Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Ganpati Gadad


Date: 20th Sept’09
Base Village: Palu, Dhasai, Murbad
Group: Chakram Hikers
Ganpati Gadad is a group of 6-7 caves near Dhasai. This is fairly simple trek and quite enjoyable and a treat for eyes in monsoons. Unluckily this year it did not rain much and hence there were only small waterfalls on route and very less clouds else generally this trek is pleasant but we faced scorching heat.
We started by bus from Mulund early morning and proceeded towards Murbad and then to Dhasai. We came across an EMU farm on the route. The road was ok and with songs full on it was easy. My friend Richa had joined for this trek after a long time. We reached the base village and started our climbing by 11.00 A.M. The climb is really good.
First walk across few fields and cross a couple of streams and then take right to start climbing the trunk of mountain. The caves of Ganpati Gadad are visible and we need to climb the trunk which is on left hand side of the caves. The climb is too scenic. In front of you is large rocky mountain in which caves are located and right is fort of ‘Durg’. If you look more right you can also see ‘Siddhagad’, ‘Gorakshagad’ and ‘Macchindragad’. On left you can see ‘Dhakoba’ , ‘Jivdhan’ and ‘Naneghat’. Onroute we came across a chameleon and lot of snaps were taken. Walking on tis path you cross couple of Waterfalls though this year falls were slower due to less rainfall. You cross second fall and immediately a path goes uphill on left. Take this path and not one which goes straight. From here climb is steep and little slippery. It will take half an hour to 45 mins from here to reach caves. There are 6-7 odd caves and some people doing penance and staying there. You have a waterfall near face of first cave. We reached caves and had lunch together. Then we rested for while and now I wanted to jump in waterfalls to get wet. Though falls were small, I could not resist the idea of getting wet. Some of us got wet under the fall near caves and then started our climb down. We climb downhill the steeper slope easily and then we can across a fall where there was some pit in between for us to get in.
We got in and started splashing water and had great fun. We made whole water muddy and left. Climb down the trunk of hill was faster and we reached the streams we had crossed earlier in the morning. We again decided to get in and had relish getting wet to our hearts content. Then we crossed fields and a tree where lot of weaving birds were nesting and reached our Bus. We changed and moved towards Muluind. Lot of Chakram special songs were sung and we stopped for Ice cream. Enroute we faced a puncture in our Bus but somehow managed to touch home by 10.15 P.M. It was great and refreshing change.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Achala-Saptshrungi-Ahiwant


Base Village: Acchla – Pimpri
Ahiwant - Daregaon
Date: 12th-13th Sept’09
Group: Chakram Hikers

12th Sept’09: I got onto Tapovan Express at 7.15 A.M. at Kalyan and met all other members of the trek. Parag was leader and it was good to get introduced to new faces. It was good to meet Kiran and Vinay after quite some time. I settled down and game of cards was rolled out. We were playing judgement. We had a breakfast of cutlet, vadapav and tea. We got down at Nasik Road Station by 9.50 P.M. Parag had booked a Tavera and Qualis to go to Acchala Pimpri a base village of Acchala.
We reached base of Acchala by 11.30 A.M. and Sun was at its peak. Facing Acchala, On right of Acchala on the ridge is a temple whose flags are visible from base village. Take path to reach this temple and then from this temple take a path on left towards Acchala that is in center of the trunk. Climb for some time and you will reach a plateau. We were all sweating like pigs by this time. Vaibhav decided to not complete trek and went back to base. Our water bottles were also finishing soon. We walked on right of plateau keeping Acchala on left and came across a very small stream of water and road ahead was lost. We realized we are on wrong way. But we took rest and Vinay made Jaljeera and we refilled our water bottles. Parag, Ameya and Saurabh were looking for the route. Finally we could not find a route and decided to climb across the right face of mountain till the rocky mastiff. We climbed and thank god we found steps carved out in rocky mastiff to go to top. The top has a temple and few water tanks. Only one tank has potable water. We had our lunch near water tanks and immediately we started climbing down. While climbing down we realized actually straight climbing on trunk of mountain is correct route. So guys next time anyone you visit reach the temple on ridge and directly climb straight on trunk till you reach rock and then keeping the rock face on left walk parallel till you reach steps.
We climbed down very fast but towards end we received little rains and that made lot of mud. Out shoes and sandals started becoming very heavy due to mud sticking to them. We reached base village and washed out sandals and shoes thoroughly and had tea. We then started towards Saptshrungi where our night stay was scheduled. Sapshrungi is an enchanting mountain and looks very different due to its big rocky patches. We crossed Vani ghat to reach there and while passing through this ghat one can see a ‘nedha’ in mountain on left. Its quite big and heard it is approachable. We reached Saptshrungi and booked rooms in ‘Bhakt Niwas’. We had balconies of all rooms facing ‘Markandeya’ and on edge of valley. We had our dinner in ‘prasadalay’ just at 7 bucks per person and then had a round of card games in our room. We then dozed off as early morning we had to visit Saptshrungi temple and Ahiwant.

13th Sept'09: We woke up early morning and had amazing photography of Sunrise from our balconies in front of ‘Markandeya’. One of the snap is shown here. If you observer neatly you may even see ‘Dhodap’ behind. We then quickly went to Saptshrungi temple and had breakfast. We then booked a single jeep to travel to base of Ahiwant called Daregaon. I travelled by holding on to rod outside jeep and my feet on foot rest meant for climbing in to jeep. This was really exciting. I was thinking this time has been different. Just few days back I had travelled on top of Bus when we were in Jawahar and now I was dangling outside jeep for the travel. Things which you generally don’t get to do in life. It was thrilling. We reached ase and got one guide from village to show us Ahiwant as time was short. We had 6.00 clock train from Nasik Road Station to catch.
The village guide was really fast and our first climb was too heavy as it was steep and sun was trying its best to make it tougher. The plan was to climb from opposite end of Acchala and climb down from opposite end. After intial climb, We reached a ridge and then had Jaljeera and started towards Ahiwant. You look at Ahiwant and you will realize it stands by its name i.e. it is really big. The complete ‘c’ shaped; very large plateau. The climb to top is from almost behind the face you see from this ridge. Take a path which keeps Ahiwant Rocky mastiff on left and walk parallel. In between you will find a path which goes to top through this mastiff. You will first hit some cave or rooms carved out of rock and path ahead takes you to top of plateau. We reached the first end of ‘c’ and had a sigh of relief as our water was almost to finish but there was a water tank nearby with potable water. The water in tank was really cool and good. We again had round of Jaljeera and filled our bottles. We started exploring the plateau. You walk straight and you reach a much larger plane from this tank and a small mountain emrging in between the plain. Go to right hand side of this mountain i.e. closer to Acchala. Here there is another well whose water is full in all seasons and some old statues. Walk little ahead straight to edge of valley and you will find a path to go down to a cave. Take left from here and walk more to reach a small pond. Ahead of this you will come to place where lot of stones in cubes are scattered proving some structures existed and have collapsed. After this walk straight to reach the other end of ‘c’ where you can also see the ‘nedha’ which could be seen while going to Saptshrungi. Walk straight and you will reach some rock cut steps and on opposite mountain more steps and some stone walls to prove this was fort. The path downhill is between the two mountains. The path downhill was too entertaining courtesy Vinay and Manas.
We reached base by 2.00 P.M. and had a bath at hand pump and then a delicious lunch was awaiting us. I was too happy to have ‘Bhakri-Pithla and Mirchi cha Thecha’ Also Vaibhav had got Amrakhand. Our Jeep to Panchavati arrived and we left by 3.30 towards Nasik Road. We had a round of cards on platform and then in train. It was really wonderful Trek. I loved the mountain range there hoping to get back to do Markendeya-Rawlya-Jawlya-Dhadop-Ikhara.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Chandan-Vandan


Base Village: Banwadi/Ibrahampur
Members: Avinash, Deepak, Purvesh, Saurabh
Date: 6th Sept’09
5th Sept’09: I travelled with my Ex-Boss Mr. Partha to Talegaon from Mumbai in his Wagon R. Saurabh and Deepak came to pick me up at Expressway-Talegaon phata. We did some time pass and then Avinash came down. We were supposed to go to Pune and do some TP with chaitanya bit everyone else was bored to go to Pune. So we decided to stay back at Talegaon and start next day towards Satara. Chaitanya and Manoj called up and told us that they were joining us for dinner. We went to Urban Spice on Old Bombay-Pune Highway and had a great time. We all stayed at Saurabh’s place and had a good Chitchat. We convinced Avinash to join us for trek next day and take leave from office.

