The day before we were supposed to ride, Sky was full of clouds, thundering & roaring.
Next morning at 3 am i woke up with a sound of thundering, i came out in balcony.
Sky was broken loose, It was raining heavily since last 4-5 hours.
All Geared up we started our ride at 4:00 am to reach gathering point at Kalyan-Bhiwandi bypass on time by 5:30 am. our planned route was chinchoti phata to Kalyan-Bhiwanid bypass.
But everywhere we just saw water, roads were flowing away with logged water. It rained so much in this extreme corner of Mumbai that we had to change our route through Ghodbunder.
Slowly each rider arrived & we were ready to ride again by 7:00 am. Next halt being breakfast halt we wanted to cover 75 km in very less time frame. We arrived at 8:30 am at Baba Da Dhaba; We decided to take a halt before kasara ghat so that everyone is calm when we ride through th ghat & there are very less good budget breakfast restaurants with good washrooms after Kasara for a good stretch of 20-30 km. There is Hotel Green Land as soon as Ghat is over for good washrooms but we always find it expensive compared to other breakfast restaurants as a rider.
Post Breakfast 10 am we increased our speed cause rains fade away, roads were much better to ride in good speed our next halt was Rajur, another 70 km. after 20 km from Kasara Ghat take right from Mumbai-Nashik State Highway on Ghoti-Shirdi Road. after 10 km more take right for Bhandardara road. Continue straight on Bhandardara-Ghoti Road but avoid Bhandardara right turn continue straight on Ratangad-Rajur Road. By this time one case milestone for Rajur.
Roads were curvey, Windy, Larger Landscapes, slopes & downhills, small patches of bad roads but very enjoyable ride because of climate, curves & landscapes.
Finally we reached Rajur HP petrol pump at 12 noon. Local Contact for Wanjulshet from Grassroute was supposed to accompany us from here for next 10 km.
We met VP of Grassroutes Sushma at this petrol pump, very sweet & talkative lady who gave us a lot of information on the initiative.
We Reached Wanjulshet, our Destination around 12:30 pm. 1 hour delayed from scheduled time but considering weather conditions we were happy we could make it by early noon.
The entire VRz Team received a traditional welcome of Tika & Topi, we had registration forms filled & signed for Grassroutes & local SPOC gave us introduction on the initiative, guides & itinerary.
We were told our accommodation is managed in 3 separate houses which accommodates 5, 17 & 8 pax. accommodation provided was very good, Comfortable bedding, 2 homes were very raw & rustic without even plug points & walls pasted of mud & clay. roof of wood & clay tiles. Make Shift WC toilets outside each house,another with 17 capacity was good concrete 1+1 structure with 4-5 rooms on 1st floor. Grassroutes ensured greater sense of housekeeping. Food as well was managed in 3 groups, 3 separate houses, 10 in each house.
And since this moment the actual journey begins...!!!!
Food was awesome, We were very eager to know if non-veg will be available & we did try to manage.we were accommodated in 3 houses so sabji was different everywhere but basic menu was same.
but fortunately we let that plan go because food is awesome, Organic very basic & delicious.
Day 1 Lunch We were served Chapati, Mataki Bhaji, Daal, Rice Very tasty, light spicy but flavorful.
Then we were offered black Tea & bhel. I never have black tea but this was so refreshing.
We were asked to rest And then dinner was ready around 8 pm. Best Food i ever had in any of my such adventures.
PuranPoli, Gulavani(Jaggery Water), Katachi Aamti(Usal), Rice, Kurdai(Crispy fry Noodles made of wheat), Papad.
We ate so much that We were barely able to walk.
Day 2 Breakfast was Super soft Poha with crispy peanuts, Black Tea & we were not over with PuranPoli yet.
So we asked if there is any left. The house lady being so sweet she pulled out her entire bunch of poli's from last night & just kept in front of us to eat.
We finished that off. It was so delicious even next day.
We requested if we can get Pithla Bhakari & Thecha for lunch & no-one in this village says no.
Awesome Pithla very basic again no fancy masala or too much of onions. 2 types of Thecha Spicy & lightly Spicy with peanuts.
Lady being sweet again offered us Mango's for dessert from her own farm. May be she has seen our love for Mango's.
Again we had to struggle to stand up after food. But one has to have open mind to enjoy this Food.
Water, we did ordered & paid in advance for 2 ltr of water bottles each; however we ended up drinking normal water there no major taste difference & it was light.
There were several treks or walks, guide will take you to; which are through plateau, farms, cliffs, slopes, then you see the similar view to Garadia Mahadev Kota, Panoramic view of the River in necklace kind of u shape encircled to nearest hill.
