


Dear viewers,
This time with a new post.About Diveagar,Shrivardhan,Harihareshwar and Raigad trip
After a long and tiring hectic work schedule I was looking for a vacation where I can get relaxed and planned a trip for 4 days
Being a biker,I Usually like to go for a 1 week vacation every year on Bike and believe me on my bike I have toured lot of Maharastra from Nasik to Kolhapur,From Alibag to Goa very very comfortably on my TVS Victor GLX 125 cc bike since 3 years
This time I planned this trip on Bike
I decided to stay in Diveagar for 2 days.You can getMTDC cottages/private rooms after reaching here.Since these place is not very crowded,you can get accomodation easily here
One wonderful morning,I started my bike,already my friends were waiting at one meeting point and we started heading towards Diveagar.
The road from Pune till Tamhini Ghat is very excellent and smooth.No problem at all while driving.
It was a good scene in morning with mountains everywhere and waters of Mulshi dam spread all over and grenery everywhere and pleasant breeze blowing early morning.Very soon the bad road started and there was a uphill road(Not as steep as Varandha Ghat).Very soon,we started seeing valleys towards Konkan,slopes climbing down the ghat with ocassional small waterfall(since it was last week of November).We climbed down the Ghat and had a small halt near Nizampur village.I turned back and had a look at the mountains.The scene was breathtaking.while climbing down We didnt realize the huge mountains of Tamhini ghats but its vast structure was visible from the Konkan area.
Soon we joined the Mumbai Goa highway near mangaon and from there almost 12 kms on highway there is a village Goregaon from where we took left turn towards Diveagar.It was still 65 kms away
The road here was somewhat difficult to drive because it was full of turns,curves,ups and downs and through dense forests and no village/ human settlement nearby.After a difficult drive of 36 kms through such roads, now some small villages started approaching.Typical Konkan houses with mangalore roofs, rice fields everywhere and the pleasant smell of rice from the fields throughought the road since it was the harvesting season.It was very delightful scene.
This smell was so good that I forgot all the exhaustion of long drive on bike and I didnt even knew that I was in Diveagar village.
It is a small village with lots of coconut and betelnut trees everywhere,small but well built houses.
We got a good place to live in reasonalble cost(1000 rupees per day for a house where 8 people can easily stay) and that too very near to Beach
We were delighted.After having lunch and some rest,in evening we went to beach.It was a marvellous scene.A very very clean beach,not a bit of paper spread on it believe me and it was 6 kms long beach
I enjoyed walking/running/Jogging on this beach
In Morning the scene was more pleasant.There are more migratory birds on the beach seen early morning.The climate is also very nice.
In these days of pollution,this clean beach is very much appreciating.All the credit to be given to the villagers
Another attraction in this village is the 'Golden Ganesha Temple'
In 1997 on the day of Sankasthi Chaturthi,this golden idol of Ganesha was found in a farm while digging.From thereon it is placed in this temple
From there I proceeded to Harihareshwar,a worship place and also famous for its beach.
From there climbed a hill facing towards sea and had a breathtaking view of Bankot fort on the opposite banks of Savitri river meeting Arabian sea.This river divides two districts Raigad and Ratnagiri
From there back to Diveagar and had a stay.
Next morning I headed towards Raigad fort.The fort which I was very eager to see
Reached Mahad and from there proceeded to Raigad 28 kms ahead through small roads,surrounded by mountains from all sides
Now there is a ropeway which takes you on the top of fort in just 1 minute.The other road is through 1200 steps which took 2.5 exhausting hrs
But after reaching the fort one can recognize the vastness of this fort and great vision of Shivaji Maharaj for choosing this fort as his capital.
The main reason was that this fort is not visible and easily accessible from anywhere since it is medium in size,surrounded by straight rocks from all sides which is impossible to climb and surrounded by difficult mountains from all sides.The only way to enter this fort is through Mahad,so Enemy has only one way to enter and gets trapped from all sides.
Second point is that from Raigad,all forts nearby like Torna,Lingana,Pratapgad,Rajgad can be viewed easily so it was possible for him to keep watch easily on other forts
Shivaji Maharaj was crowned as Chatrapati on this fort.There is a small pool of water on fort which contained waters of seven rivers in India brought for coronation ceremony
Samadhi of Shivaji Maharaj is also located on this fort
This fort is king of all the forts in Sahyadri mountains
You can get much information of this fort from a local guides who are frequently available on fort and will give you lots of good information.
Accomodations from MTDC are available on this fort
After this I departed to Pune via Poladpur-Mahabaleshwar
One of my memorable Biking trips I had.
Total distance
From Pune to Diveagar: 156 kms
Diveagar to Harihareshwar: 36 kms
Diveagar to Raigad: 85 kms
Places Nearby Diveagar:Murud Janjira fort 28 kms,Alibag
Precautions to be taken:
At Diveagar please try to maintain cleanliness of beach.Avoid plastic materials on beach
At one end in Diveagar there is a small river meeting sea.This is a marshy area.Please be careful while stepping forward.My suggestion is to avoid this place