[Sommos]

Short trip to Kolkata

Just completed a trip from Bhilai to Kolkata and back between 21-26 April 2016. In all my previous trips to Kolkata I have been warned about the bad road condition of NH6 and have therefore travelled through NH42 from Sambalpur and then GQ to Kolkata. This time however I had decided to explore the NH6 upto Kolkata and surprisingly the road condition was good and we enjoyed our journey to the fullest. Last time I travelled in this route was in 2000 when I drove my Maruti 800 from Bolani Mines to Bhilai. In those days I never knew about internet and the only thing I knew from the roadmaps was that I have to reach Keonjhar and then follow NH6 and it will eventually take me to Bhilai.

The ride.


Sunrise on NH6, Padmapur, Orissa.


Border (CG-OR) crossing.


To start the TL I would like to state that I was travelling with family in my Linea. We started from Bhilai at 02:30 AM on 21-04-2016 and crossed Raipur within half-an-hour, which normally takes one hour or more on any time of the day. The streach of NH6 in Chhattisgarh is four lane now and this continues upto Sambalpur in Orissa; except for four specific points in CG where the road is still the old one. Those places are Arang, Pithora, Sankra and Saraipalli, where the road could not be widened due to some disputes with the local population. Work is going on to bypass these small towns but at present you have no option but to cross through them and the road is patchy in these places.

Near Bargarh on NH6.






Beautiful greenery on both sides.


We reached Sambalpur near to 07:00AM, filled fuel, had some tea (half hour break) and continued on the NH6 (old)/ NH53 (New). The road passes through some forest areas like the Deogarh forest, Harichandanpur-Telkoi Reserve forest as well as some hilly areas till Keonjhar We stopped at Keonjhar for some time to have another tea break. From Keonjhar till Jashipur the road crosses through an barren patch with scarce vegetation. After Jashipur the road crosses through the Simlipal National Forest (Tiger Reserve) on one side and the Badampahar forest on the other side and we reached Bangriposi. We then crossed the Jharpokaria round-about and reached Jamashola border check post. There is a ghat section before Keonjhar and again near Bangriposi; enjoyed driving through them. An European sedan like the Linea shows it’s class in such zigzag roads.

I stopped at the Jamashola check post and enquired from an local shopkeeper about the road ahead. He said that the road ahead is in better condition than before and I can cross it safely but with some caution as there are still some craters. When I asked about the road to Gopiballabhpur he had a second look at me and simply said “don’t look anywhere else take that road”. The road through Gopiballabhpur is almost a U-turn on the right side. So I crossed through an opening in the divider and through the line of trucks stranded on the check post, with the help of a local person, and took the almost unknown Hati-Gopi road straightway entering WB from Orissa.

The Hati-Gopi road was newly laid and smooth as butter just as the shop keeper at Jamshola had mentioned. We saw a gruesome accident here, which had occurred maybe minutes before we reached the spot, between a truck and a bike carrying two young people. At first sight I thought that both may be dead, more so the way their bodies were strewn across the road blocking it completely. After about ten-fifteen minutes after the local villagers removed the bodies from the road to a shade under a tree and sprinkled water on them, both showed some movement. Going ahead we catched the NH6 again near Sardiha in West Mednipur.

Moving ahead we crossed the (in)famous LodhaSuli jungle, where naxals once freely roamed about and reached Kharagpur. After Kharagpur we joined the GQ and the journey into Kolkata was nondescript.

During the return journey I could not muster the courage to cross through the jungles of Lodhasuli and Simlipal at night, so I decided to take the trusted route through NH6-NH60-NH5-NH42-NH6. We started at 11:30PM from Lansdowne Road and reached Bhilai at 05:30PM on 26-04-2016.

[Sommos]

Some other pictures from the trip :-

Return through NH42 Anugul.




NH6 at Saraipalli, Chattisgarh.





A few more pictures from the Lodhasuli Jungle on NH6.

