Rajmachi bike offroading and trekking ~~Parikshit Vaidya

Hi friends,
Well this time I decided to put my write up regarding my mind-blowing bike ride and hike to Rajmachi fort on my blog and mail you the link along with the snaps link (we got awesome shots, am sure they would be a treat to watch). The pictures are on link

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pariandhiswanderlust/

Well as it’s said the reward of being patient is always sweet, I found this out last Friday. I wanted to go trekking to Rajmachi since last December and due to some odd reason it never happened. But finally after eight and a half months my wish came true as I went along with my sister (cousin who also needed a break).
Just a week prior to my trip I had gone off- roading (just riding on stone for 30kms) in heavy rain on my bike and it was a fabulous experience. We decided to go on Friday (I took a days’ sandwiched leave) as Thursday (was a regular company holiday) and Saturday (Ganesh chaturthi) was a public holiday. But on Thursday it rained heavily and a signal was sent to my brain that, “no” biking in the rain with my sister and we should go by train and then start trekking. Hence we altered our timing plans and it was decided to leave by 7 am. I called up my sister at 6.30 am as I was all set to leave and that I discovered that my call to her was her wake up call and she said she would get ready in another half hour!! There, we were already behind schedule!! Meanwhile I was gazing into the sky and it seemed clear but my 3 yrs of living experience in Pune city says that never believe the Pune weather in the monsoons (the sky changes color faster than a chameleon!! And besides it rains in September also), however I felt the rain god whispering into my ear and telling me that he would hold on for today (14th September) so that I could go biking!!! I called up my sister again and told her to stay put at her residence and I would come to pick her up and we cruise on the roads courtesy my Yamaha (one of my sweet hearts!!)
I decided to take the regular highway (old Mumbai-Pune) to Lonavala and then start our 3 hr trek from there. But things always don’t go as per plans and we were not even at the outskirts of Pune when my bike started coughing (what I mean to say is it was going forward and then stopping), we sensed trouble and decided to head back and board the train. This had never happened before, I have done miles of riding now on all sorts of roads as well(good, bad, no-roads) and that’s why I was a little shocked, I took it as my bike telling me that she needed rest as just last week I rode in heavy rain, mist and stone!!. We turned back and suddenly my bike stopped coughing and I on impulse turned full 360 degrees to resume the journey (I did not want to cancel my trip under any circumstance now as I had waited 8.5 months for it). We were going smooth but again after about 7-8 kilometers the coughing resumed. We halted and I guessed there was some dirt in the carburetor of the bike which to be cleaned. Luckily we were still in the midst of civilization and it was 8.30am then. I asked for a mechanic and the locals told me that he would open at 9am and as luck would have it we were parked right outside his shop. I was just hoping that my sister is not cursing me for ruining her day when from nowhere the mechanic guy appeared and opened his dingy shop shutter. After a few prayers he had a look at my bike and I explained the “coughing phenomenon” to him. He got a screw driver and loosened a screw from the carburetor and allowed some fuel to leak, then screwed it back and asked me have a test ride. Well as I had expected there was some water in the carburetor (courtesy my last week’s off-roading in the rain). We were back again on track and I did speeds of 100-105 kmph with my sister on pillion. But I had full control of the bike and it was not a wild acceleration of adrenaline and the machine. The clouds and the mountains watching us as we negotiated the roads was a delight. We soon were at Lonavala (about 50-55 kilometers from Pune), from where we planned to start trekking. I did not stop for the customary tea or breakfast break as we were running or should I say biking behind schedule!! I asked directions for Tungarli village from where the actual would start and headed in that direction. We arrived at Tungarli in no time and the local villagers instructed us to carry on going straight. But my god the road was terrible (I mean just rocks,,, stone, stone and more stone, see the pictures for proof) and they told me to ride and not walk promising that the road ahead was much better. My sister got down and I skillfully with all the strength of my gym pumped forearms rode through those rocks (I have never done something like this before). See the snaps in the link and then you will get an idea to what I mean!!!
