Panchgani - Bikes and rains

It's 7.30 PM and I am sipping a hot cup of tea made by mom as I write this. I got back from a ride to Panchgani, drenched completely in rains. 

We left on Saturday morning, at 8 AM from Panvel - 2 hours late from the estimated time. There were seven of us - Sanket, Amit, Swapnil, Sanjay, Sandeep, Pranav and me. And Sanket ran into some trouble with his bike, which had to be fixed. Hence the delay. It was raining heavily when we started, and it was difficult for me to get used to it. The roads were messed up too, with potholes. But as we rode on, it got better. The rain stopped, and as we made our way to Varandha ghat the road and the scenery improved. We took the route from Mahad-Varandha Ghat-Bhor-Wai which was longer but a lot more scenic. 

From Panvel, our first halt was near Mahad. A quick snack later we were off again. We took halts at will on Varandha ghat enroute to Bhor. Many waterfalls can be scene all along this route. By the time we reached Wai via Mandhardevi ghat, it was 3.30 PM. After refueling, we were off to Panchgani via Pasarni  Ghat route, which was even more scenic than the previous one. It was windy though, and I was finding it difficult to ride. We took another halt at this spot near Panchgani called 'Table Top'. The sun was setting as we left the place, and a yellow tinge had spread on the landscape below. The villages looked pretty, the scenery fresh and green from the rains, everything seemed like a 3D miniature model. We left soon, and reached Panchgani market and halted to eat at a place called 'Lucky'. It was a small Irani restaurant, which didn't look like much from the outside. It was recommended by Amit, so we settled down. What followed was an hour long 'eat-all-you-can'fest! Whatever was ordered was multiplied by six. If you are ever in Panchgani, do not miss out on this place. My personal favorite was the chicken cheese roll. And the chai-bun maska combination to top it off. We packed 3 cupcakes for everyone before leaving.

It was dark by the time we left. And everyone was lost! I was on my own, so I decided to refuel and find the others. Swapnil had already reached the hotel. But it was chaotic for others. Finally, after an hour or so, we all reached the hotel. Although we couldn't see much out there, the place seemed nice and big. Only problem was, the wind. We had to put up with haunting sounds throughout the night, but it was not the only thing that we put up with. After the gruelling 7-8 hours ride in the rains, we were hungry again. The food was expensive. But since no one had the strength left to go out and find a restaurant, we ordered a Chicken Handi and few chapatis. The caretaker got us flavored water with chicken pieces. It tasted awful. But we were so hungry, we ate it quietly. The cup cakes came to the rescue. After cursing the caretaker, narrating incidents and whole lot of laughter, we dozed off by 3 AM. 

Next morning, a few of us were up by 6-630 while others took their time. I went out for a walk around the place. It was drizzling. The view from behind the hotel was beautiful. Mountains, clouds, the carefree strokes of blue and green - God must be an artist!

On our way back, we halted at Lucky's again. It was a food fest, again. We left Pancgani by 1 PM. This time we took the highway. Our next halt was Pune. Everyone was running on full throttle here. It wasn't raining and the highway was as smooth as ever! After regrouping in Pune, our next halt was Lonavala, to get chikkis. Here, we encountered traffic - the one that shows blood red on GPS. Escaped it somehow, and we were back on smoother roads. Our final halt was at a junction 30 kms from Panvel. We had our teas, snacks and said our goodbyes before dispersing for home. It took another hour for me from there to reach home. And the watsapp group had starting flooding with memories of this ride and suggestions for the next one! 

I hope the next one happens soon, destination doesn't matter really. The ride does.