Coonoor To Kolkata and Back. My First Loooong Drive

[aoldev]

Hello everyone,
I just completed an exhilarating and exciting tip from Wellington (Coonoor) to Kolkata and back from 13 Sep to 29 Sep 13.
The TL for the trip is as follows:-

WELLINGTON TO KOLKATA


1.WELLINGTON TO MYSORE
Dt of journey 13 Sep 2013
Start time 1200h sharp.
ODO reading-23920kms
Tank top up @ Yellanalli BP
short halt at Moody's Ooty for purchases
Took the 36 hairpin bend route from Theppakadu.Drove in 2nd gear throughout till Masinagudi.Good roads but indisciplined traffic.
coffee break at cafe coffee day Gundalpet.Good SH , drove between 80-100 kmph.
Reached Mysore at 1600h and fell off for sleep.

2.MYSORE TO VIJAYAWADA
Dt of journey 13 Sep 2013
Start time 2320hrs
Tank top up at IOCL Srirangapatna-ODO reading 24084kms
Due to late night travel Mysore-Bangalore highway was empty and traffic was disciplined which was a surprise.
Halted at Maddur (Empire Food Court) for tea. Was amazed to see the number of food joints upto Bangalore and the roadside facilities.
Reached NICE ring road at around 0300 h and Nightmare called Bangalore roads start from Yeshvantpur (Vivanta By Taj).
Absolutely horrible roads due to construction of flyovers and was caught in a maddening race to airport by taxis.Heavy rains furthur slowed down my prgress.There was water logging at many places and at one such place the entire road was blocked by a Honda City which broke down while trying to cross a ditch as it's GC is very low.Finally hit NH7 at around 0400h.

Was highly impressed by the design and surface quality of the Blr-Hyd hwy.In no time I was hitting speeds in excess of 130kmph, but slowed down in the range of 90-110 in which I was comfortable.Stopped for a while at Chikballapur Kamat for a smoke as Kamat was closed.Next stop was at IOCL Anantapur for tank top up.ODO reading 24451km.

Breakfast stop was at Dashmesh Punjabi Dhaba at Gooty @0707hrs.Drove continously till shamsabad outskirts and stopped for tank top up at IOCL .ODO reading 24744kms @ 11:11 am. Next surprise in store was the Nehru ORR, was simply blown away by the surface,design and beauty of the road. The road sinages were too good to be missed and had no problems in taking the Vijayawada connector.Steady driving over the next few hours and I was sitting at 7 Food Court @ Suryapeta. Had a Hearty meal of butter naan and butter chicken and rested for 30 mins. Did a tank top up to the adjacent BPCL at Suryapeta.ODO reading 24955kms @15:15hrs.Drive till the outskirts of Vijayawada was good.Very less traffic and superb road surface.Vijayawada city was a nightmare .No roads at all, all broken bricks and stones in the name of roads, biggest asshole 2 wheelers in this city they simply wont budge an inch no matter how hard you honk or indicate that you want to take a left or right turn.This maddening traffoc was getting on my nerves after driving continously for more than 16 hours.Driving in the city was max in 3rd gear.Reached Fortune Murali Park @1730hrs and just conked off.


3.VIJAYAWADA TO GOPALPUR
Dt of journey 15 Sep 2013
Start time 0530hrs
ODO reading 25092kms
The NH5 from Vijayawada to Rajahmundhry is a shame. Karnataka and Tamilnadu have better SHs than this particular stretch of NH and that too GQ.Lots of potholes of various sizes greet you on left,right and center of the road leaving you with no choice but to drive at a sedate pace.Problem is furthur compounded by the sheer number of two wheelers and autos on the road so safely forget about the road discipline aspect.Conditions improve by leaps and bounds once I cross Rajahmundhry.After Rajahmundhry the GQ is a pleasure to drive.The Andhra Expressway is very scenic with the Eastern Ghats on to one side and the never ending greenary of paddy fields.The wether was cloudy but humid.I did stop at a certain place near Tuni and took a power nap of 45 mins and resumed my journey.Vishakhapatnam greeted me at 1200hrs with very heavy traffic but it was well disciplined and moved in an orderly manner.I must Vizag has to be one of the most beautiful beach cities in India.Best part of Vizag was the pedastrian discipline, hardly any jay walkers, people crossed the road only from zebra crossings and that too when the traffic police stopped the movement of traffic.Had my lunch outside Vizag at a restaurant called King's Court @1315hrs.Next few hours was very sedate drive with many small halts under the shades of roadside trees.Crossing Ichhapuram was smooth and was guided to a smooth exit by the RTO Officials. Finally reached Girisola @1726hrs and topped up the tank at BPCOCO. ODO reading 25745kms.Reached Gopalpur @1800h and called it a day.


