Cycling: Another Century Ride to Lavasa

Kalakrai Rock-climbing event was canceled at the last moment on Saturday afternoon, and suddenly I had a half wasted wintery weekend I didn't know how to utilize. I roamed around in Pune that evening on my cycle, and when I didn't have any fatigue even after 20-25kms riding, by the nightfall I had decided to go again on a century ride to Lavasa on Sunday morning.

Same old ride, with one stark difference - no stress on body during any point in time. I was surprised myself. Even during the dreaded stretch between Lavasa-4 and Lavasa-3 milestones, my heartbeat was absolutely normal - never even felt there was a heart beating inside my chest, breathing was as normal as when I would be walking on the FC road - no pressure on the lungs at all, and no cramps in the leg-muscles either. I didn't even realise when I passed the Lavasa-3 milestone, which otherwise I used to keep looking for as an indication of partial-end-to-the-misery. Overall I took 50mins for the full climb of 7kms, which gains almost 450mtrs in altitude.

Another feather in the cap was that I had taken a 12km detour in the morning before heading towards Lavasa, to complete a century by the time I reach home. And after leaving home, I hadn't stopped anywhere before the Lavasa top. That meant almost 56kms of ride, including the torturous final climb of Lavasa, was absolutely non-stop. This was a first.

Same story while coming back - from Lavasa to home non-stop. This was much better show than last time.

So all in all, only a single break during a century ride - which included 2 major ghat climbs (Mutha ghat and ofcourse Lavasa) while going and 2 major ones while coming back (Mutha again, and Pirangut).

Here are some important stats:

Route	Distance	Time
Home to Lavasa with detour	~56kms	3 hrs 10 mins
Final Lavasa Climb	~7kms (altititude gain: 437mtrs)	~50 mins
Lavasa to home return	~44kms	2 hrs 23 mins
Total century ride	100.7kms	5 hrs 33 mins (excluding the break

Overall average pace for the full 100km ride was 18.1kmph, which is quite an improvement over last time's 16.62kmph.

Details stats for this ride: on Sports-tracker

Pune - Rajgad - Connecting Ridge - Torna - Pune: In a Day - Part III

Continued from Part - II ...

Fort Torna (तोरणा किल्ला)

BUDHALA MACHEE (बुधला माची)

By 3pm indeed, I was below Budhala Machee. Couple of inclined spots had a lot of scree and gravel for my comfort, and with that heavy rucksack on my back, I had to be a tad more careful to avoid any skid.

Budhala Machee and its pinnacle (बुधला माची आणि त्यावरील सुळका)

I had learnt that there were 3 rockpatches along the Rajgad-Torna route, and on reaching Budhala Machee, I was all excited and started locating the first one - Shidi Rockpatch on Budhala Machee.

It was a disappointment. It was so lame that, after putting my rucksack and camera bag down, I could climb it while holding my DSLR in one hand, in 30sec tops, while avoiding almost 90% of the ladder (from the left of the ladder). Getting down is different matter altogether though. There is a lot of scree and gravel there, and it suddenly dawns on you while getting down.

Ladder Rockpatch (शिडी कातळकडा) - Start

Ladder Rockpatch - From a distance

Ladder Rockpatch - The Ladder

Konkan Darwaja (कोकण दरवाजा)

I kept my camera on one of the rocks there, and started getting down using all four limbs. But it was harder than I thought. The scree and gravel was making it insanely difficult for me to get good holds. And the place is exposed well enough to make you concerned about the reliability of your next hold. It took me upwards of 15mins to get down from there. 

After picking up my bag, again it took me mere 30 seconds to climb that rock-patch. There, below the ladder, I met a local leaving for home, and got couple of glasses of lime juice to freshen up. By the time I reached top of Budhala Machee, it was 3:30pm. Now this was part of Torna, where I had never been before. But hey, I had never been on that long sprawling ridge before either.

After I started following the dirt route for sometime, I reached what people call rock-patches. They are rocks from the falling fortification, sitting on top of each other in a strange way. Though the exposure is on both sides of that patch, there are proper holds, and if you are nimble with your movements, there is no way these 'rock-patches' can pose any risks. You can be out from there in no time.

