AvchitGad-Birwadi Fort-GhosalGad-TalaGad-Kuda Caves-GheraSurgad

It all started with a status message on FB from Mr. Mahesh Gavasane conveying that they will be exploring Roha-Kundalika Region forts on 12-13 Feb 2013. Initially some of us were out of equation as there was only one car for the travel and it was already full. With Sarvesh, Praveen and Myself pouring in for the trek, we decided that we will be going for one more car and that was mine. Convincing my Mother was a tough job, but somehow could manage on the promise of driving slow…hehehehe. Further as the D-day was nearing, there were cancellations and a total group of 13 was curtailed to 9 people. Call from Mahesh said that we will be moving by only one car, that was Mr. Chetan Rane’s car (innova). And the iternary was circulated.

Woke up early morning on 12^th Jan and got into first train to Vashi. Chetan was coming from Jogeshwari via Chembur, so I decided to join them at Sanpada.With all my trekking gear I was looking like a alien at Thane station, which I recognized when I was getting out of my complex and some of dogs refused to identify me. Anyways, it was around 6:10 AM I got into the car at Sanpada. It was already filled with 5-6 people, Nilesh Tawade, Prajakt Madkar, Nilesh Nangare, Mahesh, Avinash Jadhav and ofcourse Chetan (incharge of the cockpit). On our way to Panvel, we picked up Sarvesh Tawade and Praveen Potdar. And we nine guys were off to Roha, which is around 90 Kms from Panvel. First target was to get to Kolad on Mum-Goa Highway and then turn right from Kolad to Roha – 14 kms.

After reaching Roha, we asked for directions to Pingalsai Village, which is one of the base to Avchitgad. Actually Avchitgad has 3-4 base routes, from where you can hike up. Unaware about the regular ascending route, we kept moving towards Pingalsai village. At one place we stopped for asking directions, and the village guy was kind enough to tell us that instead of ascending Avchitgad from Pingalsai, which is unfriendly and barren land route we should go to Medhe Village on Roha-Nagothane road. He told us that the route from Medhe was full of trees and we will be saved from wrath of scorching sun. Thanking the angel we placed our car on Roha Nagothane route and reached Medhe Village which is approx 12 kms from Roha. One can also take a right from Nagothane from Mum-Goa Highway and reach Medhe Village on Roha road instead of doing the other way round as we did. Reaching Medhe Village, we parked our car in front of a temple and started the hike. Asking directions to the villagers can help, once you get to the proper route there is no need of further assistance. While ascending, the fort is always to your right and route goes through the forest on the neighboring mountain. The route is a normal but steep hike but as the sun was coming up it was sucking glucose from us. As I was trekking after three long weeks, I was quite exhausted but kept going with small sips of water. Atlast the fortified wall of the fort was visible and we could sense the fort’s main door approaching. Fort’s main door is a beautiful structure (see the pic below) and just ahead of the door on left hand side there is a stone kept, on which there is an imaginary animal carved on it just like Unicorn. Things to see on the fort are live cannon, water cisterns, some of the remnants of fortified structure. Just above the water cisterns there is a small Shiv temple near to which you can see script carved on stone(ShilaLekh). 

Avchit Gad from Base Village Medhe

Way to AvchitGad

Avchitgad Entrance

Imaginary Animal Carved on Stone

AvchitGad

Avchitgad

Cannon At AvchitGad

AvchitGad

Devi Idol at Avchitgad

Water Cisterns at Avchitgad

Wooden Bridge joining two mountains at Avchitgad

Explored the fort for 45 mins and then we were descending the fort. Around 10 mins after descending, we can see triangular carved rocks in various shapes, which are mistaken for deity idols by people. But Mahesh told us that they were actually “Veerghals”, the memorials made for the martyrs who died while fighting on the fort. Highest the rank of the soldier died, big was the “Veerghal”(see the pic below). We ascended the fort in less than 30 mins and we were moving towards our next destination “Birwadi Fort”