Well this road did not seem to end, but I carried on and finally it got a shade better (only the size of the stone reduced). My sister hopped on again and we were trekking on my bike!!! The surroundings were just fabulous! A lonely path mixed with gravel, stone and soil surrounded by mist covered mountains. We stopped and took a few pictures at the Tungarli Lake where some village urchins were happily fishing in the lake. As we descended, the lonely path introduced us to new friends of his which were wide open spaces and fields and streams. The mountains were always there for company. It was a breathtaking sight and this was just the beginning as there was more in store for our eyes to feast on. Some more photographs were an absolute must here. Here we met the local who told us that I could take my bike right up to the base of the fort. He was on bicycle. Well we decided to take it to a point till I got a signal from my bike’s tyres that they had now had enough of stone-soil-stream kissing. We encountered some pretty decent streams which were about a more than a foot deep and my bike just sailed through them like a boat. Wow that felt really nice. I had never before done or remotely attempted this kind of off-roading. Both of us were thoroughly enjoying. As we progressed the lonely path introduced us to another of his friend which was a lush green dense forest. Boy now I was riding through a forest. We encountered a lot of streams in this jungle and stopped and filled up my bottle from this running water which was so cool and refreshing. Rajmachi is a popular among trekkers but as it was a weekday, there was not a soul in sight for miles. Finally at one spot in the forest where the road seemed really bad for biking we decided to park my bike and trek now on foot instead of the bike!! After all we were there for trekking right!! We were enjoying our trek along the forest surrounded by mountains. Soon we spotted two huge waterfalls and halted for memorable pictures. Initially my sister did not seem as enthusiastic as myself about clicking pictures. But when I told her about my ideas she lapped it all up and knew that these were not those regular birthday party photographs. The waterfall was from a mountain miles from the hill we were on, and there was a huge valley in between. I told my sister that I would pose as though I was drinking water right from the waterfall on the opposite hill and asked her for the placement of my mouth and head for the perfect shot!! We thoroughly enjoyed every bit of our photography as well. We scaled down the valley as much as possible for that vantage view and super shots. I think we score 10/10 on both. Have a look at the waterfall pictures and am sure you all would agree on the 10/10 score. The scenery around is truly a photographer’s delight. There was mist, mountains, valleys, waterfalls, a jungle, open spaces, what else can you ask for. I was relishing every breath of pure air which my lungs inhaled. As we hiked up further, after about an hour we got hungry. I had heard about a village at the base of the fort but it seemed no where in sight. However as we encountered lots of cattle pugmarks and their droppings, I was sure of some village ahead where we could eat mouthwatering village cuisine. We saw a few truck tyre marks and they had created huge depressions in the soil due to heavy rains and I avoided walking through the mud and took the route along the edge where ever possible. My sister walked though the truck tyre depression and her shoe got stuck in the mud!! It was hilarious. When she went to remove her shoe, I clicked again. It was a memorable shot! Soon we were almost below the fort, I mean we were still far but as though right below the cliff where the fort was situated. We were in awe of the majestic sight!! Actually Rajmachi has two forts named Srivardhan and Manoranjan. Both are twin forts located opposite each other and first we saw Srivardhan fort. Some more pictures as my sister posed like a cheer leader with out her pom- pom at the base of the cliff. We had spotted this cliff during our initial bike ride and never imagined that the route would be so circuitous. Once again we lifted ourselves to find the elusive village, Suddenly out of nowhere we came across a nice bungalow which had a name plate which said ‘Hotel-Atul’ and I spotted a few girls getting wet under the tap water to clean themselves and they did not seem like village belles!!. In the next second I realized that they were part of a family which had come trekking like us except they walked the entire 3 hours and we rode halfway and walked the rest. This pretty bungalow was neighbored by rustic village houses. We chatted with the family and asked the owner of the house for some lunch to energize our batteries. Soon it started raining torrentially and my sister loved this as she wanted rains and I did not want rains as good photography is not possible then , and besides it gets slippery on the rocks to climb the fort. It was about 30minutes before we were served lunch and meanwhile I tried to unsuccessfully chase a few hens which were present. I ate rice bhakri for the first time here, it was like a huge white pizza bread and the color was white as it was made from rice. We were served bhakris, usal (beans) mixed with potatoes along with papad, pickle, onion and buttermilk. By the time we finished eating the rain gods also calmed down and we decided to conquer our last destination for which we had come and I made my bike sail and fly over rocks and water.
