Day - 2: Monsoon Cycling around Sahyadri [Tillari to Amboli]

14.08.2016 – 2^nd Day

Day - 1 Camping Spot

Inside the tent we were getting little light; the time was to wake up.  I was completely in deep sleep, in between I woke up few times.  Previous night we all decided to leave at the early, since day one journey lagging around 10Kms as per planned.  The drizzling was on its job, finished our morning core work and spent good time of photography.  It was perfect spot for landscape photographers.  Packed our tents and loaded on bikes continued our journey around 7.30 am.

We were hungry because of last night empty stomach, decided to attack first shop of any village. Peddled around 30 minutes, we did not find any village.  At one point, we got deviation, thought to wait for some time to get assistance with localities, luckily we got motorbike guy.  After inquiring the person, understood that, till Tillari Nagar there is not a single hotel.  The distance was around 18KMs steep ascend.  Asked about the another road which was leading towards right, he told that it, it leads a small village where we can find some biscuits.  Decided to test our destiny, headed towards the small village [not remember the name].

A bunch of kids rushed towards our bikes with curiosity, and also a young guy reached us.  We just asked about getting any chance of breakfast. Happily invited us to his home and gave the option to choose Upama or Phova. 

Breakfast @ this lovely home

All of us asked the Phova, during waiting period we had some biscuits.  There was playing super hit Hindi movie songs in TV.  The hot yummy Phova served with love and affection, followed with strong Tea.  We thanked God and the sweet soul of the house, continued our journey.

Again we hit the dense forest, the trail was scary with no any soul, soon we reached to Tillari Dam.  The gate was closed, no-one was there to guide us.  Rafi checked in GPS and confirmed about the place, parked our bikes inside the compound and headed towards the Tillari Falls.

Walking towards Tillari Falls

A small 500 meters walk in the forest, took us the beautiful waterfalls.  Very painful view was, the entire place was littered with broken wine bottles and plastics. Spent little time and back to our bikes.
  

Tilari Falls

By the time security guard reached to the chowki.  Requested him to allow till view point of the Dam, however he was refused to permit without prior approvals from the higher authority.  Our next destination was Swapnavel view point.  On the way we explored one more beautiful waterfalls.

Continued our journey towards the beautiful valley of Swapnavel.  This is my favorite spot of last year road trip, unfortunately we had very less time to enjoy.  Repeatedly I and Shanthi Prasad insisting the team to move fast to this valley and let us spend a good time there.

Swanavel View Point

Reached the Swapnavel view point around 12 Noon.  The crowd was less compared to last year. Valley was filled with beautiful countless waterfalls. 

Spend good time, relaxed sometimes and headed towards Tillari Village.  Most beautiful place refreshed my last year memories.

Certainly its make lot of difference to visit the place on bike & four wheeler.  This time we took different trail to reach the Tillari.  The road was very scenic, we passed through the narrow bridge.  

Reached the village around 3pm, had hot yummy lunch in Aasara Hotel.

Lunch Time

One good thing of biking is, people will ask more and more questions; wants to know our journey, our bikes, greet the children etc.  Tillari was not so different, continued our journey to visit near by waterfall.  Rafi alone went down to see the beauty of waterfalls, rest enjoyed the scenic view from the top.

Waterfalls near Tillar Village

Our next destination is to reach the Amboli for night camping.  The time was already 4.00 pm; we have to travel around 65KMs.  Rafi asked all of us to speed up the pace, continued our journey. 

On the way to Amboli

The trail was mix up of ascend and rolling down terrain.  Taking multiple small breaks for photography, reached Chandgad town [Taluk place].  Arun wanted to replace the tyre to avoid any bad incident, we could able to find a local cycle guy who had the compatible tyre.  Shanthi Prasad & Deepak purchased the grocery for dinner since we were not sure where going to camp for the night.

In between Photography break

Now the time was around 6 pm, the Amboli was still far around 40KMs.  We hit again the Belagavi – Sawantwadi highway. It’s become dark now, continued journey in the night.  Took a small break to fuel the hot tea & fill the empty bottle.  Feel very happy when people offer for tea / snacks.

The time was 8pm, Amboli was around 21KMs away. Rafi asked all of us to push hard to reach the Amboli soon.  We entered in the Ghat section, the rain was pouring heavily; all were in straight line on the road; become the traffic police and giving instruction “keep left, vehicle is coming”!!!; enjoying the night ride reached a small Temple Nagaratwadi in Amboli Ghat region.  Most of us were tiered and wanted to relax ourselves; Deepak & Rafi went to explore the temple surrounding area.  They come up with two strange questions; 1) How many of you not Insured yourself and still want camp in this place? 2) Not sure how so strong the platform which can tolerate all of us for this night?!!!

Nagaratwadi Waterfalls in Amboli Ghat

Beside the temple huge gorging waterfalls with deep depth; if you down few steps there is a platform across the falls which built to enjoy the scenic view of the falls. No soul around the temple, except the roaring of falls.  We all decided to stop our day-2 ride and pitch the tents.  The rain was on its continue job, the place was little congested, and the whole platform was completely wet.  We not bothered about all these facts, brought down our bikes to settle for night.

Day - 2 Camping Spot

Soon we pitched our tents, changed our wet cloths and settled inside comfortably.  I was not in the mood to have the dinner, two banana survived me the whole night.  Except me and Sreeharsha, all went up the Temple, prepared the Maggie and finished the dinner.  The night was very tough to all of us; rain was non-stop; the platform filled with water.  Our entire tent surface got wet, could not able to sleep properly.

The day was again most memorable and challenging to all of us.  Night riding in heavy rain was the challenging.

Click here for Day-3 Journey