Wednesday, September 22, 2010

First memorable ride with Wanderlust

Where I can find true travel freaks ? Roadies who are always ready for outings & ride ? There are riders in Nagpur who are always ready for long rides, such questions always come to my mind. The most difficult part in travelling I feel is to convince your friend for outing /ride. :p When I purchased new travel beast then I was not sure whether I will get true company. But .. If there is WILL there is a WAY. I came to know about Wanderlust. And from last couple of months I was looking for chance to have ride with some proficient riders. I got opportunity to join Wanderlust. Yes, a renowned bullet group in India. If you are looking for true travel freaks then do join this group as I Did.



There is no lengthy procedure to join this group. The one & only one eligibility criteria for joining this group is – Bullet. If you have that then join rides organized by this group and you are part of this group. Same way I joined this group by participating “Ride to Zilpi for Off-roading”.

Off-roading ?? what’s this ?? Riding bike off the tar road. :o I did this often but not intentionally. Haha :D So this was my first experience.

Me & my “Wild Horse” ( The name of my bullet ;-)) were ready for such adventurous ride .

On Sunday, everyone gathered at PITSTOP, Khamla (Shop for bikers gears from Wanderlust member). I am always thrilled with the thump of bullet when I start it. Now you can imagine, how thrilled I was when 10 bullets started. The thump, the sound, the surrounding, everything was so thrilling. I was enjoying each & every moment. Everyone, on the road, near signals, turned around and watched us. Wow, everyone was watching us! Great feeling!!. They must be wondering that from where these people came. Are they from Nagpur ? :p

All riders were following style. Their graceful attire was also eye catching. Stylish helmets, tough shoes, modish jackets, gloves. I realized that these guys are genuine roadies. I was preparing my wish list at the same time. What I need to purchase for my next ride :p


The real fun started when we reached to our destination. 2 kms from Zilpi lake, the spot which I have already discovered (Reference : http://adventure-infinite.blogspot.com/2010/07/family-outing-new-spot.html ). But this was not the destination which I was thinking about. We crossed the slippery river. Few guys struggled (got slipped) while crossing this river. But it was fun and everyone helping each other. The journey of amazing off-roading began when the real raw road started. We were tumbling due to rocks on the pathway. Few paths were muddy which added the flavor of true off-roading. ;-)

We reached on hill top by following these spontaneous path. We took a rest of few moments and then started riding over the hills. The route was bumpy but electrifying. I never did such riding in my life.

The endpoint was Zilpi lake. A beautiful lake surrounded with lush green mountains. Took a deep breath of fresh air and came back to Nagpur in evening.

Nobody forgets first experience of anything; so I won’t. ;-)

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Salbardi - An Exciting Spiritual place

Salbardi, the place name was new to me when my project mates were discussing about outing at this place. Though from team, few people have visited this place before so they were sure that this would be best place to visit, hence we finalized to enjoy weekend at Salbardi. As usual I was excited to visit new place. The place, the Time and the perfect plan was finalized. We decided to gather at my friend’s house which was on the way to Salbardi. 10 people in 2 cars were ready to visit this exciting spiritual place.

Info: Salbardi is located near Morshi in Maharashtra. From Nagpur, you need to go through Katol Warud Morshi route. This place is approximately 135 KMs from Nagpur. You may need to take right turn 10 Kms before Morshi. You can take help from local people to locate this place. For high level you can refer the following map.


We started our trip in light rain still no one lost the enthu for outing. The other car punctured at the starting of the journey so we fixed the problem and started our journey by 8.30AM. After Kalmeshwar, the real beauty of nature started. We were enjoying the greenery around the roads, the loveliness of mountains, rivers, lakes, etc. In this route, there were 3 railways crossing which were too much busy with traffic. It took us 2.5 hrs to reach the destination.
I was thinking , how the place would be?when we were going closer to Salbardi. We reached the destination, parked the car and entered the area. WooHoo, what a view..”Kya najara hai, maja aa gaya”, I cannot explain how happy I was to see that view, Simply Superb! What I was watching was an ideal portrait which containd Mountains, rivers flowing between the rocks, blue sky. One of my friend said that we have to walk & climb for Shiva temple. The approximate distance was 2-2.5 KM.




As we were going up on the hill; the view was getting more and more beautiful. On the way, we found different types of butterflies; they were in a group which we may not see in city. Small river was flowing between the rocks which was attracting us. But our plan was to visit the temple first and then do the masti. Since this is not much famous place, it was not commercialized. So we enjoyed Non-polluted and silent atmosphere. At few places on the way, the rock was chiseled like stairs for comfortable walk. Most of my friends brought big cameras to capture each & every moment. I captured few memories and views.




We reached on the top most point of the hill where temple was located. I thought there would a big temple but actually the Shiva idol was located in cave. The cave was very deep i.e. depth was around 2 floors down. There were proper steps but it was dark in the cave. The temperature was very low in the cave. When we stepped out from the cave, it was different feeling. It was like we were going to heaven with these steps.


