Team-BHP - Pune - Indore - Gwalior - Kanpur - Allahabad - Varanasi - Hazaribagh - Ranchi : Route Queries
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-   -   Pune - Indore - Gwalior - Kanpur - Allahabad - Varanasi - Hazaribagh - Ranchi : Route Queries (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-travel-queries/77012-pune-indore-gwalior-kanpur-allahabad-varanasi-hazaribagh-ranchi-route-queries.html)

Hi ALL.
I am proposing (My better half is still to give her final OK:)) to go to Ranchi - by road. We 3 will be travelling - Me, My wife and our 13 year daughter in the HOT months of May / June. The reason for travel in this period is availability of leaves / school holidays etc.
The reasoning for not considering the traditional Nagpur-Raipur-Rourkela-Ranchi is to avoid the Maoist-Naxal hotlands - since only 3 of us will be travelling.

I am therefore proposing the Pune -Indore-Gwalior-Kanpur-Allahabad-Varanasi-Ranchi route with the 1st stop / brief halt (maybe) at either
1. Burhanpur if I take this route to Indore or
2. Shivpuri national park (If i take this route to Indore)

I am unclear about the next stoppages though my knowledgeable friends have suggested stoppages at Gwalior, Kanpur and Varanasi

I propose travel only in the daytime with starts from the various overnight halts (preferably in reasonable big / secure - towns / cities )
The only exceptions will be when I start from Pune - I propose to start ~ 3:30AM / 4:00 AM
Since this is my 1st BIG road journey / trip I do not propose travel of more than 600 / 650 Km per day - I do not know whether I will be able to drive more considering the heat and my nerves (of travelling with 2 ladies - and no other help even for Punctures - God forbid:eek:)

I want this to be a trip to remember, taking in the smell and experiences of our India enroute AND I do NOT mind even if it takes 6 days to reach Ranchi.

I request / invite the experts especially HVK Sir to comment / suggest on the route(s), the alternates, halts

I have a few suggestions on route plan:

Option 1:
Bombay-NH3-Dhulia-NH6-Nagpur-NH7-Jabalpur-Katni-NH78-Shahdol-Ambikapur-Jaspurnagar-Gumla-Ranchi
NH3, NH6 and NH7 are in good condition.
Not sure of NH78 in MP, but it is good in CG.
There is definitely a small Naxal area around Gumla, you may want to check up with your folks in Ranchi as to the current situation in the Gumla-Bharno section (I went on that route quite long ago, at that time it was overrun by Naxals too, but I faced no problems).
In this option, you can halt at either Nagpur or if you are superfast, either at Rookad (MP-MH border, where there is a MKPTDC hotel) or even Jabalpur, so taht teh next day you can reach Ranchi.

Option 2:
Bombay-NH3-Dhulia-NH6-Nagpur-NH7-Jabalpur-Katni-Rewa-Varanasi-NH2-Barhi-Ranchi
This is a clean route throughout, except for some bad patches around Rewa.
You can halt at Nagpur/Rookad/Jabalpur on Day 1 and if you are very fast, you can reach Ranchi on Day 2, although you will be quite late.


Option 3:
Same as your route, except to add that you can turn off NH3 at Shivpuri itself (and not Gwalior) and take the beautiful EW corridor roads of NH76 and NH25 direct to Kanpur via Jhansi.

You can reach Indore on Day 1, and Allahabad/Varanasi on day 2, ultimately reaching Ranchi on Day 3.

Thank you HVK, Sir. You were very prompt in your reply.:thumbs up

I have only one query at this point of time...

For Option 2, you mentioned about "bad patches around Rewa". Do you mean bad roads or bad / dangerous territory ?

I will try to check up the situation on Gumla-Bharno section and will update.

Thanks once again.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingshukt (Post 1772945)
For Option 2, you mentioned about "bad patches around Rewa". Do you mean bad roads or bad / dangerous territory ?

Some rough patches of road, nothing to worry about. And no safety issues.

Maybe you can also catch up with some sightseeing at Orchcha/Kajuraho, if interested.

What vehicle are you driving? Are you the sole driver? If you have not done any day long driving trips then i suggest you go slow. Fatigue is something you will find hard to fight off in the summer months driving all alone all along!

