KOHOJ FORT-Manor ( 1950 feet)

Coming weekend , nothing as such was decided by me. I was sure that this saturday ( 27th Dec' 08) was going to be the same boring weekend, with a nearby visit to Oberoi Mall or maximum to Aarey colony with Arunabha. However on tuesday 23rd Dec, i simply asked Denzil of his plans for the weekend and he told he was attending a wedding of his cousin. I just threw him the idea of a short trek to a place close to Mumbai ( 1 day trek). He agreed and we decided to visit KOHOJ FORT at Manor. I searched google about this place and found it out to be interesting. We decided to catch a train to Virar and then a shuttle to Palghar and then a bus ride to this place. Everything was planned and we had almost finalised the paln of meeting at Goregaon station at 5.15 a.m.. However on Friday i threw the idea of going on a bike to this place , to which Denzil agreed , since he likes riding a bike and that too on a route outside Mumbai.
We decided to meet at 5.30 a.m. and i asked Denzil to pick me up from Gokuldham gate . This trek however was going to be different , since for the first time in my life , i decided to go well planned , based on the earlier failed trip to Chanderi. We both decided to carry 3 litres of water each, a lighter, an energy drink i.e., Glucon D, a small knife , etc. As usual we decided to call eachother whoever woke up early. On Saturday , I had put the alarm at 4.30 a.m., however Denzil called me at 4.17 a.m., i woke up immediately and after finishing YOGA, started packing my bag and carried the following stuff: 1 packet of biscuit, 1.5 litres of water, apples and dry-fruits. After finishing my tea--- as usual which was prepared by Parul ( wife) , i left home at 5.28 a.m. Denzil was already waiting for me at the gate and we started the journey sharp at 5.35 a.m. I carried the bag of Denzil which was quite heavy and my bag , was on the petrol tank so that we both were comfortable. We took the Western Express Highway and since it was early morning, the roads were not so crowded. However being the highway, there were lot of private cars, who were zipping fast since that was the route to Ahmedabad.After crossing Dahisar check-naka it was quite chilling , however we both were enjoying the morning ride. Once we approached the Mumbra bypass, we took left towards the Ahmedabad route, and we were finding lot of private cars and trucks. and the cold was becoming quite severe. Denzil was not wearing his gloves and hence started feeling the numbness in his fingers , which was felt the same by me. It still seemed to be night, although it was almost 6.30-6.45 a.m., maybe due to winter season. We felt like stopping at one of the dhabas on the way to refresh our selves with tea. However , the stretch was such that there was no stall or something selling tea. However it was not exactly the case, since there were few dhabas which came in the start and we thought we would stop at the next dhaba. Denzil kept on riding and it was really an amazing morning experience, and the freshnees could be felt by both of us, a thing missing in Mumbai. We came across a toll, on the way, where we saw some -people who had put a small fire to keep themselves warm, so denzil parked his bike , and we stood there for 10-15 mns to feel the warmth. Denzil too must have been tired , since he was driving all the way. Again we started the journey, which was full of chilling air, great views of the mountains on the either side of the highway, however its was distinct on our right side. We would be covered almost 75-80 k.m., and i was worried since , we actually didnt knew the route and as per my knowledge , we should have reached manor by this time. While riding we came across a small tea stall on the other side of the highway ( travelled 70 k.m.). denzil parked his bike, and we crossed accross the road and after drinking 2 cups of tea, we asked the lady how far this palce was and she told us that it was quite far from this place and would take atleast 1 hour more. This frightened us since we were running on 10 litres on petrol and we were not carrying ample cash. However while chatting ,1 truck driver also came over there for tea, and we enquired about this palce --Vaghote . he told us that it was just 15 mns from there and around roughly 10 kms. we felt relieved and again started the journey. after almost 20 mns from the tea stall we were approaching a small habitat kind of a place, on the right side was a big hotel called ''VEGAS''. just 5-10 mns from this hotel which is on the right side while driving on the mumba-ahmedabad highway, we approached a place ,where there was another road which was on the right side and a police station was just on the intersection of this road. we asked one shopekeeper , who told us to take the right which was on the right side and that would take us to KOHOJ FORT. we were also informed of having the breakfast over there, since there was no hotel on the way. so we left the highway and took the route on the right . this place where we took right was called MASTAN NAKA. It was 8.10 a.m. and there were few small shanties selling tea, vada-pav . i took tea, and denzil had 2 vada-pav costing us around INR 14.00. i took a dozen banana for our trip costing INR 15.00.after being refreshed we started the ride , the road was ok and infact used by trucks. after