Guide carries Mangoes, First aid box with them; Mangoes so that you eat them at right place at river bank. Talking of Mango's, They were in abundance.
Guide gives you as many as 1 dozen per person & they were better than alphanso's
River water was calm. shallow at places good for swim. you can actually cross the river to go other side. there are trees with sweet jamun's at the other side.
post this trek we did rest for night trek.
And the best part of the trip, Fireflies, not only in millions; they were in trillions.
Every Tree of Wanjulshet was lighten up. If you are seating at Temple you see them, Seating at home you see them.
They fly around you shining, they are on your cloths, shoes; in Umbrella. Few flew back to our home-stay past midnight.
When you look at one tree, another tree is lit up, then another then another. Pattern changes.
It's like you can actually seat down on grass & watch then whole night.
Marvelous, Fantastic, Awesome these words can not express what we saw what we felt.
Each tree was xmas tree, seemed like there was some artificial lighting done. we were roaming around for 2 hours. Guide was with us throughout. We couldn't capture much but i found something on internet which correctly depicts what we experienced that day.
People in Village or guide who were with us Datta, Santosh. Great People..!
Very knowledgeable about fireflies, they knew their spots. They took us for evening walks, River Swim, Mango Hunting.
And they were very polite. Even kids are so sweet that couple of us was picking up freshly dropped mangoes from tree, these 2 sweet girls came asking us not to pick up as they were Raw & spoiled. They ran inside their home & got 6-7 big ripped sweet Mangoes for us. without expecting anything back.
Same kids in the evening when got to know we are their for fireflies, cought a few in their hand & ran to our home-stays to show us.
They made our day. Good we packed a few snacks & sweets for kids at the village.
Top of all this, there was a wedding in the village, Me & My wife we had a brief chat with groom & bride; they were waiting for their barat.
which eventually started late night, they were dancing till late as we were returning from night trek; villagers invited us to dance with them.
Couple of us danced till they dropped until midnight & thoroughly enjoyed.
In Morning, Guide Datta came to wake us up for a Morning walk. also took us to Mango hunting. Pluck fresh from Tree, Jamun's too.
We had a bag full of Mangoes to take back home for each one of us.
And then the souvenir from Villagers to remember each moment we spent there a clay Ox & Potli of Fresh Harvest Peanuts.
With such Warm Memories & Once in lifetime experience we left the Village post heavy lunch at 3 pm, Road through Ghoti. Halted for a breakdown; still managed to reach home within stipulated time frame of 9 pm.
Thanks to Grassroutes for such lovely arrangements & noble cause. But a bigger thanks to Villagers, our guides like dutta santosh who has bigger hearts to show us we can never write, tell or express.
Thanks & Regards
SpokenSunny
Next morning at 3 am i woke up with a sound of thundering, i came out in balcony.
Sky was broken loose, It was raining heavily since last 4-5 hours.
All Geared up we started our ride at 4:00 am to reach gathering point at Kalyan-Bhiwandi bypass on time by 5:30 am. our planned route was chinchoti phata to Kalyan-Bhiwanid bypass.
But everywhere we just saw water, roads were flowing away with logged water. It rained so much in this extreme corner of Mumbai that we had to change our route through Ghodbunder.
Slowly each rider arrived & we were ready to ride again by 7:00 am. Next halt being breakfast halt we wanted to cover 75 km in very less time frame. We arrived at 8:30 am at Baba Da Dhaba; We decided to take a halt before kasara ghat so that everyone is calm when we ride through th ghat & there are very less good budget breakfast restaurants with good washrooms after Kasara for a good stretch of 20-30 km. There is Hotel Green Land as soon as Ghat is over for good washrooms but we always find it expensive compared to other breakfast restaurants as a rider.
Roads were curvey, Windy, Larger Landscapes, slopes & downhills, small patches of bad roads but very enjoyable ride because of climate, curves & landscapes.
We met VP of Grassroutes Sushma at this petrol pump, very sweet & talkative lady who gave us a lot of information on the initiative.
We Reached Wanjulshet, our Destination around 12:30 pm. 1 hour delayed from scheduled time but considering weather conditions we were happy we could make it by early noon.
The entire VRz Team received a traditional welcome of Tika & Topi, we had registration forms filled & signed for Grassroutes & local SPOC gave us introduction on the initiative, guides & itinerary.
We were told our accommodation is managed in 3 separate houses which accommodates 5, 17 & 8 pax. accommodation provided was very good, Comfortable bedding, 2 homes were very raw & rustic without even plug points & walls pasted of mud & clay. roof of wood & clay tiles. Make Shift WC toilets outside each house,another with 17 capacity was good concrete 1+1 structure with 4-5 rooms on 1st floor. Grassroutes ensured greater sense of housekeeping. Food as well was managed in 3 groups, 3 separate houses, 10 in each house.
