03-Jan-2004 -- Our Expedition to the Discovery of 19N 75E

Date: Saturday, Jan 03, 2004 at 1030 hours
Visit by: Praveen Goggi, Pramod Goggi, Shirish Gumphekar and Milind Pradhan
Place: Near Ambhora Village, Aurangabad District, Maharashtra State, India
Distance: 130 Kms from Pune.
Earlier Team Visits: Click on the names above to see each persons visits.
Expedition dedicated to: Guenter Walser, Austria

I shared my experience of my 5th visit to 19°N 74°E with my younger brother and his friends. Couple of them, Shirish and Milind became excited about the project. They agreed to accompany me on the next visit.

we started our journey from Pune at earlier hours of 3rd Jan. It was a very smooth and quick drive till Ahmednagar. Being a junction, Ahmednagar has a variety of roads to offer! We chose the best-fit after a quick consultation with GPS, only to realize that we have actually taken a roundabout road through the tiny villages (inside interior Maharashtra) and we had a several bad patches on the roads.

Cruising from one hilltop to another, and offcourse with a constant watch on the GPS, we came upto a point where we needed 4Kms to reach our destination. None of us could see any approach road towards that direction and it was all uphill! Pramod, Shirish and Milind were already preparing themselves for a steep climb! I thought of going a little further and try to get to the other side of the mountain.

We drove down the hill into a small town to ask directions, where we were told about a small road which led to the mountain top. We got excited and drove quickly and GPS was happy too (We were quickly approaching the point), we were just 2 Kms from the destination. These two kilometers were steep uphill drive (on a not-so-good road or banking!) and I drove with lot of patience and concentration.

After reaching the halfway throught the hill, we stood infront of a small temple of an Indian Goddess (Tulja Bhavani - the goddess of richness). GPS now pointed 412 meters towards West. We parked the car near the temple and started walking uphill again. It was absoultely exciting for the team and it took us hardly 10 minutes to reach the top plateau of the hill, where we found our point. We jumped with glee, we had done it. It was first one for Pramod, Shirish and Milind and I could see the sense of satisfaction on them. This point is on a elevation of 712 meters.

Journey back home was quite uneventful. we reached Pune (back home) at half past two to have a late lunch.

Quick Note: Easiest route to this point is to take Solapur (Beed) road from Ahmednagar, this point is 29 kms from Ahmednagar. Please see the photo with directions for interior road details.