Also, remember that onward journey is lot of fun and enjoyable but your energy/enthusiasm levels on the way back will have taken a nose dive. :)

This isnt to discourage you at all. Just to ensure you are fully prepared to do this trip. Happy driving!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nilesh5417 (Post 1772987)
What vehicle are you driving? Are you the sole driver? If you have not done any day long driving trips then i suggest you go slow. Fatigue is something you will find hard to fight off in the summer months driving all alone all along!

Also, remember that onward journey is lot of fun and enjoyable but your energy/enthusiasm levels on the way back will have taken a nose dive.

This isnt to discourage you at all. Just to ensure you are fully prepared to do this trip. Happy driving!


I will be in a Safari 2.2
Yes, I will be the sole driver - my BIL may join but that isnt finalised yet. That is why I want to take it slow (~ 600 to 650 Km / day) - you also get to see more of the (HOT) country side that way:).

I agree fatigue and glare will be my biggest enemy.
That is why I propose to start building up my stamina (by long / brisk walks) starting 2 weeks from 22.03.2010 (why 22nd is a long story:D).

For the return journey, I propose to stop over at Agra. It will break the monotony of the return journry, BUT then I have'nt thought over the return route yet. I will handle that once my Pune - Ranchi route is established

IMHO Gumla,Netarhat,Daltonganj areas are better avoided due to the maoist menace, specially so if there is no local support and in SUV's like Safari and Scorpio which are primarily driven by Political Leaders, making it all the more noticeable.

In addition one should not expect smooth pothole free patches on these roads.I visited Gumla,Lohardaga from Ranchi around a year back and found the road really bad at certain places.

Ok. Taking HVK Sir's 3 options as the starting point, Option No 1 seems to be ruled out leaving option 2 and 3 as viable / do-able.

Come on guys, help me out. (75 views and only 6 posts !!:eek:)

An add-on: (Mods: please excuse the back to back post)

HVK's option 3 also opens up other possibilities such as Orchha (which also HVK Sir suggested)

Hence a detour at Shivpuri and Orchha will be an additional bonus for Route Option 3.

Again Thanks to HVK - you are a goldmine of information.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingshukt (Post 1773498)
Hence a detour at Shivpuri and Orchha will be an additional bonus for Route Option 3.

Actually, Shivpuri is no detour at all. And Orchcha is just 10 kms or so off the NH25 that you will be taking via Jhansi towards Kanpur.

Agreed sir. Shivpuri and Orchha are not detours. Detour is a mis-leading word. My bad.

When I travelled to Ranchi (my hometown) from Pune in Indica, i took the following route

1. Pune - Ahmednagar - Aurangabad - Jalna - Akola - Nagpur - Raipur-Sambalpur - Rourkela - Khuti - Ranchi
(PS: Got a a huge bashing from folks for taking rourkela - ranchi 60kms..naxal area)

Started from Pune around 4pm..nagpur next day around 10 and then night sleep at railway stn at rourkela and then third day started from rourkela around 6am and reached ranchi at 8am

NH6 is really good onwards from akola all the way to rourkela .. then proceed towards jamshedpur and then ranchi (u being with family)

DONOTtravel in night after nagpur until rourkela..

Try to make it to nagpur on day 1 and then easily u can make it upto jamshedpur on day2 and then on day 3 you are home.

Thanks.

This is similar to the Option 1 that HVK had suggested.

Even though this is the traditional route, I am not considering this for security reasons, as posted earlier.

Thanks all the same.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingshukt (Post 1776999)
Thanks.

This is similar to the Option 1 that HVK had suggested.

Even though this is the traditional route, I am not considering this for security reasons, as posted earlier.

Thanks all the same.

Nevertheless but this is the traditional route and always busy route :)

I regularly drive to Gwalior. You are between the devil and the deep sea in the Shivpuri - Gwalior - Kanpur stretch. You can come down NH25 from Shivpuri - Jhansi - Kanpur or do Shivpuri - Gwalior - Kanpur via either Jhansi (320km) or Etawah (270km). Kanpur-Jhansi on NH25 is still under construction and there are some really bad patches. Gwalior - Kanpur via Etawah has a really bad (I call it Tractorable) stretch between Gohad and Mehgaon on the run to Etawah. Etawah - Kanpur (160km) is great (NH2).


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