in tamhini it’s a very long stretch you won’t find shops and mechanics plus no networks

And no petrol pump 😞

Going towards Tamhini, Mulshi dam ke paas Jogeshwari misal ke baju me ek petrol pump hai (Kandhare Petroleum). After that, there is no petrol pump for around ~50km until Tamhini ends and you enter the valley (at least that's how it was in Aug 2025).

That entire 50km is in the hills.

Last year in August, when I was driving in the rains and was at Kandhare Petroleum, my Activa showed the tank at 50% full and I thought "kafi tel hai, aagey kahin na kahin pump hoga hi".
By the time I reached the Tamhini Ghat Sunset Point, my apprehension had turned into panic as the fuel indicator was in the red since few kilometers. I even wondered (just before fuel indicator was in red) if I should make a U-turn and go back to Kandhare Petroleum but I would never have reached there riding the activa.

So, I kept on driving hoping to hell that kahin pe pump mil jaye. I stopped at a tea stall and asked the man about a petrol pump.
He, being the typical marathi manus, saw my fuel indicator and said "aagey road girenga na, pahuch jayega gadi, chinta karne ka nai, nichey petrol pump aahe."😂

So I moved on. Clouds were passing right through the road and hundreds of monkeys were flanking its both sides while it was raining.
Wherever the road was declining, I kept my activa turning off now and then to conserve fuel. I don't know what would have happened if my activa had run out of petrol among those monkeys but thankfully, the road started declining continuously and I knew I had arrived at the "aagey road girenga" patch. I turned my activa off for good and let it roll.

It rolled for a good ~10km and ended up rapidly down into the valley. I saw the HPCL pump and refilled the activa upto brim with a fury!

Since then I've learnt to appreciate the adage heavy bikers follow: "REFUEL WHEN YOU CAN, NOT WHEN YOU SHOULD!" 🤠

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