As I mentioned there are two twin forts at Rajmachi and due to lack of time we decided to see on the village folks recommendation Srivardhan fort which they said was a shade better than its twin counterpart. We went a few steps back from the place where we had lunch and then were directed to a small path which was leading to the top of the fort. A huge tree trunk has presently fallen due to the heavy rain I guess en-route to the fort. As we went further I stopped at what seemed like a secret way to the top of both forts and yelled at my sister to show off my discovery, but as we reached the opening, I was disappointed to find it blocked. My guess is it has been purposely blocked as these secret routes are usually treacherous to negotiate and were made for secret safe movement of the king in case of a deadly attack by the enemy. It now started to rain and we were trekking in the rain amidst lush green vegetation just as my sister had desired, even I loved it but I just hoped that the rain gods would relent so that more photography was possible. To our luck we came across two huge caves cemented with stone on the left of our track and halted there and also checked out the caves. They seemed a good option for a night stay; unfortunately people had written some names on the stone walls and spoilt their original beauty. The caves were pitch dark and a little water had also accumulated on one of the cave’s floor. As we moved on we encountered some lovely ruins and could see the twin forts on either side as we were in the middle of the valley. It was a lovely sight. There was a small temple which again offered us shelter from the rains as we clicked some more snaps of the mist covered mountain forts present on either side. Again we started ascending and now the stone used to build the fort ramparts was absolutely clear to us. More photographs on the way and as we zeroed in on the fort there was tall elephant grass everywhere sounded by slippery black rocks. Since I wanted a great shot I climber on the edge of one of the forts wall and was hanging from the stone with the valley below me, I am happy my sister took a great shot. There is nothing much on the fort except tall grass which you can see in the pictures however the outer ramparts remain intact. We explored the edges of the fort and got a bird’s eye view of the valley below, the twin fort opposite us and the neighboring mist covered mountains. On top of this fort at a higher altitude is another fort like structure and I suppose this architecture of having a fort within a fort at a higher altitude is called ‘ballekilla’. This seemed to me as a last resort of defense in case of a formidable enemy attack. The view from this ‘ballekilla’ was simply breathtaking; as we were trampled on the grass to head higher we were literally amongst the clouds. It was fully misty with the clouds playing hide and seek with the mountains. For a moment the valley and mountains would be visible and next moment there would be a cloud cover with a gush a wind. It was just fascinating, we relaxed and enjoyed the cloud dance (various changing patterns of clouds) and the view in all directions. The camera battery also conked off which made our descend definitely faster than the ascend as no more snap taking was possible. Reluctantly after a while we started descending as we had to reach my trace my bike in the jungle in time and try and reach Lonavala while there was still light. We reached the base of the village at around 4 pm and my sister wanted to have tea at the base but I was reluctant as was worried about my bike in the jungle!! . As we walked back we remember all the spots where we had stopped to click pictures and saw a lot of village folk returning on the way with cattle and groceries and the Ganesh idols as next day was Ganesh Chaturthi (a big Hindu festival in India). I asked one of the villagers about my bike and he said that it was still there safe and sound. Boy those were sweet words. We even managed to pin point the spot where my sister’s shoe got stuck, her shoe imprint was still there in the mud. My sister was wondering how the cattle droppings were green in color and she accidentally stepped on the green cake which she could later scoop and analyze when we reached back! We drank water from the streams as we headed back. My old pair of shoes which have loyally served me for a lot of treks in the monsoons finally opened their jaw (the stitching opened at the toe), I have to yet take them to the mochi (a cobbler). We reached my bike in about 1.5 hrs and then began the ride back. This time I would have to negotiate with the treacherous terrain on an uphill with a steep cliff on one side. Fortunately there were no people of trucks and as I had the whole rocky terrain to myself I adjusted and kept switching between first and second gear. My sister said I did a good job!!! . We made it back in half hour flat (much before I had anticipated). There was plenty of sunlight still and we drove around casually at Lonavala and then finally bought some chikkis (for which Lonavala is famous) and had some pakodas and tea and a beer there before heading back to Pune. A secret (my sister came pillion with me on the bike but her father and in-laws do no know this and we had to hide this fact as her going biking was unacceptable to them.) Bye-bye Rajmachi, I hope to come again!!
A special thanks to Ms Latika Singh for lending her sleek, sexy Sony point and shoot digital camera to me without which our ride and trek would have been absolutely incomplete, after all those magic moments must be captured!!
A trekker and a biker never die, they only fades away in the mountains and on the road!!
Regards,
Parikshit Vaidya
parivaidya@gmail.com
9822474756
Pune