12-Aug-2012 -- This DCP was the first of the three (DCP #2, DCP #3) we visited in a 5-day expedition from 11 - 15 August 2012. The route taken was Kalyān -> Nashik -> Dhule -> Jālgaon -> Shegaon -> Akola -> Kalyān. This narrative is written by including only the DCP relevant stuff from my detailed expedition report.

We had stayed in a hotel in Dhule city on the previous night. We woke up and got ready at leisure. We headed for the Songir fort which is around 22 km from Dhule on NH-3. Again, the Songir village was a dingy one! The fort had steps to the top and we reached the summit in no time, around 10:00 hours. Except for a deep cistern, there were no remnants atop! The rock was quite reddish - I found this in contrast to the forts situated in Western Ghats. This fort, too, appeared to be heavily ‘reconstructed’! We then started for DCP #1. After some initial confusion, we came back to Dhule, had lunch. One thing I liked was in almost all the restaurants we visited, wheat 'chapati's were served! We now started towards Jālgaon, at 13:45 hours, via NH-6. I had given the tracker (Garmin eTrex Vista HCX) to Golu so that he can navigate and I and Vishy can follow on bike. We took the first left after the Faangne village. This road headed to Chopda, Amalner, and Yawal. After a few km, the Jālgaon jurisdiction begun. There were fields on either side of roads - something common for the entire journey in Dhule, Jālgaon and Akola!

Soon, the tracker notified the proximity and we alighted from our vehicles. The point was on the right side of the road and we entered the fields. I had a word with curious farmers and told them briefly about our ‘mission’. They told that the prime cultivation is of (hybrid) Jowar and Paddy but pulses like Tur are also grown. They were apprehensive about the dependence on the rainwater - no canals, no rivers (since morning, I came across only one, dried river viz. Kanheri, towards DCP #1 and low groundwater levels!). But in spite of the less rainfall this year, the fields were full of crops. It started raining and we ran for cover. The red soil soon started sticking on the shoes and in no time, we had to exert some force even to lift our feet. Avoiding stamping the crops, we headed as per the compass directions and reached the point which was located amidst a field of hybrid Jowar. A farmer told me the village name as Londhave(?).I took the pics of different directions and asked Antik to take off his blue T-shirt and put it as a marker for the DCP #1. I then stepped out of the field and took a pic from around 40 metres.

We left the village around 16:30 hours and backtracked to NH6 and took a left for Jālgaon which was 84 km. We came across Pārola but since there was quite some distance to be covered, we dropped the idea of visiting the fort! Crossing Erandol, we reached Jālgaon. We halted at a hotel near Jālgaon railway station. The auto-rickshaw drivers whom I asked directions, the hotel staff - all were awed by our riding/driving enthusiasm for places not known for tourism; this experience repeated all the way.