Bhivgad aka Bheemgad Trek | Weekend Wanderer

Monsoons were at its best, lashing rains and cool temperature was making it all the more compelling for me to break the shackles of my heel spur and head towards the mountains.So the next thing I did was I called my Doctor and asked Hey Doc can I go for a trek?. As I was talking on the phone so I couldn't see her expressions but I promise you she must have said "Arre Pagal hai kya" but as she is a professional so she coolly told me the precautions to take and not to forget the icing on the feets,( My wife who was standing near me said "Aap ko Doctor ne bola hai itni barish me pain ke sath trekking per jane ko" and I was like "Arre Doctor ne hi bola hai" and I gave her an impish smile.

Sunday morning and I was off on my trek. It was raining cats and dogs I somehow managed to reached Andheri Station.I boarded the train bound to Dadar from where I changed to Kajat local.We were 5 people altogether. It was 9.00 am when we reached Karjat Station. As I was not aware of the route so after getting down from the train I kept asking people as to on which side is Shri Ram Pul aka famous Karjat bridge. 

Morning walk through the streets to
 Sri Ram Pul

A little walk of 5 minutes and we were on course and reached the Shri Ram pul and there we inquired about the auto going to Vadap.

 There was this 3 seater auto rickshaws which we took for 100 Rs and it was 5 of us in it! Nikhil and myself were sitting along the Auto driver hanging on to our life and at each bump on the road we were like "Beta ab toh pakka bahar gire " but the regular trekking and travelling to remote villages have got us used to such perilous conditions. Infact I burst out laughing when Shradda asked will the auto be stable with 5 people in it. Actually wanted to tell her "Behna yeh toh ab roz ki zindagi ho gayi hai"

Vadap is hardly 5 kms away from station so in about 15 minutes drive we reached the base village Vadap.As soon as we got down from the auto it began to drizzle, so we quickly stole a moment and took a group picture. Kya Hai na roll call ho jata Hai ....kitne aadmi the, ab photo se pata to chalega kitne Gaye the aur return photo me kitne wapas aaye...chodo yaar yeh mera logic. Chalo ab aage badte Hai.

Morning Roll Call

We started our trek from this sign board and walking through the village we come out into open and see a 70 mm screen filled with lush greenery and a Gigantic waterfall I was simply zapped at seeing such a beautiful sight.

70 mm view of Greenery with Waterfall

We kept walking towards the col on the mountain keeping the waterfall on our right. As we kept walking we could see the dark cloud formation behind us as if gearing to ambush us with flash rains.

Clouds gearing for ambush

In the meantime breaking news yeh thi ki Shraddha madam ki shoes ki sole nikal gayi and her expression was saying it all..yeh lo! itne saalo( by the way saalo means years here, Saalo....not the swear word,😂😂) baad trek per aayi hu aur mere shoes ki Tay Tay phiss.

Who cares Juta toot gaya...
Boss her situation per ek selfie toh banta hai

Thankfully Rajesh was carrying an extra pairs so the day was saved and we moved on. The trek is quite easy because one can see the top. There is this saffron flag fluttering on the top . One  should  try to reach the col in the mountain.As the height of Bhivgad fort is hardly 600 feets so we reached the col very quickly. Upon reaching the col . You'll see  a signboard with directions marked for Dhak and Bhivgad. If you take left from here you go to Bhivgad and the right from here takes you to Dhak ,  Thanks to Durgveer Pratisthan who had put up this signboard which gives direction for both the places.

From here we did take left and started to walk up to the rocky patch,but little climb and we realized that it's a wrong trail because there was a dead end .So Nikhil and myself we came down and started afresh from the sign board

Wrong Climb

we now took left and started moving down to the path that we saw going down on left. However as we were going the path was  descending instead of ascending, I felt it was time to stop and take a stock of situation, so we all sat on the rocks for a while.

Life on the rocks !!!

 Sometimes these kind of break are extremely refreshing because as we sat here on the rocks, absorbing the beauty of the green grass laden mountains dipped in the shrouds of clouds with series of  waterfall, I felt it was one of the most enthralling moment of my life.

The most enthralling moment of my life.

Just as we were idling on the rocks we saw a villager who was passing by, he directed us that we have to climb from that rock patch, but more like circumventing from right side rather climb straight up. So we did that accordingly, and simultaneously at the same time few village kids too came along  with whom we climbed on this rock patch and reached next level where the green carpet again confronted us. 

Life on natural green carpet

Standing at the this point we saw paved muddy trail and walking on that we reached the first plateau.

