Okay guys, finally I am here penning down the travel experience of our 3 day tour to Narayangao-Pune-Bhimashankar-Shirdi. Please note: this is the first time I am narrating a travelogue and please excuse me if the narration is too basic and not upto expectations.
Overall it was a great, problem and stress free journey and thanks to our trusted workhorse without which the journey wouldn’t have been successful, our Swift Dzire VDI which has clocked 47000+ on the odo, has served us exceptionally well in the last 3+ years and have never let us stranded in between during any of our short or long tours.
Day1: Started sharp at 7.15am on 1st of September and reached Narayangao (Tirupati Mandir) by 11.30am accompanied by a short 30minutes break in-between for a breakfast. Travelled a distance of approx 310 kms in just 3hrs 30minutes. Thanks to the beautifully paved NH4 highway and almost Nil traffic which let me cut the distance without any issues. Coming to the Tirupati Mandir at Narayan Gao, it’s one of the cleanest and well maintained temples in India. It’s almost identical to the Tirupati Mandir in Tirupati and those who do not wish to stand in the long Queue in Tirupati, this is the best possible way of getting Lord Venkateshwara’s Darshan. In just 30minutes of the Darshan we left to Pune and reached at 1.30pm, thanks to the heavy Pune traffic, it took us 1 hour to travel 30kms. After a heavy lunch it was time for resting our backs and ended the day by spending evening time by shopping and at-last the DagduShet’s Ganesha Darshan.
Total Distance travelled: Belgaum to Pune- 355kms.
Day2: It was the beginning of the best travel experience so far and the way the day shaped up further with so many surprises was totally unexpected. We didn’t even imagine that today we had so much to see and experience..Beauty and Stress.LOL We stepped into the car at 9am and left to Bhimashankar. I thought it’s better to choose the Manchar route as the other route discussed wasn’t in good shape as informed by Pune citizens. So we had to clock a distance of about 140kms to reach Bhimashankar and I must say, this was the best and beautiful part of the journey. You get to see amazingly Lush green mountains, picture perfect scenery accompanied by small and magnificent roadside waterfalls which feel altogether out of the world. We were amazed by the beautiful views and the twisty roads. Our Dzire was enjoying the twists and bends and boy, I was thoroughly enjoying the Dzires handling at the corners, thanks to the 195 section Yoko A-drives which provide enough grip and solid braking.
So we reached Bhimashankar at about 4pm after enjoying the views and several photo sessions. By the time it was 5kms to Bhimashankar, we were literally shocked to see the crowd and people from so many different states. There were approximately 400 to 450 private cars with MH, KA, KL, AP, GJ etc registration plates and about 30 to 40 travel buses. We couldn’t even enter the parking lot and had to park our vehicle at a distance of 4kms from the temple. This was our second surprise and was totally unexpected; one of the taxi fellows informed us that there is huge queue inside and it will take at least 4 hours for the Darshan. Finally we started with the queue and we had to face another surprise, the natural rain showers. Lord Shankar made us fully divine by showering super heavy rainfall on us and we had no other option than to have a bath in the queue.LOL. So finally after 3.5 hours we got the Darshan of naturally grown Shiv Ling (known as Swyambhu Ling). Completed everything and reached our car by 9pm. Our plan was to drive to Shirdi and end the day but since it was quite late we halted in a resort at Manchar which was about 80kms from Bhimashankar. Ended our fun filled and adventurous day with a tummy full dinner as we had nothing in our belly since morning.
Total distance travelled: Pune-Manchar-Bhimashankar-Manchar 210kms.
Day3: Alright we left Manchar sharp at 7.00am and started the journey on a well paved road to Shirdi, the most important place we wanted to visit. Reached Shirdi at 9.30am covering a distance of 125kms. It was a breeze to drive as the traffic was almost nil, and that’s the main advantage of starting the journey early morning and adds to the safety as well. We had our Sai Baba’s Darshan by 10.30 after which the crowd started to pick up significantly. Soon after the Darshan we had a refreshment and started back to Belgaum. Reached Pune at around 7 as we took the Ahmednagar route. Though this route was a longer one compared to the Manchar route, it was a well paved 4 lane smooth highway. Spent some time shopping in Pune accompanied by a dinner and left at 8.30pm. Finally with just one short break in-between we ended our 3 Day tour by reaching Belgaum at sharp 12.30am (midnight)
Total distance covered: Shirdi-Ahmednagar-Pune-Belgaum 560kms.
Day1(355kms)+Day2(210kms)+Day3(560kms) = 1125kms