It was a regular weekend, and like almost every other holidays I automatically woke up at 4 am in the morning. I don’t why this doesn’t happen during the weekdays. Since I was already awake and couldn’t go back to sleep, I thought that maybe I’ll go for a bike ride somewhere far away. Any place which could seduce and take me to. So I decided to take the road and came across a place called Saphale.
Located around 72 km away from Mumbai, this place is a welcome break from Mumbai’s fast paced lifestyle. It’s really surprising knowing that such a place exists so close to Mumbai. This place is the exact opposite of Mumbai, free from any sort of urbanisation and surrounded by greenery. In order to reach this place you have to cross a hill and this feels like heaven during the monsoon. You can actually feel the clouds floating across your face.
You can also spot the Vaitarna river gushing furiously during heavy rains. It was extremely windy and rainnig heavily, but still I tried to take as many pictures as I could.
It has small tribal hamlets with cute little kids playing around and women cooking food on pots.
This reminds me of my childhood holidays spent at my native place. It has lush greenery everywhere you look, with small rivulets flowing down the hills and in between the greenery you find these rice fields. The route to this place itself is surrounded by trees on both the sides.
The hill roads are a bit risky, but the scenery is worth the risks.
You also get to meet up a few mischievous monkeys on the route.
Plus, riding your bike, while the cool wind blows across your face till you reach the place is an adventure in itself.
This was a completely unplanned trip, which I had undertaken since I had a holiday and had nothing to do, but the next one would definitely be a planned one.