I was at Konkan Darwaja by 4:15pm and here I met a boisterous group of lads from Police force who had arrived at Velhe for बंदोबस्त (vigil) during some local poll process. They were quite vocal, and within seconds we built a nice rapport and the conversation was flowing. Me being from Sangli probably helped, since couple of guys were from Sangli themselves. They were impressed with me crossing the whole long ridge alone on my own, while I was impressed by their jolly demeanor with a commoner like me - (supposedly) so much missing from Police force in general.

Fortifications near Mengai-Devi Temple  (मेंगाईदेवी मंदिराजवळची तटबंदी)

TORNA

Taking their leave, I was quickly on my way towards Mengai Devi Temple, and by 4:30pm I was on my way down towards Torna base. Since 1.5hr was seemingly sufficient for climbing down Torna, chances of making it to the base before sundown were looking very bright.

All along the climb down, the legs had started making their presence felt. It was a torture to walk downhill with aching toes. But as planned, I made it to the base right at 6pm. The sun hadn't set as yet, and I was ecstatic to have completed what I had set out to do, strictly within the schedule I had set for myself. There was a very pleasant sense of achievement running around in my mind.

WAY BACK HOME

The next aim was to get to Gunjavane and pick up my bike, before I would set out for home. This turned out to be an ordeal which I hadn't expected. The region is quite short on transportation, and since Gunjavane is almost 20km from Velhe, I was getting quite anxious with every passing vechile that wouldnt stop. Finally got a jeep till Pabe and then a truck till Margasani bifurcation.

आऽऽऽऽऽऽऽऽऽऽऽऽऽऽय हाझ डन् इट!!

It was 7:10pm and Rajgad was still 8-10kms from there. By sheer luck, I came to know that there was a मुक्कामी बस (residential bus) from Vajeghar till Gunjavane at 7:30pm, and suddenly all my tension went away. I was going to reach home that night after all.

By the time I reached Gunjavane and left for home, it was almost 8pm, and owing to the low visibility coupled with flying insects all around in the night, I maintained a very slow speed throughout. At 9:30pm I reached home, and thus ended one of the most hectic and ambitious treks I had ever got myself into.

Apart from the sense of achievement for going solo in an unknown territory, it was the success on planning and time-management fronts that really improved the credibility of my gut. In my own mind, that is.

Pune - Rajgad - Connecting Ridge - Torna - Pune: In a Day - Part II

Continued from Part I ...

RAJGAD

Kick-started my bike, and was on my way by 5:30am sharp. As expected, the windchill was killing me. After a couple of stops, one of which was for petrol, I reached Gunjavane by 7:15am, and immediately started towards Rajgad. The sun had just risen, and birds were out chirping, sun-bathing and foraging. I had to ignore birding today. As much as possible. There was a schedule to stick to and it was driving me. Sometimes when you see a Shikra or a Kestrel though, the temptation is just way too much.

I had set a mini-timeline to reach the Rajgad top by 9:15am so that I would have some buffer to find the Alu Darwaja and figure out the way out on the ridge. I could also eat something for breakfast with some extra time on my hand.

I kept going, taking merely a single break along the route, and to my surprise, went through the Chor Darwaja and reached Padmavati Machee at 8:45am itself. 1.5hrs for the same Rajgad trek that used to take me 2.5-3hrs couple of years back. That too with a 15kg backpack on my shoulders. That had to be a personal record of sorts.

10am was the magic figure, and I was running almost an hour ahead of that schedule. So I had all the time to go after a pair of Kestrels that I spotted sitting on a wire alongside a tank, and also to eat some breakfast, before I would set out to find the Alu Darwaja.

Common Kestrel (ससाणा)

A Doting Mother

Some catchy wild flower

Board on Padmavati Machee giving directions

ALU DARWAJA (अळू दरवाजा)

After photosession with the Kestrel was over, I started out towards Sanjivani Machee. That is where the Alu Darwaja is located. Sanjeevani Maachee is almost an hour's walk from Padmavati Machee. There are few water cisterns apart from the still-in-good-shape fortifications. I walked on the Machee, inside the double-curtain fortifications, which by the way are quite impressive, in search of the Alu Darwaja. But even after reaching the final vantage point of Sanjeevani Machee, Alu Darwaja was nowhere to be found. 

Sanjeevani Machee

The ridge that was to take me to Torna was right in front of me though, and I could distinctly see a semi-walkway coming from the ridge below the Machee and followed that to the left side. 