6th Sept’09: We staretd early 6.15 A.M. towards Satara in Saurabh’s car from Talegaon. The road was good and we reached Shirval soon. We had some vadapav for breakfast. After this we came to Bhuinz phata and took left towards Chandan-Vandan which were now visible at some distance. Asking for Banwadi we travelled through few villages to reach there. Last 2 K.M. road was bad and finally we managed to reach Ibrahampur. We parked out car near temple and a handpump was nearby to fill our bottles. We started climbing Chandan from a path which goes from behind temple.
The path is easy and you can reach Chandan in an hour. There are lot of small flowers on the way on both sides. There is a small temple inside fort and then there are 2 strcutures of stones kept one over other. We did some photography here. Then we moved ahead and went towards Masjid. We moved around Masjid and went at back of fort. Here you can see some old walls and a temple that seems to have fallen and lot of garbage put there by people visiting the Masjid. Go ahead and you will come across a narrow stretch and right before eyes will be Vandan separated by a ridge. We cannot go to Vandan from here. We returned and started climbing down Chandan. Almost you climb down 75% and there is a shade build by villagers with help of iron poles and iron sheets. Just below this is electricity pole from where path moves towards right. Follow this path to traverse Chandan and you reach a small white color temple. From temple of right side there is path again parallel to Chandan towards the ridge between Chandan-Vandan. On the way I happen to take some close shots of brown pegion. In 45 mins you can reach the ridge between two forts. The wind here is gusty and cool. We did some photography here and moved towards Vandan.
Move towards Vandan on the same path on ridge and follow straight keeping Vandan on right and exposed valley on left. Move ahead and at top you will see bastion of Vandan fort and a Darwaja. In half an hour you can reach the Darwaja. Vandan is quite bigger and also has Masjid and few Maqbaras. Also are few ponds which are dirty and a well. Nothing great to look around we started our; descend soon after taking some pictures. We decided to have lunch at the small white temple. We had great time during lunch and it was great to be with my old time pals. We then moved to our car and changed and got fresh with lift pump water. We decided to take longer route as road we came was bad to join Satara Highway. We halted at Kamath’s on the way little ahead of Shirval. Mind you guys though it is Kamath never stop here. Food is pathetic and ridiculous. We reached Hinjewadi phata by 7.15 P.M. and then started most thrilling part of my journey.
I got a lift in Mitsubishi Lancer till Kalyan Phata from Hinjewadi. I was too happy and was enjoying but my happiness was short lived. The headlights of Lancer stopped working and we had nightmare. On Expressway we drove at decent speed following vehicles and using my small torch to show way. My heart was beating faster and butterflies were in my stomach. I and driver were sitting in front and driving. Sometimes we could not chase a car and suddenly everything will blacken out and driver will apply urgent brakes in center of road. It was too scary and risky. Then a car would come and we would follow it. Only good thing was parking lights were working and hence nobody banged us. Somehow I managed to reach Kalayan Phata. The driver thanked me for all support and help. He said if I wouldn’t have been there he would have parked and slept and started next day. In mind I cursed him but also I enjoyed as it was a lifetime experience. Never would anyone travel Pune-Mumbai in night without lights and this thought itself tingle my adventure bone to jump for the risk!!!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Talegad-Ghoshalgad-Birwadi-Avchitgad

Talegad - Base Village: Tala
Ghoshalgad – Base Village: Ghoshale
Birwadi – Base Village: Birwadi (Chanera)
Avchitgad – Base Village: Medha
Date: 1st and 2nd Aug’ 09

All above forts and around Roha a town situated on banks of Kundalika river in Konkan.

1st Aug’ 09: I started from home early morning and went and got a ticket for Diva-Sawantwadi passenger, which leaves Diva station at 6.17 A.M. But to reach Diva itself was a challenge. 3 early morning locals were cancelled. I got a 6.07 A.M. local and just managed to reach in nick of time for the passenger. I met other Chakram members and our leader Parag and got into train. Initially I had no place to seat but other members told me that there was sufficient place in bogies ahead. So we 3-4 people moved ahead and settled down on vacant seats. I had not slept properly earlier night so dozed off. But local tea, samosa vendors were troubling. Towards end of my journey lot of vegetable vendors boarded train and then it was chaos as there was continuous vendors coming in for different vegetables and fruits. Train reached 9.00 A.M. sharp at Roha. We booked a Tata Magic from one local guy to travel to base villages of fort. He said he will come by 10.15 as he had some scholl kids to be dropped and we were fine as we all needed a breakfast.
We had a good breakfast at Hotel Vrindavan, opposite ST Stand. But to continue with our troubles, the drives did not turn up till 10.30 A.M. Finally we staretd looking for some one else. We interacted with other locals , tempos and drivers but none was ready. We got a number of one Mangesh who had a red color Magic. We called him and he agreed. By the time we started it was 12.15 P.M. Our plan was to cover Talegad, Ghoshalgad and Birwadi today. So we immediately moved towards Tala. Tala is approximately 26 K.M. away from Roha. We reached base in an hour and started the climb. The climb is easy and you can reach the top in 25 mins flat. There are good remains on the Tala end of fort and some flag posts. There was also a water tank near entrance of fort. We then moved to other end of fort. The greenery of plateau was mesmerizing. We moved ahead and found some large water tanks. There was one ‘khamb taki’ too. We further moved ahead and reached other end of fort where there is a buruj. After some photography we decided to climb down.
We came down in 15 mins and then decided immediately to go to Ghoshalgad. Ghoshalgad is some 5 KM away from here. We could not see Kuda Caves which are near Talegad. We reached base of Ghoshalgad in half an hour and began climbing. Ghoshale village has a ‘Svayambhu Ganpati Mandir’. Good place for a stay. There is way from right of the temple which directly goes to entrance of Ghoshalgad. But we missed this and took a left. I went ahead looking for road and reached exactly behind Ghoshalgad. Before me was a simple looking but a slippery rockpatch of 15 feet to be scaled to get to top. So I returned and found Hardikar uncle, Hemant and others waiting for me. We immediately returned and came across a villager who put us on a right track. We scaled the mountain and reached entrance where there are some steps and a bastion. Fort was spread on both sides of this entrance. We first decided to take right towards a Buruj and a narrow trunk of mountain. Reache end, had a good view and photography and asked who ever wishes can join us to go to left side of fort where there some climb was remaining. Some of us moved fast ahead for the left side. We scaled steps on bastion and reached a water tank. We walked towards back side but could not find route reaching top. We again came back and met some village kids near another water tank. They were fishing in the tank. They showed us a way which was leading to rock patch which I had seen earlier. The kids told it will be slippery to climb right now so we dropped that idea and started scaling down Ghoshalgad. We were at the base by 4.15 P.M. We asked our driver to move fast towards Birwadi. We had lunch in the vehicle itself and saved some time. Birwadi was some 40 KM away from Ghoshalgad. Our drives really drove fast and made us reach by 5.15 P.M. to base of Birwadi fort. Sky was still lighted though there were dark monsoon clouds. I had read that Birwadi could be scaled in half an hour.
At the base of fort is a temple. The temple is too clean and is a good place to stay for night. We took right from temple and found there was no way ahead so we came back and thought of getting a villager to show us the way as It will be dark soon and we will miss today’s target of scaling 3 forts in a day. But as we came back to temple we say a way going from left and saw a Shivaji Statue there. We immediately followed that path. Shivaji Rajeanna amhi salaami keli and followed mud path. In few minutes we were near a small rock patch to be climbed to reach top. The rock patch was very easy and we made it to top by 6.00 P.M. We looked around fort and did some photography. By 6.30 we were at base and in our vehicle. We halted at Chanera for tea. After this we moved to Roha for night halt. Nearing Roha we passed a store where a advertisement was put up for tablet named ‘Sulti’ – ‘Ulti Thambavnyasathi Sulti gya’ We found it too funnly. We stayed in a flat of Ganesh Utsav Mandal and had dinner at Bartakke restaurant in the bus stand complex. Food was amazing specially ‘Bhakri ani Mirchi cha Thecha’ We had a nice sleep at night. We were relaxed that next day we need to do only Avchitgad.

2nd Aug’09: We woke up early morning and did our chores. We left the flat and had breakfast at Hotel Suruchi near bus stand. We then booked a 6 Seater tum tum and got our bags from flat moved towards Medha for Avchitgad. We started climbing by 9.00 A.M. There are 2 wells near the base, one is large. We have to take a straight mud path from this well and keep climbing little from left side and cross from valley and reach a col between Avchitgad and other mountain. From col take right to Avchitgad. After some easy climb you reach top. It takes 1.15 mins to reach top and climb is continuous and hence tiring. Above that there was no wind on this side of mountain. We met another group just near entrance of fort. We had some timer shots near entrance and then we started exploring fort. The wind on top was soothing and cooling. The view to Medha and surroundings was too scenic. We could spot Nidi railway station from top. We came across cannon on fort and a buruj where we had lot of photography. Then we went to other side of fort and came across a man made large pond on top. We moved ahead and came across a temple and climbed down from mountain to some water tanks. They were seven in all or ‘saptakund’. Me and Hardikar uncle moved to other end of fort and came across one more buruj and entrance to fort. Just then Parag gave a call on Uncle’s mobile and we moved back to water tanks. Then we decided just to chill out as we had lot of time and have some snacks. We came down by 12.30 P.M. back to well. Girls were still behind. Parag and Hardikar uncle got ‘pohra’ for drawing water from well. We had a amazing bath at well and changed in fresh clothes. I was cursing rain as through the trek there was no rain and it was supposed to be monsoon trek. But after getting fresh on well, I felt better as Avchitgad climbing had really made me sweat and my Tshirt was wet completely. Bo sooner we changed and were waiting for girls and others to come down it started raining. It was ridiculous. We decided now not to get wet and settled in out tum tum. Then we reached Roha back by 1.50 P.M. and had tea. We caught a bus for Pen and from there a different ST to Panvel. It was raining cats and dogs in Panvel. We got a bus to Dombivli and I reached home by 6.30 P.M.
I will have to go back again to see the Kuda Caves and top of Ghoshalgad. May be this winter we can do tht.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Manikgad - A Fort of Traverses

Manikgad
Base Village : Vadgaon
Members:
  • Saurabh
  • Gangaram
  • Kavita
  • Ravi
  • Jitendra
  • Purvesh
Date: 26th July'09

Me and Dad started at 7.15 A.M. from home on my bike. We reached chowk by 8.15 A.M. I tried reaching Saurabh, who was coming from talegaon in car with some friends but could not get through is phone. Finally I called his home to ask what time they have started and came to know they started by 8.00 A.M. So I knew we are going to be late and hence went to main Chowk diversion and waited for Saurabh.

Saurabh and others came by 9.15 A.M. to chowk. We had vadapv and tea and moved ahead towards Vadgaon. We have to take road towards Vashivli from Chowk, just after patalganga refinery or before you enter vashivali there is a left to Vadgaon. This is base of Manikgad. We parked our vehicles here.

