie point has been developed besides the farm, serving as a good location for photoshoot. You also have Maharashtra's [and possibly India's] largest coastal zipline, covering 1800+ feet and 280+ feet above the sea. A truly, thrilling experience!
     
     
     
  
  While going towards and coming from windmill farm, you are prone to hit traffic due to Bazaar. Hence, take the shortcut from Devgad Court to avoid getting stuck in scorching heat.
  
  
• Vijaydurg:
  
  I urge everyone to go to Vijaydurg via Malai. This route again passes alongside coast. MSRTC buses usually use the same route. The next destination after Devgad should be Vijaydurg Fort. This ancient fort serves a pivotal role in Maratha History. The architecture of this fort will surely blow your mind. The structure of Vijaydurg Fort remains intact when compared to other Forts. It was this fort where Helium was discovered by a British Scientist. A comprehensive visit covering every point of the fort should take approximately 2 hours. Additionally, it is elder-friendly, ensuring accessibility for visitors of all ages.
  
  
  
  
  For the lunch, only three options are available in Vijaydurg: Mayuri, Darya and Suruchi. You will find a guide promoting hotel Mayuri on the fort. We went to hotel Suruchi due to extremely high waiting time at Mayuri. Although the food was good, it was an utter disappointment that Prawns were not available.
  
  
  

#4 - Returning to Pune:

We were considering a stay at Ganpatipule. However, it was ruled out due to Mismatched schedules. Now, these are the available routes to Pune:

• Via Mahabaleshwar: This skips 3 tolls, however is mostly from ghats and small regions, is longer and takes more time.
• Via Karad: Directly connects you to NH48 after few hours of ghats and small roads.
• Via Kolhapur: Return back on the same route as arrival to Kunkeshwar.

We chose the second one. The route we chose again passed through lush greenery. The small, single laned roads covered with big, green trees on this route make every trip a trip to remember. Beautiful weather, clean air and nature: what more peace does a human need? Away from all hustle-bustle, lies such lifestyle where you have no stress, no tensions, nothing, just pure feeling of fullfilment. A proper destination for residence after retirement, I would say.

Continuing on Rajapur-Padve road till Dongar Phata, everything is cool and calm till you take a left on NH66, a road to floor your car again. Everything was in fast-forward motion till a diversion for roadworks merged both the sides. Continued till Ooni to take a right on Panchal-Kolhapur road. Made a quick-stop at HP Petrol Pump, Bagavewadi to refuel and continued towards Anuskura ghat. Noticed that windshield was covered in a lot of dust. I always have a Waxpol Glass cleaner and a Microfiber cloth. This was the perfect time to use it to ensure clearest visibility possible. The roads till now were good with less to no bad patches.

During the full journey, this was the only patch where everyone in the car were thrilled and afraid at the same time. The sharp corners and steep incline is enough to make any driver anxious. However, if you ask me to describe the views from the ghat in two words, I'd say: Pure Heaven. Again, made a quick stop after the Anuskura ghat for Tea. Continued straight towards Malkapur only to get stuck in traffic. A glance of fellow MH09 vehicles was good enough to lighten up my mood. Continued forwards straight towards Karad via Kokrud, only to make a big mistake of exiting NH166 without reaching Karad.

Took a left to save 6 minutes and god know where did we go. Thanks to all the technology we have today, we finally made it out through Umbraj. The only good outcome of this mistake was, we were able to skip Karad's traffic and the Tasawade toll. For dinner, we made a stop at Shivram Dhaba on NH48 after Kashil. Finally, we reached home after driving for more 100 minutes.

#5 - Notes and Conclusion:

1. Cost for the Trip:
   • Fuel: 4400
   • Accomodation: 1400
   • Food: ~3200
   • Total: 9000 [Good enough for 3 People]
2. Mileage Obtained: 16.04 [AC Off]
   
3. Stops:
   • Bharat Petroleum, Fulewadi: https://maps.app.goo.gl/vxMs7m3p8rMyjHSGA
   • HP Petroleum, Bagavewadi: https://maps.app.goo.gl/mXNp2nT1PtoThgcT6
   • Hotel Nikhil: https://maps.app.goo.gl/77zzbcwRArvKbaE49
   • Hotel Suruchi: https://maps.app.goo.gl/XNCAy8iUagF2BQqv9
   • Hotel Parakh: https://maps.app.goo.gl/sxQPWRH1T3AgLcMQ9
   • Shivram Dhaba: https://maps.app.goo.gl/e7UiDUkssrhVLZkEA
   
   
4. Accomodation:
   • Dinmangal Residency: +919421238363
   • Hotel Sukhsagar: https://maps.app.goo.gl/TUey9tgsuihq4mcL7 [This one is nearby]

Thank you for reading, hope you had a nice time. I will appreciate if you share your opinions as well as suggest me if I am wrong somewhere. With this, my first long post on TeamBHP comes to an end. Cheers!