4.GOPALPUR TO KOLKATA
Dt of journey 16 Sep 2013
Start time 0900 hrs
ODO reading 25796kms
Extremly lazy driving till BBSR as I was in no hurry.Stopped at BBSR to meet my Brother-in-law and had lunch with him.BBSR is also an upcoming and impressive city.The number of two wheelers is huge but surprisingly they were disciplined and well behaved.Started from BBSR @1400h and huge thundershowers bade me farewell. Visibility was very poor due to haevy rains but I decided to drive on as roads were empty.Experienced "aquaplaning" and drove very cautiously thereafter. No problems in crossing Cuttack due to less number of traffic.BBSR-Cuttack has many diversions due to construction of flyovers which once done will enable vehicles to cross over the twin cities without any fuss.Next stop was IOCL Sathipur, tank topped up.ODO reading 26073kms @1600 hrs.Stopped for tea at Balasore and now the real nightmare begins.After crossing Balasore the NH is two laned and heavy construction work is going all around for four laning and reinforcement of bridges.As it was dark my speed was slowed down by the hugh beams from all vehicles coming from opposite direction.Road improves after one crosses the Kharaghpur by pass and joins with the NH6. Although the road is 6 lane but design and surface are bad, very bad. Halted for dinner at Sher E punjab dhaba @ 2030hrs at Kolaghat.Started from Kolghat at around 23:15 hrs and was greeted by truckers of all shapes and sizes at Kona Expressway.Vidyasagar Setu most probably has the worst roads amongst the four metros. Lots of bumps and uneven surface.Kolkata has undoubtedly the worst city roads, I simply could not pick up speeds in any major road of Kolkata be it Alipore rd, RB Avenue,PAS rd, DH rd, God help the Vehicles of Kolkata.wake up Didi.Finally reached home @0100h.

 

[anshuman8]

Re: Coonoor to kolkata and back......my first loooong drive

wake up Didi.Finally reached home @0100h.

Nice TL and eagerly waiting for pics.

Hope its your own DIDI and not "everyone's" DIDI

 

[Bharadwaj Bunga]

Re: Coonoor to kolkata and back......my first loooong drive

Well, I totally agree with your view on Vijayawada, especially the imbecile 2 wheeler riders. They just don't care about the rest on the road. #facepalm.

 

[amit1km]

Re: Coonoor to kolkata and back......my first loooong drive

How was the AP and Odisha RTO check post. Was it jam. Last time I visited I stuck there by 3 hours. It was completely chock block.

 

[AR Ram]

Re: Coonoor to kolkata and back......my first loooong drive

@aoldev

Fantastic write up of your long journey Really great!!!

If you could post some pictures it will be even wonderful.

 

[ashis_525]

Re: Coonoor to kolkata and back......my first loooong drive

aoldev it would be wonderful if you could post some pictures of the trip

 

[aoldev]

Hello everyone,
This is in continuation to my trip blog Wellington to Kolkata and back.This will deal with my return Journey from Kolkata to Wellington.The TL for the trip is as follows:-

1.DRIVING AROUND KOLKATA.
If anyone thinks that Kolkata roads will be like any other metro city is highly wronged.Kolkata roads are hell.There is simply no thought process in building roads within the PWD of KMC.There is no design aspect or surface aspect of the roads, most of the places there is no roads.I could not drive comfortably in any major road of Kolkata barring the AJC Bose Road Flyover and the connector road between Prince Anwar Shah Road and Dhakuria Lake.There is too much traffic on the roads but the town planners have paid no heed in planning for the roads.

