Kolkata - Chandipur - Puri - Maiden trip on the Xylo

[Chandranath]

Aprrox a year and a half ago when I had got the Xylo I had thought that now I will be getting all that I had missed out on while driving the highways in my M800 & the Alto which is still wit me. (To be fair to the siblings from Maruti, I had driven the 800 to the lofty heights of Darjeeling & Pelling, accross international borders to Thimpu and Paro in Bhutan, to the sandy beaches of Orissa, inside the coal mines of Hazaribagh and the jungles of North Bengal.)

But somehow things on driving on the hiways on the xylo did not materialise due to factors like son being too small (in fact born after the xylo came home), office engagements, me fracturing my leg & finally me relocating from Kolkata to Mumbai (temp I believe).

Diwali somehow gave me a great opportunity to take a break and move with my Xylo on the highway. What better could it have been than visiting Puri with my son ( a year and 2 months)venturing out for the first time to so far away from Kolkata.

Fixed up things. Wanted to leave Kolkata at 6 am. Being practical knew it would be 7. But my son ensured the rubber hits the road not earlier than 8.20am.

 

[Chandranath]

Reached Kolaghat which is about 70 km from Kolkata by 9.50 am (an hour and half from kol) and took the first halt for breakfast for my son (and ours also). On the road as opposed to our home it was much easier for my wife and parents to drive the food down my son,s throat and then grab some stuff for ourselves. (Pix in previous post)

The Kolaghat bridge on the vast river Rupnarayan is notorious for traffic jams. Luckily we faced none. Proceeded through NH 6 to Kharagpur. Aprox 7 km before reaching Kharagpur a flyover appears to the left which crosses the road and proceeds to Kharagpur and onwards to Mumbai. This road needed to be ignored and I needed to go straight under the bridge on to the concrete road of NH 60 to Balasore.

On the way crossed Belda, Datnan and reached Jaleshwar which is the Bengal / Orissa border. While going through the net had heard that thr was an illegal (though legally conducted by the Orissa Govt) extorsion of 6 months tax from any vehicle (even pvt) entering. But did not find any,

However the problem was the up line on the highwat leading to Balasore was fully blocked by the trucks waiting for inter state clearence. So had to drive down the wrong lane and get back to the right lane once we entered Orissa. From here on to Balasore was still on the concrete road of NH 60 and we reached by 12.45.

Left NH 60 nearing Balasore and caught the Kol Chennai highway of NH 5. Missed the first entry to Balasore and carried on further 5 km before taking another turn to Balasore station and onwards to Chandipur.

It was narrow and congested and the 16 km to Chandipur from Balasore took us another hour to reach the Orissa Tourism Dev Corp (OTDC) hotel which was situated right on the beach. We finally rolled in at 2 pm.

 

[Chandranath]

Chandipur has always fascinated me with the uniqueness of the sea. It recedes almost 6 km twice in 24 hours during low tide. When we reached their it was low tide and we were greeted with a bare sea bed with water not to be seen.

 

[Thetraveller]

Great travelogue! Let the pics coming in. These seem like a teaser

 

[Chandranath]

Next morning sitting in the hotel balcony the sunrise over the advancing sea was a great sight. Could not help clicking a picture too many.

Got late in leaving and finally were ready for the road at 8.30 which was a couple of hours beyond our target.

Filled up the Xylo on route. Full tank to full tank returned a mileage in excess of 12 km which I found was decent. Hit Bhubaneshwar by 1 pm with an extended toilet break for my son in Cuttack. Stopped for an hour in Bhubaneshwar for lunch at the Govt. lodge. Food used to be good at one point of a time. But now it was pathetic.

Chandipur to Bhubaneshwar was 225 km on NH 5 on fantastic roads with speeds going upto 130 k/hr. But the remaining 60 km from Bhubaneshwar to Puri was over narrow 2 lane hiway which was broken down in stretches and had a very heavy traffic flow. Nearing Puri we got stuck up in a jam as a truck had overturned the previous night and a crane was attempting to put it back on the road. After half an hour better sense prevailed as they decided to shelve the plan for the night and let the traffic pass.