We loaded our water bottles and started the trek. First you have to walk towards fields and take right from Vdgaon towards a mountain. Climb this mountain and you will find some rock cut steps on way. After this climb and some walk we reached katarwadi. It takes almost 1hour 15 mins to reach here. From here walk straight towards plateau. The plateau was lush green and was too big. Cricket sathi yogya jaga....We crossed the plateau and came across a place of flowing water and a well. cross this and continue walking till you finally reached the base of Manaikgad fort. Walk into jungle for some time and you will come across a diversion on left. if you walk straight you will reach another plateau and also see pinnacle of Manikgad i.e. Maniklingi on left. So dont walk straight but take the left diversion, the route will take you behind Manikgad and again bring near front and will also keep climbing. Keep following till you reach col between Manikgad and Maniklingi. From here take left to move towards the fort and climb on till you reach top.

We reached top after so many traverses in 3.5 hours almost. We had some small timepass lunch here. Wind was blowing very violently that you had to firmly hold yourself on ground. We made jaljeera too and then we started seeing the fort walls. We reached inside fort in 10 mins and looked around. There are few remains and a door and few water tanks on fort. No shelter. Then we begin climbing down.
When we reached near katarwadi i.e on plateau we saw a big fat mongoose running around. we came near well and I was damn hungry. Also Ravi and Kavita had ventured straight in forest instead of coming to well. So Saurabh and others called them and located them. Good thing range was available!!! I settled for sandwiches on a rock and then everybody had a lunch. After this we climbed down fast and reached vadgaon. I kick started my bike and bid bye to the friends and started towards Dombivli. I had wore shorts on trek and was cursing myself as mosquitoes and spider bit me and i was having red rashes all over my legs for 2 days. The satisfaction of going to Manikgad was more than everything esle....Now I am awaiting my next trek.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Kalkalrai Conquered

Group: Chakram Hikers
Base Village: Jambhavli (Kamshet)
Base Village: Sankshi (Karjat side)

9th May’09: I had been to Dhak Bahiri before 3-4 times and every time the visit has been exciting. Recently we had also been to Dhak fort. Every time when we used to pass the Dhak pinnacle or famously known as Kalkarai Pinnacle I used to watch it with awe. This time we were here to scale this pinnacle. The mere idea of scaling this pinnacle gave made my adrenalin rush.

I was staying for last couple of days at Saurabh’s home in Talegaon and was on official tour in Pune. I had already got the necessities for trek with me and started for trek from Sau’s home. On 9th ; we did some shopping for Saurabh in evening in Shoppers stop and Central and came back to get prepared for trek. We bought some cucumbers and bread, cheese spread and also some bourbon biscuits for trek. At around 9.30 P.M. Saurabh’s dad dropped us on Mumbai-Pune highway where Mangesh, our leader was waiting for us. We got into his Swift and swiftly moved towards Kamshet with a stopover at Kanhe for Petrol. We even got the multipurpose fuel stove filled at petrol pump as it will be required for tea in morning next day. We came to Kamshet and halted at diversion of Jambhavli and looked around for some tea corner. But none was available. We called up Mak who was coming on bike from Mumbai and others who were in Qualis.

We then moved to highway dhaba and had tea and came back and met Mak and Reshma who had arrived from Mumbai. We decided to move ahead to Jambhavli and informed the people in Qualis about the same; as they took stop at Lonavla for dinner. We reached jambhavli in an hour or so and road was okay. Then me and Mak went on bike and checked whether car can be taken to Kondeshwar Mandir which is about 2 K.M. ahead of Jambhavli. We found, it can be done and even temple was empty to stay. So we continued back to Mangesh so that we can stay at Kondeshwar that night. It was little hot inside temple and hence we decided to sleep outside only. It was already around 2.00 A.m. to sleep.
10th May’09: I woke up at 5.30 A.M. and found people in Qualis had also turned up at night sometime. I freshened myself and put on an additional T-Shirt as it was getting very cold. I went to fetch water for tea. Lot of frogs were in the pond whom I shooed away and filled water, But a fish came in my vessel and I did not realize the same in darkness. After; while making tea someone realized about fish and it was filtered and thrown out. “Saala Nonveg Chaha Zala”
After tea and breakfast we started our trek towards Kalkarai. Suhas, Mangesh and Saurabh continued ahead and we trudged behind. By the time we reached Mangesh and Suhas had reached second ledge already i.e. around 80-90 feet of patch already done. We all reached base and settled down for rope to be fixed since we could not see third ledge which was a traverse towards exposed valley. Reshma had just come to rest and was reading some book called “Aag ka Dariya” and we were chitchatting. By 11.00 A.M. Ropes were fixed and climbing started. First went Kaustubh and then Saurabh and then was my turn. For First 2 ledges we were given Zumar for protection and support to climb which was easier. Just before second ledge was little space where we needed to hold on to some pinch holds and move our Zumar up and pull body up asap; as grips were small. It was little tricky one. But most of us got through easily here. Now was the most exciting part of the climb. From Second ledge you move little across towards right and come towards exposed valley. Here there is a little overhanging rock around which you have to take traverse and then you are on one of the big ledge. Mangesh asked me that whether I need ladder for this and I said no that I will attempt this one. First I caught the left steel bolt in my 2 fingers and a right screw bolt in one finger and pulled my body up and rested my right foot on small foot hold on exposed valley patch. Then Mangesh guided me to hold a inner cut in crack at knee level with my left hand and somehow took my left leg up too. Now slowly I moved my left hand form inner cut further towards right more. Now Mangesh said Mak from other ledge will guide me and I still could not see Mak but only could hear him. I was asked to put my right hand right across the the stomach of the rock and look for a big crack in it. The crack was not visible as we needed to bend far ahead for it to be seen. Mak was guiding my hand like little ahead, one more inch; little up etc. as only he could see my hand movement searching for the crack. This time I received a cramp in my right leg and left leg started to shiver. Mangesh was firmly holding my left leg and my first attempt of searching the crack had failed and I recoiled. Then I started again and once more I failed. Now I attempted third time and immediately this time I located crack and then I removed my left hand from inner crack and put in the newly located big crack and pulled my body towards Mak. I was surprised to see such a huge ledge there. 5-6 people will easily stand there. My throat had gone parched and I just could not speak when I reached near Mak. He asked me to sit for some time and offered me water. Thanks to Sada I even got Guava juice to drink there. It was amazing experience. Now ahead was a 7-8 feet high patch and there was hardly any place to put your feet below and pull up your body. I caught a hump on the patch and pulled my body up and immediately rested my left leg on steel bolt and then with press hold pulled myself up. After that It was just too easy another 10-12 feet and I was on top of Kalkarai. The satisfaction of this climb was amazing.

Suhas, Sagar and Saurabh welcomed me on top and I made Jaljeera for everyone. After some photography on top I started rapelling down the pinnacle. First 15 feet went smooth and then was overhang. I saw Mangesh down on second ledge where I was supposed to stop to complete the first patch of rapelling. I began slowly on overhang patch to rappel down. Mangesh told me to leave both my hands and he will get me down. I blindly trusted him and left the hands from rope and in a minute I was down standing next to Mangesh. Next rappelling was very easy and I got down to the khind junction(Junction where straight goes to Bahiri, right goes to Dhak fort and left to this Pinnacle). By 2.30 everyone was done and we packed and had lunch too and were on return journey. By 4.00 we reached Kondeshwar Temple and then moved towards Jambhavli. We had some nimbu pani and jaljeera and moved towards Kamshet. Seeing off everyone at Kamshet, Me, sau and Mangesh took back old Mumbai-Pune Highway for Talegaon. We dropped at Talegaon junction and took tumtum to Sau’s home. Next day I caught Sahaydri to be back to Mumbai. The climb was mesmerizing and will always remain a memorable experience. After this I have decided next Apr-May’10 I am going for NIM – Basic course in Mountaineering.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Padmadurg-Samrajgad-Revdanda

Fort: Padmadurg
Type: Sea-Fort
Base Village: Rajpuri

Fort: Samrajgad
Base Village: Ekdara

Fort: Revdanda
Base Village: Revdanda

Date: 25th and 26th April’09

25th April’09: This was a private trek organized by Vinay and entry was by invitation only. The main aim was to see Padmadurg, a sea fort bang opposite Janjira near Alibaug 4 K.M. inside sea. Actually no one is allowed on this fort only local fishermen go there. Me and Jayram decided to go for this as it will be difficult to get a chance again visiting this fort. I started from my house at 10.15 P.M. and went to Uday’s place at Lodha heaven in Dombivli. We had hired his Trax cruiser for journey and from there we took Trax and dropped his relatives in Mulund and reached near Chakram’s office by 11.30 P.M. One of the members, Hemlata was late and we began our journey towards Murud by 12.30 A.M. We picked up Nitin at SK wheels, Turbhe on the way. Me and Rajan were seated in front. Jayaram was supposed to join us at Murud.

26th April’09: We reached Wadkhal naka by 2.30 P.M. and had tea. After this the cold wind started taking toll on me and started getting drowsy. But Rajan woke me up and then I felt fresh. Then Rajan dozed off and we inched our way towards Murud. We passed through Phansad sanctuary and forest was really looking dense. At Murud, We caught up with Jayaram and moved towards village. We reached by 4.15 A.M. There was a big temple of Lord Ganesha and poojari was already preparing for Pooja. So we decided against sleeping in temple premises as sound of bell will disturb us. We slept near a hanuman temple and dosed off for an hour and half. Then someone woke me up at 6.00 A.M. and I started preparing for day ahead. First time I had a slept under open skies with sound of waves nearby. It was great feeling. After this was best part, searching for place to pass stools. Luckily Sachin had got tissues, So we made upto rocks on the beach. We were told by villagers not to go farther as then begun area for females. Best part is once high tide comes everything will be washed away and rocks will be clean once again to take shit of next day ☺. After all daily chores, we did a small climb to reach place of the Village head of fishermen and settled outside his house for breakfast. The village head was generous and arranged for tea too. We were going to sail in his boat.