NEGETIVE ASPECTS:-
a) bus drivers - A law unto themselves

b)Auto Drivers - Traffic Rules....whats that? most of the auto drivers own their alligence to either the ruling party or the left and political leaders dare not pull them up for sake of vote bank politics.Most of the drivers do not have a DL and worse they are anti social elements who take ordinary passengers for a ride and upon seeing any private vehicle espicially those bearing outside registration numbers eg other than WB01, 02,06, will take every oppurtunity to hit you and claim damages/compensation in lieu

c)Pedastrians- Kolkata has most probably the most egoistic pedastrians.Lots of jay walkers, they see private vehicle owners as "class enemies" who are out to trample their freedom (by product of 40 year commie rule).Suppose you honk at a pedastrian who is crossing the street after the signal has gone green, the person will stare down at you with killing looks as if He is as innocent as a baby and we car drivers are trying to show our money power.Pathetic condition .

POSITIVE ASPECTS:-
a) Aggressive police especially in city limits - During my short stay I saw many traffic police catching bikers without helmets, penalising car drivers without seat belts and even rebuking jay walkers. Once I was lost in the bylanes of Howrah and GPS was showing the route to Vidyasagar Setu through oneway traffic, I approached the traffic police and they really did help me with the correct directions and upon seeing the "ARMY"sticker on my car he gave me a salute also.Pretty impressive.

b) Bikers - Kolkata has a very less number of two wheelers and most of them are surprisingly well behaved, they give proper indicators and do follow traffic rules unlike in Chennai/Bangalore/Vijayawada.Good to see that

2.KOLKATA TO GOPALPUR



Dt of journey 22 Sep 2013
Start time 0700h sharp.
ODO reading-26582kms
Tank top up @ Alipore BPCL
Breakfast break at Sher-e-panjab Kolaghat. Lovely aloo paratha with dahi and sweet lassi.
Lunch stop at defunct A1 plaza at Khantapada, Orissa. Yummy butter prawns and egg fried rice. total cost for lunch for two was around 400 rs.Dirt cheap and absolutely yummylicious, good facilities also.
Tank top up at HP Khantapada. Odo reading 26865km
Brief halt at Bhubaneswar for tea break and finally reached Gopalpur at around 7 pm.


3.GOPALPUR TO VISHAKAPATNAM
Dt of journey 23 Sep 2013
Start time 1100hrs
Visited Gopalpur beach which was deserted but beautiful
Tank top up at IOCL Gopalpur-ODO reading 27264kms
Good roads all the way and scenic and beautiful drive without any fuss.
Reached Vishakapatnam at around 5 pm and wifey dear was amazed to see the beautiful beach city of Vizag.Its a pleasure to drive in this city.
We stayed at waltair Club which is really very beautiful and with good facilities to boot. Food is good and decent.
Next day being bandh we could easily visit Simhachalam temple and had a free darshan within 15 mins . One of the preists being bong took us to a guided tour of the temple at absolutely no costs but he did request for a good donation which we happily gave. Next went to the Rushikonda Beach and sonny boy was very excited to see the waves and spent a good time playing on the beach.Next stop was the RK beach, again sonny boy on seeing his favourite "horsy" wanted to take a ride and boy , he enjoyed it a lot.

4.VISHAKHAPATNAM TO VIJAYAWADA/ TUNUKU
Dt of journey 25 Sep 2013
Start time 0930hrs
ODO reading 27602kms
Upon hitting the NH5 at Vizag we were stopped by a mob protesting against the Telengana issue, delayed by 1 hr. First bad incident of the day.
A friend of mine had suggested that we have lunch at a particular resort by the banks of godavari in rajahmundhry which offered scenic views of the river as well as the "double" bridge. So promptly went there only to find that the restaurant had closed,second bad incident, so with empty stomach punched in "vijayawada" on my GMaps and started.Andhra state highways are absolute mess and it was pain to drive. Filled up at BPCL kovvur and asked the attendant for directions to the place where we can hit the NH5, the man replies Tunuku, so again punched in "Tunuku"and off we go. Pathetic roads and I was driving very slowly and all of a sudden we get caught up in a traffic jam due to the Telengana issue , was held up for around 30 mins and then we started again. This time artound the road surface changed dramatically and I picked up speeds and was driving comfortably in the speed rage of 90-100. We crossed a town called "Konnuru" at around 4.30 pm and in order to reach Vijayawada as soon as possible, floored the acclerator and was driving at speed in excess of 100 kmph.
All of a sudden I saw a huge crater on the road and applied brakes but by the time the brakes were into action the front wheels had crossed the crater and I heard a"DHINGGGG" kind of sound. I looked at the IRVM and what I saw absolutely horrified me, I saw some kind of oil spillage , promptly parked my car to the side of the road and bent down to see what happened.I saw that the oil sump had cracked at the impact and there was a fountain of engine oil flowing. Luckily an auto driver who was passing by saw the car and stopped, he offered to call up a mechanic and do some kind of patchup work so that I could reach Tunuku.So while the auto driver went to fetch the mechanic a farmer whose house was next to my car came out and offered tea, milk and biscuits for my son and wife.

