Trip to Karde

Trip to Karde (कर्दे)

This was a trip planned almost a month ago. We were looking for a weekend getaway when someone mentioned Karde. Karde is a very small village near Dapoli. The population would not be more than 1200. The village is still not commercialised though the hotels are. The people are very simple and friendly. The beach is still clean and has white sands. Infact this is only one of the two beaches in Maharashtra having white sands. The water is clear.

We decided to go via Mulshi. We (Vaishali, Karishma, Akshay and me) started from Aundh at 5.45am. Appa joined us at 6am from Model Colony. We took the road to Chandni chowk then to Pirangut. The small Pirangut ghat offers a magnificent view of the plains down below. Fields are still green owing to the abundance of water in this area.

The road to Mulshi is quite good now (thanks to the Lavasa project by HCC) and we were doing 80's till we reached the end of Mulshi. The Mulshi backwaters presented a splendid view. The road from Mulshi to Tamhini has almost no traffic but is very bumpy so you can't go really fast. Infact it would be an understatement to call it a road! Realising that I was driving a 2006 unmodified Tata Indica and not a Lamborgini, I slowed down and was doing 50's till we were on good plain tarmac again. The total bad road is was about 12 kms. The hairpin bends are too tricky so get humble before mother nature and just take it cool. We were down Tamhini and on the way to Kolad.

We stayed at Hotel Kinara. This hotel is located hardly 100 feet away from the beach!

Entrance of the hotel

And all rooms are facing the sea. The rooms on the first or second floor have a very clear view of the sea. The hotel charges Rs.728 per room. The room has a Queen size double bed. Extra mattresses are charged at Rs.150.

The hotel provides good veg as well as non veg meals. I prefered the fish though. They make excellent Prawn biryani, fried prawns, fried Pomfret, fried Surmai, Fish rassa. Every dish is suffiicient for two persons. However like all places in Konkan we have to order the food atleast a few hours in advance.

Hotel Kinara

Hotel Kinara

Karde Taluka Dapoli

District Ratnagiri

Phone: 02358 234633

Contact person Mr. Jadhav. He is the owner. This hotel has some tie up with Palande couriers (near SNDT) in Pune. For advance booking we can send a DD through Palande couriers on the hotel address. Mention your contact number and name on the reverse of the DD and they call you back to confirm the booking. Mr.Jadhav mentioned that one can also transfer money using State bank of India.

Clear and clean waters at Karde beach

Odometer reading .... Places

000 ……….. Started from Aundh at 5.45 am
053 ……….. Quick Bite, Mulshi. The roads is pretty good till this point.

056 ……….. Chachavli (चाचवली)
060 ……….. Tamhini
063 ……….. Sarole

067 ……….. We reached a T junction. The road to the right goes to Lonavala while the one straight ahead goes to Kolaad. This is the road to be taken to go to Mangao.

072 ……….. Dongarwadi The bad road starts.
076 ……….. Adarwadi (आदरवाडी) ... bad road
080 ……….. Here you reach an arch that has distances displayed to a lot of places in Konkan. You can also have some snacks (Vada Paav, Misal, tea etc.) over here. The road continues to be bad
092 ……….. Reached Vile phata. Take a left turn over here. Incase by mistake you go straight ahead (towards Kolad) you can ask the locals for direction to Nizampur.
096 ……….. Bhagad
101 ……….. Kandalgaon

106 ……….. Nizampur All the locals seem to know this place. ... bad road continues.
113 ……….. Chavanwadi
116 ……….. Mangao (माणगाव )

Turn left to proceed towards Mahad. At this point we reach the Mumbai Goa highway NH17. We had breakfast over here and broke the journey for about 20 minutes.

Though the road was narrow it is very good with no potholes.

121 ……….. Local roaming

137 ……….. Veer

140 ……….. Dasgaon

150 ……….. Mahad

153 ……….. Kamat Restaurant @ Mahad

After circumventing Mahad there are 2 intersections where there are no sign boards at all. Just keep going straight towards Goa.

170 ……….. Poladpur

172 ……….. Kashedi ghat starts. This is a very scenic ghat. The turns though are very sharp and tests ones driving skills.

202 ……….. Kashedi ghat ends.

204 ……….. Bharne Naka. Take the road going to right towards Shivaji’s statue.

206 ……….. Khed.

Here you encounter a fork. Take the road going to right. The one on left goes to Goa.

209 ……….. Khed Bus stand

213 ……….. Vetalvadi

214 ……….. Dasturi

219 ……….. Furus

223 ……….. Wakavli

225 ……….. Kumbhave

230 ……….. Nargoli

236 ……….. Dapoli

242 ……….. Asud baag

245 ……….. Asud

246 ……….. Karde, Murud phata. This Murud has nothing to do with the Murud beach near Alibag

Take a left turn over here to go to Karde or Murud. The road towards right goes to Anjarle

247 ……….. Banyan tree. Take a left turn

248 ……….. Hotel Kinara. Reached at 12pm

Day One

Had a veg meal and after some rest went on to the beach that’s right outside the hotel.

Day Two

We decided to visit the Ganpati Mandir at Anjarle. There is this funny thing about Anjarle that there are two Anjarle’s! The road signs take us to Anjarle village wheras if you want to visit the Ganpati Mandir ask for the Kadyacha Ganpati (कड्याचा गणपती). There are 2 roads to reach Anjarle – One is to reverse the road upto the Karde/Murud Phata and another that’s narrow but a short cut.

