[Kar_Om]

I always had an itch to do long monsoon road trip to Kokan for many years, but it was always turned down by my parents owing to NH66 road condition and heavy rains in Kokan region. But this year things fell into place. I had some casual leaves which were going to lapse at end of month and rain also had toned down from August onwards in Kokan side. To take advantages of these things, we planned a road trip to Ratnagiri will also is my native place, with slight detour to Guhagar. We had never driven to Ratnagiri in rainy season in our car, so it was first time experience for us. Trip included myself, my parents and my 2016 Honda Jazz CVT. So here begins the journey!

Day 1: (20th August 2024-Tuesday)

Started around 6 in the morning from Mumbai. Since it was a weekday, didn’t face any traffic while exiting Mumbai. We opted to take Mumbai -Pune expressway and use Pali- Khopoli- Nizampur-Mangaon route to join NH66 to avoid road condition till Nagothane. Around 8 AM, we halted at “Pandit’s Hotel Landmark” on Pali-Khopoli route just after Village Parali for breakfast. I am putting here location link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/hTFek6cyugdyXPpP6 in case anyone wants to try this place. After having Batata Wada for breakfast, we continued our journey further and took diversion for Nizampur at Pali. The road condition from Pali-Nizampur-Mangaon road is excellent with no potholes, but it is bit longer route and consist of narrow road and frequent curves. Except some portion at Lonere, road condition from Mangaon till Chiplun is butter smooth and one can actually cover some lost time on this stretch. After Parshuram ghat, near Pethe village, took diversion route to Guhagar road. Road condition on this Chiplun-Guhagar (NH 166E) is also very good and cement work on major part is complete and tarmac portion is holding up nicely in rainy season also. Overall, we completed Mumbai- Guhagar journey in around 7 hours and reached there around 1 PM. We stayed at a relative’s place.

At petrol pump after Lonere on NH66:


Day 2: (21st August 2024-Wednesday)

Today’s plan was to reach Ratnagiri via Ganpatipule. So started around 9.15 AM from my relative’s home to catch Jaigad jetty from Tawsal at distance of 40Kms. We took Guhagar- Panshet- Velneshwar route to reach Tawsal. This road is also narrow and consist of frequent curves. The jetty was scheduled for 10.45 AM and it was almost empty owing to non-seasonal time. Mine was the only 4-wheeler on the jetty. After completing 10 mins of jetty journey, we reached Jaigad side and our next stop was “Jai Varad Vinayak Ganesh Mandir” which is on the route to Ganpatipule. I am putting here location link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/NeDFFwnKBERDmkbNA .This temple is constructed any maintained by JSW. I will let pictures do the talking. After spending half an hour here, we proceeded towards Ganpatipule temple. The road from Jaigad to Ganpatipule is also scenic and on couple of occasions, it just goes besides seashore. There was no rush in the temple and we could complete the darshan peacefully. We had “Khichadi Prasad” as lunch in temple itself which was delicious in taste. Next, we proceeded to Ratnagiri city using famous Aare Ware Road. Mind you for the first two days of trip, it was all sunny and hot and not single rain cloud was seen during whole journey. So, we were hoping we could get some rain cloud covering while on Aare Ware road and spend some time on those famous road curves. Luck on our side, as were about to reach one of the road curves, the sky got overcast and we quickly got down from car to enjoy the view and click some pictures. This route would have offered mesmerizing experience if it had been raining a little, but none the less we got to enjoy the views. From there, we shortly reached our native place home in Ratnagiri which is currently undergoing some renovation work. After reviewing the progress of work, we shifted to one of my uncle’s home in Ratnagiri city which is at a distance of 10Km’s from my native place home to stay for next couple of days.