[Sommos]

Streach of NH6/ NH200 between Sambalpur-Deogarh-Barkote.

[Sommos]

These pictures are before and after Keonjhar / Kendujhar.









On the ghat section after Keonjhar.


Afew minutes into the Hati-Gopi road, this signboard comes up.

[Sommos]

Another picture on the Hati-Gopi road (SH9 in WB)


After crossing Kharagpur.

[Sommos]

Now the statistics for the journey :-

The return journey through NH42 :



Overall journey Bhilai-Kolkata-Bhilai.



The toll and the fuel expenses.


As the journey was to be performed in the scorching heat of the summer, I had purchased these magnetic shades with zipper on both the front doors just before the journey from Amazon. They arrived just two days before the journey. I fitted them in the car in the evening and drove locally to see if there was any visibility problem while driving. There was no such issues though I have not fitted the one for the driver side window for some other reason.

I would say that they performed really well in blocking the sun rays. Wife and son are really happy as far as protection from sun rays is concerned.

[Sommos]

An update for the White Knight :-

[Judemayne]

Originally Posted by Sommos

An update for the White Knight :-

Dear Sommos,

Read your write up and thank you for the detailed Log. Planning a drive from Bengaluru to the NE but first I have to go to Ranchi to attend a reunion so instead of following the beaten path through AP, Orissa and then onto Ranchi (Done the AP, OR, Bengal route a no. of times om my drive to Bhutan, Darjeeling and Kolkata) so planned to take the Central India route. Please help me with the route from Nagpur to Bilaspur/Raipur onto Ranchi. Any recommended stops/hotels/restaurants en route?

Regards

Col J H Mayne

[Sommos]

Originally Posted by Judemayne

Dear Sommos,

Read your write up and thank you for the detailed Log. Planning a drive from Bengaluru to the NE but first I have to go to Ranchi to attend a reunion so instead of following the beaten path through AP, Orissa and then onto Ranchi (Done the AP, OR, Bengal route a no. of times om my drive to Bhutan, Darjeeling and Kolkata) so planned to take the Central India route. Please help me with the route from Nagpur to Bilaspur/Raipur onto Ranchi. Any recommended stops/hotels/restaurants en route?

Regards

Col J H Mayne

The Best route would be Nagpur-Sambalpur on NH6, then Jharsugda-Rourkela on SH and Rourkela-Simdega-Khunti/Gumla-Ranchi. The roads are very good upto Rourkela and the rest is two lane highway.

The second route would be Raipur-Bilaspur-Pathalgaon-Jashpur Nagar-Gumla-Ranchi. In this route Raipur to Bilaspur construction is going on and there are lots of diversion. Bilaspur to Pathalgaon there is a SH which may not be in very good condition due to the rains but should not be a big problem. Otherwise, if you want to avoid this section, then you have to go via Ambikapur, which would be lenghthy.

You can reach Pathalgoan by a different route, which is NH6 Raipur-Saraipali, then take left turn and go upto Raigarh, then there is a SH upto Pathalgaon, which is well maintained and has toll.

The above are as per my order of preference and I would request you to contact //M for the portion Rourkela to Ranchi.

[Sommos]

I have been out of the forum for a long time and my last post here was in August 2016. During this period my son completed his 10TH and 12th and has now gone into an engineering college. Due to his tuitions we could not plan any long trips during this period but we did make some short trips, whenever we managed to get a break.

The following trips were done in the meantime :-
a. Shirdi in Nov 2016.
b. Vizag in April 2017.
c. Panchmarhi, MP in Sept 2017.
d. Kanha in March 2018.
e. Jabalpur & Pench in Oct 2018.
f. Pune in May 2019.

We did a trip to Daman (not in our car) in end of Feb 2020 before the whole nation was brought to a standstill because of the Covid virus. The year had been really gruelling and tiresome due to the uncertainties about the future and the continuous fight against an unknown disease. During December there was a strong urge to meet my mother, who visited my sister and got stuck there due to the virus and lockdown.

