Peb Fort

Date: 24/06/2010

Type: Hill Fort/Cave

Height: 2100 ft

Grade: Easy

Base Village: Matheran/Neral

Duration : 2 to 3 hours

History

Peb Fort (T. Panvel) otherwise known as Vikatgad, in the village Maldunga, stands about nine miles north-east of Panvel on a hill about 1,000 feet high. When surveyed by Captain Dickinson in 1818, it had two pathways meeting a little from the gateway which was nearly twenty feet below the top of the hill. The gateway was built across and nearly at the top of an exceedingly steep ravine, the water turned from its natural course by a channel on each side of a retaining wall of solid masonry thirty feet high and about as many feet wide at the top. The perpendicular height of the threshold of the gateway was about eighteen feet. Beyond this gateway the ascent continued exceedingly steep to a platform on a projecting part of the hill at the head of the ravine, about eighty feet above the gateway. From this platform was a further very steep climb of 100 feet to the top of the hill where there had formerly been a fort. Like Malang Gad, Peb is for the most part surrounded by a precipice, the principal works, in addition to those already mentioned, being at the north and south extremities, commanding such parts of the hill as were deemed accessible. The ground on the top of the hill was very irregular, and no vestige of the former fort remained except a wretched wall of loose stones. Besides two buildings and a few huts, there was an excellent reservoir and a Ganapati temple outside the gateway. Under the precipice, about 100 yards from the temple, was a large room enclosed with solid masonry and a strong door which was said to have been used as an ammunition and store-room. In 1862 the fort was in ruins: the water was unfit for drinking, and food supplies were not procurable.

The fort can be climbed from Neral station, a distance of six miles. At the foot of the hill is a goddess called Pebi, who appears from her name to be the deity of the fort. Half way up the hill is a god called Mhasoba and about a quarter of a mile beyond are two caves, and a rock-cut cistern. There are the foundations of large buildings and a cistern, twenty cubits square and four deep, containing water all the year round. Besides the large buildings, there are the remains of from forty to fifty small houses.

Journey

This trek is specially arranged for my friend, who unfortunately can’t trek much due to his current location. An opportunity arise for him as a marriage in Mumbai and he requested me to arrange for an easy trek so he can attend the next day’s marriage without any tiredness. After googling for almost a day or two, i finalized Peb Fort as our destination. In vain and hurry called up a few of my friends to accompany us and the day being saturday, only one turned out. No worries, something is better than nothing.

Our journey (3 of us) commences from Dadar by a train to Badlapur, followed by a train to Neral station. An easier way would be to catch Karjat local train and get down at Neral station directly. Major tourist attraction at Neral is Matheran and Peb fort located exactly Matheran Range.

In the lap of Mother Nature …. (Courtesy : Anirudha Despande)

Mumbai Monsoons....Yes they are different, offbeat, incomparable.........And imagine what when you try getting closer to nature...the feeling is incomprehensible...... a far cry from the web of complexities.....I wonder why things need to be the way they are or rather why cant things be the way we want them to be....Can it not be that we are just allowed to wander like nomads to tread unexplored paths...live a life like them for sometime....
So here we were all set on our nomadic exploration to Peb fort. None of us had an idea to reach the place. We just left. We just knew that we had to start the trek from Neral. A quick nap of 2 hours in the night, followed by packing up for trek, a chai at Andheri Station, a local till Dadar, changing platforms from western to central to catch a local to Neral, just to find that we had missed one and had to go via Badlapur to reach Neral.
We reached Neral, packed some Vada Pav, fruits as we had read that we would not get anything at the top. We started walking towards the base village, Anantwadi - a few kilometers from the station. We asked the autowalas for a drop to the village but they demanded random money. We started walking past the Neral station and asked some villagers for the route. We were lucky to be guided by a villager upto the base point. Walk is definitely a good option provided you get a guidance and over and above that you have a serene and beautiful weather enroute. Just keep going straight till the mainroad and then you would find the base village right in front of you.

On our way to Peb Fort

To start the trek, you have a less tedious route and a short route (so to say). The lady who had got us till the base village showed us the short route and we decided to take that. We walked past some sights - the farmers tilling their land, a group of oldies squatting and probing the intensity of rains, Bhaskaran clicked a pic of an old lady and she probably tried to thank him in Marathi but had only he understood that, children nagging us to give them 'Khau' (meaning sweet), and then a stream which soaked the lands and and made it arable and its flow which was the only audible thing there...

We started walking in the direction given to us by the lady and found we were going no where. After a while, we found a villager there who was fetching water from the stream, asked him for the way and he told us that we were traversing a wrong route. Then we found another villager with his herd of cows - grazing on the lush green mountains. We asked him if he knew the route and he claimed he did not. However, we convinced him to show us the route and we were off. His parents had rightly named him Jeetendra, also called Jumping Jack in Bollywood. The swiftness with which he walked past the tall grass turf, barefoot was commendable indeed. For him it was just another climb and for us it was kinda tough as the grass was tall, the path not clear and it was slippery too.. However, we managed to reach a point along with Jitendra from where we had to go all ourselves. We were joined in by another college going group at this point. Just one thing to be kept in mind. You would see a lot of electric poles there. Keep following them from the foothill. They will guide you to the right way.

 

Excited Friend (Special Trek dedicated to him)

We were told by the other group that we would see some white arrow marks on the way and need to follow them to reach atop. We lost those marks and were wrong for the second time now. However, to our fortune, the other group had also traversed our footprints and missed the route. The group also had their teacher who had visited this place but could not remember the route and she called up her assistant to find the correct route. To our surprise, we had the Idea mobiles working there. Aditya Birla saved us I say !!! Then we got back all the way to the point from where we had started. It was a new beginning. Now, instead of 3 we were 15 and we just followed this group. I would like to make special mention of this teacher, who was a 47 year old lady and at this age she displayed a tremendous stamina, enthusiasm and a strong will power. There is always something new to learn whenever I go on such adventures..

 

Views from Peb Hil

Through the thick dense banana trees, banyan trees, some thorny shrubs and amidst humid weather conditions, we were making our way towards the top. We finally reached atop the valley. A cloak of clouds was slowly settling over the mountains now. The blanket slowly draped the mountain where we stood. I was feeling the clouds in every breathe. I felt like the only thing to do was to move along with these clouds to stretch across the mountains under my arms. I lept forward, took a long breathe and just flew...I just wish I could. The clouds became denser, unable to carry the water in them anymore and they showered it on us. It had started drizzling and the feeling just ecstatic. I had accomplished what I was here for. A monsoon trek.....

Trek Gang (Bhaskaran, Anirudha & Jaichander)

Then road ahead was tough and I had already dropped down my arms as I am generally scared of heights. I almost decided to stay back. However, the teacher insisted that I should come along and not to fear as they were there to help out. I dared and took a step ahead. To every step I took here, I remembered GOD :). I climbed the treacherous rock with the help of Santosh who was the trek coordinator. This was a major hurdle and after that things were not so tough. I was slipping quite often, my shoes not supporting me and hence was a little scared. Santosh however claimed that it was not my shoes but it was mind that I was slipping. But somehow with a slipping mind I managed to reach the point where we were supposed to. We did not go to the fort, but to a cave. We had our food there, relaxed and started on our way back.
I was a little slow while coming back as it was raining and the surface was really slippery at points. On our way back was another adventure awaiting us. Guess what?? We were lost again. We called for help but in vain. We looked for the right path but were unable to find one. Finally Bhaskar managed to find the way and we were successfully out of the trap. We reached the foothills at about 6.30 and took a train back to Dadar.

This was one such wonderful experience which I would never forget.