Here comes my hero "HVK". I call up HVK and tell him my problem , he immediately connects me to Dr Uday Reddy and Dr Rakesh Raju.I call them up and both assure me that help is on the way in the form of Dr Uday Reddy's Jeep and hotel bookings have been done at Tunuku . In the meantime the local mechanic arrives and seals the crack with m seal and engine oil is put and we are ready to go. Dr Uday's jeep also arrives and acts as our guide to the hotel (Chittauri Heritage).All this takes about 4 hours .For all his running around and getting the sump fixed the mechanic takes only rs 100 as token money, the farmer refused to take any as one of his relatives is in the ARMY.I did keep HVK updated and was in constant touch with both dr uay and dr rakesh .Dr Uday met me in the evening and it was decided his driver would come in the morning to take the vehicle to the nearest ASS in Bhimavaram, which is the hometown of Dr Rakesh.Next morning at 7 sharp the driver comes and off we go to Bhimavaram to get the vehicle repaired. Dr Rakesh also drops in to check the vehicle and advises the chief technician at ASS to repair it on priority, luckily they have only 1 oil sump of Wagon r and they fit it. Dr Rakesh is kind enough to take me to his home and arrange braekfast for me which is my all time favourite "poori and subzi". Now that the vehicle is repaired , I am a less worried man and enjoyed the return drive from Bhimavaram to tunuku amidst green paddy fields.A big thank you to all the ppl who helped me in an unknown territory especially Kumar HV, Dr Uday and Dr Rakesh. I am indebited to you forever.Thanks a ton



Dt of journey 27 Sep 2013
Start time 0700 hrs
ODO reading 27960kms
Because of the accident and loss of two days we decide to hit Tirupati directly without any halts. Had a good breakfast at a HP COCO on the outskirts of Vijayawada and crossed Vijayawada by 1000hrs. I was driving very cautiously due to the accident which had occured. Reached Nellore by 1430 and had a decent lunch there. The NH in this stretch nothing to write about but there is a lot of diversions due to lane widening and speeds are low in this stretch. Took the Naidupeta connector to Tirupati and was in Alipiri checkpost. All our belongings were checked and only then we were allowed to go. Reached our destination at around 8 pm at Tirumala. Had a darshan of "Govinda" next day and rested.


Dt of journey 29 Sep 2013
Start time 1000 hrs
ODO reading 28601kms
After a lazy breakfast at Sannidhanam, left Tirumala at around 1000h and hit the chitoor road, also took the bangalore bypass to avoid getting into Chittor town and directly hit Vellore. From Vellore the road surface is brilliant and could easily cruise at a speed of 90 kmph. From Dharmapuri took the ettur sathyamangalam road. The road is not in a good condition and was driving steadily , also it was getting dark.Roads turn fantastic after Sathyamanglam upto Mettupalyam. This stretch of road can put even the NH7 to shame, its a pleasure to drive in this road. Reached Mettupalyam at around 2200h and halted for a tea break at a tea shop opposite Black Thunder water park. Finally reached wellington at 2330h. the Mettupalayam- Ooty road is a hell to drive on, very narrow and absolutely no traffic discipline by anyone.

 

[Rajvel]

Please post the pictures ASAP
Btw great writeup by which we travelled along with you in kolkata city.

 

[swiftkolkata]

Hello everyone,
This is in continuation to my trip blog Wellington to Kolkata and back.This will deal with my return Journey from Kolkata to Wellington.The TL for the trip is as follows:-

1.DRIVING AROUND KOLKATA.
If anyone thinks that Kolkata roads will be like any other metro city is highly wronged.Kolkata roads are hell.There is simply no thought process in building roads within the PWD of KMC.There is no design aspect or surface aspect of the roads, most of the places there is no roads.I could not drive comfortably in any major road of Kolkata barring the AJC Bose Road Flyover and the connector road between Prince Anwar Shah Road and Dhakuria Lake.There is too much traffic on the roads but the town planners have paid no heed in planning for the roads.