Way back, we were tired & hungry. We quickly come down the half way where water was flowing from the rocks, kind of “Jharna”. The water level was safe so we entered without fear & enjoyed every moment. We had light snacks which we were carrying with us. Playing with water, sprinkling it on friends, floating, we did what you can think of.


~ Enjoyment in full swing ;-)

It was 4.30pm and we were hungry. So we headed back to Nagpur. Near Warud, we had food which was quite delicious. In return journey, everyone enjoyed melodious music. Everyone was tired. Near Kalmeshwar, we saw big idol of lord Shiva. After taking few group snaps, we proceeded to Nagpur.



Info: You can visit Dam at Upper Wardha which is near to Salbardi. (Since we didn't have enough time, we had to skip this place.)


I was so keen to share these moments/photos with family members. When I showed photos to them, they were equally thrilled and decided to visit this place.
~ Panaromic view from top point (Salbardi)

So Nagpurians, what are you waiting for ? Get the group & visit this exciting spiritual place called SALBARDI. :-)
Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.

Monday, August 30, 2010

Rain & Long Drive

An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.

This time I dared for adventure in different way. Though it was inconvenient and unconventional way but necessity made it happen. Visiting new places, fast driving of car, riding bike for long distances, etc these are some of the ways of my adventure. But this time I made a history of driving car in rains for 9 hours continuously. The wiper was not stopped until we reached destination. There were many wonderful & thrilling moments I experienced in this journey.

Me & my wife planned the journey to Jalna on weekend but we don’t know that the journey would be so adventurous. On Friday night, rains showed up their presence. Mom & Dad were bit tensed with our plan. I assured them that I may drop the plan if it is raining heavily in the morning. Early morning we realized that the intensity of rain was slowing down, so we started our journey at 6.45 AM.



Wow.. light showers, lush green surrounding, drizzly roads, what else you require in journey? When we started, wiper was on first level. The speed of showers varied with the areas. It had gone to third level at one time when we were in Karanja.



Only thing frightening me was that of flooded rivers. What will happen if it flooded over the bridge? Or something which causes delay in our journey. And it happened !! Just before Mehkar, due to storm a huge tree fell down on the road and the traffic was blocked. We spent 45 minutes in traffic jam. :(



Finally we reached our destination safely. This was the most memorable trip we ever had. :-)

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

वडगाव.. एक विलोभनीय परिसर..

दिवस होता रविवार, ढगाळ वातावरण आणि भटकंती करण्याची इच्छा. मग काय विचारता, केले मित्रांना फोन! पण सगळे आपापल्या कामात व्यस्त. :( आणि जर सोबत नसेल तर भटकंतीत काय मजा म्हणून मी बुलेटने जाण्याचं टाळल. गौराईने मला डब्बा पार्टी करण्याची इच्छा प्रदर्शित केली. मग काय लगेच सगळे कामाला भिडले. गौराईने लगेच स्वयंपाक केला आणि डब्बे भरले. मी पद्माक्षला तयार केले आणि तासाभरात आम्ही भटकंतीसाठी तयार झालो.

फिरण्यासाठी जागा निवडली ती "वडगाव" (Wadgao). नागपूरपासून ४० km दूर चंद्रपूर रोडवर हे गाव आहे.

पण या जागेचा महत्व काय ?

तर मित्रहो, या गावामध्ये आहे, "पसायदान परिसर"(Pasaydan parisar), "वडगाव धरण"(Wadgao Dam) आणि "साहस कॅम्प"(Sahas Camp)

नकाशत दाखवल्या प्रमाने, बुटीबोरी नंतर वर्ध्याचा वळण न घेता सरळ रस्ता पकडला तर ५ km नंतर बोरखेडी गाव (Boarkhedi) डाव्या हाताला दिसेल (खूण : डाव्या हाताला दिसेल पाण्याची मोठी टाकी). डाव्या हाताला वळून सरळ गेल्यावर सर्वप्रथम पसायदान परिसर येईल. त्यासाठी तुम्हाला वळणापासून ८ km वडगाव धरणाकडे जावे लागेल. रस्ता फार रुंद नाही पण कार सहज जाऊ शकते.

पसायदान परिसर
पसायदान हा शब्द तुम्हाला अनोळखी नसेलच. ज्ञानेश्वर महाराजांनी लिहिलेल्या ज्ञानेश्वरीमध्ये पसायदानाचा उल्लेख केलेला आहे. हा परिसर अतिशय रमणीय आहे. ज्ञानेश्वर महाराजांची भव्य प्रतिमा इथे स्थापली आहे. प्रतिमेच्या खाली ध्यान मंदिर आहे जिथे तुम्ही ध्यान करू शकता. मूर्तीच्या आजूबाजूला छान झाडे लावली आहेत ज्याने तो परिसर अजून विलोभनीय वाटतो. नागपूरच्या माटेगावकर यांनी इथे छान किल्ल्यांच्या छोट्या रचना केलेल्या आहे. प्रतापगड, सिहगड, शिवेनेरी, इत्यादी गडांची प्रतिकृती माहितीसोबत इथे पाहायला तुम्हाला मिळेल. नागपुरला आल्यावर एकदातरी या जागी जरूर भेट द्यावी.

