Avchitgad Pictures

Some smaller variety of Hibiscus I guess. Dishas Dhaba, Mulshi

A dryer cloudy humid day at Tamhini

The humble beginnings of Konkan Railway near Roha.

The lush landscape Konkan Railway runs through

Kundalika river - Revdanda creek

The sole canon on the fort

The western end of the fort. Our guide reflects.

Avchitgad

We were tired of biking this time around, so we decided to head somewhere far off with a Sumo. After some discussion we headed to Avchitgad. This entire week had been dry and we knew it was going to be tough. As headed towards Tamhini, the non-muddy blue waters of the dam shining in bright sunlight gave us some idea about the hardships ahead. Typically, a good sign is muddy tea waters and little sunlight :p

To get to Avchitgad :
1] Start from Chandni Chouk, take Paud road to Mulshi, get down via Tamhini. At Vile take the right to Kolad instead of left to Mangaon. After reaching NH17. Take a right followed by an immediate left to Roha.
2] Take Expressway-NH4. Take left from Khopoli to Pali. Proceed to Roha. Stop at Medha or Padam before Roha.

There are multiple ways to get onto this fort. One can climb from Medha or a village called Pingasai or a place called Padam. We were adviced by the locals to attempt it from Padam, which though a much lengthier route, proved to be a good decision. From Medha or Pingalsai, the route passes through really dense vegetation and its very likely to loose way unless you have a local to assist you. We met a bunch of fellas from Mumbai who took the route from Medha and lost their way.

We chose to seek some local experts this time. The sun shined brightly, add to the proximity of the creek and sea made things humid and worse for us. After a while as we got onto the top of the mountain by the side of the Roha Paper mill things got cooler. From here one sees the fort far away at the end of this range. Though the walk consists of a flat walk on a plateau and is not that great a deal.

From the top you can spot, Roha, Kundalika river, the backwaters of Revdanda creek the villages of Medha, Pingalsai, the begining of Konkan Railway and miles of lush rice farms. There are good traces of the fortification. Sole Canon. Our guide fellas complained that the villagers in Medha pushed two in valley, probably with the intention to sell it. There is a Mahadev/Shiv Mandir on the top. The villagers have constructed a shelter out here for the same. There are some water tanks. Ones near the temple with potable water. No arrangement to stay on top though. The flower carpet had just begin to set this time around. Typically late August/first week of September is when the numerous wild flowers start to cover the otherwise bare naked mountain slopes of Sahyadris.

The Paper mill at Roha/Padam was closed 25 odd years ago. As you start climbing from Padam, you climb by the guest house of paper mill. Its quite spooky and locals claim has a ghost who calls out to you if you go around that place at night. If you are looking for some ghostly adventure, maybe worth a try. Not my cup of tea, I dont quite get along with ghosts that well :-)
Check out the complete imagestation album here.

Palasdari Pictures

Foggy NH-4 in Khandala

Enroute Palasdari - Khopoli-Karjat Road

Karajat Khopoli train route - Background Palasdari Fort

Lush Vegetation and Waterfalls enroute the Fort

At the base of the Fort

Looking at the Valley below from the base of the Fort

The only construction than the water tanks on the Fort.One of the two water tanks on the top of the Fort.

Palasdari

This week buddies and me decided to give Palasdari a shot. This place seems to be fairly popular with the Mumbai guys though not people from Pune. I had known about Palasdari for some time while traveling on the Khopoli Karjat road so getting there was no issue.

We caught up at Chevrolet showroom on NH-4 near Soos road, had some omlet and chai at Tapri and headed towards our destination Palasdari. Essentially to get here from Pune you got to :
- Travel till Khopoli from Pune by NH4. Take the right from Khopoli to Karjat. Palasdari is about 7Km from Khopoli. Take a right here and park your vehicles at the grocery shop or a hamlet. You got to take a walk from here.

We got across the guarded railway crossing for the locals, after which there is the Karjat-Khopoli train link. One needs to cross these and start a climb from the electricity tower to the left at the base of the hill. You can spot the fort which is the highest point around this area.

Our journey way up was full with insect bites and loosing our way. If you have to go here, prob. going there with someone who has been here before or hiring the services of a local expert is a good idea. Unfortunately for us, we couldn't recruit the expert on this day. Essentially you got to get up, go to the right end of the fort, go round it and climb from a narrow ridge between two pinnacles.

There's hardly anything there atop, two water tanks decorate the little area on the top. There is just a little sign of some fortification at the entrance. From the top one can spot Khopoli and Palasdari dam below. You can also spot Morbe dam near Chowk and a river which is prob. Ulhas river.

We lost our way on the way back twice when it was almost dark. Ultimately with just loosing altitude in the right direction [ Palasdari Lake ] as the prime focus we did magically manage to get down to the point from where we had started. Overall, I dont know who ever goes to the fort ? Most of the ppl who turn up are retards carrying loads of booze, go to the waterfall, act like pigs by the Palasdari Lake. Ironic !!

Find the complete imagestation album here.