Then we walked on beach to reach jetty and go onto the boat and started our journey towards Padmadurg. Initially everyone had fear of falling as boat cruised through waves but slowly everyone settled down and sea was clam. We went parallel to Janjira and water here was dirty brown in color. Once we crossed Janjira water turned soothing green like Mediterranean. Far off we could see Padmadurg standing in middle of sea. We had Apte Kaka with us and so we had a dive into history of the fort. The history is that the Siddhi's had controlled the land from the Kundalika river to the Savitri river near Harihareshwar during their rule and were never defeated. Siddhi's were basically Abyssinians (current Eithopia) and had come here by sea. They built Janjira on the island and made it very strong and controlled the sea and land from here. There are underwater tunnels from Janjira which open on Land in the vicinity. In one of them Villagers still enter and kill bats there. This information was provided by boatman’s sons.

Shivaji Maharaj waged a losing battle against the Siddhi's but he could not capture Janjira anytime. Shivaji Maharaj built Padmadurg to keep a check on Siddhi as he could not let Siddhi rule with oppression. Padmadurg was built around 1675 by Daulatkhan (an architect) and was in the control of Marathas until 1698 when Siddhi captured it and ruled it until the end.

The fort is divided into 3 parts. The main fort, the padkot (or the supporting fort) and the retaining wall of the fort. We reached Padmadurg and got off, the boat was rocking strongly as high tide was setting in and we got down with great difficulty on slippery stones. We got down and reached first door of Fort called as Darya Darwaza. We did not enter from Darya Darwaza but went around the fort and entered the padkot part. Padmadurg was named as Padmadurg because of the shape like lotus petals as seen in picture here. Here Apte Kaka read out a letter written by Shivaji Maharaj to one Jivaji Vinayak, Who was possible to provide necesseities to buit the Fort. The fort is built with some special cementing material which has not got eroded even though the stone has got eroded.

We then saw the third part the wall and one of the wall centres had collapsed creating a hole. The scene was just too beautiful. Then we entered main fort through main door. Here are few barracks made by indian customs. There are 3 huge tanks but were dry and some store rooms. The fort is scattered with cannons everywhere. I had read that fort had 46 cannons and some had fallen from their places down on rock below or may be pushed down by someone. I could locate 37 of these. Apte kaka also told story of Kanoji Angre and then we decided to depart after a group photo. Also there are stories that RDX for Bombay Blasts was landed on this fort. After this we started our return journey and went from other side of Janjira to the jetty. Then we started our journey towards Ekdara for Samrajgad.

This fort is hardly known by anyone and was built by Samrajpant under Shivaji Maharaj vigilance. The fort eas built to keep watch on Siddi’s activities. But it was won by shrewd siddhi in 1675. There is ‘L’ shaped bastion left which defines the existence of fort. Once you cross this bastion and move towards opposite end on left you see is Janjira. The view of Janjira Is too beautiful from here. On the right you see Padmadurg. Apte Kaka here told us the story of how Samrajgad was conquered by shrewd siddi. Then we quickly got down and went towards Patil Khanaval for lunch. We had good lunch and then we started our return journey, Onwards we decided to look at Revdanda fort. I knew Revdanda is famous for Birla Mandir but never knew it also had a sea fort.

The sea fort of Revdanda is quite big and has a vast expanse. There are few houses inside the fort. Also an old siddheswar temple. The fort is built by Potugese and houses famous Square bastion ‘chaukuni buruj’. Oppsite the fort once you come out on beach you can see Korlai on hill. The Revdanda fort also has few canons and even has a church. The walls are 2.5 ft to 5ft thick. We took rest for a while here and staretd our return journey to Mumbai.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Ghangad & Telbaila Wall Climbing

Date: 11-12th April’09
Fort: Ghangad
Base Village: Ekole

Fort: Telbaila
Base Village: Telbaila
Group: Chakram Hikers
10th April’09: Sau, Deepak, Jayram, Vikram and me had decided to go for Telbaila Climbing with Chakram Hikers. Me, Jayram and Sau had decided to meet at Avinash’s home in Bhushi, Lonavla and sleep there for the night and next day go for Climbing to Telbaila. I reached Avinash place by 9.15 P.M. on my bike and Jayaram joined in few mins. Avinash had made Wadapav for us and we ate till our stomachs will burst. After this we had ice cream. Then Sau and Vikram joined in. We did some TP and watched Resident Evil till 2.00 A.M. and the slept.


11th April’09: We all begin on our bikes via INS Shivaji and road was excellent as it is the same road that goes to Amby Valley. Just before Ambavne Village there is a turn to right. Take this turn and road is very bad. You have a diversion at Saltar Village, But continue straight towards Bhamburde Village. Before Bhamburde is right diversion and board on tree shows the direction n towards Telbaila Village. Take this diversion and 3 K.M. more on this bad road we reached Telbaila Village. Enroute Moon was looking beautiful even in morning and little away Telbaila imposing look on the base village was commendable. We reached Telbaila Village and met with Chakram leaders. To our surprise Saturday batch i.e. 11th April Batch was cancelled and we were not informed. But we wanted to this climbing and hence said we will stay back for next day. We trekked and reached the Col in between Telbaila walls and did some TP and had breakfast. Then we decided to do Ghangad and Morgiri. So we started climbing down at 9.00 A.M. By this time Jayaram got an emergency call and left to his home. Me, Sau, Deepak and Vikram continued to Ghangad. Enroute we took snaps of Navra-Navri Pinnacles and We reached Ekole the base village and filed our water bottles. We started our climbing. Enroute we came across a Nandi which was dug up from its place. Some miscreants had done this and while digging they even broke it. I think purpose must be stealing but since it broke they left it back. Then we reached the base fort walls of Ghangad. Just before this, there is some stone formation formed in form of a 10ft high Pinnacle. We did some photography here. Then we reached the Darwaja and some rock cut caves were visible. On right was a big piece of Rock which had come off the wall. It must be 50—60 feet high rock piece. It looks enormous. On left is a small 15 ft rock patch which is easy to reach top. I had done Ghangad earlier and Sun had heated the rock. So Deepak, Sau and Vikram Continued Climbing the patch and I made jaljeera for myself. Vikram also came down in few mins. Then me and Vikram settled in shade and had some Time pass discussion. Sau and Deepak were engrossed in photography on top and came after an hour. I helped them climb down and then we had something to eat like cucumber and Bourborn biscuits and jaljeera water to sustain. Afternoon was extremely hot and we started climbing down the Dhangad. After this we decided to have lunch at Cloud 9 hotel and moved towards Lonavala. Lunch was good with PAvbhaji, Wads Pav, Uttapa at Hotel and then we moved to Lonavala through same bad road and Amby Valley highway.
We had some coffee and cold drinks in Lonavala and then Vikram departed. We did some shopping in Lonavala for our lunch next day and blanket to for sleeping. Then Deepak went to his Sis’s place and me and Sau decided to go back to Telbaila Village. The drive through the forest in night was exhilarating. A car crossed us in middle of forest and suddenly someone called Sau. We were surprised who knows us in this forest. Actually Rajan and Sharang were going to Lonavala for dinner and get their punctured tyre made. Then we continued our beautiful ride in moonlight and reached base village. We did some photography of Moon which was looking so beautiful and then dozed off. Night some 12 people from Chakram came in bus by 3.00 A.M.


12th April'09: I woke up at 5.00 A.M. and went for my morning activities. Nature is best place as a change for this activity ☺. Then I woke up Sau and we did our packing and got ready for climbing. My heart was beating faster today as I had waited for this climb for 6 long years. After this I went to Chakram group and told them to get ready and come to the house of ‘Rambhau Mene’ where we were staying as breakfast and tea was ready. Temple of Taibaila village was beautiful now and with hard brick walls. 6 years back it was in shambles when I had come earlier and stayed there. After this we started our climbing saluting the first rays of Sun and reached the Col in between walls of Telbaila. Ropes were already fixed a day before by the volunteers and leader and climbing started.some 18 of us did climbing. Sau and Deepak were before me. Then came my turn, I got on my harness and carried my camera, waterbottle and kokam sharbat in my bag. The bolting on this walls has been recently done by Safe Climbing Insitute. Till first bolt the climb is easy and then you need to go left and climb a small patch where Mangesh was there to support. Man this man is like a Lizard to cling to rock. He helped me get through this patch and then again there is a left traverse. This move is little frightening but I did it with guidance from Mangesh. Once you cross this Nitin was there to receive and he had Kokam Sharbat from my bag. Few steos and you reach first cave. Here me and Pinak took some snaps and rested. Then we have to walk horizontally and cross some more steps and reach second cave. From this second cave is a overhang climb where wire ladder was put up to make it easier. Sau, Deepak and Vinay were also there in the cave waiting turn to go up as simultaneously people were rappelling down too. I told Sau that now I will go before him so that he can take my snaps. I climbed this overhang in few mins and then Rajan tied me up to a bolt and asked me to seat as Gaurav was getting down. Then I moved to Sharang who guided me to climb the last rock patch and reach Vilas. After this there was a scree walk and I was on top where Sudeep, Sada, Deepak and Gautami welcomed me. My joy knew no bounds that I had done it. Then we did some photography on top and walked to both ends of wall. The satisfaction level of scaling this wall was too high.

