It was saturday and in the morning at around 10 we decided to go to Sinhagad.
Searched google maps and found the best road to travel from Hadapsar to Sinhagad.
The road was shorter than the one which went thru Khadakwasla.
Hence we decided to take this road. It went thru Bombay - Bangalore highway till khed shivapur. This is where the first toll booth is, and hence it is easy to remember the turn for Khed Shivapur.
From here, we need to travel to Kondanpur, which is a small village at the foot of Sinhagad.
The road here is not very good, but not too bad either.
On the way to Kondanpur, there is Chitale Bandhu's factory which makes Bakarwadi's.
And believe me you could smell it from a distance, as we did...LOL
After reaching Kondanpur, the road starts to get a bit more rocky but thats just barely for 5-6 kms and that is acceptable for the following 2 reasons:
1. You almost avoid 3/4th of the ghat to sinhagad
2. You need not pay the Rs.50 toll bcoz you join the ghat after the toll post. (I was not aware of this though)
Once you join the ghat, it hardly takes 10 mins to reach Sinhagad.
On the way, you can find lot of spots where you can click pics of the below lying valley and the backwaters of Khadakwasla.
After reaching the fort, there is a good parking space available.
Lot of hawkers selling Bhutta, boiled groundnuts, mangoes, etc are seen at the doors of the fort.
We reached the middle of the fort, took a few snaps, and roamed around.
We went to the other end of the fort and clicked the snaps of the valley on the other end and it was quite sunny till then, though clouds were apparent.
We moved towards the end of the fort and it started to rain heavily. And believe me in no time, the entire fort was covered in thick fog. We could only see just a few meters.
I was really astonished by this. Even the huge doordarshan towers seemed to have vanished.
We took shelter in a small hotel, which is run by the local people.
They sell foodstuffs to earn their living.
We ordered kanda bhaji & tea, which were a must in such a situation. It tasted delicious.
Then we moved on to reach another hotel, where we had our lunch.
By this time, the continuos rain had made the air freezing cold and the hot food served seemed even more tempting.
We had pithla bhakri & dahi......mmmmm......delicious.
On the way back we had malai kulfi and even that tasted awesome.
It seems as if we went to the fort only to eat and nothing else....LOL
While returning back we came thru the ghat and then thru Khadakwasla.
The backwaters have had a massive dip, bcoz there are no rains yet (as of 27th June 09).
And then returned home thru warje & Katraj.
Total distance: 90 Kms.
