I have been cycling for more than 3 months now and I also did a Himalayan trek (to Pindari.. awesome!) sometime back. So when I finally took 3 days off and went to Pune last week, one of the things I wanted to do was to climb Sinhagad.
This is a favorite activity of many fitness-aware Puneites. For regulars it takes around 40 mins to climb up. I have done it once or twice earlier. But I always used to think of it as a not-so-easy hike/trek and a complete waste of time. This time was different. I wanted to test my newly-improved stamina and my not-so-weak-anymore left knee.
I convinced one of my cousins to join me and we decided to do this on Friday. Since it got hot at around 9 in the morning, we thought of starting at 5 in the morning. We had to cancel this on Friday because aforementioned cousin could not wake up on time! So we postponed this to Saturday morning.
We started at around 5 from home and reached the Sinhagad base (पायथा) at 5:45. To my surprise the climb was very easy and I got to the top in 50 mins. My cousin, who was supposed to have done this many times and as fast as in 35 mins, took 1 hour 15 mins.
The trail was full of people. I could see all the eleven types on the way plus a lot of uncles-with-nephews. Small kids were taunting the slowest climber in the group and fit kids were showing off their skills and taking the shot cuts.
It felt nice to get to the top without getting exhausted. We had lemon juice (लिम्बू सरबत) and boiled peanuts (उकडलेल्या शेंगा )there. The view from top was amazing. There were people who came in a car, had beer, and left. Really disgusting. There was also one guy who came on his bicycle. Really inspiring.
Climbing down was, as usual, more difficult than climbing up. Took me almost the same time. But the knees survived.
All in all, a very good small trek. Planning to do this every time I go to Pune.
Yours Sincerely,
