Pune to Guhagar, Konkan crusade

It's my second consecutive weekend trip to the konkan ghats. This one comes after 7 months, the last one which I did in Apr-Jun time period, in the scorching summer heat! This one comes at a more human time of year, first week of December. Just when the mercury dropped below 10 deg C in pune. Ofcourse, there is no real 'winter' season in the konkan coastal region.

I drove from Pune to Guhagar and back. Distance via Koyna route is 290Kms. Return journey was 275Kms, via a different route.

Onward Journey

We started at 1pm from Pune, reaching Guhagar at 7:30pm; About 6.5hrs journey for a distance of 290Kms.
Route - We left Pune thru Dhairi (karve road - kothrud - Hingne) onto the bombay bangalore bypass, took the new road via katraj ghat. I must say the new road is a welcome relief, a nice 2 lane 2 way, almost like the bombay pune express highway except one less lane and except the two wheelers restrictions; But the road is still a pleasure to ride. We continued past Satara reaching till Umbraj. Umbraj is 10kms before Karad. Reaching Umbraj, we should take the exit from the highway and enter Umbraj town and take a right turn from under the highway. It took a little over 2hrs on the Pune Umbraj before getting on the koyna road. The road is pretty nice and straightforward, via Patan and Koyna. The road takes you directly into Chiplun. Continue on the road through Chiplun, crossing the bombay goa highway. It took us about 2hrs to enter Chiplun.

The road passing through Chiplun is a bit odd, one gets a feeling that its the wrong road. But the narrowness of the one lane road shouldn't worry. It is just one or two kms of drive through those god forsaken lanes of Chiplun until you are out of the town and on your way on the last leg. It took us about 45 minutes to pass through Chiplun.

The last leg, Chiplun to Guhagar is about 45-50kms. It took something over an hour to reach Guhagar. Nice road again.

We stayed at a small Lodge by name Rajwada, nothing great. Ordinary rooms, but the toilets were clean... ;) The dinner was just about ok. Much below the expectations. The breakfast the next day was much better.

On our way back, we left Guhagar at about 12:30pm. There is a bypass on the left, 4kms before Chiplun. It takes us onto the bombay goa highway, thus bypassing the dead drive through Chiplun. 4 kms ahead, we took off the highway to visit the Parshuram temple. on proceeding on the highway towards bby, we halted at a small road side dhaba style hotels 10-15kms before Poladpur.

We resumed our drive from the dhaba towards Poladpur. A right turn in Poladpur will take us on the road to Mahabaleshwar. 65 kms.

Original publish date: 12-Sep-2007 12:42pm