After this I climbed down the scree and same path and again with Sharang’s guidance came down. I reached Rajan and rappelled down to second cave. I had water and again had a lateral walk towards Nitin along with Mangesh. I then rappelled down to the Col. Then we waited for Sau who also came soon and then we all went to Telbaila village. The volunteers took quite some time to wind up and it was dark. They came down by 10.00 P.M. and really great of them to climb down in torch lights. Hats off to these guys to maintain such safety standards and ensuring everyone climbs. We took our bikes and left Telbaila by 8.45 P.M. and I reached home by 11.45 P.M. on my bike.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Forts & Places of Interest Visited

Forts:

Sinhagad
Rajmachi (Shrivardhan & Manoranjan)
Tung
Tikona
Korigad
Gangad (Dhangad)
Sudhgad
Sarasgad
Ghargad
Bahula
Kavnai
Dhak
Prabalgad
Chavand
Jivdhan
Balwantgad
Harishchandragad
Shivneri
Hadsar
Chanderi
Purandar
Wajragad
Gorakhgad
Ratangad
Jaigad
Karnala (Pinnacle Pending)
Peb
Peth(Kothligad)
Kenjalgad
Rayreshwar
Raigad
Rajgad
Torna
Vasota(New)
Lohagad
Visapur
Ankai
Tankai
Kawlya
Mahuli
Daulatabad(Devgiri)
Pratapgad
Rohida
Manikgad
Talegad
Ghoshalgad
Birwadi
Avchitgad

Places of Interest visit (Treks & Adventures):

Kalsubai - Highest Peak in Maharashtra
Sandhan
Dhak - Bahiri
Hadbi Chi Shendi
Valley of Flowers twice
Leh-Ladakh (Khardungla Biking)
Hemkund Sahib
Kalavanteen
Telbaila (Wall Climbing Done)
Duke's Nose

Monday, April 6, 2009

Sandhan-Balwantgad

Place: Sandhan-Balwantgad
Date: 5th April'09
Base Village: Samrad
Group: Chakram Hikers



4th April '09: Me and my dad started by train to Mulund where we were supposed to meet Rajan; the group leader and catch bus for the trek. The trek was supposed to be beautiful and easy. I had expected a group to 8-10 people but a whopping 28 people were for this trek. We started by bus towards our destination. After moving ahead of Thane and and bus taking speed, the mood for antakshri took over. We sang lot of songs and not to mention, My dad did sing some 'Dard Bhare Nagme'. For some youngsters maybe it was too much a dose of the Dard-E-Dil Songs..Nevertheless we enjoyed...


5th April' 09: We had a stop at a Hotel before Kasara Ghat and had some tea and continued towards destination. The base village was Samrad near Ghoti. We reached village and immediately went near Village temple and dozed off. It was already 5.00 A.M. in morning to sleep. I woke up late at 7.10 A.m. did my brush and tea was ready. Chakram's arrangements are really good. After that we had some 'poha' and started by 8.15 A.M. towards Sandhan, a gorge. A villager in whose house our lunch arrangements were made came along with us as guide. We have to walk towards Ratangad and take a right diversion, cross some plains and you r at the beginning of gorge. The first look at it and you are mesmerized at nature’s creation. Both sides are rocky walls and between a short passage to cross. Some huge stones scattered and some water here and there. I think fish population in the water holes was quite large, may be because water is drying up. In rainy season this place must be heaven. We went ahead and had to climb down a big boulder where we could hear some water falling. When we got down we could see some water falling from under boulder but was quite inside; the caves like formation. After this we moved ahead and come across a place where a small pond had blocked our way. Only way was to cross passing though the same or walking on a small rock cut on side wall and then crossing a bridge made of tree trunk(4-6 inch wide only). Here we waited for someone to fall on pond while doing this activity. But our bad luck even fatso people managed to cross this with some help. ‘Chayla ek hi no ball nahi padla’. Then we moved ahead and crossed a python which I supposed was killed by some village people and place was stinking. We moved ahead and again came across water pond blocking gorge. Here there was no option but to walk through water and to add to our woes we had a poisonous snake (must be viper) on the side wall. We managed to cross this and water was too cold. In this hot summer it was great feeling. Some people did fall in this water and it was great show. We named some females as ‘Lakme fashion week’ participants and waited for their ramp walk i.e. how they will fall off in the water. Then we moved ahead and saw a high wall ahead where some ‘kaman’ had been built on top. Some people do ‘Flying Fox’ activity from here. It really must be thrilling. Next time If I go to Sandhan, I will go for this activity. I went to edge of Sandhan and had a good look at ‘Ajoba’. The valley was really beautiful and mesmerizing, you can also see the bottom of valley from this edge…Then we had some snacks and moved back. Enroute I had good snaps of signature spider and tht dead python. The water crossing activity was thrilling this time as we waited to count how many people go down this time and it was really funny. Then we climbed up the gorge at one place on Samrad Plateau and reached edge of valley. It was beautiful. The big rock mountains and ‘c’ shaped valley was too scenic. Opposite you can see ‘Agni Baan’ Pinnacles and ‘Ajoba’ . Backside you can see range of ‘Alang-Kulang-Madan’ . After this we returned to Samrad and had lunch. Poli, Bhaji ani Dal bhat was excellent. After this Kiran ne aanlele rassogulla was like icing on cake. We had great lunch and started towards ‘Balwantgad’.

This fort is very easy to climb and there are hardly any remnants to prove this fort exists. There is only one patch of fort wall left and some water tanks. Here we made our ‘Kokam Sarbat with Jaljeera’ Combo. Then we climbed down and had a feedback of trek from everyone. Then we returned and had a round of songs and sher-o-shayri in Bus. We reached Mulund back at 9.45 P.M. in night and then caught train back to Dombivli. I was happy that my dad successfully completed the same.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Purandar-Vajragad

Date: 14th March’09
Base Village: Narayanpur

Members:
· Jayaram
· Chaitanya
· Vikram
· Sharayu
· Purvesh



Chaitanya and I planned to do Purandar and Vajragad on 14th March’09. We asked Jayaram, Sharayu and Vikram. They also immediately joined in. on 14th morning me and Chaitu started towards Pune on our bikes at 5.30 A.M. We took a new route to reach Panvel via Badlapur Highway and Taloja MIDC. The road is good but lot of speed breakers and air pollution on MIDC road. Then we crossed Irshal, Prabal and Kalavanteen. I always look at Irshal and feel that I have to get there. With all these in mind we continued towards Lonavla. We had breakfast at Lonavla and By this time Jayaram reached Chaiut’s flat in Kothrud. We sped towards Kothrud after breakfast and met Sai. Then Sharayu and Vikram joined in and We started towards Purandar. We took Banglore highway crossed Katraj and reached Narayanpur Phata. Then we reached base of Narayanpur and after this tar road ended. We started on stony road towards Purandar. In 45 min we were on top.


We saluted the brave ‘Murar Baji’ and reached the ‘Bini Darwaja’. After some photography we moved to Purandeshwar temple. We parked our bikes and started scaling the fort. Fort is occupied by army who come here for rigorous training. British have left quite a few houses and colony behind. After some photography near temple and some shortcuts and easy rock patches we were atop Purandar at Delhi Darwaja. We first went left on machi towards Vajragad and took some photos. Me and Sai were fast and remaining were doing tp. We moved towards bale killa. On the way was a small pond, where water was cool and fresh. Then we climbed the first hill where there was some structure and a room built in. but there was no road ahead for bale killa and hence we had to climb down the hillock again and cross a water tank and then a straight path towards Kedareshwar temple. We had lunch at Kedareshwar thanks to Vikram and Chaitanya. Sai got some dry fruits. After lunch we climbed down fast and reached Purandeshwar temple. We had Buttermilk and nimbu pani at stall there and continued to Vajragad.

Route to Vajragad is quite simple. We have to take left from Sambhaji statue and take left traverse to reach the main Darwaja of Vajragad. Atop is a hanuman temple and few water tanks. I suppose there was a bale killa but it seems some has fully blown up that rock mountain. Though quite a few remains are visible and Darwaja is most part which is intact. From here we can have a view of ‘Mastani talav’ – a place where Bajirao Peshwa and Mastani used to have walk. Then after some photography we climbed down and proceeded towards Purandeshwar temple for our bikes and Nimbu Pani. Then we went down the dangerous stony road and touch based the highway and sped too Chaitu’s room back. Then we all hot fresh and Sau joined in to watch ‘Gulaal’ movie late night show.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Ghargad-Bahula-Kavnai

Date : 7-8th March'09
Group: Chakram Hikers

Fort1 : Ghargad aka Gadgada
Base Village: Ghargad Sankshi
Grade: Difficult (need technical climbing)

Fort2: Bahula
Base Village : nearest is Ambe Bahula
Grade: Easy

Fort 3: Kavnai
Base Village: Kavnai
Grade: Easy

6th March'09
Saurabh and Jayaram came to my place around 11.30 at night. I had a event in office so I also came around 12.00 midnight. Then I did my packing and next day morning 5.30 We had to start our biking.