NEGETIVE ASPECTS:-
a) bus drivers - A law unto themselves

b)Auto Drivers - Traffic Rules....whats that? most of the auto drivers own their alligence to either the ruling party or the left and political leaders dare not pull them up for sake of vote bank politics.Most of the drivers do not have a DL and worse they are anti social elements who take ordinary passengers for a ride and upon seeing any private vehicle espicially those bearing outside registration numbers eg other than WB01, 02,06, will take every oppurtunity to hit you and claim damages/compensation in lieu

c)Pedastrians- Kolkata has most probably the most egoistic pedastrians.Lots of jay walkers, they see private vehicle owners as "class enemies" who are out to trample their freedom (by product of 40 year commie rule).Suppose you honk at a pedastrian who is crossing the street after the signal has gone green, the person will stare down at you with killing looks as if He is as innocent as a baby and we car drivers are trying to show our money power.Pathetic condition .

POSITIVE ASPECTS:-
a) Aggressive police especially in city limits - During my short stay I saw many traffic police catching bikers without helmets, penalising car drivers without seat belts and even rebuking jay walkers. Once I was lost in the bylanes of Howrah and GPS was showing the route to Vidyasagar Setu through oneway traffic, I approached the traffic police and they really did help me with the correct directions and upon seeing the "ARMY"sticker on my car he gave me a salute also.Pretty impressive.

b) Bikers - Kolkata has a very less number of two wheelers and most of them are surprisingly well behaved, they give proper indicators and do follow traffic rules unlike in Chennai/Bangalore/Vijayawada.Good to see that

2.KOLKATA TO GOPALPUR



Dt of journey 22 Sep 2013
Start time 0700h sharp.
ODO reading-26582kms
Tank top up @ Alipore BPCL
Breakfast break at Sher-e-panjab Kolaghat. Lovely aloo paratha with dahi and sweet lassi.
Lunch stop at defunct A1 plaza at Khantapada, Orissa. Yummy butter prawns and egg fried rice. total cost for lunch for two was around 400 rs.Dirt cheap and absolutely yummylicious, good facilities also.
Tank top up at HP Khantapada. Odo reading 26865km
Brief halt at Bhubaneswar for tea break and finally reached Gopalpur at around 7 pm.


3.GOPALPUR TO VISHAKAPATNAM
Dt of journey 23 Sep 2013
Start time 1100hrs
Visited Gopalpur beach which was deserted but beautiful
Tank top up at IOCL Gopalpur-ODO reading 27264kms
Good roads all the way and scenic and beautiful drive without any fuss.
Reached Vishakapatnam at around 5 pm and wifey dear was amazed to see the beautiful beach city of Vizag.Its a pleasure to drive in this city.
We stayed at waltair Club which is really very beautiful and with good facilities to boot. Food is good and decent.
Next day being bandh we could easily visit Simhachalam temple and had a free darshan within 15 mins . One of the preists being bong took us to a guided tour of the temple at absolutely no costs but he did request for a good donation which we happily gave. Next went to the Rushikonda Beach and sonny boy was very excited to see the waves and spent a good time playing on the beach.Next stop was the RK beach, again sonny boy on seeing his favourite "horsy" wanted to take a ride and boy , he enjoyed it a lot.

4.VISHAKHAPATNAM TO VIJAYAWADA/ TUNUKU
Dt of journey 25 Sep 2013
Start time 0930hrs
ODO reading 27602kms
Upon hitting the NH5 at Vizag we were stopped by a mob protesting against the Telengana issue, delayed by 1 hr. First bad incident of the day.
A friend of mine had suggested that we have lunch at a particular resort by the banks of godavari in rajahmundhry which offered scenic views of the river as well as the "double" bridge. So promptly went there only to find that the restaurant had closed,second bad incident, so with empty stomach punched in "vijayawada" on my GMaps and started.Andhra state highways are absolute mess and it was pain to drive. Filled up at BPCL kovvur and asked the attendant for directions to the place where we can hit the NH5, the man replies Tunuku, so again punched in "Tunuku"and off we go. Pathetic roads and I was driving very slowly and all of a sudden we get caught up in a traffic jam due to the Telengana issue , was held up for around 30 mins and then we started again. This time artound the road surface changed dramatically and I picked up speeds and was driving comfortably in the speed rage of 90-100. We crossed a town called "Konnuru" at around 4.30 pm and in order to reach Vijayawada as soon as possible, floored the acclerator and was driving at speed in excess of 100 kmph.
All of a sudden I saw a huge crater on the road and applied brakes but by the time the brakes were into action the front wheels had crossed the crater and I heard a"DHINGGGG" kind of sound. I looked at the IRVM and what I saw absolutely horrified me, I saw some kind of oil spillage , promptly parked my car to the side of the road and bent down to see what happened.I saw that the oil sump had cracked at the impact and there was a fountain of engine oil flowing. Luckily an auto driver who was passing by saw the car and stopped, he offered to call up a mechanic and do some kind of patchup work so that I could reach Tunuku.So while the auto driver went to fetch the mechanic a farmer whose house was next to my car came out and offered tea, milk and biscuits for my son and wife.

