Round the Country in My Manza. 5000+ Kms in 7 Days, 9 States

[anisghos]

Once we reached Angul, a quick answering to nature's call and reshuffing of my navigator and we were again moving. Same road conditions and great views all around.. Let move forward and the pictures would show you the way.

Soham now has taken the leisurely posture and in another world thinking about the roads ahead i guess..























Lets have a look at some videos as well:


Approaching Redhakhol - YouTube


Redhakhol to Sambalpur - YouTube

Redhakhol to Sambalpur - YouTube

We were at this point of time speeding away towards Sambalpur and with not much traffic and roads in good condition we reached Sambalpur on time for lunch. We reached Sambalpur at around 3.20 pm .We covered 160 odd kilometers in less than 3 hrs time.

We refueled and headed for lunch. The reason for refueling in Sambalpur is after Sambalpur till Raipur, facilities are bare minimum and not sure where we would be able to fillup. So for safety we tanked up.

Now the journey towards Bhillai, heard that the roads in this section was not great and not many first hand information on the roads ahead as well. That would be an interesting one. Stay tuned and keep reading.

 

[Chandranath]

@mukesh:

You are correct in saying that it is not required to open the bonnet for cooling the engine. In this case the hood was opened for routine checks after the long non stop drive. Infact i was hearing a cranking noise somewhere beneath the bonnet. So the bonnet was opened for these purposes and not for the engine to be cooled off..

But the open hood pix does remind me of the days of the good old Ambassadors

 

[anisghos]

@chandranath:

Yes, after looking at the picture now it really seems as if i was cooling off the Manza. Hahaha.
I still love travelling in Ambassadors. I still feel very comfortable in it. But it is sad to see that Ambassadors are going down as competitors. They should have started upgrading themselves long back to stay in competition.

BTW, when are you coming down to Kolkata.

 

[Venkatesh Krishnan]

Excellent Roads!

Love to drive on such roads.

What is the average / min / max speed you could achieve?

Any good eating options (veggie especially)?

 

[anisghos]

Average one can do 80 kms/hr. Maximum i ran in this stretch was around 100 kms/hr.

There are good eating options in Angul. In between also you can get some. Dal tarka paneer mix veg you can get everywhere.

 

[anisghos]

We reached Sambalpur at around 3.15 and after refueling we started searching for a good restaurant for a good lunch. It would be our 1st meal for the day and everybody was pretty hungry after almost 12 hrs drive. Asked some locals and they directed us to one good mughlai restaurant and we feasted on some very good biryani. The food was excellent and our tummies were satisfied, but there was a drawback of that as well which i will come later. We halted there for an hour and completed our lunch and slowly started to proceed for our final destination for that day which would be Bhillai. We knew there is not much facility in between so performed some basic checks of my Manza and started to move forward.


While we were coming from NH 42 there would be jail complex on the right hand side and from that crossing one would have to go left to get into the Sambalpur ring road but as we went a bit into the city for lunch we came from the jail end and went straight into the ring road keeping NH 42 on the left hand side..

 

[Rudolf_Diesel]

Hi Anish: Congrats on completing a Great drive safely. Am curious to know what was reason for this trip. Just for driving pleasure or was it for some competition like SS1600 or BB2500. I m asking this because you have religiously maintained such a good log. I hope you did not have any problems with Manza during your trip. I m also owning a Manza. but max distance I have done at stretch is 300+ kms from chn - bangalore. What was total Kms done and what was overall avg speed maintained and last but not least "whats the FE"

 

[rahul4640]

Nice writing and excellent pictures, I must say. Kudos to you for your courage to undertake such a long journey. Waiting eagerly to know more about your trip.

 

[anisghos]

Thanks rudolf and thanks rahul for your appreciation. It really boosts my enthusiasm for more travels and most importantly to complete this travelogue.

@ Rudolf : This trip was totally for driving pleasure and achieving some goals. I wanted to share the details with everybody so that it can be helpful for others that is reason for making the logs as comprehensive it could be.
BTW, i am unaware of competitions like SS1600/BB2500. Could you please shower some information on these.

Total kms travelled was 5039 and FE was around 20-21 kms/ltr. Average speed was around 65-85 depending on the road conditions and traffic. Maximum accelerated to 145 + in good stretches as well.

Manza's performance was excellent throughout the trip. We completed the trip without any niggles and without touching anything. I filled in nitrogen before leaving and again check air after coming back..


Guys, i am down with fever so the pace is slow. I have started updating and trying to proceed with the trip as fast as i can

 

[Rudolf_Diesel]

SS1600 - saddlesore - Riding 1600 km/1000 mile under 24 hrs.
BB2500 - BunBurner - Riidign 2500 km/1500 mile under 36 hrs.
These are certificates provided by IBA (Iron Butt Assoc, USA). I think these are only for 2 wheelers motorcycles. Though not sure about that. I thought for cars also there might be something similar .
Good that you were riding at safer speeds below 80 kph. Also 20 - 21 kmpl ave FE is great. Hail Manza Get well soon and enlighten us with your excellent mindboggling trip

 

[Chandranath]

@chandranath:

Yes, after looking at the picture now it really seems as if i was cooling off the Manza. Hahaha.
I still love travelling in Ambassadors. I still feel very comfortable in it. But it is sad to see that Ambassadors are going down as competitors. They should have started upgrading themselves long back to stay in competition.

BTW, when are you coming down to Kolkata.

I have landed in Kolkata today morning. I am here till Monday. I could not give you a call because I am participating in the Mahindra Great Escape challenge which is happenning in Kolkata for the first time.

The Rally is on Saturday. The documentation, vehicle scrutiny is on Friday (tomorrow). Sunday is my wedding anniversary (wife is of the opinion that I came down to Kolkata from Mumbai to attend the rally and not because of the anniversary).... So I guess that leaves us with Monday.

 

[anisghos]

No issues my friend.. Please take care of your priorities first. I am also down with fever for the last 2-3 of days.. Hopefully i should be fit by Monday. We can have a chat in between. Enjoy your stay in Kolkata..

BTW, Happy Anniversary in advance.

 

[Chandranath]

No issues my friend.. Please take care of your priorities first. I am also down with fever for the last 2-3 of days.. Hopefully i should be fit by Monday. We can have a chat in between. Enjoy your stay in Kolkata..

BTW, Happy Anniversary in advance.

Thank uou for your wishes.

Get well soon. Give me a call / sms whenever you are fine.

 

[ashikawa]

I am also down with fever for the last 2-3 of days.. ]

Take care of your health. It may be a after effect of long drive. Very much exited about my drive end of this month. Awaiting your report on further travel to mumbai. Liked pics posted by you.

 

[anisghos]

Take care of your health. It may be a after effect of long drive. Very much exited about my drive end of this month. Awaiting your report on further travel to mumbai. Liked pics posted by you.

@ashikawa: Thanks for your wishes and also for appreciating my posts. I have a chronic tonsil problem which creates such issues intermittently, hopefully nothing to do with the drive .. Basically the whether in kolkata is fluctuating a lot. Last 4-5 days it was cloudy, it was raining and became a bit gloomy, suddenly again from today it is very windy and chilly.. Many people are falling sick here due to this...