And since this moment the actual journey begins...!!!!
Food was awesome, We were very eager to know if non-veg will be available & we did try to manage.we were accommodated in 3 houses so sabji was different everywhere but basic menu was same.
but fortunately we let that plan go because food is awesome, Organic very basic & delicious.
Day 1 Lunch We were served Chapati, Mataki Bhaji, Daal, Rice Very tasty, light spicy but flavorful.
Then we were offered black Tea & bhel. I never have black tea but this was so refreshing.
We were asked to rest And then dinner was ready around 8 pm. Best Food i ever had in any of my such adventures.
PuranPoli, Gulavani(Jaggery Water), Katachi Aamti(Usal), Rice, Kurdai(Crispy fry Noodles made of wheat), Papad.
Day 2 Breakfast was Super soft Poha with crispy peanuts, Black Tea & we were not over with PuranPoli yet.
So we asked if there is any left. The house lady being so sweet she pulled out her entire bunch of poli's from last night & just kept in front of us to eat.
We finished that off. It was so delicious even next day.
We requested if we can get Pithla Bhakari & Thecha for lunch & no-one in this village says no.
Awesome Pithla very basic again no fancy masala or too much of onions. 2 types of Thecha Spicy & lightly Spicy with peanuts.
Lady being sweet again offered us Mango's for dessert from her own farm. May be she has seen our love for Mango's.
Again we had to struggle to stand up after food. But one has to have open mind to enjoy this Food.
Water, we did ordered & paid in advance for 2 ltr of water bottles each; however we ended up drinking normal water there no major taste difference & it was light.
There were several treks or walks, guide will take you to; which are through plateau, farms, cliffs, slopes, then you see the similar view to Garadia Mahadev Kota, Panoramic view of the River in necklace kind of u shape encircled to nearest hill.
Guide carries Mangoes, First aid box with them; Mangoes so that you eat them at right place at river bank. Talking of Mango's, They were in abundance.
Guide gives you as many as 1 dozen per person & they were better than alphanso's
post this trek we did rest for night trek.
And the best part of the trip, Fireflies, not only in millions; they were in trillions.
Every Tree of Wanjulshet was lighten up. If you are seating at Temple you see them, Seating at home you see them.
They fly around you shining, they are on your cloths, shoes; in Umbrella. Few flew back to our home-stay past midnight.
When you look at one tree, another tree is lit up, then another then another. Pattern changes.
It's like you can actually seat down on grass & watch then whole night.
Marvelous, Fantastic, Awesome these words can not express what we saw what we felt.
Each tree was xmas tree, seemed like there was some artificial lighting done. we were roaming around for 2 hours. Guide was with us throughout. We couldn't capture much but i found something on internet which correctly depicts what we experienced that day.
People in Village or guide who were with us Datta, Santosh. Great People..!
Very knowledgeable about fireflies, they knew their spots. They took us for evening walks, River Swim, Mango Hunting.
And they were very polite. Even kids are so sweet that couple of us was picking up freshly dropped mangoes from tree, these 2 sweet girls came asking us not to pick up as they were Raw & spoiled. They ran inside their home & got 6-7 big ripped sweet Mangoes for us. without expecting anything back.
Same kids in the evening when got to know we are their for fireflies, cought a few in their hand & ran to our home-stays to show us.
They made our day. Good we packed a few snacks & sweets for kids at the village.
Top of all this, there was a wedding in the village, Me & My wife we had a brief chat with groom & bride; they were waiting for their barat.
which eventually started late night, they were dancing till late as we were returning from night trek; villagers invited us to dance with them.
Couple of us danced till they dropped until midnight & thoroughly enjoyed.
In Morning, Guide Datta came to wake us up for a Morning walk. also took us to Mango hunting. Pluck fresh from Tree, Jamun's too.
We had a bag full of Mangoes to take back home for each one of us.
And then the souvenir from Villagers to remember each moment we spent there a clay Ox & Potli of Fresh Harvest Peanuts.
With such Warm Memories & Once in lifetime experience we left the Village post heavy lunch at 3 pm, Road through Ghoti. Halted for a breakdown; still managed to reach home within stipulated time frame of 9 pm.
Thanks to Grassroutes for such lovely arrangements & noble cause. But a bigger thanks to Villagers, our guides like dutta santosh who has bigger hearts to show us we can never write, tell or express.
Thanks & Regards
SpokenSunny