Here comes my hero "HVK". I call up HVK and tell him my problem , he immediately connects me to Dr Uday Reddy and Dr Rakesh Raju.I call them up and both assure me that help is on the way in the form of Dr Uday Reddy's Jeep and hotel bookings have been done at Tunuku . In the meantime the local mechanic arrives and seals the crack with m seal and engine oil is put and we are ready to go. Dr Uday's jeep also arrives and acts as our guide to the hotel (Chittauri Heritage).All this takes about 4 hours .For all his running around and getting the sump fixed the mechanic takes only rs 100 as token money, the farmer refused to take any as one of his relatives is in the ARMY.I did keep HVK updated and was in constant touch with both dr uay and dr rakesh .Dr Uday met me in the evening and it was decided his driver would come in the morning to take the vehicle to the nearest ASS in Bhimavaram, which is the hometown of Dr Rakesh.Next morning at 7 sharp the driver comes and off we go to Bhimavaram to get the vehicle repaired. Dr Rakesh also drops in to check the vehicle and advises the chief technician at ASS to repair it on priority, luckily they have only 1 oil sump of Wagon r and they fit it. Dr Rakesh is kind enough to take me to his home and arrange braekfast for me which is my all time favourite "poori and subzi". Now that the vehicle is repaired , I am a less worried man and enjoyed the return drive from Bhimavaram to tunuku amidst green paddy fields.A big thank you to all the ppl who helped me in an unknown territory especially Kumar HV, Dr Uday and Dr Rakesh. I am indebited to you forever.Thanks a ton



Dt of journey 27 Sep 2013
Start time 0700 hrs
ODO reading 27960kms
Because of the accident and loss of two days we decide to hit Tirupati directly without any halts. Had a good breakfast at a HP COCO on the outskirts of Vijayawada and crossed Vijayawada by 1000hrs. I was driving very cautiously due to the accident which had occured. Reached Nellore by 1430 and had a decent lunch there. The NH in this stretch nothing to write about but there is a lot of diversions due to lane widening and speeds are low in this stretch. Took the Naidupeta connector to Tirupati and was in Alipiri checkpost. All our belongings were checked and only then we were allowed to go. Reached our destination at around 8 pm at Tirumala. Had a darshan of "Govinda" next day and rested.


Dt of journey 29 Sep 2013
Start time 1000 hrs
ODO reading 28601kms
After a lazy breakfast at Sannidhanam, left Tirumala at around 1000h and hit the chitoor road, also took the bangalore bypass to avoid getting into Chittor town and directly hit Vellore. From Vellore the road surface is brilliant and could easily cruise at a speed of 90 kmph. From Dharmapuri took the ettur sathyamangalam road. The road is not in a good condition and was driving steadily , also it was getting dark.Roads turn fantastic after Sathyamanglam upto Mettupalyam. This stretch of road can put even the NH7 to shame, its a pleasure to drive in this road. Reached Mettupalyam at around 2200h and halted for a tea break at a tea shop opposite Black Thunder water park. Finally reached wellington at 2330h. the Mettupalayam- Ooty road is a hell to drive on, very narrow and absolutely no traffic discipline by anyone.

Good writeup...btw are you from Kolkata?

 

[Octy_Vin]

Hi, Nice writeup. Almost 5k kms. Were you the only driver? BTW,Where are the photos?

 

[aoldev]

Yes i was the only driver. I never felt fatigued during the entire drive except the Metupalayam-Ooty stretch.Sorry there are no photographs of the accident site or of road conditions as I had packed my camera in my bag and forgot to take it out.there are a few snaps which i will be uploading soon