I had an inkling that this was the route going out from Rajgad, and where it ends on the left of Sanjeevani Machee, would be the Alu Darwaja. I climbed the fortification, started walking on it following the dirt walkway below the Machee. I came to a point where walking further on the fortification would have been nothing short of harakiri due to loose stone and gravel all around. There was not a single human being in sight there to ask directions to.

It was almost 10:20am by that time, and I was quickly running out of time. All the advantage of time I had got initially, would be wasted if I wouldnt find the way out quickly. I was below the first observation point on Sanjeevani Machee, and on the right side I saw a small opening. I was sceptical but followed it just for the sake of checking it out, and viola! There was an opening further, went through that opening and there I was - emerging out of the double-curtain fortification and out of Rajgad, in the open! So that was Alu Darwaja. Hmmm, pretty darn deceitful and well hidden.

THE RIDGE

Bravo! So I was finally out on the terrain, and it was 10:30am in the morning. Not much behind the schedule. Keeping the Sanjeevani Machee on my right, I walked for some distance before I came right below its final vantage point. From here I took right, and the vast ridge that connects Rajgad to Torna, was right in front of me. At the end of it, was the pinnacle of Budhala Machee that would be my beacon and guide for the rest of the journey while I would make my way on the ridge.

The Ridge

The first couple of hills after leaving Rajgad are a kind of roller coaster, with a lot of scree and gravel. When you get on top of the 2nd hill, there is one lonely hut visible when you look along the ridge. That's where the Kolhe Khind (kolhe pass) is. An absolutely desserted tar road passes through this pass, and can be used as a backup plan (retreat option) if need be.

After around an hour of walking, at around 11:30am I came inside this dense scrub jungle. The route was passing through a net of green scrubs, so dense that it was dark and cold beneath when it was a hot sun overhead. I decided to have my lunch there beneath a small aromatic flowering scrub which had beautifully scented flowers. The dark, the cold, the scent - it was plain surreal. By 12:15pm I was done with my lunch, and was ready to go once again.

In about 10 mins of walking, suddenly the tar road of Kolhe Khind appeared. Crossed the tar road, got some दही-साखर (sugarated curd) at the hut. While eating that sour-sweet curd, I had a small chitchat with the lady of that hut. They are the only family leaving in that area, and though there hasn't been an issue of leopards or other wild animals, source of drinking water is very distant from there. It was the lonely family of four, somehow sustaining in that jungle, where even drinking water is luxury! Life people live.

Kolhe Pass (कोल्हे खिंड)

The Lonely Hut along the ridge

The Moss - Leftovers of a long rainy season

I confirmed my directions, and left the hut. Couple of hills later, while still thinking about the hardships these people face, I suddenly realized I was going downhill, away from the ridge. But thankfully, there was another way up to the ridge, and apart from a minor time loss, there was not much of a penalty. The plan and schedule was still in place.

The Budhala Machee pinnacle was quite close by now, while Rajgad was suddenly distant. It was 1:30pm and I was growing restless about the 3pm deadline to reach Budhala Machee. I picked up pace to reach there in time. Couple of photography distractions did slow me down en route, but by and large, I was on time and doing well.


Continued to Part III ...

Pune - Rajgad - Connecting Ridge - Torna - Pune: In a Day - Part I

The Ridge that connects Rajgad and Torna

PLANNING

Rajgad-Torna was on mind for a long time. Almost 4years now. Torna, in particular, has been the reason why I hesitated. People had talked up about its rockpatches so many times that it had become a monster in my subconscious mind. So much so that I used to have dreams of a tall rock-face on Torna, where I would get stuck in limbo, somewhere in the middle. I always kept postponing it to the next winter, and eventually due to various reasons, one of them being the self-doubt about my rock-patch climbing ability, it wouldnt happen. Almost 3-4 years passed by like this.

This year, while riding high on confidence after climbing a Vetal-tekdi rockpatch and then the Madan rockpatch, I decided Torna has to happen now. And trekked it without absolutely any difficulty couple weeks back. Only after reaching the Mengai Devi temple, and then to the Zunzar Machi did I realize how silly I was to believe in that hearsay about Torna rockpatches. Like almost all food-joints in Pune, the rock-patches on Torna were also 90% hype and 10% substance. The railings around the rock are plain unnecessary. It's a standard trek.

