25,000 km on my 2023 Thar; Pune-Goa road trip experience

Instead of the direct drive to Pune and back, I decided to use a roundabout route and drive across to different parts of Maharashtra and Karnataka in either direction.

BHPian Dr.AD recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Goa-Panchgani-Pune-Bhigwan-Hampi Drive, and 25,000km Up!

It has been a while since I updated this thread. Since the last update, I did a few drives. One of those worth mentioning here was a drive to Old Magazine House with my good friend @robimahanta, which I have covered in a separate travelogue here: Bird Photography at Old Magazine House.

However, one drive that probably deserves a detailed report is my recent drive to Pune, via Goa and Panchgani on the way to Pune, and return via Bhigwan and Hampi. On the first day of this drive, Dusty reached 25,000km on the odometer!

Basically I had to spend a week in my Pune office, and I decided to use the weekends on both sides of that week for my wandering around. Thus, instead of the direct drive to Pune and back (which is both painful due to the ongoing road work on NH48 and also very boring now to me because I have driven this road countless number of times), I decided to use a roundabout route and drive across to different parts of Maharashtra and Karnataka in either directions. Lot of this was impromptu and not planned in advance. The idea was to just drive around via long detour and enjoy different landscapes on either sides of a busy work-week in my Pune office.

Even this alternate detour is my regular road now and I am familiar with every turn and corner in this route, but still this was more fun than the "regular" NH48 route for sure!

The rough route was this (in reality, this ended up becoming a 2131km drive with local deviations thrown in):

At Tilari Nagar Ghat Viewpoint on the way to Goa (I took Bangalore-Belgavi-Tilari Nagar-Pernem-Mandream route to Goa):

Dusty in the dry winter grasslands of Maharashtra:

The winter landscapes in Maharashtra (the same place was lush green and totally different in our monsoon drive in July through this route; I love to see the same locations in different seasons and experience the magic of totally different scenes at the same location)

The scenic ghat roads with dry grass all around:

Soon after I entered Goa, Google Maps played one of its infamous tricks. It offered me a crazy "shortcut" via a forest. Often it can be a bad idea to take these shortcuts. In fact, recently there was news of one family in a Baleno getting stuck for a whole night on one of those jungle shortcuts on the way to Goa. Very dangerous for sure! However, since in my case it was broad daylight, I know this territory very well, I could speak local language and ask the locals, and above all, I was driving a Thar 4x4. Therefore, this time, I decided to try one of these forest shortcuts, just for fun.

Google Maps shortcut via a forest:

Scenic path in the front:

I even had to drive across this bund, with river flowing on one side and a calm, serene lake on the other side:

View of the serene lake from the driver side window:

It was very peaceful and quiet. There was nobody there and I could take my time to enjoy the views and the peaceful ambiance.

But once I crossed this, I was actually not sure if there was indeed a path forward, and was prepared to take a U-turn and go back to the main road. However, a couple of local bikers passed by, and I asked them in local language if there is indeed a road. They replied that for a 4x4 vehicle, it was possible to drive on, and with their guidance, I decided to drive on.

Further ahead, it was a 4H territory now:

Plenty of mud patches too that I had to cross:

Thankfully, this off-road forest trail was easy enough for Dusty and soon I was back on a lovely tar road - the typical scenic Goan roads!

By the way, soon after I was driving on the scenic Goan roads, Dusty hit this milestone on the odometer:

I checked into a beach resort in North Goa, and chilled on the beach for the remaining of the day. I had a nice dinner on the beach, with sea breeze flowing across and with light music coming from the beach shacks! It is always a lovely experience to have dinner in the Goan beach shacks!

Quintessential beach scenes from Goa:

I also drove around a bit in Goa, to some of my favorite roads and locations.

Dusty in Goa:

After Goa, I continued driving towards Maharashtra, but preferred the narrow coastal roads rather than the bigger highways. Driving on the coastal roads, I entered Maharashtra and decided to explore the beaches near Vengurla, a lovely beach town in southern Konkan. I searched for tiny sea roads in Google Maps and stared checking those out.

Driving on narrow and tiny sea roads:

After a couple of failed attempts to find a nice seaside location, I finally found a lovely spot south of Vengurla.

Dusty on a beach in MH:

Evening in Panchgani:

From Vengurla, I drove up the famous Anuskura Ghat (again, we had driven there in the peak monsoon earlier this year), had a tasty lunch on the way at a small roadside local restaurant, and then hit the main NH48 at Karad. And from there to Satara and then I drove up to Panchgani, where I spent the night before driving on to Pune early morning next day.

Dusty in Panchgani, enjoying sunset views:

Sunset views:

Sunset from the balcony of my hotel room:

Next morning, I started very early as usual, and had a lovely drive enjoying the winter morning and sunrise views. I love driving in winter mornings, with the chill, the fog, and the sunrise showing its magic. This was one such winter morning drive that I enjoyed a lot.

Quintessential winter mornings that I love:

Early morning drive down Panchgani ghat:

Sunrise over the valley:

And then, in that cold winter morning, just after sunrise, this piping hot local breakfast at a roadside restaurant, under the morning rays, was heavenly!

Once in Pune, I spent the week in the business meetings and working from Pune office, and then drove back to Bangalore the following weekend. That return drive in covered in the next post below.

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