 |
I went to Peb fort for trekking on the 6th of February, 2021, with Parin Shah. I woke up at 4 in the morning, and reached the station at around 4:45. Then, I took a train up to Dadar. I met Deepika there, and we caught another train to Neral. This journey took around an hour and a half, and we reached Neral. There were two brothers, Vedant and Paranj, 10th standard and CA respectively. Vedant did not talk much, and Paranj is a witty guy. I also met 3 sisters, Sneha, Jaishree and Harshita. Sneha was afraid of all animals and whenever a horse or a dog passed by, she ran for cover. They were very jolly and we had a lot of fun. We ate outside the station. Further, we went to a point where the road met the train tracks via two taxis. There, we had a small introduction, some instructions were given and we did some warmup. A few moments later, our guide gave us a "demo" on how not to fall by showing us what happens if we fall (Paranj was not paying attention and he fell later ;) ). He cut his knee, and it was sore throughout. Credit to him for continuing bravely on the trek without complaint. Then, we reached a point on the tracks where a route was carved into the hillside, leading towards Peb fort. We followed this route. A minute into the trek, Harshita's sole came off, and she took an extra pair of socks and put it over her shoes. This jugaad saved the day. Other than a rocky patch and a few scary ladders, it was relatively easy and straightforward. There is a beautiful temple on the top of the hill, with an amazing view and a valley on both sides. We rested over there and took a lot of photos. Then, we began our descent. Other than some scree, it was pretty straightforward. Furthermore, after reaching the train tracks, we started traversing towards Matheran. I found a lot of lovely, small, wild flowers and I took photos. Along the path, we saw a brilliant rock painting of Ganapati. Half of the route till now was very hot due to the brunt of the afternoon sun, but we all had something to cover our head, so it was not too big a problem. Paranj fell somewhere around here.
Furthermore, we decided that we did not want to go to Neral immediately, as the girls were very tired and we wanted to eat. The brothers however had things to tend to, and they left. Just after they left, we stopped to eat starfruit, kairi, and bor. This salted delicacy tasted amazing as we were all hungry. Along the way, we saw the toy train chugging along. Also, how can I forget to mention the horses and the monkeys. We stopped at an inn to eat. After eating to our hearts content, we rested there for some more time, and went to view a garden. We wanted to see the sunset, and hence we left for a lake in Matheran. Everyone needed some motivation from time to time, small doses of which were provided by me. In some time, we reached the lake. Parin took us to a place that was away from the other chattering tourists, where we had some quiet to ourselves. We cracked a lot of jokes, and had immense amounts of fun. As the sun went down, we saw numerous heavenly colors. It was calm and beautiful. Parin had a tarpaulin sheet on which he was lying down near the edge. The girls were terrified that he would fall down! After the glorious sunset, which I cannot describe appropriately in words, we returned to the market. I told a few stories about Shivaji Maharaj, which, I guess, people liked. By this time, since the sun had set, we had to get our torches out. The sky overhead was star studded. We took a shortcut and reached the train tracks back again. Then, we reached the taxi stand, from where we took a taxi back to Neral. Aboarding the train, we reached home.
I had one hell of a fun time with these guys. Everyone was really sweet and no one tried any stunts while trekking. Every part of everyone' body was hurting, but it was worth its weight in gold. We covered over 20 to 25 kilometers in a day and trekked, night trekked, jungle trekked, stargazed and had a lot of fun! I hope that I will continue to have such amazing trekking experiences!
-Tejas Paranjape
Date: 6th Feb 2021
No comments:
Post a Comment