With that experience in mind, I started planning for the long overdue Rajgad-Torna backpacking trek. As I had half expected, people were not ready to go unless there is a sizable bunch, and accumulating a sizable bunch for such a hectic trek is easier said than done. So the plan was quickly going down like all other over-optimistic plans. This time though I was way too much into the plan, and on Friday night, the night before the trek, I decided to go solo.

Going solo in the hills, has its own perils. All those bad things that can happen to you, you have to face them alone. But then, if one puts that negative thought aside for a moment, there is a brighter side to going solo as well - You are free out there. If you want to take a detour you can take it; if you want to spend sometime focusing on a bird, you can do it; if you like a flower or some peculiar thing, spend as much time around it as you want; you want to keep walking, keep walking, no need to wait for others. It's calm and tranquill all around and you are out there enjoying yourself, without any restrictions. Going solo, is not as bad as it sounds after all.

Now the initial plan was to leave Pune in the afternoon, reach Rajgad top during evening, stay on Rajgad, and then early next morning, leave for Torna. That way we would get one full day for crossing that loooong connecting ridge between the two heavy-weight ramparts of once glorious Swarajya. That would have been easier on everybody with varying physical fitness. But now that I was going solo, those considerations could be scrapped altogether and a tighter and tougher schedule could have been worked out. I decided to do the full Home-Gunjavane-Rajgad-ConnectingRidge-Torna-Velhe-Gunjavane-Home thing in a single day.

I went through whatever info I found on the net about this trek. On an average people had reported a 5-6hours walk on the connecting ridge to reach Budhala Machee. An hour more, to reach Mengai Devi temple. From previous experience, I knew I would need at most couple more hours to trek down from Torna. The daylight ends at around 6:15 to 6:30pm. So 6pm was the deadline by which I had to be at the base of Torna. That means by 4pm at Mengai Devi temple, by 3pm at Budhala Machee, and by 10am in the morning, I should be on Rajgad and on my way towards Torna. So 10am was the magic figure.

As per my previous Rajgad treks, I used to clock around 2.5-3 hours for reaching Padmavati Machee from Gunjavane. So for reaching Rajgad top by 10am, I should be in Gunjavane and should have started my trek by 7:30am. Now Gunjavane is around 63kms from Kothrud, and given the windchill in these wintery mornings, it's very difficult to race the bike even at 60kmph. 40-45kmph is more doable without shaking violently on the bike due to windchill. That meant I would need at least 1.5hrs frome home to reach Gunjavane. Leaving at 6am in the morning, meant I should get up before 5am since I always need at least an hour to get ready to go. And to get at least a 6-hour sleep, I should have slept by 11pm. It was already 11:30pm and I hadnt even decided about what gear to carry. I set an alarm of 4:45am and started brooding about the gear.

I had a gut-feeling that, thanks to cycling, my stamina and fitness is much better than average, and I should be able to comfortably do this trek in a day, though I didnt find anybody doing that before (at least on the net). Trusting my guts, and going without all the camping gear, I would have saved almost 5-8kg of weight on my back. But given the vast jungle along the route, unknown territory, and not much sureity about what to expect, my second mind was warning me about being prepared for a worst-case condition, rather than blindly trusting the guts. I slept undecided.

After getting up the next morning, I decided to carry all the camping gear, since I would be better prepared in case of an eventuality. Packed my gear and got ready to leave. Here is the list of things I decided to carry -

Tent: 2.5kg
Sleeping Bag: 0.5kg
Extra Clothes: ~2kg
Food: 1kg
Water: ~4kg (2 bottles - 2 ltr each)
Camera Bag: ~3kg (DSLR + 1 wide-angle + 1 telephoto + bag)
Misc: ~2kg (big hiking backpack + medical kit + head torch etc)

TOTAL: ~15kg


Continued to Part II ...

Khidrapur: Grandeur Carved in Stone

Khidrapur Temple

Khidrapur was one of the primary reasons why I took my bike to Sangli on the last weekend of 2011 and the first of 2012. I had been wanting to check this place out for a long time, but it just didn't come through. This time I was determined to make it happen. It was primarily for such outing-cum-photography excursions that I had bought a new mono-pod, since historical places strictly dont allow tripods. Especially if they are being managed by Archaeological Survey of India. Now this ASI is seemingly one rare govt organization which appears damn serious about its work. They not only maintain their sites impeccably well, but they are quite strict while enforcing their rules too. I hear the Khidrapur temple was also in a state of disarray before it was handed over to ASI, and since the handover, there has been a sea-change in the way it's maintained and projected.