7th March'09
Morning we woke up at 5.15am and post freshening up and calling up Mangesh Deshpande (the leader) that we would meet at the main junction at Kalyan - Nashik road we started at 6.15am only to find Sau's rear tyre punctured. We decided that Sau would take the jeep with the others and me and Purvesh go on the bike. We reached the junction at 6.45am and found the others waiting. Sau then went into the jeep and we went on our bikes. This was NH3 with heavy truck traffic and many diversions as it was being converted into a 4 lane highway.The going was good as we were on bikes we could easily manuevor between trucks and vehicles fast ahead. It was decided to stop at Latifwadi post Kasara for breakfast. We reached Doghra Hotel, Latifwadi at around 8am and had a nice breakfast of paratha , misal and chai at the same time i got to know the Chakram members.Post breakfast it was the bad kasara ghat where it was a jam of slow moving trucks and 4 wheelers. But being on the bike has its advantages of going fast bypassing these slow guys. Amogh decided to come with me o the bike. Post kasara ghat the highway was a beauty and we reached igatpuri in no time and further to Ghoti phata. Waited for the jeep to catch up and then trailed the jeep to Vadhiware phata and then to Ghargad Sankshi village. It was 11am now. We parked our bikes at a tree some distance ahead and took water and only pouches and kept the bags in the jeep. The route to the fort was easy and going ahead we reached the first part where there was a well with a shiv temple under the tree. Post some water break we started ahead to climb , Ghargad is a rocky fort and the route to the base is very easy. The sun was shining hard now. Post going to the base we had to traverse to a point from where the rock climb was to begin. Ghargad steps are blown off hence around 125 feet of rock climbing needs to be done to climb to the top. Rope needs to be fixed there for safety.Reaching the point of the climb we stopped there listening to anecdotes from Vinay, Kiran , Sachin, Uday et all and laughing. Zahir , Anju and Mangesh lead the climb to the top to fix ropes. One by one all of us started for the climb. The climb was not so easy. The first patch is of around 10-12 feet and easy. The 2nd part is a little dicey where you need to get on top through a crack and holds are less, you need to press both ur hands to lift your body up. Here i wasted around 5 mins and after 4-5 attempts I succeeded. My throat went parch so had some water and continued climb. Going ahead there is a vertical rock with good hand and foot holds about 20 feet high , climbing that I almost reached the top where Zahir was belaying and Sau and Vinay were there. The top of the fort is almost barren except for some remnants. There are about 6-7 water tanks on top out of which only 4 hold potable water. There are some remnants of structures on top and nothing else. The fort offers a good view of Dangya pinnacle , Pahine pinnacle and some other unknown forts from top.There is a old entrance below which there are steps ending in mid air. This must have been the actual entrance in old days before the retreating British devastated them. Everyone was on top around 4.30pm and we had our lunch on top comprising of theplas, chapati bhaji, chunda, humus (arabian dish thanks to sachin) and others including sandwich.We were to rappel down from the entrance. The rappel session was also exciting and we reached the base by 5.45pm. Going down the sun was just setting and we went to our bikes and post everyone coming and getting into the jeep we started for Ambe Bahula village. Reaching Vadhiware phata we had a break of chai/cold-drinks and we needed to go ahead 4-5 km towards Nashik to get to Ambe Bahula village. Some 4-5 km ahead there is a right which had a board proclaiming "Ambe Bahula" getting inside around 1-2 km we reached the village and found refuge in the school thanks to a kind villager who offered us water too.Post settling down we had a nice dinner of khichdi thanks to Mangesh / Anju and Nitin.

8th March'09
The night was uneventful and sleep came easily , it became a little cold towards the morning and we all woke up at 6.30am and post freshening up had a nice breakfast of upma/chai. Then we filled in all water bottles and washed of the vessels and started for the base of Bahula Fort. Some one from the village volunteered to get us to the phata from where we had to turn for the fort. We again got on highway and went towards Mumbai and some 3-4 km ahead there was a left turn of kaccha road going in. Some 2-3 km of road was no-road and the bike lurched but carried on. Some distance ahead there was a tar road! Then we could see Bahula on right and then Suddenly Manesh stopped the jeep and we both started exploring the road to base of fort. We could not find any and then we came back and went towards plains. We went biking on plains and then asked others to follow. We kept our bikes and the jeep just in front of the fort some distance ahead.Going up the fort was very easy but there was scree in the middle but there wasnt any problem.There was a water tank just from where the climb path started. We went ahead and the sun was shining now but the going was easy. We had to get into the col and turn right for the fort. Going ahead we had a tricky rock patch which was small. Some distance ahead we could see the masstif of Bahula and a cave. Going ahead there were more caves where one can stay. The cave was clean. Some distance ahead there was a crack in the wall which had steep steps going up. Reaching till steps one has to be careful of scree and walk over small rock cuts. There are good handholds to hold while going up. Going up we were on top. The top is very small with 2 dry water tanks. One interesting thing is that this fort is in the firing range of the army at Devlali who practice artillery and gun firing here so army permission is needed but we didnt have any such thing but there wasnt anyone who stopped us. We also found a big artillery shell on top which was unexploded , everyone was posing with the shell and we had group photos and introductions with everyone there.Post that we started descending down ,the going over the steep steps was slow but we anyway made it , going ahead over the scree was slow and I was last climbing down. We were down by 11.20am and had biscuits and jaljira and started back. We had to do Kavnai fort now but Jayaram opted to go to Pune skipping it

Kavnai was towards Mumbai after coming our of Kaccha Road Phata. On right hand side you can see a big gate for Kavnai. From here some 4-5 Kms off highway is base village Kavnai. This time Sau rode the bile and I was pillion. We reached base and there is a beautiful well. We filled our water bottles and started towards fort. The climb is through some scree but was ok. My shoes for this trek were ridiculous especially for scree walk. We reached the ridge in half and hours and after that soon we reached steps. Earlier people had to do a simple rock patch to get to darwaja but now a ladder has been put to make it more simpler. We climbed fort and then had a look around. On top there is a beautiful lake and a temple. Going on left of temple little down you find a dry water tank. just ahead of it is a potable water tank in the rock cut. Not easily visible to eyes. After filling our bottles we assembled in the temple for lunch. The poojari called us in. We had a great lunch with theplas, biscuits khava chi poli and Masti dahi. Milano biscuits, spl from me were also shared with each one getting hardly half of it. Then after 20 mins rest we started our climb down. Again I was last because of my shoes. After I climbed down my firger tips became swollen. Nitin informed me that it was dehydration. I had 2l of water with glocon Dimmediately and the swelling dissappeared in few mins. We went to temple and got fresh in pond there. Then we had kokam sarbat and departed. While returning we halted at Doghra again and had Mug Dalachi Bhajji and Pulpy orange. After that I reached Kalyan junction and waited for jeep to come. Then sau got down we tied my sac to bike on side guard and rode towards home. Sau had dinner and departed to Pune same day.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Tour De Ladakh Aug'08

Team:
Mr. Purvesh Dharamshi
Mr. Saurabh Oka
Mr. Shailesh Dongre
Mr. Deepak Rokade
Mr. Jayaram K
Mr. Vishal Sumant
Mr. Amit Rajas
Mr. Nikhil Pawar
Mr. Abhijeet Yadwadkar


04/07/08 Day 1:
Saurabh and team sent 4 bikes by Jhelum express for Ambala.
Me and Jayaram met late night at my aunt’s place in Ghatkopar to catch next morning Go-Air flight to Delhi.

05/07/08 Day 2:
Me and Jayaram caught flight to Delhi and further we had reservation done to Ambala Cantt Junction in SarayuYamuna Express. Unfortunately train was late by 3-4 hrs, hence we got a chance to visit Red Fort. Red Fort is Delhi is really a magnificent structure empowering the Moghul Empire pride. Visit to Delhi is incomplete, If you have not visited this monument and till date we both had never been to Red Fort. It was enthralling to see the independence ground with lush green cover. What we did not like is shopping inside the monument it disturbs the sanctity of the place.
The Museum inside the fort is worth visit. We can see lot of old weapons used in wars on display like swords, daggers, shields, spear heads etc. Even visit to independence museum is worth. Lot of statues of freedom fighters and some historic significant events have been recreated. There are many a beautiful paintings telling different stories of our Independence struggle.
At about 3.00 P.M. we got train to Ambala Cantonment Junction. In mean time Saurabh and team in Pune loaded other 3 bikes on Jhelum express and also got into same train. Meanwhile we reached Amabla by 7.30 P.M. Jayaram waited on station and I went out to look for hotel. I visited 4 hotels and finally freezed on Hotel Savoy near station. Then me and Jayaram got freshened and went for dinner at Deluxe Dhaba. Then we had some sleep and 1.00 P.M. we were at Ambala Station to collect first lot of bikes which was sent a day before. Luckily train was on time and with our help and Railways man, we were able to get 4 bikes down to Ambala. Saurabh’s bike had major damage. Front fiber over head light broken and foot guard broken too. Rest all bikes were fine. We were told to collect the bikes morning 10.00 A.M. from parcel office.

06/07/08 Day 3
It was a hard day for me and Jayaram. At night we had got 4 bikes down on Amabala Junction platform no 6 and we were told to collect the same from parcel office n morning. But Bikes were not in parcel office and then we went to place to platform no 6 again to look for them. But to our surprise they were not there too. We came back to parcel office and told them the status. To our surprise they asked us questions like r u sure you got them down yesterday night etc. Then they asked us to search all platforms for bikes, Which we did and finally located them at different locations. Again we went back to parcel office and asked them to get them there. But as It was Sunday most of people were on leave. They asked us to locate their guys on platform no 3 and ask them to bring bikes to parcel office. But to find them it was impossible as we did not knew them. So we decided to bring bikes ourselves to parcel office from platform no 6. In meanwhile one of the railway guys put one of our bikes on platform storehouse and locked it. We decided to take atleast other 3 bikes now and find solution for 4th one. But as we were moving bikes we were stopped by one Ashok babu asking how you can move bikes? Then we told him whole story and we were dead tired climbing bridges again and again. Then he asked us tell anyone who stops us that Ashok babu has told to get the bikes to parcel office and asked his guy to release 4th bike. This stupid guy asked for money to release our bike from storehouse though his job is to actually get bike to parcel office, which we were doing. But he said then you may get it tomorrow or later etc. So we bend under and gave him Rs.40 for the work. It was frustrating. Then finally 3 hours of hard work we were able to locate and get our bikes across to parcel office. Me and Jayaram were sweating like pigs. Even parcel office guy had sympathy on us and offered us some water and completed formalities to release our bikes. We emptied some petrol in all four bikes which we had brought with us and carried 2 bikes to Hotel. We again came back on one bike and carried another one back and similarly 4th one too.
Jayaram had plan to go to meet his brother in army who was 1 hour drive away, But he had to cancel as now we had to repair Saurabh’s Apache. Being Sunday TVS showroom in Ambala was closed. Someone told us about 2 stores in Ambala where you get bike parts and we went there. The were two shops next to each other on named” Sardar Auto spares” and other one “ New Sardar Auto spares”. We found fiber for tVS bike but Foot rest plate was not to be found. But the mechanic of “New Sardar Shop” was intelligent and good. He decided to help us. We got a clamp from footrest of Rajdoot and removed plate from Apache and got it drilled. Then we nut bolted the clamp to plate and fixed the footrest. This took lot of time and by time we were back it was evening. We then fixed cage to Jayaram’s bike which had arrived. We were tired and weak with no lunch and we just rested. Evening we went to Deluxe Dhaba had dinner and enquired about Jhelum Express, in which our remaining troupe was coming. It was supposed to be 1 and half our late. We informed Saurabh to call us once Kurukshetra passes and dozed off.