So without much planning and preparations, at the stroke of midnight on 25-12-2020, started for another trip to Durgapur. There was no prior information on the road except for a confirmation from @HVK to take the old route of Sambalpur-Cuttack-Kharagpur-Kolkata-Durgapur. Son refused to accompany us, so me and wife set-off for the road again after a very long time. This time I was a bit sceptical about my ability to drive for 1100 KM without a night break.

The Bhilai-Raipur-Sambalpur segment was smooth 4 lane highway and we reached sambalpur around 04:00 AM. The Sambalpur-Cuttack segment for approximately 270 KM was in absolute shambles. The road is being converted into 4 lane and has lots of diversion and in such portions where the existing road has to be used is almost a nightmare. Specially the portion after Angul town in front of the earlier Bhusan Steel Plant now owned by Tata Steel there is absolutely no roads at all. This portion ate up a lot of time and finally around 10:30 AM we reached Manguli Chowk completely exhausted. Filled up diesel in the car and had a tea and snacks break here before proceeding further.

Manguli Chowk-Bhadrak-Balasore-Jaleshwar-Kharagpur outskirts has more than 50 diversions due to repair and road widening works. Got some real good roads only after crossing Kharagpur. We could not have our lunch and so had the desire to break at Kolaghat and have something to eat as well as rest for a while. However, somehow both of us completely missed such a busy place with lots of restaurants and drove on till Dankuni, where we had some of the snacks that we were carrying. Finally we reached City Centre, Durgapur at around 20:30 PM after a marathon drive of 1100 KM and taking a time of 20+ hours approx.

[Sommos]

During the return journey we came to Mahishadal, near Haldia, to meet my sister-in-law and her husband. The added advantage was that the journey would be broken into two parts. The distance from Durgapur to Haldia More, Kolaghat is 220 KM and the distance from there to the Mahishadal Rajbari is around 38-40 KM. On 30-12-2020, again at 11:00 PM we started from Mahishadal to Kolaghat where we joined the NH 16 and via Kharagpur – Baharagora – Bangriposi covering a distance 322 KM we reached Keonjhar at quarter to five in the morning. We stopped for 15 minutes to have tea at a small shop which was open even at that odd hour.

After crossing Keonjhar the road condition worsened to such extent that sometimes one would feel like crying. We took almost seven hours to cross some 228 KM and reached Sambalpur again fully exhausted. The last few KM through the Ushakothi Wild life Sanctuary, after Jamankira, was somewhat better road by single lane. After crossing Sambalpur town (and Mahanadi Bridge) we stopped at the roadside for half an hour and had our brunch.

Sambalpur to Bhilai was again around 300 KM and we crossed the distance in four hours to reach home at quarter to five. The “White Knight” brought us safely home after yet another very long and arduous journey.

[Sommos]

The overall stats for both the journey :-

[Sommos]

Some where during the return journey the White Knight crossed the magical five digit :-

[Sommos]

Faced a very strange problem during the journey. If any one can help explain what actually happened, it would be of great help.

120Km into the journey, on 25-12-2020 midnight I noticed that the temp guage was at C i.e. min temp. At that time the car was cruising at slightly below 100KMPH. Some 10 / 15 minutes later the Check Engine signal popped up on the dashboard. There was no issue with the car at all. I kept on driving at a slightly lesser speed of 80KMPL. The temp guage started behaving normally when I started the car again and the check engine light was still glowing. During the morning hours the check engine signal went off on its own.

This same thing happened again in the return journey. Suddenly in the middle of the night the check engine sign started glowing, stayed throughout the night though there was visibly no discomfort in driving the car. The sign went off on its own in the morning.

[--gKrish--]

Originally Posted by Sommos

Faced a very strange problem during the journey. If any one can help explain what actually happened, it would be of great help.

Faulty thermostat/CTS/wiring?

Faulty sensor might have triggered a Check Engine Light. I think the fault code would be stored.