Rajmachi - practice session for Goech La

Rajmachi trek

        January 2017 started with a good note. I made it to Sinhgad on 1st January. It was the starring point for our Goech La hike practice. I made it to Sinhgad on 4 weekends in January, slowly carrying the weight as well.
As part of this practice, I planned Rajmachi trek on 3rd February, a night hike. This trail is mostly on plain plateau, however testing the endurance. I did it many a times, so nothing new. Anagha was doing it for the first time, so little worried. In fact, 9 out of 11 were doing ot for the first time.

        Everybody assembled at Pune station just before 6 pm to catch the Lonawala local. Anagha had already got the tickets, so no waiting time in the queue. As this was an endurance test plan, we planned it from Lonavala station to station, distance of 17-18 kms one way. Local supposed to reach by 7:30 pm, however that day it reached at 8:20 pm. In all our treks, food is of utmost priority. Hence after reaching Lonavala, we directly headed towards  Ramkrishna and had a stomachfull (!!) dinner.

        We started at aroung 10:00 pm, so I estimated to reach the base of Rajmachi (Udhewadi) at 2:00 am. This time, we had a descent pace covering close to 4 kms in an hour. We had only 2 short breaks just to recover the breath and drink water. Interestingly,  a dog accompanied us all the way till base. We experience such thing in all other treks, however first time on this route. Beating our own expectations, we reached Udhewadi at around 1:30, found a small but nice huttel (hut + hotel) and immediately took out our sleeping bags. As per our practice, we did stretchings after the long walk.

        Though we slept only for 5 hrs (2 am to 7 am.. I being the last one to get up), we had a nice relaxing sleep. We kept our bags in one of the houstel (house + hotel), had morning refreshing tea and started to explore the fort at 8 am. Shrivardhan and Manranjan, these are twin forts next to each other. Last time we visited fort Manaranjan due to less time. Hence it was planned to visit fort Shrivardhan this time.
Now some NGO is working on improving the fort structure, created the pathway till the Kalbhairav temple. Shrivardhan fort is little bigger than Manaranjan, has more signs of fortification, a big cave to stay and water cisterns. One can get mind boggling view of Pune Mumbai train route as well as express way from here. We spent more than an hour, enjoyed the scenic beauty around and of- course clicked handful of photos !! The view is awesome if someone visits this fort in monsoon season.

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Start of walk to Shrivardhan gad

Goech La team with Yogesh

Anagha and I at the fort

Goech La team at Shrivardhan top

In front of the cave

Near to the entrance

           After coming down, we enjoyed the breakfast (pohe with moong dal, followed by garlic bread with butter. Thanks to Rakesh for serving) and kokam drink bypassing regular tea. We even filled few bottles with it. There were two options - start now to Lonawala in the scorching sunlight or take rest, enjoy swimming in the lake and start at 3 pm. Some wanted to leave early stating they have some work. (I was wondering what they will be doing after a long walk in the heat!!).

Team before departure at Udhewadi

         We started at 10:09 am, so as to reach by 2 pm. There are trees around for few kms initially, which is not the case afterwards. Yogesh started showing the symptoms of tiredness. I was worried about his shoes as his right shoe sole also came off during the last night walk. Rakesh, Sanjay and team took the pace quickly and were way ahead of us. Vinit and Amit kept constant pace and were at middle. Niyati and Anagha were also tired half way, however still pushing themselves. Yogesh started taking longer breaks and I had to stay behind to make sure he is coming with us. At one point (before the upper deck climb), he told me to proceed ahead and he will come slowly. I did not listen to him and pushed him till Tungarli where we got an auto for Niyati, Anagha and him. Here I came to know that Rakesh and team lost their way and took the wrong route via Della resorts. There They got an auto for station and started journey back to Pune. Viraj and I soon joined Vinit and Amit. We then walked to Ramkrishna. It was close to 2:15 pm. More pit-stops made the walk tired one. Aftet finishing our lunch, we headed towards station. Chennai express was the next train to Pune. Last day local took long time, so nobody was in the mood to opt for it. Hence we boarded the express instead of waiting for the local train. Trek came to an end as we reached Pune station.

Few good things about this trek. This was an endurance plan for Goech La and it really helped testing our stamina. Importantly, Goech La members (Amit, Vinit, Viraj and I) did it flawlessly. Next week, we have planned Rajgad to Torana trek, one more level of endurance!!