Quote:
Originally Posted by shuvd  @ Black Pearl - Please define "moderate pace". So, Calcutta - Siliguri do-able? Road wise? How bad is it actually? |
yup, Kolkata-Siliguri is very much do-able in under 12 hours taking a number of halts. moderate pace means we touched max speeds of about 100-110 kmph, but were able to maintain a steady speed as it was early morning when we crossed Malda. Malda can get very congested after 10 in the moring till 9 in the evening. You can easily lose 1-2 hours there if you dont plan properly. If you dont intend to reach Darjeeling or Gangtok on the same day and prefer a halt at Siliguri, then the best time to start from Kolkata would be 6 a.m sharp. You will reach Siliguri by 6 p.m. Take a night's rest and head towrds the hills next morning.
I am not aware of the Kolkata-Krishnanagar-Moregram route which the buses take, we take a slightly longer route - Kolkata-Panagarh-Siuri-Moregram (about 60 Kms more). The total distance to Siliguri taking this route is about 670 Kilometers out of which only 30 Kilometers is bad, but nothing serious. One can easily avoid the potholes if he/she drives carefully. During that stretch the average will be around 30 kmph but you can easily make it up afterwards. Moreover Shuvd - if you plan to take the Peted Octy, then you can pretty much calculate what timings you are looking at