travelling for 10 mns we passed across a stream and the ride was great, full of breeze, great views on both the sides. I took the bike from denzil and started riding and we were touching 80 k.m./hr speed, and after 15- mns or we found a small lane on the right side, and we enquired a small shop which was there, who told us that it would lead to NENE-- from where one can start the terk. We however stick to our plan of trekking fron VAGHOTE. he informed us to drive straight, and after travelling for next 10 mns, we were able to see this tall mountain on the right side of the road with an amazing a man shaped rock on the top. we were actually not sure, whether it was the same . after driving straight, now were getting confused as to from where should one start, since we had left the mountain behind. we came across certain villagers who were walking and they asked us to go back and to park the vehicle at one of the local and to take one of the villagers for the trek. From OM SAI ENGINEERING WORKS , which was on the right side of the road , we rode back and would have travlled hardly 800.00 meters, when we saw few houses on the right and left side on the road. i got down from the bike and asked one of the villagers for KOHOJ fort, and he asked to start from that place itself , and he would assist us in reaching over there. This place where we stopped for our trek was roughly aroung 27 kms from MASTAN NAKA. Denzil parked his bike at his house and we decided to take him with us for the trek . we did not dicuss of the money he would take. it was 9.05 a.m. when we started the trek from the villagers house. the villager accompnaying us was a tall , black , wearing a flotus kind of slipper and in a lungi and shirt, and would have been around 40-42 years of age.
we started the trek and after passing through the farms, came across a big lake with clear water, which is used by the villagers for drinking, clothing, and other household purposes. the lake was build by nagar-nigam and was roughly built i n 1970's as told by RAGHUNATH HARI KAMBLE ( the villager taking us to the mountain top). the morning climate was amazing and it was a pleasant atmosphere with very less sunshine. after we would have walked for almost 30-35 mns, we started entering the dense forest ie., basically the base of the mountain and we kept on following raghunath. the climb initially seemed to be of moderate , however became difficult as we were climbing . denzil was feeling the difficulty in climbing and was taking the toll on him. we started stoppoing inbetweens and used to get energy by consuming water, dry-fruits. the forest was not so thickly dense, however was reasonbly ok. inbetween there were patches which was full of rocks and was making the climb a bit challenging and painful. we came across a small water-stream and decided to take rest and washed or face with the water. after halting for 10 mns we again started the trek, and we kept on climbing with intermittent halts and taking energy in the form of water and dry-fruits. at around 10.30 a.m. we had reached a top as imagined by us , however it turned out to be one part of the mountain and the top was quite far ahead. by this time Denzil was completely exhausted and asked me to call off , since he couldn't afford to go further. i asked him to take rest for 10-15 mns and once he was ok we would proceed. after 15 mns he was ready and we again started. the climb was difficult since there were lot ofr small rocks and which were making the climb a difficult task. however we relentessly kept on climbing with our intermittent dose of energy---dry fruits. the forest was quite and we could hear the chearping of the birds. it was an amazing feeling which i cannot express in words-- probably a nature lover will understand my feelings.
At 12.07 a.m., we were on the top of the mountain , from where the view was amazing, we could see montain ranges on all the sides, small huts, fields etc. the fort wall in dilipated situation and there was a temple on the top. the montain top on which we were standing was flat and there was a small man like structed rock on the left side. there was a water storage at the base of the fort which was basically build by earlier rulers to store water. after having our luch and rest, we started our journey down at 1.22 p.m. We had tought that the journey down would be easy, however not so was the case as we were quite tired and climbinmg down too was a challenge. the sun's heat too was draining energy and we were taking intermittent halts in between. while climbing down we cam e across a group of 3 trekkers who had come from LATUR. by 3.01 p.m. we had reached the base and thus caming the journey to an end. we took rest at raghunaths house and asked him how much should we pay. he told us that whatver we pay he would take, but the kind of effort he had put we didnt wanted to underpay him. after pushing he told us that other trekkers pay him INR 100.00, so we gave him INR 150.00. we started our ride back at around 3.28 p.m. and by 5.21 p.m., we were at Gokuldham.

the total journey was around 92.00 k.m. from Andheri east to Vaghote and 104.00 k.m. while back ( on account of traffic near the dahisar check-naka)

Key Take aways:
Wear Gloves if on bike, carry a cap, take dry-fruits on trekking--great source of energy, avoid vada-pav, carry fruits.