On 26th July 2015 me, my husband (Krupesh) along with his office colleagues went for Trekking with Tattva adventures to Matheran hills - Vikatgad, Peb Fort. Krupesh somehow managed to convince me to go for the medium trek to vikatgad, because i wasn't sure whether i will be able to do a medium trek after 2 years. but somehow i pull in my guts and thought to go for it. This was my first monsoon trek of 2015 and I was hoping that rain to do justice for the trek. Me and krupesh were in dilemma as to whether we should hop into train and join the group or take our own vehicle and meet our group at neral station. we finally decided to take our own vehicle as this was more convenient to us rather than getting into train. It was just a perfect weather for a drive and trek, passing through the luscious greenery towards neral station we parked our car and met our group. I had jitters in my stomach as to whether i will be able to cope up with the group, but within few minutes i was acquainted with many people in our group.
We met our Group leader Lawerence Dsilva and his team mates and 30 enthusiast trekkers, a mix of experienced and first timers. We then move ahead to a local food joint for breakfast and had a pleasant Misal Pav breakfast with Adrak waali chai. (Nothing can match this Deadly Awesome combination). Moving ahead we started out trek, A Medium grade trek, but full on thrill & Adventure and most important: Heaven for First timers. We reached our base village " Fanaswadi" and had a short round of Introduction and Instructions the true TREK starts. we started walking along a trail through overgrown bushes and shrubs. You can see the Peb fort right ahead of you, with the Panorama point of Matheran to the left and Nakhind to the right.
Fort Peb is situated on northeast side of Panvel, on Mumbai-Pune road, at a distance of 3-4 km on west side of Neral. To avoid crowd at hill stations like Matheran, nature lovers must visit the nearby fort Peb. This is the most beautiful one-day trek. It is assumed that this fort derived its name Peb from the ‘Goddess Pebi’ at the base of the fort. Historical references clearly indicate that Shivaji Maharaj used the caves on the fort as silos for grain storage.
We started ascending the hills mesmerizing the beautiful view alongwith singing some bollywood songs to forget our exertion while climbing we reached electric pole point. This was quite a challenge for me as i was trekking after more than 2 years. when i started climbing i felt so exerted that my thighs started paining badly but lawerence motivated me that i can easily climb this hill. Those words motivated me and since then there was no stopping after. we started climbing the hill from the bushes to grasses, from the roads to the rock patches. we reached one spot where huge boulders of rock around 10 feet were kept which we have to climb with the help of a rope attached to it. This was only possible when our Leaders helped us to cross that patch of rock to climb the mountain. After so much of endurance we reached at this spot, it was so exhilarating that one cannot stop to see the beauty of matheran. We moved ahead and in about two hour of our trekking we reached the famous caves of Peb. The cave is actually divided into two parts. One part has a samadhi and other has a statue of Shivaji Maharaj. Its said that Shivaji used this fort to store food grains. We wandered around the cave for 10 minutes exploring the beauty of the cave, clicking pictures and then moved ahead.
finally after more 30 minutes of trial we reached at the top of the hill. once we reached at the top we saw some remnants of the old Peb Fort. The main attraction here is the bastion on the topmost part. The temple had the paddukas of Goddess "Pebi". As we reached the topmost part we were just enchanted with the exotic view of clouds covering the mountains. This location faces the mountain of Matheran. Here we can clearly see the ridge connecting mountains of Matheran and Peb. Finally, it was a time to have a group click and we all went bizarre clicking pictures of the beautiful location. When we stand here we feel that truly Heaven lies within. after all the clicks and photoshoots we trailed for some 20 minutes and were on the TOY TRAIN route. We halted for all the group to come and moved towards Dasturi Naka onto the Tracks and took an cab to neral station.
We met our Group leader Lawerence Dsilva and his team mates and 30 enthusiast trekkers, a mix of experienced and first timers. We then move ahead to a local food joint for breakfast and had a pleasant Misal Pav breakfast with Adrak waali chai. (Nothing can match this Deadly Awesome combination). Moving ahead we started out trek, A Medium grade trek, but full on thrill & Adventure and most important: Heaven for First timers. We reached our base village " Fanaswadi" and had a short round of Introduction and Instructions the true TREK starts. we started walking along a trail through overgrown bushes and shrubs. You can see the Peb fort right ahead of you, with the Panorama point of Matheran to the left and Nakhind to the right.
Fort Peb is situated on northeast side of Panvel, on Mumbai-Pune road, at a distance of 3-4 km on west side of Neral. To avoid crowd at hill stations like Matheran, nature lovers must visit the nearby fort Peb. This is the most beautiful one-day trek. It is assumed that this fort derived its name Peb from the ‘Goddess Pebi’ at the base of the fort. Historical references clearly indicate that Shivaji Maharaj used the caves on the fort as silos for grain storage.
We started ascending the hills mesmerizing the beautiful view alongwith singing some bollywood songs to forget our exertion while climbing we reached electric pole point. This was quite a challenge for me as i was trekking after more than 2 years. when i started climbing i felt so exerted that my thighs started paining badly but lawerence motivated me that i can easily climb this hill. Those words motivated me and since then there was no stopping after. we started climbing the hill from the bushes to grasses, from the roads to the rock patches. we reached one spot where huge boulders of rock around 10 feet were kept which we have to climb with the help of a rope attached to it. This was only possible when our Leaders helped us to cross that patch of rock to climb the mountain. After so much of endurance we reached at this spot, it was so exhilarating that one cannot stop to see the beauty of matheran. We moved ahead and in about two hour of our trekking we reached the famous caves of Peb. The cave is actually divided into two parts. One part has a samadhi and other has a statue of Shivaji Maharaj. Its said that Shivaji used this fort to store food grains. We wandered around the cave for 10 minutes exploring the beauty of the cave, clicking pictures and then moved ahead.
One of the adventurous tasks in this trek is to climb a wall of the fort. And a metal ladder is available for support. On the top we can go by climbing the wall of the fort. A ladder is firmly fixed to the walls since even a slip can lead to certain fall down the valley. We had to pass across three ladders to reach the top of the fort. There was so much of kiosks at these spots because there were many groups who had come for trekking and one person at a time can cross this ladder as these ladders were quite feeble. soon as we climb the ladder, one can see steps leading onwards and a Lord Hanuman statue on the right. There is also a cistern of water. we reached a beautiful spot and we had food. One needs to be careful of the monkeys as they loiter around to grab the food.
finally after more 30 minutes of trial we reached at the top of the hill. once we reached at the top we saw some remnants of the old Peb Fort. The main attraction here is the bastion on the topmost part. The temple had the paddukas of Goddess "Pebi". As we reached the topmost part we were just enchanted with the exotic view of clouds covering the mountains. This location faces the mountain of Matheran. Here we can clearly see the ridge connecting mountains of Matheran and Peb. Finally, it was a time to have a group click and we all went bizarre clicking pictures of the beautiful location. When we stand here we feel that truly Heaven lies within. after all the clicks and photoshoots we trailed for some 20 minutes and were on the TOY TRAIN route. We halted for all the group to come and moved towards Dasturi Naka onto the Tracks and took an cab to neral station.
