Riding the Ranges......on Republic day !!!

On 26th January we decided to ride to Rajmachi and trek up the two forts there. This plan had been brewing in the minds of many people for quite some time and looking at the long weekend in between we decided to execute it this time.

RAJMACHI FORT: The name Rajmachi is applied to the twin forts of Shrivardhan and Manoranjan, situated at 18 0 50' north, latitude and 73 0 24' east longitude. The former, at 826 meters, is a little higher then the latter which is 816 meters above sea level. The forts are about 18.5 kilometers by Dirt track from Lonavla, although just 8 kms as the crow flies. There is a small ancient temple dedicated to Sri Bhairavnath right in between Shrivardhan and Manoranjan, and served as a royal observation outpost or Raj-Machaan for the Kings and his subjects, hence the name Rajmachi. It is said that the idols installed inside the temple were gifted by Shivaji, Shahu and peshwa Bajirao. This fort served as the inspection check point to collect toll/tax and safeguard caravans and convoys enroute to Pune from Western maharashtra. The administrative and residential buildings were within Srivardhan and the Military attache was on Manoranjan.

Some time back the popular belief was that Rajmachi Fort can be approached only on foot. It is surrounded by deep valleys on three sides and a thick forest on one side.

There are three ways to reach there on foot
(1) Lonavala through Tungarli village and Dam. There is a small right turn here which is to be avoided and take a left turn to reach the fort.
(2) On the railway route, get down at thakurwadi station, cross a place called Palas Dari and reach Rajmachi and
(3) from Karjat town one can straight away reach Rajmachi.

This fort is very old, it probably belongs to yadav period because of the peculiar twin fort concept. Although extensively occupied and maintained by the marathas, Rajmachi Forts date way back to the times of the early Buddist era as is evident from the architectural details.
The two forts which together form Rajmachi are (a) Shrivardhan (b) Manoranjan.

SHRIVARDHAN FORT
This fort is on the eastern side of Rajmachi. The entrance of this fort is semi-circular in shape and is thus not easy to locate from far away. The entrance of the Shrivardhan fort used to be manned by watchmen. At one end, there are residences or people staying on the fort and the other end is for the guards. There are two huge water tanks filled with water all the year. One tank is near the first cave & the other is near the inside fort. After entering if you go a little further, one can see Buddhist caves which were later used as storage houses for grain and other provisions. Here, along with the Buddhist influences one can also see influence of the Maratha life style, for e.g. The carvings of Ganesha (Elephant God) on the door. The first line of fortifications is some considerable distance from the top and consists of high strong wall. The flat land enclosed by this wall was used for troops quarters and granaries. Further higher up is residence of the fort commander and an image of the fort deity. On the east there is a sheer scarp and no fortifications are required. On the west, however, there are ramparts and bastions. The forts of Lohagad, Visapur, Tungi, Korigad, Nagfani etc. can be seen from here.

MANORANJAN FORT
A road from behind the Bhairavnath temple leads to the Manoranjan Fort. The entrance of the fort is in bad shape, and is in a state of ruin. The only things one can see, are the ammunition depots and the watchmen houses. There is a square Lake, which is filled with clean water all the year round. A straight line of rock divides this lake into two parts, and the person having the knowledge of this place can walk through it. The fort at Pali, Karnala, Nagfani, Matheran or the Khandala railway station can be seen from this height of the fort.
We started off from Mumbai to reach panvel by 7:30. The enire group of riders slowly assembled by about 8 and we left around 8:15 or so. I finally delivered the last of the lot of the Mumbai calenders to hrishikesh.

The group riding from mumbai consisted of following BN riders.
1. Doc Arnob - ZMA
2. Hrishikesh - Pulsar
3. Ryan - Pulsar
4. Uday - CBZ Star
5. Praveen - Gladiator

Besides these, some of my other rider friends had joined us for this ride, namely:
6. Vindy - Splendour
7. Savio - Pulsar DTSi (Sam as pillion)
8. Sagar - Fiero F2 (Girish as pillion)

The 8 Bikes and 10 riders zoomed off towards Lonavala and we were at RK lonavala at just around 9:30. We deliberately rode slow as we had to maintain a speed which was comfortable to all the Bikes and riders uniformly.