Waiting to board jetty at Tawsal:




At Jai Varad Vinayak Ganesh Mandir:




















At Ganpatipule Temple:


Aare Ware Road:







Day 3: (22nd August 2024- Thursday)

Today’s plan was to visit “Swami Swaroopananda Mandir” at Pawas and nearby places. So we started around 11 in the morning from my uncle’s place and took road to Pawas. Weather was cloudy but it was not raining. While driving on this route, at some sections it feels like you driving on a platue. Road condition is excellent. We reached temple at around 12 and got opportunity to attend aarti at the temple. After aarti, we had “Khichadi Prasad” as lunch in temple itself which was again delicious in taste. Next we visited two more temples near by Pawas, first was “Mahakali Mandir” in Adivare and second was “Kanakaditya Mandir” in Kasheli.

Location Links:
Mahakali Mandir: https://maps.app.goo.gl/h65FQ6ArPcMCgtm69
Kanakaditya Mandir: https://maps.app.goo.gl/N2cDLrZdFxEWWj7M7

From Kanakaditya mandir, we proceeded to last place for the day, Kasheli beach table point. Distance between the mandir and the beach point is hardly 2 Kms but the road is very narrow and typical village road which can accommodate one vehicle at a time. We parked our vehicle at some distance and walked towards approach of table point. We descended almost 30 steps to reach the viewpoint. At some places while using the steps, we needed to be extra careful because of lack of side railing for support. We were the only 3 people at the viewpoint (Perks of travelling in non-peak season!). View from this point is one of the best I have seen. I felt like I am on top of a ship sailing into the sea. We spent almost half an hour there clicking pictures, soaking sea breeze and amazing view.

At Kanakaditya Mandir:


At Kasheli Viewpoint:











Day 3: (23rd August 2024- Friday)

We spent this day visiting some temples in Ratnagiri city and visited couple of relatives who stay nearby. Did shopping of local specialties from the market area.

Day 4: (24th August 2024- Saturday)

We decided to visit local attractions from Ratnagiri city like Thiba Palace and Thiba point before lunch. Thiba palace is currently undergoing renovation in the campus. We took tour of the palace from inside, but could not take any pictures inside as per the rule. This palace has museum inside which shows information about King Thibaw from Burma. From there we reached to Thiba point hardly at a distance of 1Km from palace. This place is renovated now with three floor structure and has statue of King Sambhaji at the top. From this, we can get beautiful view of Kajali river and Bhatye bridge.
In the evening, we decided to visit Ratnadurga fort which also has Bhagwati Devi temple at the top. As we were approaching the fort location, it got very dark and it started raining like hell. We sat in the car for almost 10 mins and at one point discussed if we should return back, but then suddenly rain intensity went down. We took this opportunity to quickly get down from car and climbed 10-15 steps to reach top of fort. We took blessings at Bhagwati temple and spend next 10-15 mins walking along the fort border to enjoy the views since the fort is open till 6 in evening only. As we got into the car, again the rain picked up intensity and hence we missed opportunity to visit sunset point which is there near the base of fort.

At Thiba Palace:


At Thiba Point:






At Ratnadurga Fort:


View from Fort:


Day 5: (25th August 2024- Sunday)

Day of return journey! We started at around 7AM and joined NH66 at Hathkhamba junction. Road till Sangameshwar is fine with some patches of tarmac with potholes in between cement sections. We stopped at Hotel Drive Inn after Sangameshwar for breakfast. Road from Sangameshwar to Chiplun is ready and I could actually cover up time between Sangameshwar to Mahad. At Mahad, it was already raining incessantly and the visibility went down. I reduced speed to 30-40 Kmph, put wipers on highest speed and took middle lane to follow a Brezza. Luckily traffic was very less on the road due to non-peak season. As we approached near Veer Railway station, the rain stopped and we breathed sigh of relief! We took Mangaon- Indapur-Kolad- Wakan- Pali- Khopoli route and except the cement sections, the tarmac roads are filled with potholes here. We stopped again at Landmark hotel for quick lunch and took Mumbai- Pune Expressway to reach Mumbai at around 5PM. Faced mile traffic at usual locations though it was Sunday. Total trip was of 943 Kms over 5 days.