या जागेची एक झलक..
~~ ज्ञानेश्वर महाराजांची भव्य प्रतिमा ~~


~~ गडाची प्रतिकृती ~~


~~ गडाची प्रतिकृती ~~










वडगाव धरण
वडगाव धरणाचा परिसर सुद्धा तेवढाच सुंदर आहे. त्याची भव्यता तिथे जाऊनच लक्षात येते.
~~ भव्य वडगाव धरण ~~

साहस कॅम्प
साहस कॅम्प हा प्रहार संस्थेच्या अंतर्गत चालवण्यात येतो. हा कॅम्प Adventure sports साठी प्रसिद्ध आहे. परंतु इथे जाण्याकरता आधी संस्थेची परवानगी घ्यावी लागते.

आम्ही आणलेल्या जेवणाचा छान आस्वाद घेतला आणि परतीच्या प्रवासाला लागलो.

तर मित्रहो, अशा या परिसरात कोणालाही आपला Weekend घालवायला व Enjoy करायला आवडेल. आम्ही पण आमचा Weekend असाच छान Enjoy केला. :-)

मग वाट कशाची बघताय .. येणाऱ्या Weekend ची ?? :p

Monday, July 19, 2010

Family outing @ new spot

I think I am good in managing outing on every weekend now and enjoying every moment of current rainy season. :p Really, this may be the frustration of Nagpury summer we faced in last couple of months.
This Sunday rains already showed their presence from the morning. The atmosphere was ideal for outing. So in the evening everyone in my family agreed to go for outing. My friend Harshal suggested me one place where I never visited before, since I have been to the nearest place many times.


The spot was just 2 kms away from Zilpi Lake. (*To reach Zilpi lake you can refer my previous posts from this blog)

This spot do not have any specific name and even it was not known to many people. We all were excited to see this unknown spot.

After few confirmation from local people, we could able to reach this spot but you can refer map mentioned in this blog. We found a road without tar at the left side of the road as shown in map.

The real fun starts when we entered through this road to reach this spot. Surrounded by dense forest, lush green carpet of grass and small waterfall was the main attraction of this spot.


Wow ! we truly enjoyed different flavours of nature on this spot. My real happiness was in exploring new beautiful place. I had a great time with family & nature.

So do visit this place and enjoy the beauty of nature. Cheers !!

Monday, July 12, 2010

Riders at new destination .. Ambora..

On a cloudy weekend, I had a great ride to Ambora on my new Royal Enfield.


Two enthusiastic people, Milind & Neeraj accompanied me in this adventurous ride.
We had selected Ambora (from Umred district) as the destination point for this ride. With proper planning, in rider attire, we started our journey in morning at around 9.30 AM.
Neeraj joined me at Chatrapati square (Wardha road) and Milind at Maheshwari Square. The route was quite simple. First milestone were Pachgaon and then Kuhi. From Kuhi, Ambora was around 35kms. Total distance from Nagpur to Ambora was 75 Kms.

Everyone was in rider’s attire but especially Milind was having proper outfits with him for this ride. As you can see in the photo, he was in suit purchased specially from New Zealand.

Since the atmosphere was cloudy, we enjoyed the ride. We had taken few photographs as Neeraj was carrying big SLR camera with him. Around 12:00, we reached Ambora safely without any causality. :p

~ Daring for Stunt :-)


The view was mind-blowing. Great combination of mountains & river.. Wow, Maja aagaya .. this was the spontaneous reaction when we reached our destination point.
Ambora is the place where two rivers meet each other, basically called as “Sangam”. It is also famous for renowned Shiva temple located at top of the hill.

We crossed the river by boat. The environment and the view were so cool that we could not resist ourselves in clicking few moments around.
After taking light snacks we started back to Nagpur. In return journey, it was raining heavily. We drove around 40kms in rain. It was truly a thrilling experience for us.

~ Panaromic view of Ambora (Taken with my Samsung 3G cell)

Few Kms before Nagpur, we took last break of our ride and had a sip of tea on tapry.
~ (From left) Neeraj, Milind & Me

Cheers !!!!!!!

Saturday, July 3, 2010

First long ride on Royal Enfield



After purchasing new royal enfield, today on Saturday, I got first chance to ride bullet. I called my beloved friend Ashay to accompany me. I have selected the nearest place from Nagpur, Zilpi lake. I have been to Zilpi lake many times but this time is something special as I was having new Bike, my own bike. We enjoyed lush green environment & beauty of nature.