TrEk FoR LiFe: Raigad Fort

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Maharashtra Year End Tour/Trek

Introduction:

To begin with we were six, namely Hamsa, Jayashree, Gururaj, Purushottam, Raghavendra and I (Rohit). We hit Khollapur via Rani Chennamma Express, which landed us there late in the afternoon.

From Rohit, Hamsa, Jayashree, Raghavendra, Gururaj, Purushottam

Places visited:
Day 1 ~ 2 - 2009-12-25 ~ 2009-12-26 - Bangalore -> Khollapur [Lakshmi Temple] -> Khed
Day 3 - 2009-12-27 - Khed -> Mahad -> [Raigad Fort] -> Mahad -> Poladpur[halt]
Day 4 - 2009-12-28 - Poladpur -> Mahabaleshwar -> Panchagani -> Poladpur[halt]
Day 5 - 2009-12-29 - Poladpur -> Neveli -> Ganapathipule[Beach + Temple][halt]
Day 6 - 2009-12-30 - Ganapathipule -> [Jaigad Fort] -> Ratnagiri[Pawas] [halt]
Day 7 - 2009-12-31 - Ratnagiri[Pawas] -> [Bhagavati Mandir] -> [Aquarium] -> [Ratnagiri Gateway Beach] -> [18 Hand Ganesh] -> [Lokamanya Tilak Residence] -> [Thiba Palace] -> [Batia Beach] -> Ratnagiri [halt]
Day 8 - 2010-01-01 - Ratnagiri -> Taral -> [Vijaydurg Fort] -> Devagad -> [Light house] -> [Devagad Fort] -> [Devagad Beach + Crematorium] -> Nandgauv -> Kanakavali -> Sawanthwadi[halt]
Day 9 - 2010-01-02 - Sawanthwadi -> Amboli -> [Hiranyakeshi Temple] -> [Swayambu Siddivinayaka Temple] -> [Amboli View Point - kawalesad] -> [Nangartas Water fall] -> [Amboli View Point Mahadeva] -> [Amboli Water Falls] -> Belgaum
2010-01-02 ~ 2010-01-03 - Belgaum -> Bangalore.

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Finale:

Total Expenses - INR 4,300 Inclusive of Travel, Food & Accommodation per head.

Day 3

2009-12-27 - Khed -> Mahad -> [Raigad Fort] -> Mahad -> Poladpur[halt]

From 2009-12-27 - Raigad - Rohit,Gururaj,Raghavendra,Purushottam,Hamsa

Raigad or Rajgad ?:
It was a moment of confusion on reaching Khed, after speaking to various conductors, inquiry sections in the bust stand and the general public not many knew about Raigad nor Rajgad, each gave different answers, we soon realised Rajgad and Raigad were indeed two different Places both in Maharashtra.

From 2009-12-27 - Raigad - View from the shortcut

Our intention was to Reach Rajgad near Pune, we finally ended up in Raigad.

From 2009-12-27 - Raigad - Just before the Re-union

But Raigad wasn’t disappointing either, just that our initial planning and places to visit had to be reshuffled.

From 2009-12-27 - Raigad - Purushottam

On reaching Raigad we had plans to take the rope way, on seeing the waiting list we decided to trek it up; our turn was scheduled at 1800 hours.

From 2009-12-27 - Raigad - Scenic View

Early during the ascent Guru went out peeing, and a shortcut was discovered.

From 2009-12-27 - Raigad - View Point

The group forgot to communicate Guru about the alternate route we intend to take, the group split into 3 and we ended up in a 2 hour delay before re-grouping.