[jimmy_iaf]

I thought Raksha Bhandan may be a good day since the children had a holiday too, and besides it's the middle of the monsoons but not one of those rainy days. Hatched the plan the previous evening by poring over Google Earth and figuring out the route and possible times. Thought of going via Lavasa but there didn't seem to be an exit except for a broken road beyond the construction work going on. It looked like it was connecting to a part of the road running along Mulshi Lake. Might have tried it but there seems to have been a little doubt expressed by others on TBHP regarding entry into Lavasa outside 'working hours'. Considering that the route is roughly triangular, I put aside three hours per side on an average and decided 0700 h departure should do nicely.

As it turned out, managed to get everybody up (including the pup) and into the car by 0730. Exiting Mumbai at that time on a holiday isn't too bad. Made it to the first Toll plaza on the Expressway in an hour for topping up tanks after picking up snacks at the Macs at the Expressway entry point. The route is pretty straightforward - cross Pune on the NH and turn off at the NDA exit and proceed to Mulshi via the Chandni Chowk crossing. The route along the lake is beautiful! The ride up Raigad on the cable car was easy. Didn't get too much time on the beach though. Peeked in at Kashid too but it was absolutely empty - could have driven up and down the beach - maybe it was the lateness of the day or perhaps it was due to a beach accident as reported in the paper a few days before. Drove via Alibag, Pen and made it home at 2200h. 600 kms - 14 1/2 hours including stops.

Here are some pics:

[megazoid]

Nice pictures. Looks like you all had a good time. I specially liked the picture of the car, the curvy tarmac and the hill in the foreground.

[StarVegabond]

WoW, fantastic photograhs, effect of mansoon is clearly visible everywhether.

600KMs in 14.5 hours, It seems you played Kho-Kho (touch and go) with all these places.

[Zensi]

Maharashtra looks really beautiful in the monsoon - but not sure how you managed to do everything in 14 odd hours!

[NIP]

Nice ride and beautiful pictures ! The monsoon as made the countryside lush green...very nice !

[Sawyer]

Nice pictures of my favourite part of the world at this time of the year. Once you get off the beaten track, the Western Ghats in the rains, climbing down into the Konkan, are as good, even better than any other place in the world that I have been fortunate to see. The lesser developed the better.
PS: 14 hours must have been hell on the pup?!

[jimmy_iaf]

Originally Posted by Zensi

Maharashtra looks really beautiful in the monsoon - but not sure how you managed to do everything in 14 odd hours!

...and I thought I took too long! As I said I planned for 3 hours a side of the triangle and a (very) rough estimate of the total distance on Google Earth seemed close to 400 kms. That works to approx 45 kmph average for the sake of calculation, including casual stops. As it turned out, I did 600 kms, which works out to a little over 13 hrs. The additional 1 1/2 hrs was for the Raigad Ropeway!

The Endeavour is still new and I am trying to work up the mileage to coincide with the time frame as given by the manufacturer i.e one month/1500 km and next target is 3 months/5000 km for the second service. Since the older car, an Indigo, is used within the city these days, the Endeavour has to be run in outside city limits! Anyway, like I mentioned elsewhere, I love to drive for the pleasure of driving and not for the mundane activities such as commute to work or shopping or whatever local running that is required. The 'running-in' thus combines pleasure with pleasure!

Since you probably think I am crazy, driving that much, I added one more post to convince you even further! It's under the same forum : "mumbai-kamshet-andhra-lake-mumbai" which was done on 31st July.

My photo albums indicate that I had done Mumbai - Kalyan - Malshejghat - Naneghat - Ambegaon - Talegaon - Mumbai on 15th July, Rajmachi and back on two ocasions 10th and 18th of July, Yeoor on 28th June, Shahpur -Tansa- Wada- Manor on 25 th June.

The longer trips were on the older car - more recently- 15th May to Chitradurga, 16th to Madikeri (Mercara), 19th Mercara - Tale caveri and back, 22nd to Bangalore and finally 23rd (one day) to Mumbai! This trip I had my daughter for company but didn't let her drive though she has a license - enough to convince the RTO but it's my car, and my daughter!

PS: For Sawyer - the pup (a 2 1/2 month old Cocker) was on his first outing - he is still taking his shots and is not allowed outside the house, the car being an extension of the house seemed to be the logic my children used to take him along! Anyway he was quite happy and slept a lot in somebody or others lap. He even took a ride in the cable car up to Raigad fort! Here he is:

[Sawyer]

Ah ok, nice dog! Good thing he doesn't get car sick, they get miserable then. And as they get older, being confined is tough on them. That is why my daughter does a roaring business with her kennels in Pune! Short and long terms residents.

[Meer]

Great shots Jimmy. I think I also stopped at the same spot by Mulshi lake last weekend (one of the pics). Did you stop at Green gate Resort by any chance?

This is the best time to visit the ghats and lakes in this part of the world.

Cheers.