This was one of the most awaited trips of this season. Not only were we scheduling to wrap multiple destinations but also discover a virgin terrain which was not spoken of much. The plan scheduled was like this Pune-->Dehu-->Bhandara Hill-->KundMala-->Bedse Caves-->Pawana Dam-->Pune (via Paud).
We started early and as always there had to be a 30min holdup when we were waiting for Sharma ji and having hot tea. The first pit stop we took was in Dehu, Birthplace of Sant Tukaram. Had a brief photo session on a bridge where the famous Sant Tukaram temple was in the background. The weather was motivating enough and was not letting us take a long break. Packed up soon and started for Bhandara Hill. It wasn’t far from Dehu and the steep climb reminded me of Lavasa where although the roads are way to smooth than these but had similar incline and loops.
Bhandara Hill has a temple on top where Sant Tukaram used to meditate. It was a very peaceful and relaxing place away from all the usual hustle of the city life. We then had a Wada pav break on the foot of Bhandara hill. After several plates of Wada pavs and awesome tea and started our expedition towards Kundmala.
Kundmala is around 10 kms from Dehu.There wasn’t much information available on internet about Kundmala and we had planned to make it our own discovery. We had to take directions several times from different local people and then finally we came to know that we have to reach the Cadbury India Induri factory in Talegoan and then move all along the factory’s compound wall. It was a well isolated, concealed and unheard of heaven when we reached Kundmala at last.
The water falls reminded me of famous bedaghat where Asoka movie was shot. There was no one else on the spot apart from some local women washing clothes in the waterfall and some local men fishing.
We spent a good 2 hours in that paradise and every second spent there made us desire to spend some time more. But as we had planned to visit more places on this trip, reluctantly we had to move on .Took a road adjoining to the river and in no time we were on the Mumbai Pune highway right across the famous Shankarwadi temple. I promised myself that I will be coming back here again sometime this season to spend a full day here (I am now consistently making this pledge every time )
Now we headed towards Bedse caves. The last 1 km had non existent roads only made of gravel and large stones placed by the local villagers. Swap and Pathak had a tuff time maneuvering the bike on those mud and gravel roads but finally we were on the tip of the Bedse Caves. It had 450 steps and there was nothing on top which was worth climbing all these steps. We again regretted our judgment of not spending some more time at Kund Mala. We were accompanied all along the steps by a group of 4 local kids. I was amazed by witnessing the amount of zeal and energy they carried with us. Not only were they climbing with ease but also entertaining us by giving us all the gyan about the caves.
It started drizzling on our return for which they provided us with a desi umbrella made up of a big Banana type leaf.
We had a split opinions after this.Pathak wanted to head to home, Swap was eager to go home via Pawana Dam while Sharma ji (like a stud always) wanted to go for Lonavala, I on the other hand was neutral to all these ideas except Lonavala (I personally dislike the place because of the meddling crowd and rush there) so we finally decided to take Swap’s proposal as Pawana was hardly 2 kms from there.
It was a short pit stop at Pawana and we then took the Paud road which was serene and also the rain had made it more lush and green. It was only a 30 ft wide road and we had to wait and honk several times to overtake every single vehicle but still it was fun to ride.
-1.jpg)
We took some more stops to click photos and give our bikes some rest and then reached the Pirangut Ghat Road. Having accustomed myself a lot on this road I was tempted to cover this road in speeds way above 85-90.Soon reached Chandini Chauk and thus another ride filled with adventure and discovery had ended.