VeerGhal's at Avchitgad 

ShilaLekh At AvchitGad

Mahesh giving info

Temple at Avchitgad

Birwadi Fort is on Roha Murud Highway, near to a village named “Chanera” which is 20 kms from Roha. So from Medhe village we came back to Roha and moved our car in direction of Murud. 40 minutes down we were at Chanera asking for directions to Birwadi fort. One of the localite pointed his finger towards a mountain to the left side of Roha-Murud Road, which was a bell shaped mountain. 2 kms left from Chanera you will get to the fort, on the way there is huge left which is to be ignored and keep right. At the base of birwadi fort there is a nice and clean temple, adjacent to it there is a statue of Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj. It was 1:30 pm and we all were hungry, so we decided to carry our food to the top and have it there. Ascend is very easy, only at one place it gets a bit tricky with a rock patch but not difficult. In 15 mins we were on top and exploring. There is not much to see at the top only few water cisterns and remnants of fortified structure. We couldn’t even find a proper shade for having food, so we decided to descend down and have food near the temple. Within 10 mins we descended the fort and had our lunch. In the whole Roha-Kundalika range, Birwadi is only the fort which is off track i.e. far from the circle. And there is not much to see on the fort, but just to complete your range, visit to this fort is must. 

Temple at the base of Birwadi Fort

Ascending Birwadi Fort

Shivaji Maharaj's Idol at Birwadi Fort Base

Birwadi Fort

Birwadi Fort

Tricky Rock Patch at Birwadi Fort

Water Cisterns at Birwadi Fort

Now reaching back to Roha was must, to visit our next target Ghosalgad

From Chanera you get back to Roha and then you again ask for directions to Ghosala, which is the base village of Ghosalgad. Roha – Ghosala is approx 10 kms. Reaching the base village you can see the fort overlooking the village. It was around 3:30 pm when we reached Ghosala and started ascending the fort. Route is all marked and there is no need of assistance. 15 mins hike and you can reach the top. The mountain is shoe shaped with a plateau on one side and you can still find the “Machi” well fortified. The main door of the fort is not in existence, still you can find some pieces of the same lying there. Further there is a cave on left side and on right side you can walk over the periphery of the fortified plateau. Hiking up after the stairs there are two ways, if you chose the right one you will get to a dead end after walking for 2 mins. On the way you go through few water cisterns. The way to the top is from left hand side, take left and start ascending upwards immediately. On top you can find a cannon and chor darwaza. Descending from the opposite end you can directly come down to the village. Overall it is a nice fort to explore.

Ghosalgad from Base village "Ghosala"

Carvings on Ghosalgad

Ghosalgad

Ghosalgad Entrance

Small cave at Ghosalgad

Ghosalgad

Machi at Ghosalgad

Honey Ladder for Honey Hunters

When we got into our car, it was around 5:30 pm and we went to Indapur on Mum-Goa Highway, where our night stay was arranged. After a tiring day it was time to say good night and all the trekkers were eager for the coming day to visit 3 more places.

Left Indapur early morning around 6 am, our target was to reach Talagad before Sunrise. Base village to Talagad is Tala Village. Seeing from far, Talagad looks high and seems like it will take atleast 90 mins to ascend. But as you come near, your car moves through the narrow streets of Tala village right up to the actual base of the fort and from there the ascend is of hardly 30 mins. God of fire was also ascending with us and every bit in the atmosphere was turning gold. We had an extended photography session in that beautiful light and moved further. Talagad is a beautiful fort with lot of fortifications still visible. You can also see remnants of housing structures, lot of water cisterns, fortified structures just like those on Raigad. It’s a pin shaped fort and there are lot of things to explore on the fort. In short, Talagad is a must visit fort in this range. 

Talagad from Base village

Talagad

Talagad

Talgad

Steps up to Talagad

Talagad

Storage Structure at Talagad

Water Cisterns At Talagad

Machi at Talagad

Our rocking group at Talagad

Shivling at Talagad

Talgad from Base

Avinash in Stunt Mode

Descended in a happy mood and came to our car in less than 15 mins. Near the base there is a temple of Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj, which are very less in Maharashtra.

Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj Mandir at Talagad Base

Idol of Maharaj at Talagad Base

Fish Market at Tala

Thereafter we reached Kuda Caves, 11 kms from Tala village. On the way you need to keep asking for directions to avoid missing left turn from Kulkarni Farms. Kuda caves are been protected by Archeological Society of India (ASI) and are well maintained. There are 26 caves in the premises dating back 1^st Century BC – 3^rd Century AD. The carvings on the stone are masterpiece arts. Elephant carved near the entrance of one of the cave look as if it is alive.

Kuda Caves

Kuda Caves

Kuda Caves

Kuda Caves

Kuda Caves

Kuda Caves

Kuda Caves

Explored the caves for 30 mins and were back to our car. Now we had only one place remaining in our schedule i.e. GheraSurgad on Mum-Goa Highway. As there was lot of time at our disposal, we were thinking of doing Sarasgad after GheraSurgad. But our plan was destroyed by a flat tyre of our car on Roha-Kolad Road. We wasted more than 90 minutes to fix the tyre.

Tyre bust of our Car on Roha-Kolad Road

Mission Possible

For GheraSurgad you need to come to Kolad from Roha, distance of which is 14 kms and then move towards Khamb village in direction of Mumbai. At Khamb, towards right you can see a board installed by “Durgaveer Pratisthan” indicating the road to Surgad. Durgaveer Pratisthan is a group which does maintenance work on forts, the aim of which is to preserve the precious forts for future generations to come. At the base, we were lucky to meet Mr. Santosh Hasurkar, leader of Durgaveer Pratisthan and his group who had just completed their 2 days maintenance work on the fort. Got directions from Santosh and we were off to the trek. Thanks to Durgaveer Pratisthan, the path is well marked with arrows and occasional display boards. There are three ways to ascend this fort. One is the regular route, first going through forest and then traversing the big rock. Second is through the scree for which we need to maintain a single direction till we reach up. And third is from the fortified structure at the opposite end of the fort. We chosed the second one, as it is the shortest and takes you on top immediately within 15 mins. Moving towards the scree you need to climb a rock patch which is to be climbed very carefully. Then from the scree, you keep climbing right and move towards the top. Immediately above the scree you will find Lord Hanuman’s unique idol on the right hand side. Further you get a snake view of the Kundalika river from the top which is beautiful and serene. There is shiv temple further and a dilapidated storage structure “Kothar” adjacent to it. Lot of things to explore on this fort but the special one is the “ShilaLekh”- script carved on the rectangular structure. Moving to the opposite end you get to the last fortified structure on the fort and from there you can descend down. While descending we had problems with identifying the proper route as lot of dry leaves covered the route. Somehow we got to the main route after missing it for some time. On the way in forest there was cannon at one place which may have felled from the fort. Further to that there is Ansai Devi Mandir. 

Ghera Surgad from Base

Path to the fort

Moving through the scree up to GheraSurgad

Mahesh and Nilesh moving up the rock patch at Ghera Surgad

Hanuman Idol at Ghera Surgad

Snake View of Kundalika River from GheraSurgad

Dilapidated Storage Structure at Ghera Surgad

Shivling at Ghera Surgad

Ghera Surgad

Water cisterns at Ghera Surgad

Shilalekh at Ghera Surgad

Descending Ghera Surgad

Ansai Devi Mandir

Descend takes less than 30 minutes. Back to the base village, we realized that we had completed the range and it was time to get back to Mumbai. Left Khamb at around 5:30 pm and reached Mumbai at 9.30 pm. Overall it were a great 2 days with 8 strong trekkers, we had great fun together and supported each other in best possible way. Thanks to all of You, you were great, special thanks to Mr. Chetan Rane to bring his car for the trek. Jai Shivaji !!! Jai Bhavani !!!

Our group of Nine for the Trek