[ghodlur]

Although its a known fact that the Asthavinayak trip should be ideally starting and ending from/at Morgaon we decided to take a new route. Days before the trip I had planned everything to perfection, google maps all in place which later I realized was of no use since I was to have a live Google map coming with me i.e my FIL who seemed to know every route.

Got my Fiesta ready for the trip, filled the tyre pressure as per Ford recommendation 35 in front and 44 in rear since there were 5 persons for the trip and boot filled with luggage

Disclaimers: Inspite of asking wifey to preserve the toll receipts, she disposed them off . I could not keep a track of the kms done in each stretch. Also photos could not be taken of Pali, Ranjangaon and Theur Ganpati temples.
Day 1:Started at 7.30 am and hit off the Mumbai Pune E-way. Took the Khopoli route and reached Mahad at 9.30 am. Did the darshan of the first Ganpati - Varad Vinayaka, very less crowd so easy access to the idol. There was a toll on the way to Mahad just after getting off the E-way. After darshan headed to Pali for next ganpati, took the Khopoli - Pali highway which goes below the E-way just ahead of the Khalapur toll. The road to Pali was horrific in some stretches where I could not go above 30-40 kmph. Reached Pali at 11.30 am, took the darshan of Ballaleshwar Ganapati but this time there was a huge crowd. Took 30 min for darshan. Moved out of Pali at 1230 hrs and reached the E-way using the same route back. Hit the E-way after paying Rs 124 as toll (Since I was coming from Khopoli) and took the diversion after the Talegaon toll to touch the Talegaon-Urse road to reach Chakan. Had lunch in between Talegaon and Chakan – typical Maharashtrian fare of jawar bhakri, pitla, bharit vangi, usal etc. Good Restaurant. Proceeded to Chakan and drove on the Chakan – Manchar-Narayangaon route. The road was smooth, easily touched 80 kmph. From Narayangaon turned towards Ozhar, the roads played truant again. Bad roads till Ozhar could not go more than 40 kmph. Reached Ozhar at 5 pm, took the darshan of Vignaharta Ganpati. Enjoyed the nice view of the pond. From Ozhar started towards Dholvad to visit my wife’s home deity of Renuka Mata Mandir. The interior roads from Ozhar to Dholvad was surprisingly good. Finished the darshan at 6pm and proceeded to Lenyadri. Roads again were bad and took about 45 mins to reach Lenyadri. My FIL had already contacted Hotel Girija for a room with 5 beds and attached bathroom. It had got sufficiently cold in the night. Had dinner at the hotel and crashed in the bed.

[nomadabhi]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Although its a known fact that the Asthavinayak trip should be ideally starting and ending from/at Morgaon we decided to take a new route.

If you go by the Religious sequence of Ashtavinayak route, you will find it to be Pune centric. The thought came in my mind while planning it for my colleague. Seems the original route was discovered by someone from Pune and it was finalized to be the 'religious route'.

Waiting for further pics and updates

[ghodlur]

Day2: Had to wake up very early in the morning since the hot water availability was an issue. Drove from the Hotel till the foot steps of the Lenyadri temple and parked the vehicle. Started the climb of 200+ steps to the temple and took the darshan of Girijamtja Ganpati and enjoyed the view of sunrise from atop the hill. The monkey menace is something which needs urgent attention from authorities, even the senior citizens were attacked by the simians. Had breakfast at the temple footsteps and started from Lenyadri to Ranjangaon Ganpati. Took the Narayangaon-Manchar-Chakan-Nagar Road-Shikrapur-Ranjangaon route and reached Ranjangaon at 11am. The roads were superb esp the Shikrapur to Ranjangaon, felt like I was on Pune E-way. Took the darshan of the Ranjangaon Mahaganapati and started towards Pune at 1200 hrs. Just before Kesnand phata there is a road going to Theur, took the road but found the road to be still in construction phase particulary a stretch of 1.5 kms which took me approx 30 min to cover since the road was full of freshly laid stones. Reached Theur at 1pm and took the darshan of Chintamani Ganapati and started to Pune by 1.45pm. Touched the Pune Sholapur Highway and had lunch at one of the IRCTC franchisee hotels. Continued to Sinhagad Road via Hadapsar, Race Course Road, Swargate. Reached home by 4.30 pm.

[ghodlur]

Day 3: Started from Sinhagad road at 8am and hit the Pune Solapur highway. We were supposed to take the turn at Patas phata but somehow missed it and instead took the Kurkumbh phata to reach Daund. We did not enter the Daund town but from bypass outside took the Siddhatek route. The road from the Kurkumbh phata till the Daund town outskirsts was good but once we entered the Siddhatek route it was horrible. Reached Siddhatek at 11 am - a distance of 100 kms from BIL's place. Took the darshan of Siddhivinayaka temple and started towards Morgaon. This time we entered the Daund town and roads till Daund was bad. From Daund we reached Patas, this time road was good. From Patas we touched the Pune Solapur highway and reached Chauphale-road was simply good. From Chauphale it was a good 25 kms to Morgaon via Supa and roads were fantastic. Reached Morgaon at 1 pm and took the darshan of Moreshwar Ganpati after being in the queue for about 30 mins. There was a heavy rush of people since there was a free lunch organized by the temple trust that particular day only. Started at 2 pm from Morgaon towards Pune via Saswad. Had lunch in between and just before Saswad took a turn to Narayanpur for going to Ketkawle to visit the Balaji Temple. The roads to Narayanpur was good, however encountered a lot of traffic due to some jatra there. The road was choc a bloc with the vehicles and even the traffic police were finding it very difficult to ease the traffic. Reached Balaji temple at 4pm, darshan was very quick to sparse public. Moved out from the temple and hit the Pune-Bangalore highway to reach Sinhagad Road at 5.30 pm. Heavy traffic on the highway was making the journey bit irritable. Finally reached BIL's place after the trip. Overall it was quite a memorable trip and by the end of it my son was tired of visiting any temple. A mention of a temple would make him twist his face in disagreement.

