Trek to Purandar Fort

Location: near Saswad, Pune, Maharashtra, India
Attractions: Fort, Trekking
Best time to visit: Monsson (July-Sep)

It was 15^th August 2013, India’s Independence day, when me and my friend Ashish decided to explore the fort Purandar. We started really late at 11am from Baner, but considering the distance of fort from Pune it was not that late too.

Route:

I started from Wakad and picked up my friend from baner.

From Baner, get on the Pune-Banglore highway and drive towards Katraj. Cross Warje bridge. Get on the left road skipping the bridge before Sinhagadh road(the bridge will take you towards Kapurhol). Keep driving on this road to reach Saswad. Saswad is ~22-23Kms once you get on this road. At Saswad junction take right to get on the Narayanpura road. Keep Driving on Narayanpura road for ~8-9Kms and you will see the HP petrol pump, at this point take left to reach the base of the Purandar to start trek.

Other route:

From Baner, get on the Pune-Banglore highway and drive towards Katraj. Keep driving on Pune-Banglore highway until you reach the Kapurhol junction, at this point take left to get on the Narayanpura road. Corss the ghats, Naraynpura village and take right at the HP petrol pump to reach the base of Purandar.

Purandar is almost at the same distance (~65-70 Kms) via any of the above route. Going via Kapurhol will give you relatively traffic free road compared to other route, but you need to pay toll (~12-13Kms before Kapurhol) to enjoy the ride on highway.

You can drive all the way up to the fort. It will be some 15-20 minutes drive through the ghats.

Purandar trek:

Purandar under clouds

We reached the base at around 1pm. We decided to trek, so parked our bike and started by 1.15pm. From the base We could see the fort Vajragadh on the left side and, the fort Purandar on the right was under heavy clouds. 

Vajragadh

We kept walking and capturing the beauty all around, on the way and as we reached halfway it started raining. It made the path slippery and really difficult to walk. We saw couple of guys coming down with mud all over them and I could imagine how difficult it is going to be for us. We really had tough time to clear couple of steep slippery patches on the way. I literally prayed that this path should end soon. After struggling for some half an hour we reached to the point where path looked better to walk on (Very narrow path through the bushes). After having last 15minutes walk on the relatively descent path, I was delighted to see a small waterfall just before the fort entrance. I could clean myself under it and felt fresh after that quick shower. It took almost 1 hour to reach the fort entrance, but in dry season it should not take more than 30 minutes to reach there.

First entrance named 'Binni Darwaja'

We could see the Indian flag waving at the top of the first entrance - BNNI DARWAJA. After crossing it, the board guided us to keep walking straight to reach the fort. We saw old church which was visible from the base, and a small shiv-temple on the way. There was one more shiv temple called PURANDESHWAR, which really looked old. A small snake like animal (not snake) was grabbing attention of the people outside that temple. We too clicked few pics of that attraction and stopped by a small food stall near that temple to have some snacks and tea.

Old church on the way

 

As we walked further we had picturesque views on our left in the valley. Vajragadh was also very prominent. 

The view of valley (The route seen is the one via which you can drive all the way up to the fort)

Sar Darwaja

After some easy walk, there started a trek again with raw path. The path was comparatively less slippery. We got up and crossed two more entrances “SAR DARWAJA” and “KEDAR DARWAJA”. We were on the fort now, but still not at the top point. We kept walking towards the hill which looked the tallest point. The path gave amazing views in the valleys on both the sides. The various shades of green, clouds and sunlight illuminating some patches on the hills, all these elements along with the cool fresh air were rewards for the hard time we had while trekking up on the slippery paths. 

The view of valley

The view of valley, bright patches are illuminated by sunlight

The view of valley through the clouds

Way to Kedareshwar temple

Kedareshwar Trishul

But then to change the environment, clouds started approaching the hill and were slowly setting up around it. Path to the top point which was clearly visible before, now was on and off in the fog. We kept walking towards that point and climbed up the steps to reach the top of the fort “KEDARESHWAR temple”. This was again a lord shiva’s temple. A big shining trishul (lord shiva’s weapon) was an attraction for people for taking pictures with it.

People really wanted to let everyone know that they have reached there at the top, they were screaming “Jay Bhavni Jay Shivaji” (praising the goddess Bhavani and the great Maratha king Shivaji) at their full pitch.

After spending some 10-15 minutes there at the top, we started walking down by 4.15pm so that we reach the main entrance of the fort by 5pm. Fort visiting time is 9am to 5pm. 

In ~15-20 minutes we reached back to the food stall at Purandeshwar temple. We had a tea break and quickly left from there. It was really getting dark due to clouds all around us. We decided to walk down by different path and so we kept walking on the straight road instead of getting down via Binni Darwaja (through which we came) . 

Mighty warrior: Murarbaji Deshpande

On the way we saw the famous statute of Murarbaji Deshpande. This big black statue of mighty warrior looked amazing in the foggy background. The fog was so intense that, on the way we could not even realize that there is a big pond just 2 meters away on our left side, it was Padmvati lake. I could not actually see the entire lake except a small patch which was visible  through the fog.

This fort is a camp for military training so many areas were restricted. Many paths were not allowed to enter. We managed to see almost everything that was visible and allowed to explore in some 2.5hrs. We got out of the fort crossed the visitors parking area and kept walking down the road. We were lucky enough to get the free ride in car to reach the base. Thanks to those friendly guys !!

The entire path was scenic with greenery all around. And the moment we reached half way I could see the bright sun and blue sky. Was it a sudden change in the weather ? No, because once we got down and looked back up at the purandar, it was still completely covered under dark black clouds.

We picked up our bike and were ready to leave Purandar by 5.15pm.

We decided to drive via Narayanpura-Kapurhol, on the way we stopped by at famous Datta temple of Narayanpura. As it was a Thursday and national holiday the place was really crowded. It is worth visiting Narayaneshwar temple just besides it. We took blessings and left the place. At the kapurhol junction, we had a tea-snacks break and then reached Baner,Pune by 9pm.

Some numbers:

Trek time (up): ~1hr

Trek time (down): ~10minutes via car

Total distance traveled (to and fro Wakad,Pune): ~141Kms 

Total duration: ~12hrs

Tips:

• If it rained and you see initial path slippery avoid taking trek path or you will have tough time later.

For more pictures of trip visit: On Facebook or Panoramio