Trek to Peb a.k.a.Vikatgad

9 trekkers..none of us either been there or knew the route..a seemingly stupid and bold but unanimous decision to trek without a guide from Fanaswadi (Nearest station is Neral,from there take a rick at approx Rs.20 per seat).. Me and ashwini had just read about the path leading to the fort ..and a video of some random group who did the trek were our only aid..We did take the correct route till the half way mark with each of us turning into a lead and back lead at some point. ..then a chikki break and no route in sight to follow ;we seemed to be in mess ..so decided to trek till a certain time and turn back from there irrespective we reach the fort top or no ..so we started clearing the dry grass and thorny branches to make our way..eventually reached the base of the mountain;which surely wasn't the right one ..but as Akash said .."this is the one i saw from the base village " (which he said for almost every mountain we came across in our way;rather he spoke that much only,except when he sat down giving reasons for cramps, on the pretext of going to fill water in our bottles..ahem..ahem..)..so started climbing the mountain n after sometime heard a call from a villager asking where are u going?? and came to know it wsnt the destination we had embarked upon ..That uncle (Mr.Bhalchnadra) guided us(who were now hell tired because of the detour route and heat)to the caves..Freshened up and had lunch there(parathas..usal..bread..jam ..wafers and of course "pickle")After the lunch break ascended to the temple on top and from there to Matheran ..saw a huge Ganesh idol as we touched the railway tracks..and as girls would be..they wanted a pic with the Lord's idol too...Following the tracks reached the main road n tuk a ride to neral station ..Were back at the same table where we had breakfast this morning and Suvidha rightly pointed out how trek turned a crowd of strangers into a bunch of buddies..Peb fort trek on 26th January, 2015..you will always be special to me...!!