07/07/08 Day 4
2.30 A.M. in morning me and Jayaram went to receive our friends at Ambala and remaining Bikes. Saurabh had intimated us after Kurukshetra of their arrival. Airtel and Idea was excellent in Haryana – Thanks to them else coordinating would have been difficult. Saurabh and Deepak came back to get bikes down along with us. This time luggage compartment was heavily loaded and some stupid guy from Ahmednagar had put his bike right in front and that to with helmet tied. We got the bike down and somehow removed our three bikes and put his bike back. We again paid Railway person Rs.50 to remove the bikes though it would have not been possible without us. Now was main task to get bikes out from parcel office at night, though officially they release only in morning. If we could not have removed them then we would have lost time of biking in morning. And we had to cover 350 KM to reach Manali as per plan on 7th Jul. So we bribed the night officer for Rs.600 and took our bikes. Thankfully all bikes were without damage. Then we came to hotel and I started fixing cage to my bike. Some of them chitchatted and some took rest. In morning we got fresh and tied bags to bikes and went to Petrol Pump. Filled fuel and checked air pressure in tyres and started our Journey towards Manali by 8.00 A.M. We have take road towards Chandigarh and then just before Toll naka on highway is right turn to Ropar. We had to take that. Road was good and journey was fine. We passed outskirts of Mohali saw some upcoming constructions of Emaar MGF. We had aloo paratha on the way and some bike repairs were to be done. Like Nikhil’s bike oil was spilling and Jayaram;s bike Speedometer cable had snapped. Good thing was in Himalayas light remained till 8.00 P.M. So we could bike late. The beas and Green irrigation water tunnels and far off snow clad peaks made journey comfortable. But slowly we were wearing out. We got late and were tired, with no proper sleep last few days. We could manage to reach Kullu via Bilaspur (Where Chicks were really awesome). We stayed in Himachal Pradesh Government Hotel in 2 family rooms. Had dinner at Food planet and dozed off.

08/07/08 Day 5
The morning was good and we decided to start early i.e 9.00 A.M. We had breakfast of Butter Toast in Hotel and had some snaps at Hotel and began biking toward Keylong. Today we had to cross our first pass the Rohtang Pass after Manali. Just when we started from Kullu, My cage brushed with Saurabh’s bike and they had a fall. But no damage done and we began our journey again. Though road was good, Bike going above 30kmph was difficult due to climb. We went to Hidamb temple in Manali where our eyeballs popped out of our sockets seeing the chicks. After some photography there we had some snaps holding wild rabbits. Then we began our journey towards Rohtang. We reached almost near Rohtang but due to double lane work being carried out by BRO we had to stop for half an hour. Here we saw some paragliders. After that again road opened and we set out in direction of our next destination Keylong. Rohtang pass was beautiful with snow clad peaks surrounding us. But road was bad, infact no road was there only stones and mud was the road. We descended Rohtang fast. It was a great experience, crossing waterfalls, bad roads, wooden bridges, twists and turns of never ending ghats and landscape. We reached Tandi by 7.00 P.M. We had our tanks full and carried some petrol in bottles as this is last petrol pump in this region. After this petrol pump is directly in Leh approx 365 KM away. From Tandi you have a diversion. One road goes to Udaipur and other to Keylong. Amit and Nikhil were fast riders went ahead and missed road sign and took diversion to Udaipur. Rest all went to Keylong direction and Jayaram went ot look after Amit and Nikhil. It was already dark. Jayaram could not catch up with Amit and Nikhil, He came back after leaving a message with one Indica going in that direction. Abhijeet knew that ChandraBhaga is a good hotel in keylong. So we straight went there. But unluckily it was full and costly. Shailesh and Deepak went to look out for another Hotel and we stayed in parking lot of Chandra Bhaga. Meanwhile we could get in tough on phone with Amit and Nikhil and we called them to Chandra Bhaga only. Shailesh and Deepak went and booked a nice warm hotel and then we had dinner there. We were dead tired and we dozed off soon as we had to wake up early next day and reach Pang in J & K crossing Sarchu.

09/07/08 Day 6
This was a day of heaviest motor biking. We had to cross 3 passes and lot of bad roads due to project Himank road widening going on. We started early from Keylong and immediately there was goof up. Jayaram, Abhijeet, Vishal went ahead through diversion towards up and we asked some car and went straight. I then called up Abhijeet and got it coordinated and they came back and joined us. Keylong the road was bad with mud. We crossed Darcha, Jespa etc and took to road of Baralacha La. On route we took a halt near Deepak Tal and had some Tea, Maggi and Omlette. Then we started again towards Baralacha La pass. After crossing some dangerous stony and mud patches on Road, We finally got, a brand new road built by BRO to Baralacha La and then passing some ice covered slopes along the road. Landscape at Baralacha La was too scenic. After you cross the pass on RHS you can see Suraj Tal. Continue the Road and now you have to climb the famous 21 Gata Loops. Just need to be careful here it is 21 hair pin bends to top of Nakeela Pass. We faced some rain or rather hailstorm here. At some bends there is just mud so utmost care needs to be taken. Initially I had plan of counting all loops but soon after 5-6 bends, I lost interest and was more concentrating on scenery and biking and hence lost the count. After crossing Gata Loops we had to face light showers on road and hailstorm too. Atmoshphere became too chilled because of this. Somehow we managed to cross Nakeela Pass and started descending. There were few tents in Valley between Nakeela Pass and Lachulung La Pass. We rested in the tents and everyone was feeling tired. We had nice cup of Tea and then suddenly there was a strong hailstorm again. So we stayed in the tent for some time to weather to get clear and then proceeded towards Lachungla. Shailesh did not take this halt and he continued biking towards Pang meanwhile and I feel this was hazardous. We started from tents and proceeded towards Lachulung La Pass. At the pass we halted for few minutes for photography, But suddenly cold wind started blowing and we started descending Lachungla towards Pang. Shailesh had gone ahead and actually dozed off in the tent of Police Check Post of Pang. He was not feeling well. Pang had beautiful Landscape. It is like artificially created castles of sands on mountains you can see everywhere. Just before Pang you come across a place where road suddenly ends and you see a wide waterfall to cross. This place is known as “Kangla Jal”
After crossing Kangla Jal the beautiful and totally different landscape of Himalayas continue. I continued towards Pang taking snaps where as others rushed towards Pang. Suddenly Nikhil came to me and said that his both brakes have failed and I should drive slowly with him. We both continued slowly and then saurabh also joined in and we reached Pang. We parked bikes outside a tent and rented it out for night for just Rs.50 per head. Jayaram, Abhijit and Shailesh were not feeling well at all. Others had a little head ache or vomiting sensation. All were symptoms of Altitude Sickness. I was completely fine. Thank god for the same. Abhijit and Nikhil visited doctor in Army transit camp where the doctor gave some medicines and oxygen to the people. Army was really were helpful and doctor was too helpful. I gave some medicines to Shailesh and Jayarm and he dozed off. Doctor told us they we were majorly dehydrated and we should drink only hot water. So we asked our tent owner to give Hot water and I gave everyone to drink Electral water. Amit, Nikhil and Vishal went with army cadets and had some brandy and befriended them. They requested their mechanic to help us in fixing Nikhil’s brakes and Abhijit’s bike which had developed play. He told us he will finish it in morning. Everyone just dozed off like logs of wood. I and Abhijit shared some rice and then I had some pain killer and dozed off. After this Deepak requested for some rice and he too slept. By this time it was already 12.00 in midnight.


10/07/08 Day 7:
Morning was warm with clear weather. Sun smiled on us, but I suppose luck did not. Mechanic had to weld the axle of Abhijit’s bike and he readied Nikhil’s bike too. He gave us bikes by 10.30 a.m. We started tying out bags back and thats when Deepak realized that the key of Amit’s Unicorn is not to be found and Amit was not carrying a duplicate key too. Only good part was handle was not locked. We searched for key everywhere but to no avail. Finally we again looked for mechanic who helped us. He shorted two wires of bike and bike started. But we lost valuable time in this. At 2.30 P.M. We started from Pang towards Leh and we had to cross that day Taglang La – Second Highest Motorable Road of the world. From Pang the road is little easy as there are plaind known as “Moorey Plains” of 40 KM to cross. Local people call it as “Chuha Ground”. Once you cross Moorey Plains you have to ascend Taglangla. We reached Taglang La Pass and did some photography and started descending towards Rumtse Village. Road on this patch and till Rumtse was not good as it was always mud, stones and no tar. At Rumtse we had tea and Biscuits and We started towards Leh. The road from Rumtse was excellent till Leh. You won’t believe we were overjoyed with road condition and Bikes which were used to running on speeds of 20-30 kmph were suddenly speeding at 70-90 kmph. We wanted to stop and take snaps sometimes but we didn’t because thought to decreasing speed was more irritating and we were enjoying the ride. We reached Upshi on banks of river Indus and then non-stop speeded to Leh. We reached Leh by 8.15 P.M. just after darkness set in. Then Amit met up with a hotel agent and he went around looking for Hotel. Saurabh and Deepak went on old Leh road as told by Amit to look for Hotels. All of them came back to place where other were waiting after searching for Hotels and we decided to go ahead with Hotel chosen by Deepak and Saurabh. We got 2 family rooms for Rs.3500 per day in Shanti Palace, Old Leh Road, Leh. Hotel was cosy and we all had dinner there. Dinner was not at all upto the mark, but we consumed it and dozed off as next day was our aim of trip to be achieved or dream which I have been weaving for more than last couple of years was going to come true.