After a quick snack at RK, lonavala we were joined by 2 BN riders from Pune who then rode with us towards Rajmachi.
9. Navendu - Fiero F1
10. Nalin Bakshi - Pulsar DTSi

It took us an hour and a half to cover the 18 odd kms from RK to Rajmachi village over various surfaces ranging from tarred roads, dirt track, talcom powder like dust filled roads to Rocks and boulders. We stopped couple of times to ascertain how to negotiate the increasingly difficult terrain. After reaching Rajmachi village we parked the heavily dusty bikes and went for a walk to the village Lake. There is an old historical temple right next to the lake. We sat near the lake as 2 of us even took a adip there.

After the walk we had the rural lunch of vegetables and rice flour chapatis (tandul bhakris) and took a short rest. The Pune riders and Savio pushed off towards Pune after lunch, while Ryan, Hrishi and Uday pushed off towards Mumbai. The people who stayed back were Doc Arn, myself, Vindy, Sam, Sagar and Girish. After a short nap post lunch we set off towards Srivardhan fort. we managed to climb it in about 1 hour and a few minutes more. The responsibility of getting the tricolour down from the fort was entrusted upon us by the village people at Rajmachi and we did that for them. We returned much after sundown and on our way back ran into a bunch of wild wrens who made such a loud buzzing sound with their cumalative wing fluttering that it sounded like a wild animal's growl. Almost all of us were armed with cameras and we took many photographs from Srivardhan fort. After reaching back to the village around evening we had a quick snack and sat down talking adventure and riding. Around 8ish when it became pitch dark, Doc Arn expressed his desire to go back to civilized world for a good bite and just to explore the same road but in the nightime using navigational aids like the GPS.
We rode like crazy and this ride was proving to be much tougher than the one we had in the day. Visibility was just one of the problems, we also had trucks coming straight on to us and lots of hikers and trekkers who appeared out of nowhere on the road at all places. At one point a dog came up on the road and started running just ahead of us and blocked our way how-so-ever we rode. We managed to reach Lonavala in just about 54 minutes which was still considerably better than in the morninig. After a quick dinner we headed back towards the village and had the pleasure of ridindg through "PITCH BLACK" darkness relying only on instincts and Headlights. We sat chatting till around 1 in the night after which we called it a day and crashed on a darri on the floor.

I woke up at 6:15 despite sleeping at 2, and decided to trek up the 2nd fort of Manoranjan garh. The other lazy bums kept sleeping and i decided to go alone. The trek in the pleasant morning was very refreshing. Manoranjan garh was equally impressive as Srivardhan and i clicked many snaps. I returned back to the base village around 9ish. The climb up or down Manoranjan is around 40 minutes. After a quick refreshing process we decided to have a quick breakfast and then move to Lonavala for an elaborate breakfast. For this ride i had Girish as my pillion and even on a puny 125 cc machine the terrain was quite do-able even with the load of 2 people. The suspension bottomed out at many places and the shocks pumped in and out like never before. Sam was sitting behind Sagar and took out a fantastic video of the major part of this ride back. One photograph clearly indicates how much the suspension must have travelled in and out. After breakfast at Lonavala Doc Arnob zoomed off towards Pune to catch up with some work while the rest of us rode towards Mumbai.

On our way back we saw an abandoned BMW GS 1100 Dual purpose motorcycle on the highway. We assumed the rider must have been travelling around the world or something as it was a foreign registered bike. There were tell tale signs of a nasty fall on the bike. Interestingly it carried lots of Pakistan stickers. I wonder if it belonged to the group of two bikers from UK who are on a south asia tour. One of them is an british citizen of indian origin. After trying to look for the rider for a a few minutes and not finding any clue we again got back on the road and moved towards home.

I reached my place around 3 and first thing i did was give the Bike for a Wash. Tired i was but from inside was feeling waaaayyyy too exhalted by the ride and the trek. I definitely look forward to more such rides. I then settled for a Power wash for myself too to wash off the dirt n grime i must have collected. I had a rather relaxed evening relaxing at home. I had a agreat time on the ride. I rode amazing terrain. I rode at odd times and in pitch darkness. I climbed two magnificnent forts. I crossed 6000 Kms on the gladiator making around 1000 kms every month till now. I saw a beautiful Beamer..

For pics please follow the links:

1. Abridged Picture gallery - 70 odd pics - http://www.flickr.com/gp/16144800@N00/v64369

2. Extended Picture gallery - Only for those who have tons of patience - 225 pics -
http://picasaweb.google.com/praveen.sathaye/RajmachiRideTrek

3. Those who would want to see a vide of the ride..Follow this link:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=i0ozKhP9MOM