Running to reach the first plateau

Seeing this huge plateau with so much greenery, we realise that as city creatures how much we are losing out on abundance of the nature. 

Nature is more glorious
when you enjoy it with the village kid

As we were clicking the pictures we saw few people coming from the top , we later came to know that they had started there trek from other side i.e  Gaurkamat village . They were ladies trekkers from Ambernath. We shared few pleasantries with them and started to climb from this plateau to the topmost point. 

Preparing to go to the top

The top has very little remains of early era. Secondly there is no shelter on the top so you are almost exposed to sun.

Few remnants of past

 Then there are 2 water tanks where we squatted rested for a while.I was told that the water is potable here , but I wont advise you to drink. Please carry your water with you.

Due to overcast conditions the view from the top was very mesmerising, 

Watery silver sheets on farming fields

Looking at the fields drenched with the silver sheet of water was out of the world kind of experience.Hence we thought why not to have lunch on this natural viewing deck.

Lunch at natural viewing deck

It was here we met Swapnil with whom I had trekked few times earlier, it was a pleasure to connect with him and the team of trekkers who were accompanying him. See mountains are such a lovely place to connect with people you know only through FB😂

Me and the mountains .....
The love affairs continues

We spent some time on the top exploring the top and enjoyed the pleasure of the shayadris.

 Getting down was not much of a bother,running down this green trail was so enjoyable infact the heart was singing  "Aaj phir jeene ki tammana Hai aaj fir Marne ka iraada",  we quickly came down and made our way to the waterfall.

And just like like Jill of Jack and Jill
the weekend wanderer came tumbling town

Ab monsoon me trek per aaye hai  toh thode waterfall ke majje to bante Hai....kyo ki agar nahi Gaye uske pass toh woh bura man jayega 😁

Chal Yaar Chill Maar !!

So instead of going straight down to the vadap village we diverted our path to left towards the waterfall and in 5-10 minutes we were savouring the natural distilled water.

Enjoying 
naturally distilled water shower

We spent some good time here clicking pictures and soon made our way down so as to catch our train back home. 

Zindagi ek safar hai suhana

Upon reaching the village we hailed a passing tumtum which dropped us near the karjat station, from where we took the train to CST.

✔️How to reach:

✴️ One needs to reach Karjat station.
✴️  Take Auto from Sri Ram pul to Vadap
✴️  Start your trek from Vadap village and it should take you   maximum one hour to reach the top
✴️  Alternatively one can go further one km to Gaurkamat village and start the trek from mountain trunk.

Trekker Tips

✴️   Nothing is available on the top so carry your food with you
✴️  There is no shelter on the top.
✴️  It should take you max 30-40 minutes to explore the top.

Daman: Street walk

It all started at Kanheri Caves when I popped up the suggestion that I would be going for Daman exploration, Dr Ajay who like me is an avid traveler lapped up my offer and our program to visit was set.

I asked few of my friends to join but I got the standard reply " Arre pagal itna garmi me mar jayega Sunday hai ghar per rest kar" . Well the truth is my friends must be feeling restful chilling in front of TV on a lazy sunday but for me this scene would only make me restless. 

Our Journey:
Earlier we had planned to go by car to Daman but cost per head was coming close to Rs 1000 per head and that too only for travelling ! Perhaps that is the reason I blurted " Arre yaar itne me toh mai char bar Daman jakar aa jaonga" So sanity prevailed and we decided to go by train to Daman.

Let me inform you that there is no train which go to Daman, the nearest Railway station is Vapi and from there Daman is 12 kms away and can be reached by road.

There are many express trains going to Delhi or Ahmedabad which halts at Vapi station which one can catch and reach Vapi. However I prefer to go by Passenger train because though they are slow atleast I am assured of a seat. 

We decided to catch 7:40 am Virar-Surat Shuttle from Virar station. The train took around 3 hours to reach Vapi and from there we rushed to the Taxi Stand. 

Vapi Here we are

Taxi stand is just outside the Station on west side.
There are regular sharing taxis which go to Daman from Vapi. We paid Rs 30 per person and mind you 6 people sit in these Taxis.

A drive of 15 minutes and we were at Nani Daman Taxi Stand.

At Taxi stand :All set to go

After getting down from the Taxi we were all set for our street walk. Just opposite the Taxi stand is shopping center which local people call Dubai Market ! I personally felt it should be called Duplicate Market !(after all it contained only cheap imitation of foreign goods). However what got me interested was the construction date of the market.
1879 !

Duplicate Market ..oops Dubai Market

Constructed Year : 1879

Our first destination of interest was to explore Nani Daman Fort. Hence we started walking along this market and little ahead on the opposite side of the road was another blast from the past. Yes an old police station building with typical Arc structures. 

