GUHAGAR & AROUND

  On the long weekend of 26,27,28th of September 2009 me & Prajakta
decided to explore konkan instead of going to typical picnic spots..
Guhagar being my village we headed there.

   Started early at 6:00am from dahisar we travelled to chembur - vashi
- panvel - palaspe. Here we took our first break for breakfast. Had
famous "Shri Datta missal,vadapav & tea". (If you are travelling for the
first time on this route, shri datta is famous outlet just before
karnala & around 6-7 Kms after Panvel. If you love Maharashtrian dishes
like vada, missal, khichadi, kothimbir vadi, kharvas etc.)

  After breakfast, we continued further on NH17 to cross Karnala bird
sanctuary - Pen - Wadkhal(From here straight road goes to Alibaug,
revdanda,kihim etc.) - nagothane - Maangaon. After this we decided to
explore different route & took right turn for Goregaon (not the one in
mumbai). From here road goes to mandangad (thanks to Mhapral Ambet
bridge). Road is in good condition. It's a small country road (Its state
highway but only two vehicles can pass at a time, no multiple lanes). We
reached Mandangad in 40 minutes from Goregaon.

  From mandangad there are two roads first head to bankot & Velas,
another to Kelshi. We took the Kelshi route. After Kelshi, we headed to
Anjarle.  Anjarle is beautiful village at Arabian sea shore. It has old
Ganesh mandir called Kadyavarcha ganpati, a very simple temple with
beautiful Murti of Ganpati Bappa.

  After visiting the temple we headed to Dapoli. This road to Dapoli is
very scenic it goes parallel to the coastline & we can see 4 forts near
Harnai namely (Kanakdurg, Suvarndurg, Goa & ... ) 3 of them are on land
& one on island. Via harnai & karde you reach Dapoli total distance
between Anjarle & dapoli is 30 Kms.

  From Dapoli, we took road to Dabhol. We travelled another 30 Kms to
reach Dhopawe. From Dhopave we loaded our car into a a ferry boat (They
load car, truck, bus anything) & in 15 mins we reached anjanvel after
crossing the creek.

  From Anjanvel Guhagar is just 15 Kms. So, after many breaks & visit to
Anjarle & one tyre replacement we reached Guhagar @ 3:00pm. (If you
travel without breaks on this road 5 hours are sufficient, total
distance is 315 kms from dahisar)

  We stayed at Mody Villa. Its very good place to stay.. its actually a
big bungalow, with many bedrooms & you can rent the rooms.. People
serving there are very good & I really liked hospitality & cleanliness &
of course food. Relaxed in our room for a while & then took a stroll
through huge wadi behind mody Villa which ends at Guhagar beach.

  Guhagar beach is really marvelous... Its very long maybe 2-3 kms. The
water is very clear.. fresh air & no pollution. May be one of the best
beach in Konkan. After roaming on beach for an hour, we went into
village. We noticed Navratri festival going on in Durga devi Madir, so
we joined the ceremony..

  On returning back had our fishy dinner & completed the fun filled day.

  On next day morning, had a heavy breakfast of kande Pohe & started for
Hedvi. Hedvi is 26 Kms from Guhagar & road to hedvi is  less travelled &
hence its amazing.. no traffic just drive as you want. We reached Hedvi
in less than half an hour. Dashbhuja Ganesh mandir at hedvi is beautiful
(When I say beautiful temple in Konkan please don't expect huge temple
with carving etc. here the temples are very simple but there locations
are fantastic & you really feel close to god in the calm & simplistic
arrangement in and around the temple) . After Ganesh Mandir, we visited
Hedvi beach. Its very small but beautiful beach & layered rocks around
the beach are really interesting.

   Another interesting thing in Hedvi is Bamanghal, near Hedvi beach.
Sea has literally tore the rock & huge gap is developed in between the
rock. At the time of high tide water enters this gap with huge force &
that the time this place is worth watching.

  On the way back to Guhagar, we visited Velneshwar, Velneshwar beach is
also very scenic. But whats more scenic is location of MTDC @ Velneshwar
(If you get chance, its worth staying at this place). Velneshwar is 18
Kms away from Guhagar. In first half of the day we covered both the
places & went back to Guhagar.

   After taking some rest in wadi behind our hotel, we headed to
Gopalgad. It's a fort guarding Anjanvel creek. The fort once under
possession of Maratha's is now occupied by some local person illegally &
he has planted mango trees in the fort & now he is demanding huge bucks
from government to leave the fort (It happens only in India) . The
fortification is really good and intact as of now but many plants are
growing on outer walls which will lead to collision of these walls in
near future. If you go towards west direction along the fort wall you
can get down till the creek. If you are here at the time of sunset, be
there to enjoy the sunset its amazing.

  From Gopalgad, we came back to hotel & went to take a stroll at
Guhagar beach again.



On day 3 we visited two temples in Guhagar, Ufratya tondacha ganpati &
Vyadeshwar. After this visit started our return journey.(For those who
are going in car. There is no petrol pump at Guhagar but there is one on
road to Chiplun at place called Shrungartali).  For returning we chose
to travel on NH17. So from Vyadeshwar mandir we tokk left, this road
heads to chiplun which is around 40 Kms from Guhagar. From Chiplun, join
NH17 & head straight to Mumbai. Those who have time can visit two more
interesting places here first is Shivsrushti at Dervan village near
Chiplun & second is Parshuram mandir between Chiplun & Khed.

  It took us 6 hours to reach home. We started at 12:00 noon & reached
dahisar at 6:00 pm.

  One last tip to those travelling on NH17 for first time there are very
limited eating options on this road. So after Palaspe & Karnala if you
are still hungry, make sure you stop at Vitthal Kamat restaurant near
Mahad.

   Goodbye till next trip