Rohida aka Vichitragad is situated at a distance of 7-8 Kms from Bhor and about 70 Kms from Pune. This fort has stood against the ravages of time and stands tall guarding the region from its many bastions. Vichitragad has three gates, all of which we have to pass to enter the fort. The third gate is in good condition and has two inscriptions (One in Parsi and the other in Marathi) carved on it. Besides this, Rohida also plays host to a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva.
To be frank, Rohida was our second choice for a trek. We (i.e. Me, Ankit & Nikhil) had earlier planned on doing a two day trek to Ratangad, however Ankit reneged at the last moment since he had some work in Mumbai. We met at Chandani Chowk on the Pune-Bangalore highway at around 8 am and left for our destination. After a heavy breakfast at Kapurhol, we turned our sights towards Bhor. From Bhor we had to reach the base village Bazaarwadi; this is where the route upto the fort begins. However, due to some miscommunication (asking for the fort, rather than the base village) we reached the opposite side of the fort! We came to know from one of the villagers that there is a route to climb the fort from this side as well.
After riding on the small country road for another 15-20 minutes, we reached a small village named Chikhlawde. Asking around for directions to the fort, the villagers told us that there is a cattle track which traverses the fort and joins up with the main route. The villagers told us where the route began and we started following it. In a few minutes we came upon a small stream and started climbing towards the fort. This was our first mistake, since we had been told that the route was simply a cattle track, we were looking for a similar path. As it happens with most of the cattle tracks, this one simply faded out! Eventually, after trying and failing to find a route we got frustrated and started to climb the hills towards the ridge line. Grasping at straws (literally!), we finally reached the ridge line after almost 2 and half hours of climbing and crawling! However, upon reaching the ridge line, we still could not find a good path which led to the main route. After searching for another 10 minutes we found a path parallel to the ridge line which ended up joining the main route, following it we reached the first door of the fort. Breathing a sigh of relief, we entered the fort.
Immediately after we entered the second door there was a underground cistern filled to the brim with beautiful, pure drinking water. Drinking our fill at the water cistern, we started exploring the fort. However, each bastion we visited involved peering over the edge hoping to find a decent route which would lead back to Chikhlawde. Finally, we reached the Chikhlawde side of the fort, from where we could see a point where we had rested while climbing and the route we had followed from that point. Gawking at the sight, we simply could not believe that we had climbed 'that'! After completing our round of the fort, we rested for some time at the Rohidmalla temple on the fort. From here we called up a few people to see if anyone knew the route which would descend to Chikhlawde with no success. After deciding that in the worst case, we could descend to Bazaarwadi and go to Chikhlawde by bus to collect our bikes, we started to descend the fort.
Ankit had a hunch that a path he had seen on the Bazaarwadi side of the fort, could perhaps traverse towards Chikhlawde and began following this path. Luckily for us, two villagers who
We reached Chikhlawde, collected our bikes and zoomed towards Pune, stopping only for tea and snacks at Kapurhol. We reached home at around 7-7:30 pm. This trek taught me a very important lesson, that was to never underestimate any fort. No matter how simple a fort may seem, it can still screw you a hundred times over!
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