Nani Daman Police station

Walking through the streets of Nani Daman the old colourful buildings cannot be missed. Someday I will come again and do heritage walk here.

Colourful Houses

Colourful Old Gold

Daman is a typical coastal town where one can see major Portuguese influences in construction of houses, churches and forts.

After absorbing this Portuguese culture I was all the more excited to explore Daman Town.

1933 construction

I wanted to know more about its history and was all set for next stop.... Nani Daman Fort. 


Wait for my next blog on Nani Daman Fort soon

till then happy reading.

Shirgaon Fort, Palghar

Another weekend was round the corner and nothing was planned for the weekend wanderer within me so I thought let me try out something nearby, hence Sunday Morning I took 7;40 am shuttle train from Virar Station  to Palghar because this weekend my destination will be Shirgaon Fort in Palghar,

Shirgaon Fort, I was given to understand is some 13 kms away from the Palghar Station. I took ST bus from Palghar Station to go to Shirgoan fort. The bus frequency I was told is quite good.One needs to catch buses going to Satpati to reach this fort.

ST bus to Satpati all set to go

A bus journey of half an hour and I was dropped at a coastal village,The Bus Conducter said "Aap Masjid ke stop per utar jana " actually this stop is before Satpati. I got down before Sarpati as I saw this huge Masjid along the road.

Masjid is the landmark to get down from ST bus

 After getting down the bus I took direction from the locals and  started walking for few minutes through the coastal village towards the Shirgaon Fort.

Sleepy coastal village

In few minutes I reached the main entrance of the Shirgaon Fort.

Shirgoan Fort Main Entrance

Before setting my foot on the fort let me brush up some history about the fort.

HISTORY:
Historical name of Shirgaon during Portuguese ruling was Sirgão. Locals told me that this fort was built by the Portuguese though I could not find much history about this fort except that this fort was later won by the Marathas in 1738 along with the Dahanu Fort, Tarapur, Kelve and Asherigad Fort under the able leadership of Chimaji Appa. However in 1818 the Britisher captured this Fort.

Fort in Ruins

This been a land fort hence no trekking is required, one can simply walk in from the road to reach the entrance of the fort. Standing in front of the fort we see Minar or tower on the right side and a gate next to that. Minar construction some how gives the impression of Mughal architecture Just at the entrance on the right side are inscriptions dating the origin of this fort to 1714 A.D.

 Frontal view of Fort from outside

As soon as we enter the fort from the door we immediately come across a big entrance door on the left side which leads into central courtyard of the fort.

Interesting architecture 

 The structure near the entrance lies in a ruined state today, tall walls and small windows atop them spells the historic tale unknown to us in today's time. I am sharing few pictures of lost glory .

Tall walls with windows

Tales of lost glory

Door leading to central courtyard

 The moment I entered through the door to central courtyard I saw a large ground with some ruined structure on the right side which looked like rooms probably for soldiers or for holding their rations.

Stairs leading to the rampart of the fort

Inside View of Large halls

I explored the inside, actually not much to see. I came out and as there was stairs which were leading to the top walls of the fort.This fort so reminded me of Arnala Fort ( You can click the link to read about Arnala fort here) near Virar.

These stone stairs going up ends on the ramparts of the fort which one can easily circumvent.I started to walk on the top. There are 5 Bastions on this fort.

View from the ramparts of the quarters,Rooms of soldiers

Walking on the ramparts of the fort just across from where I was standing I could see a white structure perched on the bastion so naturally started to move toward it to explore.

But before reaching this bastion I came across one more bastion. which has the usual windows and circular construction.

Moving forward from here I made my way to the white structure perched on the northern bastion.
The spiral stairs take you to the top.Its quite sad to see lots of graffiti on the walls, How I wish people start respecting their heritage.

Upon reaching the top of this bastion I could see the whole fort and the most prominent thing was the multi branch Palm tree...wow must be one of its kind.

Unique multi branch Palm tree

Bird's eye view from the Bastion.

After spending some time here I went on to explore the other bastion which we saw at the entrance door.

Bastion on the other end, waiting to be explored

Bastion from ground level

Exploration of these ancient forts is always an adventure because we often come across secret tunnels, caves etc. Shirgoan fort too has its quota of such historical mysteries.

Doors to unknown

The sun was hitting me hard and I think I have seen all that I can see so felt it was time to move on now back home. Shirgoan Fort is a small fort which you can explore in two hours. Do visit it if you are at Palghar.

Watch the video here for the Shirgoan Trek

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