“If Sinhgad is a cave then Torna is eagle’s nest"
This
statement by James Douglas was the start point which set the ball rolling and
propelled me for the trek to Torna Fort.
Torna was the first
fort won by Shivaji at the age of only 16 years ! ( I am wondering what I was
doing when I was 16 ..Most probably must be chasing girls in college!) I think seeing
this huge fort must have prompted Shivaji to name it Prachandgad.(The Huge One)
Another very
noteworthy thing about this fort is that it is one of the highest Fort (1405mts)
in Pune District.
Most trekkers like to do Rajgad- Torna or Torna –Rajgad
trek. This involves crossing few mountains and walk of 5-6 hours of ridge
walking. However due to constraint of time we undertook to trek to Torna.
As Torna fort is near from Pune so my daughter and me took a night train Pune –Veraval Express and
Sachin ,Mayur ,Dolly were to join us from Pune, we were to catch this train from Vasai, As I have never taken any
train from Vasai station so was unaware
as to on which platform the train was suppose to come and this resulted in lots
of commotion for us , so much so that Akshita and me were running and climbing
stairs from one platform to another , My daughter shouted aloud and said
“Dad !! Saara trek idhar hi karaa doge kya !! “ I smiled and said “beta yeah toh
thoda sa stretching chalu hai, before the actual climb” hearing this my
daughter had a weird looks on her face which I deduced could be like Go to hell
!!! . At last our train arrived and we managed to easily get into our
compartment akhir mai reservation lekar ja raha tha, But what is this meri seat
per yeah kon so raha hai, I tapped on the shoulder of the guy and said bhai
sahib yeah mera seat hai” he rubs his eyes and say sab seat khali hai aap samne
wali seat per chale jao .
I was like
flabbergasted and wondered Kya Such me yaar in our country sab log yeah
seriously sochte hai ,jo tera hai woh mera hai aur jo mera hai sirf mera hai.
Anyways
I finally was able to get my encroached seat back. The guy was grumbling arre
itna bhi kya seat ka 4 ghate ka safar hai baad me ghar per sona hi toh hai.I
turned around and said oye boss pehli baat mai ghar nahi jar aha aur doosri
baat sona toh door mujhe agle din pahad chadna hai. The guy must have thought
that I am crazy…per who kya jane hamare shauq(hobbies).
It was 4.45am when we reached Pune. As our bus to base
village Velhe leaves from Swargate ST
Stand so I took a bus from pune station to
Swargate. Swargate is quite popular so one can find numerous mode of
transport. It is hardly 15-20 minutes drive from Pune station. But problem yeh
thi ke swargate itna popular hai ki bus me baithne ko jagah hi nahi thi . Fully
packed and I must be standing on my toes like a balle dancer, meri daughter
lucky thi I don’t know how she can get that bechara expression on her face and
people offer her seat. Poor me mai standing hi travel kiya ….imagine yeh haal
hai subhah 5.00am ko !!!
 |
| At Swargate, Pune, so many buses but where is my bus ? |
I was given to understand that there was 6.30 am bus from Swargate
to Velhe (Velhe is the Base village for Torna Trek) So I went to the Enquiry
counter, It is another mad house bas woh bunda jo counter ke peeche tha mere ko
get lost nahi bola…simply said aapka bus toh gaya , I said lekin abhi to 5.35
hai bus 6.30 ki hai na, he said toh aap
9 no platform per jao woh aayegi, Crazy yaar however no bus turned up till 7.oclock. Upon looking at the time table at the ST stand
the first bus timing was given 8 am. Full chaos. Per hum trekker multiple
option lekar chalte hai , yes ,Another way to travel is that we catch the bus
which goes upto Bhor or towards Satara. In this case we get down at
Cheladi/Nasarapur Phata.(Distance from pune to Nasarapur Phata is around 30
kms).From this Phata we get sharing Jeep which takes you to Velhe
Village(31kms). We took the 7.30 Bhor Village bus and followed the above mentioned route.
 |
| Waiting for the jeep at nasarapur phata |
In the
bus we met a group who were going to Raireshwer so I asked Mayur and Dolly bolo
Raireshwer chalna hai, and they were like" sirji maaff karo" Let me tell you we
wanderers never have fixed destinations atleast for me I never know where I will
end up therefore it has become a practice for me to inform my wife where I am
when I reach the base village.(Its easy to report pati kahan se lapata hua tha)
 |
| All set to enter Velhe Village |
It was almost 9.30 when we reached Velhe Village .Velhe is a
small Town which has quite a few hotels where you can have Maharashtrian
delicacies viz Poha,Misal, Wadapau etc.. Nowadays due to large trekker traffic
Velhe has a lodging and boarding facility too !
Our Trek starts just from the Velhe village itself ,one has
to come upto the Police station of Velhe village just next to that there is a
cemented road trail,
 |
| Follow this cemented trail just behind the police station |
you start walking on that for hardly 200 mtrs and take a
right and you can see the trail in front of you ,
 |
| From the village one can see the trail very prominently |
passing through the village within
5 minutes walk you come across a small
man made waterfall.
 |
| Posing time |
Waterfall dekh kar Mandakini itni excited nahi hoti hogi
jitna hum trekker ho jate hai. Cameras came out of the bags , posers like us
jumped into the waterfall and bas photo…photo aur photo.