Hit the beach of Puri by 3.30 and checked into the hotel. The room was cramped up but had great views from the window. Enjoy the snaps

 

[Chandranath]

some more pictures...

 

[avindu]

Nice start buddy. Sounds like a welcome break to you and your family. Btw, your son is damn cute.

The highway pics are off NH5? Looks good.

Puri is around 500kms from Kol, right?

OT : Thimpu on a M800. Wow. Please do share your experience and please create a separate TL.

 

[Chandranath]

Nice start buddy. Sounds like a welcome break to you and your family. Btw, your son is damn cute.

The highway pics are off NH5? Looks good.

Puri is around 500kms from Kol, right?

OT : Thimpu on a M800. Wow. Please do share your experience and please create a separate TL.

The highway pix upto Kharagpur is of MH 6 (Kolk - Mumbai route). From Kharagpur to Balasore is of NH 60 (its a full concrete road all along). From Balasore to Bhubaneshwar is of NH 5 (Kol - Chennai highway)

Puri each way is about 560 km from Kol. I clocked in additional 16 km as I had made a detour to Chandipur.

Thimpu and more importantly Paro in Bhutan in M800 was grt. But I drove it up and down in the year 1996. Those were early days of my driving. The photos are great but they are not captured digitally but in the manual SLRs (Asahi Pentax K1000). Will try to scan them and make a separate TL.

Have some fantastic pix and memories with my M800 in Pelling / Gangtok / Darjeeling too. Will try and scan them too.

 

[Chandranath]

Next day morning in Puri was not as easy paced as I had thought. Our Panda from Lord Jagannath's temple had told us that it was Diwali and the temple was expecting a huge rush. He asked us to be thr by 6 am which was a big fight for us considering that ny one yr three month yr old son needed to be ready also.

However by Lord Jagannath's grace we were ready and was in the temple in the designated time. Photography is not allowed so could not carry the camera and take back pictures. The car was also too inconvinient to be driven around, so took 2 cycle rickshaws.

We returned by 8.30 am and relaxed for sometime by the beach in front of our hotel before entering it. The beaches are famous for the vendors selling sweets and samosas. Relished them like anything.

 

[AppU]

A Complete Family travelouge.

Continue posting more pics.

 

[rahul4640]

However the problem was the up line on the highwat leading to Balasore was fully blocked by the trucks waiting for inter state clearence. So had to drive down the wrong lane and get back to the right lane once we entered Orissa. From here on to Balasore was still on the concrete road of NH 60 and we reached by 12.45.

In case you find the highway totally blocked or even the (right) wrong lane is taking too much of your time, you may even consider taking a right turn there from the main highway. There is a narrow road going right, which you will find just after crossing the Indianoil petrol pump. It will lead you to the toward the old highway. And after a quick detour of about 4 KM through Jaleswar town, again turn left to reach NH 60.

 

[Chandranath]

In case you find the highway totally blocked or even the (right) wrong lane is taking too much of your time, you may even consider taking a right turn there from the main highway. There is a narrow road going right, which you will find just after crossing the Indianoil petrol pump. It will lead you to the toward the old highway. And after a quick detour of about 4 KM through Jaleswar town, again turn left to reach NH 60.

You are right Rahul. Before the trip I had actually checked the net for any detour at this area and had come up with your solution. In fact that route probably passes the Satsang Vihar of Jaleshwar which I could see from the main highway.

 

[Chandranath]

A Complete Family travelouge.

Continue posting more pics.

Ya Appu.. Extended family including the XYLO.

Here are some more pictures after we came back from the temple to the beach.

 

[Chandranath]

The Xylo hit the beach too and enjoyed it

 

[Chandranath]

Next Morning and sunrise was blissful. Went down to the beach to check the fish that was being sold by the fishermen. They were priced (life risking catch) quite low and the demand was hi.