Chandragad

Second day, we got up early, refreshed from good food and good sleep to catch our early bus. It was raining when we took the 6:15 bus which did not deter the driver who speeded all the way to Mahad. At Mahad, my cousin left for Pune and we were down to four.

After a warm glass of tea and a copy of the Sunday times, we caught a bus to Poladpur and from there to Gorela/Khandas. There is an earlier bus to Umrath and a bus at 12 directly to Dhavle which is the base village for Chandragad. We got down at a village (whose name I unfortunately don’t remember) from where we crossed the river on a bridge and climbed to Umrath. This is the birthplace of Tanaji Malusare with a statue installed by the side of the road. Later we were told that there are a few swords of this famous warrior in the village too. We passed a spectacular waterfall on the way to Dhavle where unfortunately there was a van full of middle aged men dancing in their underwear to music, chucking some bottles here and there. As a trekker it is ones’ responsibility to create as less rubbish as possible on our beautiful countryside, so it is shameful to see people littering carelessly.


After the waterfall, from the next village, one can take shortcuts to reach Dhavle instead of walking on the tar road. We were recommended by other villagers on the way to ask for Vitthal More who generally takes people around. We started for Chandragad at around one and made our way through the beautiful forest near the village. The guide is not really necessary as the route is more or less marked with boards. After passing a stream a board announces Chandragad Darshan – the fort was built by Chandrarao More. From here the route is steep and ends up on the top of the fort.

Our guide took us on the narrow top where there are few ruined walls and remnants of houses. There is a Nandi statue and a shivling temple. There are also water-tanks and caves on the fort, but all of it does not amount to much We got fantastic views of the thickly forested valleys around Dhavle village and also of the route of Dhavle ghat. Lucky for us, after a bout of heavy rain, wind and mist, the clouds around us parted to give us these views.

We returned the same way back to Dhavle village by around five, making this fort a comfortable roughly four hour excursion. In monsoon the surrounding beauty and isolation is a treat! There is also a temple to stay in the village, excellent for hikers to camp in. Cooking is allowed but smoking and drinks are banned, informed the hassled priest. We had our food and made plans to take on Dhavle ghat though Mr. More was reluctant. But since the weather was fine (on and off rain) we decided to give the morning bus (6:00 am to Poladpur) a miss and proceed to Mahabaleshwar.

for more photos here is the link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/upsidedownv/2007mahabaleswar

-monsoon trekker