Thread Starter
#1
Friends,
Had a pleasure trip of 3116 KMs done recently. Visited Agra, Gwalior, Jhansi, Orchha and Varanasi. Like to share with you the details.
Started from my home in north Calcutta at around eleven at the evening on 15/10/15. Stopped for lunch at Hotel Hindustan Dhaba.
There was no traffic jam at Panagarh but soon found that the roads were under construction at most of the places till Asansol. Several new road over bridges were under construction. Only one side of the highway was open. It was effectively a single lane road and had to fall behind the trucks as overtaking was impossible.
Planned to fill petrol for my over ten year old Tata Indigo (GLX model/MPFI) car from the petrol pump at Indo American More (road crossing) at Durgapur. It is a HP COCO bunk and is ISO certified. But to my surprise it did not have petrol. Their stocks had run out, they said. Had to fill from a large Indianoil outlet at Asansol, known to the locals as Jubilee pump.
There was a long line of stranded trucks at the border with Jharkhand but followed a bus which went across the divider and took the wrong side of the road. Crossed the Barakar river and entered Jharkhand. But again there was road construction work going on and had to move cautiously till Govindpur, from where Dhanbad bound road diverges to left.
This signpost came up at 04-40 AM.
The road continued to be broken. Not deep potholes. Only the top surface is peeled off, giving the car continuous jerks.
The road improved somewhere before Barhi town, where Hazaribagh and Ranchi bound road branches off towards left. Right goes towards Nawada and Bihar Sharif.
Incidentally I had to defer my trip by few hours as it was election day at Bihar. All the districts of Gaya, Jehanabad, Aurangabad and Rohtas, through which my road (NH-2) passed, were scheduled to hold their elections on that very day, on 16/10/15.
Though I called up a Bihar police official on the day prior to my journey and was assured that the highway (NH-2) will be kept open, I was not much convinced. I even stopped at a roadside tea stall some two KM before the Bihar border and watched the vehicular movement for maybe five or ten minutes. But no one stopped me at the border or asked anything, although there was heavy presence of security personnel on the road. Possibly the presence of two female members (wife and daughter) helped. While driving I could even see people lining up at the roadside polling centers for casting their votes. Traffic was possibly less than usual. Very few private vehicles were on the road but surprisingly truck traffic was moving freely.
It is only when we were going to cross the bridge on river Son, I was once stopped at a checkpoint by two young fellows in uniforms. They opened the rear door, where my daughter was sleeping occupying the back seat, took hold of a plastic shopping bag containing some dry food and looked inside. I was asked to open the luggage compartment, which contained two suitcases and one small plastic bag containing some spare footwear. They opened none of them and I was allowed to leave in less than two minutes. They did not even bother to see my driving license or any other ID.
At 07-45 AM were at this place.
At quarter past nine stopped at this hotel for breakfast. It was at Rohtas district of Bihar.
Benaras bypass road was free from traffic. Had to remain cautious about the unruly bikers throughout this trip. Reached Allahabad bypass road at half past one.
Beautiful road. The speedo of even my over ten year old car was rock solid at this road. It was the average speed throughout the Allahabad bypass.
The Kanpur road flyover was also good. The lights of the day was just becoming to fade.
Unfortunately the progress was not so good after crossing Kanpur. Numerous tolls and consequent traffic jams hampered smooth progress. And the notorious Agra traffic jam was also caused delays.
Stopped almost at eleven at the evening at a hotel called the Hotel Blue Heaven. For only Rs 1600/- (inclusive of taxes) I was given an AC room. Located right on NH-2, the hotel had basement parking and free Wi-Fi.
After having dinner at this hotel, we fast became asleep.
This is the summary of the first day. Thanks for reading. I shall complete my travelogue soon.
Regards,
Rahul Biswas,
Cossipore, North Calcutta.
Had a pleasure trip of 3116 KMs done recently. Visited Agra, Gwalior, Jhansi, Orchha and Varanasi. Like to share with you the details.
Started from my home in north Calcutta at around eleven at the evening on 15/10/15. Stopped for lunch at Hotel Hindustan Dhaba.
There was no traffic jam at Panagarh but soon found that the roads were under construction at most of the places till Asansol. Several new road over bridges were under construction. Only one side of the highway was open. It was effectively a single lane road and had to fall behind the trucks as overtaking was impossible.
Planned to fill petrol for my over ten year old Tata Indigo (GLX model/MPFI) car from the petrol pump at Indo American More (road crossing) at Durgapur. It is a HP COCO bunk and is ISO certified. But to my surprise it did not have petrol. Their stocks had run out, they said. Had to fill from a large Indianoil outlet at Asansol, known to the locals as Jubilee pump.
There was a long line of stranded trucks at the border with Jharkhand but followed a bus which went across the divider and took the wrong side of the road. Crossed the Barakar river and entered Jharkhand. But again there was road construction work going on and had to move cautiously till Govindpur, from where Dhanbad bound road diverges to left.
This signpost came up at 04-40 AM.
The road continued to be broken. Not deep potholes. Only the top surface is peeled off, giving the car continuous jerks.
The road improved somewhere before Barhi town, where Hazaribagh and Ranchi bound road branches off towards left. Right goes towards Nawada and Bihar Sharif.
Incidentally I had to defer my trip by few hours as it was election day at Bihar. All the districts of Gaya, Jehanabad, Aurangabad and Rohtas, through which my road (NH-2) passed, were scheduled to hold their elections on that very day, on 16/10/15.
Though I called up a Bihar police official on the day prior to my journey and was assured that the highway (NH-2) will be kept open, I was not much convinced. I even stopped at a roadside tea stall some two KM before the Bihar border and watched the vehicular movement for maybe five or ten minutes. But no one stopped me at the border or asked anything, although there was heavy presence of security personnel on the road. Possibly the presence of two female members (wife and daughter) helped. While driving I could even see people lining up at the roadside polling centers for casting their votes. Traffic was possibly less than usual. Very few private vehicles were on the road but surprisingly truck traffic was moving freely.
It is only when we were going to cross the bridge on river Son, I was once stopped at a checkpoint by two young fellows in uniforms. They opened the rear door, where my daughter was sleeping occupying the back seat, took hold of a plastic shopping bag containing some dry food and looked inside. I was asked to open the luggage compartment, which contained two suitcases and one small plastic bag containing some spare footwear. They opened none of them and I was allowed to leave in less than two minutes. They did not even bother to see my driving license or any other ID.
At 07-45 AM were at this place.
At quarter past nine stopped at this hotel for breakfast. It was at Rohtas district of Bihar.
Benaras bypass road was free from traffic. Had to remain cautious about the unruly bikers throughout this trip. Reached Allahabad bypass road at half past one.
Beautiful road. The speedo of even my over ten year old car was rock solid at this road. It was the average speed throughout the Allahabad bypass.
The Kanpur road flyover was also good. The lights of the day was just becoming to fade.
Unfortunately the progress was not so good after crossing Kanpur. Numerous tolls and consequent traffic jams hampered smooth progress. And the notorious Agra traffic jam was also caused delays.
Stopped almost at eleven at the evening at a hotel called the Hotel Blue Heaven. For only Rs 1600/- (inclusive of taxes) I was given an AC room. Located right on NH-2, the hotel had basement parking and free Wi-Fi.
After having dinner at this hotel, we fast became asleep.
This is the summary of the first day. Thanks for reading. I shall complete my travelogue soon.
Regards,
Rahul Biswas,
Cossipore, North Calcutta.
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