We chose the second one. For this we went back to the Banyan tree and tooka a left turn till we reached a Shriram Mandir. Take a right turn from here.

248 ……….. Hotel Kinara

250 ……….. Reached the Banyan tree. (same as the one mentioned at 247kms above). Take a left turn to proceed towards Murud.

251 ……….. Shriram mandir. Take a right turn. On the way you will pass the Kamat resort of Murud.

On this road you will find that almost all the houses offer home cooked food (but they need atleast 3 hours notice). Most of them also offer space to sleep at night

252 .………॥ You reach the main road। T junction। Take a left turn to proceed to Anjarle/Harne

There are no signs on this junction!

255 ……….. Another T junction. Turn right for Anjarle (The road straight ahead leads to Harne Bandar)

Start going up this scenic ghat. The sea on the left makes for perfect picture postcard setting. This road is pretty lonely though.

257 ……….. Idea mobile towers

On the way to Anjarle

261 ……….. Turn left for Anjarle village. Keep going straight ahead for Kadyacha Ganpati

265 ……….. Kalkai devi on your left. Keep going straight ahead.

270 ……….. Mandir. It is believed that Ganpati emerged from the seas to reside on this hill. There is also a carving depicting Ganpati che Paaul (गणपतीचे पाऊल).

This Mandir was first constructed of wood in the 12 century and later built of stone in the 18^th century. Vegetarian food can be arranged near the Mandir but again it takes them 3 hours to prepare and serve.

We had heard a lot about the fish auction on the Harne beach. Harne beach itself is not the typical sort of beach where tourists should go. It stinks of fish. It is only known for the auction that takes place early morning and evening.

Auction in progress

In the evening it starts at about 4.15pm when boats laden with fresh fish start arriving. The fish is sold wholesale in numbers or lots so cheap that Pomfret is about Rs.75 per kilo (as against Rs.340 per kilo in Pune) and Surmai was between Rs35 to 50 per kilo (Rs.200 in Pune).

Day Three

The most awaited attraction of our trip – Dolphin ride. We gathered at the beach outside the hotel at 6.30 in the morning and got onto the boats by 7am . We had hardly travelled for 10 minutes when we could see groups of Dolphins. Most of them were in pairs. Though they weren't more than 4 to 5 feet long, it was sight worth every rupee (of the Rs.100 per person that we had paid). I had only seen them on Discovery and in movies. But watching them jumping, swimming, playing was extremely enjoyable. We were following a few when suddenly there were Dolphins everywhere! We must have seen atleast 100 Dolphins in that 40 minute ride!

By the time I could lift my camera they used to go back in the water. Maybe I should now invest in a Video camera.

We at the Suruche Ban (Sheoak plantations )

Departure

After checking out at 10am we did some shopping in Dapoli and came back by another route. Since Tamhini ghat was full of potholes I decided to return by Varandh ghat – Bhor route. How wrong was! This route is also equally bad apart from being very lonely.

Do not take this route unless you are very adventurous and want to put your vehicle for a torture test.

I suggest that if you leave Karde at 9.30 am then you reach Mahad by 12.30 pm have lunch at Kamat and proceed to Pune. We had some Bhaji (Rs. 5 only) and Vada Paav (Rs.4 only) in Varandh ghat but were still very hungry. There isn’t a single decent hotel on the entire route.

317 ……….. Hotel Kinara

321 ……….. Asud take right

328 ……….. Reliance petrol pump near Dapoli

389 ……….. Kashedi ghat starts

396 ……….. Kashedi ghat ends. Poladpur

409 ……….. Bhor phata. Go straight for Mahad-Mangao-Tamhini or Mumbai. Turn right for Pune via Bhor and Varandh ghat.

Just before Bhor. The location is beautiful the road isn't!

412 ……….. Aakale

413 ……….. Borgaon

417 ……….. Pimpaledari

420 ……….. Sivtharghal phata

427 ……….. Mazeri

447 ……….. Varvand

450 ……… Hirdoshi

461 ……….. Aapti

474 ……….. Statue of Shivaji in Bhor. Keep going straight

475 ……….. Maharashtra Lodge on the right. Turn left to Pune.

476 ……….. Bhor ST stand. Turn right to Pune.

482 ……….. An intersection with no direction indicators! Keep going straight.

486 ……….. Bandal nagar

489 ……….. Petrol Pump that sells only Diesel.

Keep going staright ahead and you reach the Mumbai-Bangalore highway NH4. Turn left to proceed towards Pune

492 ……….. Kapurvhol

497 ……….. Baneshwar phata (to the left)

500 ……….. Reliance petrol pump (on the right side)

503 ……….. Universal construction company

510 ……….. Katraj new tunnel

526 ……….. Chandni chouk

535 ……….. Aundh.

The trip was enjoyable. The roads were good except for a 12 km patch in Tamhini and 6 km one in Varandh. There is cellphone coverage throughout including Dapoli and Karde for BSNL and Idea.

The drinking water at the hotel was good. The hotel also provides mosquito repellants if needed. They also have a generator set. Thanks to it we did not suffer from the 8 hour loadshedding that begins at 1.30pm.

My Indica returned excellent fuel average of 20kmpl with AC ON at all times including the bad roads where we had to crawl on the second gear!