11/07/08 Day 8:
The day of achieving our dream….We were really fresh suddenly with good sleep and excitement of biking to Highest Motorable Road of the world. We started at 10.00 A.M. towards Khardungla Pass. Deepak rented a Pulsar from Leh for this day. We picked up some sandwiches to have it on the way. We lost the way and went to dead end of a road where there was Monastery. We had sandwiches here. After this we started towards Khardungla Pass which is a gateway to Nubra valley. First 20 KM road is good but after that road is really bad but still we had now become used to bad roads. We reached Khardungla Pass and did lot of photography. Luckily for us weather was clear and bought ourselves souvenirs, had group photos, congratulated each other and then we saw clouds gathering overhead. It was time to move on. We quickly started descending and some of us started early and were lucky to miss the hailstorm and others got wet. We reached back to our hotel and rested. We went out for dinner and explored Leh market. We asked hotel manager to arrange for car to visit Pangong Tso Lake.

12/07/08 Day 9:
We started in a Qualis towards Pangong Tso lake. The road passes through third highest motorable pass the Chang La pass. Just one night before there was a heavy snowfall on this road. We started our journey after having breakfast at a local joint. The road was too scenic and we could see mountains covered with fresh snow. We were just taking snaps of these snow clad mountains. Our driver told us to hold on as we are going to travel through this snow. You won’t believe…we were driving through snow soon. We could see snow everywhere on road, on sides and even in air as fresh snow was falling down. It was just too scenic. In midst of this whiteness of snow we saw a green lake and sight was amazing. We could reach only till Changla La pass as road ahead was blocked by snow and we had to retreat from here. But before this we halted on road, put on the music and played with snow. We made snow balls and threw at each other and danced on music. Songs from Jab we met were played. We really had a blast and experience of snow fall was excellent. We were little sad as we could not make it to Pangong Tso lake. Better luck next time. Now we had whole day ahead. So we decided to do local sightseeing of Leh.
The driver took us to Hemis Monastery where some annual festival was on and was thronged by foreigners and locals. There we came across some toddlers carrying cobra and python. Many of us carried them on their shoulders and hands and took snaps and we moved towards Monastery. It was too crowded and there was some ritual going on in the central hall of Monastery. Few people wearing colorful clothes and masks were making rhythmic movements around the wooden poles covered with different colored flags. Somehow we did not like it much and we moved on to see Shey palace. Shey palace is a beautiful monument housing a 3 storey high Buddha Statue. Also painting on wall is beautiful. It has a victory stupa which has a gold crown on top. Shey was abode of King of Leh. After this we had lunch and then we moved to see army Museum and Zoravarsingh’s fort. Army Museum is worth a visit. Every Indian will feel proud on our army and nation after this visit and also little sentimental for hardships our soldiers face. The museum covers sections on Siachen, Op Vijay etc. After this we returned to hotel and went out for stroll in evening in Leh market. Next day we had a rafting to do on Zanskar river.

13/07/08 Day 10:
We were quite excited as we were going to raft. For many of us it was first time to raft and for me it was like first time rafting in a Himalayan river. We were supposed to raft from Chilling to Nemo – 36 KM, But our Hotel person booked us on Phey-Nemo route a 12 KM route like a lazy river. We refused to raft on this raft and finally the rafting company arranged for us a special batch for Chilling-Nemo route. After all this mess we started by noon to raft. We were made to wear diving suit over and above our clothes, then splash jacket and then a float jacket. We started rafting on this 36 KM stretch which has class 3 rapids. Rafting was a thrilling experience and our guide was really good. Also jeep was following us on road which was parallel to river on top of mountain. The jeep driver was really encouraging us a lot and shouting at top of his voice to motivate us. We were in fact worried that he was looking at us continuously and driving, may take plunge in river. While rafting a deer family came near river. There were 2 deers and 3 kids and one was naughty one out of them. When we were supposed to end the raft, we told our guide that we wish jump in water. He told us that water is too cold but we did not budge. We jumped and believe me water was ice cold. Immediately within 5 mins we were back inside raft shivering. The lunch arranged was excellent and we got hot lemon tea after rafting. Jayaram, Deepak, Saurabh and Abhijeet missed rafting. The guide was really impressed with our rafting and he invited us for rafting tour from Zanskar mouth to Lower Indus. We promised him to come back for the same next year….
After this we did some shopping in Leh market, had dinner and had fun playing kitty. After this we dozed off. Next day we had to do biking to Srinagar.

14/07/08 Day 11:
Next day morning we were to start early. But there were 3 problems. My bike was not starting, Amit had to open his petrol tank lock to fill petrol without key and Abhijit had to remove the play in the rear tyre. Actually water had enter my petrol tank (How is still mystery? Even after covering the tank so much..)I removed and my bike roared. Amit drilled petrol lock and filled petrol and again covered lid with tape. Abhijit also got his bike done. We started late from Leh. We passed magnetic hill which we felt that we r fooled as there was a aslope and hence vehicle used to move downhill and this doesn’t prove magnetic effect. Then we had had to climb lot of ghats and by lunch time we reached Lamayuru-most significant monastery in Ladakh. We had lunch in Lamayuru and continued biking following the naughty and ferocious Indus river. We passed through Chamba, where a huge Buddha statue is carved on a hillock. Then came a better road to kargil with rushing gushing river on one side. We reached Kargil late and then Amit and Jayaram had already booked Hotel Siachen for us. Hotel was good on comfort and food was okay. We all had planned to play cards but everyone was damn tired after dinner and we slept. Sau was watching ‘Tashan’ on television for some time.

15/07/08 Day 12:
Then came most frustrating road of journey-Zojila Pass. We crossed Zojila pass slowly. In the pass we were asked to take halt on side as a long Military convoy passed carrying Bofors guns. After this we speeded to Sonmarg as road was good. We had breakfast in Sonmarg and we moved towards to Srinagar. We reached Srinagar in evening and met Altaf, He was my brother-in law’s friend. He had arranged for us to stay in house boat. We stayed on houseboat and dozed off after dinner.

16/07/08 Day 13:
Next day we went to put our bikes in transport with Amritsar Transport Company and then decided to do some shopping. We got ourselves saffron, walnuts etc and then we had round in Shikara. This was really exciting. We passed though Lotus garden, an eagle seated on log of wood and floating on lake and house boat where Mission Kashmir shooting took place. We were grateful to Altaf had sent two people to take care of us viz Muneer and Salim. Both of them really helped us a lot. They took us to dinner to one of the most famous restaurant of Srinagar – Moghul Darbar.

17/07/08 Day 14:
We started early morning 5.00 A.M. from Srinagar towards Jammu. We had a hour halt at Jawahar tunnel as it is opened only from 8.30 P.M.. to 4.00 P.M. We halted at hotel as Shailesh, Abhijeet were feeling to puke. We had jaljeera and nimbu sharbat. At the background of hotel was some Dam, mostly Salal Dam. After this we moved ahead on top of Patnitop and from there towards Jammu. Abhijeet nroke his dam and started puking on the way. We reached Jammu by noon. We booked 9 beds in waiting room of Jammu station. Saurabh, Shailesh, Jayaram and me went for lunch. We roamed around Jammu to Vishal Megamart etc. Then next batch of remaining group went to have some pizzas. Then we rested in the waiting room and some even dozed off. There was one old man in the waiting room, who used to frequently change clothes. from safari to shirt and trouser to others. Finally we caught our train to Pune i.e Jhelum express.

18/08/08 Day 15:
We crossed Jhansi and Gwalior. Some havelis seen at distance from Train were magnificent and the statue of Dhyanchand is too impressive. We played lot of cards on route and were really having ball. Saglyanni svatahche kisse hi sangitle.

19/08/08 Day 16:
As we entered Maharashtra, Hadbichi shendi was seen from train and we were so happy. We too some snaps. Vadapav was available at stations and our cutting chai too. The view of Sahayadri really made us feel like we are back at home. It was great feeling to be home after such a successful adventure and passing through those monstorous mountains of Himalaya. Himalaya is a range which throws challenge to you and proves that he is always very big, great and challenging where as Sahayadri is firm but caring range. But still both of them keep us calling again and again.
We reached Pune station and then I had few hours to pass to catch Indrayani to Mumbai. Thanks to Shailesh who gave me a good company at Pune station in Comesum. We bid a good bye and then we left to join back to our routines.

Tips for the Adventure:
1] Always carry duplicate keys and Xerox of papers of your vehicle.
2] Drink hot water
3] Take enough rest
4] Avoid driving in night
5] If you get symptoms of Altitude sickness or mountain sickness then take rest
6] Don’t get separated from your group. Ride together.
7] Carry lot of Glucon D and especially electoral water.
8] Carry proper First Aid
9] Carry proper rainy and winter wear
10] Take good quality glares
11] Take a good camera with lot of memory and battery charger with fast charge option.