Hi Guys,
here I am
again with another ride report, and today I rode to Lonavala in search of road
to Rajmachi Fort, since I have never been there before.
It’s been
raining cats and dogs since last 48 hours in Pune, and it looks like monsoons
have finally hit our parched land with gusto, it came late but I hope it
continues with same force for rest of the season.
Coming back to
the ride, it was another Sunday, and it was pouring this time, I could not
resist the temptation to take out Activa on a long ride and get soaked to skin
and remove the last traces of summer
heat from my body.
The destination I chose for this Sunday was Rajmachi Fort, and since I
had never been their earlier the road or trail to it was not known to me…though
I had an idea that it started from Lonavala, and the fort was approximately
12kms away from Lonavala town.
Activa and I
started from home as usual around noon, and it was pouring. I was wearing only
shorts and tees (without any rain gear) with my trusted Vegas helmet covering
my head and face, it was good protection from the rain as I could see the huge
drops splatter on the visor without hurting my eyes.
Heavy rains
continued till I reached outskirts of Lonavala town…where as usual I found a big
jam, but the using the benefit of being on two wheeler I went ahead on the
right lane, as there was very less oncoming traffic, and when I crossed the
turn going towards Narayni Dham I took the lane going right. I confirmed the
directions from a tea shop owner and luckily I was on the right track. I asked
him if I could reach the fort on Activa and he answered in affirmative, which
really made me happy.
But my
happiness was short lived because after Upper Deck resort the road turnd very
bad and it was only stones covering the road surface. Activa crossed a couple
of slippery spots easily but then I
reached a steep slope going down and the surface was covered with much bigger
stones and the mud between them washed
away by the torrential rains.
I found a
small group standing there trying to figure out if the way down could be
attempted on their rides, they seemed sure about the bikes but not about the
lone Activa in the group.
I decided to
attempt it and reached the base of the the slope without any mishap, then I
turned the scooter around and looked at the slope now going upward and it
looked quite steep strewn with those large slippery stones, but something told
me Activa would be able to climb easily…I was actually enjoying this off=roading
since I was using Activa in such a situation for the first time. I slowly
twisted the throttle a bit and let
Activa’s torquey engine clamber up slowly, the wheels slipped on the wet
stones a bit, but the engine pulled us without missing a breath, and we were
soon on the top.
Even though I
was sure about Activa’s capabilities, I was not sure about the way ahead, if
road surface became much worse, and it started to rain heavily it would have
become really difficult coming up that way on slippery stones or getting stuck
in mud which was very very slippery in places. So I decided to play safe and
went back to the parking near Upper Deck Resort and parked Activa there, along
with the vehicles of the small group.
It was already
2pm and the dense cloud cover and heavy rains gave the effect of late evening
light. Now that reaching Rajmachi fort and coming back was out of question I decided
to trek for two hours and then turn back.
After going a
bit ahead, the small group of youngsters developed cold feet, decided not to
trek and returned back to their vehicles.
I went ahead on the lonely road with
only the dense greenery; mist and rain keeping me company as the trail twisted
slowly down but soon bottomed out and I went ahead on the road along the side
of a valley.
As I went ahead I found the road to get much wider and the road
surface though paved with stones could easily be attempted on bikes or in cars.
Weather was
awesome, and I was enjoying the loneliness but soon I came across some trekkers returning from the Rajmachi fort, and they had
been on the road for more than three and half hours. I went ahead and soon came
across lovely vistas, green valley, waterfalls and mist covered mountain tops.
Tourists in buses, cars and of course the biker communities had found a way
here ( there is another road to Rajmachi which starts somewhere in Khandala and
joins the road I was on, and that road was much easier for cars and bikes
alike.
Many four
wheel drive Mahindra Thars, Maruti Gypsies along with the numerous bikers,
particularly Bullet riders, were using this road as an off road track and enjoying there Sunday afternoon.
I went deeper
on the road towards Rajmachi, away from the crowds, enjoying the scenery …this
was one of the most beautiful hikes I have done till now.
Whenever rains
stopped, and I got an opportunity, I clicked pics…which have not come out very
well due to poor light and water droplets on the lens and lens fogging…I can
still see some tiny water droplets inside my mobile camera lens. But thankfully I had my Fuji point and shoot camera, which I used quite a bit to click pics and record videos.
Taking the camera out from its bag and then keeping it back again to save it from the sudden rain showers was a big hassle, and it would have been a nightmare if even a small amount of water managed to get inside the lens or camera body. Thankfully camera is safe but my mobliephone touch screen has stopped responding...i guess it still has some moisture inside.
After couple
of hours of enjoying the five km hike in the rain, and spending some time near a nice
secluded waterfall, I started the return journey. I reached the parking lot by
five thirty and back home in another two hours.
So this was
another Sunday well spent in exploring a new place and enjoying the soaking wet
ride on my favourite ride - Honda Activa.
...Alok