The total toll amount paid was approx Rs 500 and about Rs 200 was paid for parking charges including development charges(this was new to me, every Ganpati temple premises had this charge). The total kms running was 800 (to a perfect) and I had filled 35 lts of petrol before journey start (costed me Rs 2500) and once on day 3 for about 37 lts (costed me Rs 2600). Even after completing the trip sufficient petrol was left to complete the Pune-Thane journey and its second day in office today from Thane to Powai, I am yet to fill the tank. The DTE still reads 1170 kms. The trip meter now reads 1170 kms which means I was able to get an FE of 15 kmpl. By my calculations its simply good. I hope Lord Ganpati answers my prayers (of petrol prices/toll prices to come down).

Wish every Team BHPian a Happy and a Prosperous new year, may the Lord shower his blessings on one and all.

[gd1418]

Nice travelogue of the Ashtavinayak circuit. Have been wanting to do, but things not working out. Maybe the new year brings better luck.

Wish you had captioned each of the photographs.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Nice capture.

While going from morgaon to ketkawale balaji temple, you can easily go by morgaon-jejuri-saswad-narayanpur-ketkawale balaji~~~~ total @50km max.

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

Nice capture.

While going from morgaon to ketkawale balaji temple, you can easily go by morgaon-jejuri-saswad-narayanpur-ketkawale balaji~~~~ total @50km max.

Thanks Ashish Bhau,

I had taken the same route as you suggested, instead of going to Jejuri I went straight ahead to Saswad. Actually I wanted to see the Ek mukhi Datta mandir in Narayanpur but due to traffic issues opted out of it.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

I had taken the same route as you suggested, instead of going to Jejuri I went straight ahead to Saswad.

From morgaon which route you took to saswad?
is it morgaon-supe-saswad?
if yes, hows road condition between supe and saswad?.
supe is famous for mayureshwar wildlife sanctuary-the chinkara land.

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

From morgaon which route you take to saswad?
is it morgaon-supe saswad?
if yes, hows road condition between supe and saswad.
supe is famous for mayureshwar wildlife sanctuary-the chinkara land.

Coming out of the Morgaon temple if you take left you go back to Supa-Pune Solapur highway. If you take right you go towards Saswad. 20 kms from Morgaon temple there is a diversion to either go to Saswad or Jejuri. I took the Saswad road and I could see the Jejuri temple atop the hill from the road. The road condition till Saswad from Morgaon was good, easily touched 80 speed.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

If you take right you go towards Saswad. 20 kms from Morgaon temple there is a diversion to either go to Saswad or Jejuri. I took the Saswad road and I could see the Jejuri temple atop the hill from the road. The road condition till Saswad from Morgaon was good, easily touched 80 speed.

Its morgaon-jejuri-saswad road.
The turn you took at jejuri town itself.
while going from saswad to kapurhole, you can get good view of purandar and vajragad-twin forts near narayanpur.

[MX6]

ghodlur. You are back! cool.
BTW, nice trip you had there. I'm missing Pune now after seeing some of the things mentioned by Ashishpallod here.

There are some threads about Mumbai, pune, dombivli meets have a look. Did you also check out on Morachi Chincholi?

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

you can get good view of purandar and vajragad-twin forts near narayanpur.

I am planning to have one trip to cover major forts in Maharashtra. Will need your inputs on the same.

Originally Posted by MX6

I'm missing Pune now after seeing some of the things mentioned by Ashishpallod here.

There are some threads about Mumbai, pune, dombivli meets have a look. Did you also check out on Morachi Chincholi?

if you are not in Pune, where are you? Morachi Chincholi - abs dont have any clue what this is?

[MX6]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

I am planning to have one trip to cover major forts in Maharashtra. Will need your inputs on the same.



if you are not in Pune, where are you? Morachi Chincholi - abs dont have any clue what this is?

The city of seven Islands. Aamchi Mumbai.

Morachi Chincholi is near Pune. Close to Ranjangaon. It's on the Shikrapur - chakan road near Malthan. It's a village that's home to over 2500 peacocks.

[ambivalent_98]

Thanks for sharing.
"Ashtavinayaka tujha mahima kasa ! ". I hope there are other photos waiting to be uploaded.Keep them coming.

[selfdrive]

Thanks for sharing your log of the trip. I hope you have more photos to add.
How did your son cope with the travel?

I had planned to do this trip sometime in September, but it has gotten postponed twice already. Fingers crossed, it should be possible sometime this year