Team-BHP - Planning Delhi - Kolkata

Hi Everyone,

Am planning a hurricane road trip from Delhi to Kolkata and back from Kolkata to Delhi next week (not sure if it will work out since I havent told my family in Kolkata as yet - my wife and in-laws will especially go crazy!!!lol:). I have been inspired by SS Traveller especially. Will be travelling solo on my ford fiesta sports. I love my driving and I know if I miss it this time then I will not be able to do this road trip in the next 1-2 years atleast.

My plans are to leave delhi on 4th August evening so that I can reach Kolkata by 5th August late afternoon. I did realise that SS Traveller has succesfully made the trip in 22 hours. Just wondering whether I can make it too. The detailed road trip was helpful. I understand that travelling at night till Allahabad would be fine and passing through Bihar and Jharkhand during daytime is safe.

But just wondering whether while coming back from Kolkata, should I try to cross the Bihar Jharkhand stretch at night or is it better to do it in the morning. I have to be back in office by 11th morning for sure. Therefore, if I leave Kolkata on 9th evening, I would be passing by bihar-jhrkd at night and would reach delhi by 10th late afternoon. However, if I leave Kolkata on 10th early morning, then I know I can reach delhi by 11th early morning, but would be a little exhausted to attend office the same day.

Need first hand opinion on driving back from kolkata to delhi and specially how safe would it be to drive through bihar-jharkhand at night.

Regards,

Kanti

I think the criminals of Bihar/Jharkhand and also eastern UP have not yet woken up to the potential of self drive cars as a lucrative opportunity to explore. Plus I think most of them live quite far from this new GQ road.

Therefore, the risks of travelling through this region by road - either at night or during the day - is perhaps just as good as it is anywhere else in the country.

ADC - our fellow Calcutta member here - has travelled through this region in the night with his wife and child for his HP trip last year.

Assuming, you are confident in your ability to drive alone for 22 hours, I would suggest start the return trip from Cal at around 12 mid night on 9th. This way, you hit the badlands of Jharkhand around early morning and reach by night of 10th. But driving alone for 22 hours at a stretch is not an easy task.

Check out my Log Book in the GQ Drive that we did in Dec 08, it has the detailed route profile for the Delhi-Calcutta route on NH2. Here is the link:

H V Kumar - Driving Log Books - KUMAR'S DRIVING LOG BOOKS,*Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) Drive, Dec 2008

I think the Aug 4/5 drive looks very ambitious and I would peg ETA at Calcutta to late evening.

Night driving safety issues (not significant) are in following sections:
Agra-Etawah
Varanasi-Sasaram-Barhi

For return journey, I would leave Calcutta after noon so that I can get to Varanasi by late evening/ midnight.

IN such a long drive, I would not be so sanguine about ability to drive non-stop at such a pace unless you are regular long-distance non-stop driver and I think ADC's 22-hour drive is not a benchmark, I would budget for a longer drive.

Please bear in mind that there are several time-of-day traffic bottlenecks, especially in the Delhi-Ara, Allahabad and Asansol-Bardhaman sections.

By the way, is the Allahabad bypass complete?

Quote:

Originally Posted by gd1418 (Post 1411028)

Are you trying to get into Limca or Guinness? Driving is something that is to be enjoyed. Don't over stress.

Absolutely. I did that Kolkata-Delhi in a hurry as I wanted an extra day for the Spiti side and similarly when coming back from Delhi to Kolkata again it was because we had office opening the next day. These were like the transport section. But did we enjoy it after like 12-15 hours on road - Absolutely NO.

Felt like a zombie when I got down after 21-22 hours of driving - that too in a SUV. More tired was I while coming from Delhi to Kolkata and this took around 24 hours of driving due to an unexpected accident jam in Jharkhand. I just slumped on to the sofa after coming and again as I say I did that more as a compulsion rather than as a driving experience thing. All my night journeys are as such due to gaining that extra day for my holidays - though i must add that a 8-10 hour night journey on the highway is absolutely enchanting for experience like stopping a tea shop at 2 am or seeing lands whiz by in the darkness of night - like in the Sambalpur tour.

So, as everyone says, since your highway journey itself is the enjoyment part it is better you either do it with taking a break in between or for such a short duration stay plus since your wife and relative will be in full tension, dont know may be you should do this journey when you have more time in hand.

Of course the decision is yours and of course if you are confident, just go ahead. Its just that I dont enjoy driving a stretch for more than 15-16 hours. After that I just start thinking about when will I reach the destination.

As for roads highways on Bihar has stringent police checking nowadays [good thing] and as driving solo you will be explaining yourself in each and every checkpoint quite a lot. Jharkhand is like noman's territory, nothing can happen and again nothing can be said. UP onwards there is police vehicle parked on the highways though no checking plus night bus journeys - so quite okay

Hi All,

This is gonna be my first highway long drive.
I am planning it in first week of february.
I plan to do a night stay at Allahabad and continue next day morning.
Please suggest me a decent hotel in Allahabad.

Now about the car.
What should be my preparation for this drive?
What all should I check and update/change in my car?

Mine is an ALTO LX that has run around 45000 kms.
The tyres, break pads, shockers and suspension has been changed in the last servicing. After that the car has done around 3000 kms.
Clutch pad was changed in May.
Please advice.

Regards,
Moeinuk

p.s. also, I would be traveling alone. Is it safe?

Quote:

Originally Posted by moeinuk (Post 1672662)

I plan to do a night stay at Allahabad and continue next day morning.
Please suggest me a decent hotel in Allahabad.

I would say halt at Varanasi. That would balance out the 2 days better. Also this way you would save some time using Allahabad bypass instead of going through city.

There is a Reliance A1 plaza (operational) near Sasaram bypass. You could stop here for breakfast. For the next few hours you may not see many good places to stop for food.
You could halt around Dhanbad bypass for lunch. There are many "Line Hotels".

As long as you are not travelling at night, the road is safe enough.