From here we kept walking
along the trail and then you see the stream on your right side
this same stream
falls over that man made waterfall.Jiske neeche hum log pose mar mar ker photo
le rahe the.
As we cross this
stream we can see the trail in front of us going up the mountain. We start the
climb from here ,just ahead we see a large rusted signboard giving details of
the torna fort.
 |
| The trail as you can see from the stream |
If one stops here and look around him he will find himself
watching at the numerous water falls all across various mountains, The stream
below at the foothill looking serene and magical, with lush green carpet
running parallel to it.
 |
| Greenery, waterfall surrounds you |
The trail going uphill is quite prominent still one has to
be careful to avoid some overlapping foot trails which could lead you into the
forest nearby. As we were doing this trek in the Monsoon so walking through the fields
 |
| walking through the fields |
and climbing the
initial portion was murky and muddy affair especially with lose red soil, making it very difficult to climb, many people were slipping and gripping at
bush or stone to avoid slips. This climb some people may find stiff
 |
| Muddy slopes on the way up |
but
once we cover this climb of say 1 hour
session we reach a traverse section. This portion is easy consisting of flat to
gentle climb of ½ hour till you reach the ridge section.
 |
| The ridge |
Walking on the ridge is one of the highpoint of this trek.
We see Lovely valley on both sides , If you are facing towards the Torna Fort
on your left we can see beautiful series of mountains with clouds hanging over
them,
 |
| mountains with clouds hanging over them, |
Numerous Waterfalls
and on your right side in the backdrop we can see panshet dam backwater
engulfed by the mist. It’s a sight to behold.
 |
| Panshet dam backwater engulfed by the mist |
As they say Boss
Break toh banta hai ..well this point is such point where you must sit for a
while because by sitting here you will experience sheer heavenly delight, Let
me tell you it is not the end of goodies here because the icing on the cake is
in form of Vagabond Breeze that blows over this ridge,
 |
| Enjoying the breeze on the rigde..Dil to Bachaa hai ji |
Mind you its so fierce
that it can sweep you off the ground literally. One has to hold hands to
withstand the impact of this wind.( My suggestion is become a child and enjoy
been superman in this Wind).
Moving from the
Ridge, the climb gets little tougher because of the two Rock patch. This is
about one hour climb from the ridge to the Top. Though there is railing along
the rock patch section yet one has to be very careful while climbing during
monsoon holding grip on this rocky patch becomes tricky. Getting down from this
portion while coming back was indeed very difficult for many people. After
climbing the first rock patch and further climb of 15 minutes we come across a
waterfall, atleast more than 50 feet in height, Do drench yourself under it
because the waterfall is again one of the highlight of this trek. Once you are
done with the water therapy be ready to encounter the second and the last rock
patch.
 |
| Stone stairs |
It’s a medium level rock patch with stone stairs, few of the steps have
broken hence the climb becomes tough especially during rainy season. Here again
there is iron railing which provides support. Once we complete this section we
enter the fort through Bini Darwaja
a little walk further we see large water tank and just
behind that is Menghai Goddess temple. On the right side of the temple is
Budhala Machi and on the left side of the temple if you walk further you reach Konkan
Darwaja. It is so called because from here the route opens to Konkan Plateau.
Further as one walks on the Torna Top plateau you come across the famous
majestic Zunjar Machi. Reaching to the furthest end requires good amount of
skill as there is a rocky patch to overcome. Here I would like to bring to the
attention of the the readers that if you do Torna Trek in Monsoon exploring the
Torna Top is literally not possible due to excessive misty condition leading to
very low visibility. Generally one day trek is not sufficient to cover the
entire Fort(after all it is Prachandgad..The large fort).
 |
| Prachandgad..The large fort |
Points to be noted:
1.If you want to enjoy all round beauty of sahyadri Trek
then do it in monsoon .
Advantage: Lush greenery, Misty condition, .Less Fatique
while climbing
2. Disadvantage of doing in monsoon: Nothing is visble on
the Top,so you are not able to explore, getting down is hell of a problem
because stone stairs and rocky section is quite slippery and the last portion
of Descent is through muddy patch so you keep slipping and falling.
3.Winter is a good Time to trek here.
4.If trekking in non monsoon season then carry atleast 3
ltrs of water because there is no water source on Top.
5, Jeep from Velhe to Cheladi is easily available but From
Cheladi/Nasarpur phata to Pune getting transport can be difficult.
6. it is better to hire pvt vehicle till the base
village.(this is more relevant to Mumbai people )
Thank You
The weekend was drawing close and there were numerous plans which were doing rounds in my mind.But alas ! all my plans got smashed when on Wednesday evening my motorbike skidded and I got severely injured. 
It was Saturday evening and my friend Harikesh called me and said 
