Varandha Ghat

Right from the time I started hiking, I had heard about a picturesque place called Varandha ghat. It was supposed to be a tough road to drive on but extremely beautiful

On this route was also located Shivtharghal which is the place where Samarth Ramdas did penance and wrote the Dasbodh

I have been trying to check with friends on their availability, but it was simply not happening

Finally the time came and one friend agreed. But he couldnt drive and it was a good idea to have a spare driver for a road as tough as that.

It was planned as a saturday - sunday trip and I had late night dialysis on fridays, hence it was possible that i would be tired on saturday morning, so it was even more important that we had a spare driver

Shyam and Rama both consented to join and Shyam was the spare driver though he is not as experienced as me on highways

So we set out in the morning, Durgesh and myself started from Tardeo and were to pick up the others at Chembur. We were early and the early morning hunger pangs were killing us. We picked up piping hot samosas at Gurukripa Sion.

At Chembur Shyam and Rama joined and we set out on our road trip

Since the Samosas were good enough to keep us alive for a while we took our first halt just at the Bhor turning. We need to be careful here as the right turning is under a bridge just after the road to the left goes to Narayangaon.

After a sumptuous snack of misal and a soft drink, we started again. The scenery started unravelling. We first reached small rivulets and villagers filling water in the river. Then the dam was visible. First we touched the nira devghar dam and the road curved very beautifully around this waterbody

The valley looked pristine and mesmerising. This stretch was long and almost unending but it was truly beautiful and very nice to watch. We would have taken at least 5-6 halts along this route just to enjoy the scenery and click snaps

The winding route then led us to the view spot of Varandha Ghat. It was truly a divine experience

We stopped for some tea here and then made our way to Shivtharghal. This place is nested in the valley with mountains on 3 sides and is again extremely beautiful.

Due to my PTH problem I have terrible knee pain and it required climbing a staircase to be able to visit the shrine. I decided against it as I needed to drive for the next day as well

There was no mobile signal in these regions and yet we never felt disconnected or handicapped. A great feeling to have - one ness with nature

The first day of our road trip was really memorable and on the way to the hotel in mahad we were looking forward to the next day on the road