The road to Khidrapur from Sangli is, for the most part, straight-forward. Sangli-Jaysingpur-NarasobaWadi-Kurundwad. In Kurundwad, it's better to ask for the correct turn. Another place where it's better to ask before proceeding is Sainik-Takali where the road is quite small and bad.

Paddy-fields along the way

Also, this is where it might get a bit troublesome to maneuvour a car. Otherwise rest of the road is wide-enough and in excellent condition. Once you cross Sainik-Takali, you have a straight road to Khidrapur, you can't miss it. The fields along both sides of the road, span the horizon as long as your gaze reaches. The occasional string of high coconut trees in the midst of these fields give the whole scenary a bit of Goan touch. They stand very pretty. Typical of a village setting, you will find quite a bit of birds sitting on the wires along the roads, or wading in the ponds alongside. Egrets, herons, kingfishers, swallows, drongos etc. An occasional drongo would even let you come quite close, enough to fill the full frame of your camera. The region is well endowed with water all year round, and consequently the prosperity shows.

Khidrapur itself is a clean village.

Museum being built by ASI

The area around and inside the temple is very cleanly maintained. Right in front of the Temple, there is an attractively shaped structure being built by ASI. From what I learnt from the locals, it's going to be a museum. Wonder what the museum is going to be of. Just beside the musium, flowing Krishna river is visible and the bank as well as its approach is quite pleasant to just relax and watch the grebes, spot-bills floating on the water while a brahmini kite soars high up in the sky.

Now on to the main attraction - the Kopeshwar temple. The temple, supposedly, was built in the 12th century by Chalukya kings. The architecture is majestic and carvings on the walls, pillars, ceilings are insanely detailed and intricate.

Side view of the Kopeshwar Temple

You can't help but wonder about the skills of those who carved such intricate, yet beautifully balanced carvings on those planks of stone. The temple, maybe because it's from a relatively recent time period, or maybe because it somehow remained out of sight of those rampaging Mughals who were on temple distruction spree, has managed to remain in an impressively good shape.

After clicking the architecture and carvings till I felt content, I moved out towards the river bank. The bank was bustling with bird activity. I spotted a grey wagtail alongwith a pair of white-wagtails - lifer for me. A pied wagtail was not to be seen anywhere there though. On the left of the bank, I saw a male Indian Robin sitting pretty on an offshoot and giving a pose like only a Robin or a Bushchat does. These birds are a photographer's delight. They let you come close, and besides a lot of time they will find an exquisitely positioned solitary spot to sit on and observe you. Such a spot allows you to seperate them very beautifully from the background. This is how it was sitting that time. I focussed on it and was about to click, when I saw some activity in the frame. Initially I thought it was a pigeon that was ruining my frame. A moment passed, and then with a bang, like a Nana Patekar entry, there emerged a Hoopoe in focus. I was stunned. I had never seen a bird like that before. It was a lifer for me. A Hoopoe is one of those very elegant birds with a long, down-curved, pointed beak and a magnificent crest. It's very pleasing when you get to see this bird for the first time. It allowed me to come moderately close and I managed a few okayish shots before it flew away.

Green Bee Eater with a caught bee

White Wagtail

Common Hoopoe

Due to presence of fields, the place was teeming with birds. Later that day, I also managed to get a sharp shot of a Green Bee Eater eating a bee. There were bats, larks, few water birds (spot-bills and grebes mostly), bramhini kites, Robins and ofcourse this Hoopoe. Quite a bit variety, when I hadn't even considered any birding angle to this trip.

After my lens started labouring while hunting for focus, due to lack of sufficient light, I packed my gear and started back towards home.

The sunset with the foreground of fields, trees, bridges was quite pleasing on the way back. Got few shots for HDR, as well as a few that highlighted the converging lines formed by roads, field/crop boundaries, bridges etc. Some turned out good.

The change from hustle-bustle of Pune to the relaxed, lazy life in these small villages, is quite significant. Photography as a hobby, is an enabler that pushes one to roam around, travel, visit unknown places, appreciate peculiarities and see the same things in a different light - literally. It gives purpose to the life. Khidrapur probably wouldnt have happend, had I not have a camera to capture such stuff that appeals to the creative instinct.