[jesrani]

Wow, just ready your travelogue, looking forward to it's completion. Excellent pics too.

Very well written, maybe you could have given some description below each photo, it would have been nice to know where they were clicked.

But I must congratulate you on your wonderful journey and taking time out to write even so much.

I have done 2 road trips, to Saurashtra (~2000kms) and to Kutch (~3000kms) but never got down to writing a travelogue. Maybe now I will.

We did Kutch 3000kms in 15 days and you did double of that. Most of your time would have been spent in car only. Was it not tiring driving all these kms every day? You must be a real enthusiast

I have also booked a iDtec City and look forward to doing a road trip in the future in this.

[//M]

Originally Posted by jesrani

Wow, just ready your travelogue, looking forward to it's completion. Excellent pics too.

Very well written, maybe you could have given some description below each photo, it would have been nice to know where they were clicked.

But I must congratulate you on your wonderful journey and taking time out to write even so much.

I have done 2 road trips, to Saurashtra (~2000kms) and to Kutch (~3000kms) but never got down to writing a travelogue. Maybe now I will.

We did Kutch 3000kms in 15 days and you did double of that. Most of your time would have been spent in car only. Was it not tiring driving all these kms every day? You must be a real enthusiast

I have also booked a iDtec City and look forward to doing a road trip in the future in this.

Thank You jesrani.

Yes we did spend most of our time in the car. But I am not complaining. The City has amazing interiors, really comfortable and almost fatigue free driving position. The rear headrests are amazing too. The huge space in the rear sofa makes it really comfortable. The only thing missing during such long roadtrips specially during the summers is a cooled glovebox like the Verna has. But it ticks most boxes as far as space and comfort is concerned. The boot space is also humongous, it can swallow quite a lot of luggage. And adding to the comfort, the climate control is damn effective. I would have loved a few more cubbyholes though to keep odd things specially when you are driving almost for 8-10 hours a day and you feel the need to keep a few things handy. But overall the City scores on most points and is indeed a great cruiser.

[anilagdr]

I am compelled to congratulate you once again for this brilliant thread studded with extremely eye-catching snaps and am quite sure the information in these pages would draw many of its the readers to these places.

This wonderfully crafted travelogue has not failed to evaluate the capabilities of the city threadbare, specially when allegations abound on its quality issues and aerodynamic stability.

I am saddened that, as all good things, this thread too would come to an end soon. By then, I would urge you to prepare for the next tour

cheers

[jesrani]

Originally Posted by //M

Thank You jesrani.

Yes we did spend most of our time in the car. But I am not complaining. The City has amazing interiors, really comfortable and almost fatigue free driving position. The rear headrests are amazing too. The huge space in the rear sofa makes it really comfortable. The only thing missing during such long roadtrips specially during the summers is a cooled glovebox like the Verna has. But it ticks most boxes as far as space and comfort is concerned. The boot space is also humongous, it can swallow quite a lot of luggage. And adding to the comfort, the climate control is damn effective. I would have loved a few more cubbyholes though to keep odd things specially when you are driving almost for 8-10 hours a day and you feel the need to keep a few things handy. But overall the City scores on most points and is indeed a great cruiser.

On the Honda City review tread, a number of owners have reported that the car sways in crosswind conditions, even with wider tyres.
Which tyres do you have, and have you experienced this during your trip?

[//M]

Originally Posted by anilagdr

I am compelled to congratulate you once again for this brilliant thread studded with extremely eye-catching snaps and am quite sure the information in these pages would draw many of its the readers to these places.

This wonderfully crafted travelogue has not failed to evaluate the capabilities of the city threadbare, specially when allegations abound on its quality issues and aerodynamic stability.

I am saddened that, as all good things, this thread too would come to an end soon. By then, I would urge you to prepare for the next tour

cheers

Thanks a lot sir.

Another trip in the City is probably some time away as I have recently moved to Pune and my parents are using the car back in Ranchi. And the travelogue hasn't come to the end, there's more to it.

Really apologise for not updating the thread everyday, as you know shifting to a new place takes its own sweet time. Hence, the delay. But I look forward to add more posts very soon !!

Originally Posted by jesrani

On the Honda City review tread, a number of owners have reported that the car sways in crosswind conditions, even with wider tyres.
Which tyres do you have, and have you experienced this during your trip?

My City i-DTEC was probably among the first few City's to have left the plant as we were the initial few customers to take deliveries. It still runs on stock tires, the MRF ZVTV's. I won't say that the tires are great, as it makes considerable road noise and I always wanted a fatter rubber. But in the entire trip not even once did I feel that the car swayed in crosswind conditions. There were a lot of times we witnessed a wind blast, but I felt the car was very much planted. Not sure if 4 people plus a month long luggage made any difference or not.

[//M]

First of all, I am really sorry for the delay in updating this thread. I had been caught up in multiple works, shorter deadlines and relocation hence absolutely could not give time to this thread. Sorry for the delay bhpians !!

Day 15th, 11th June 2014

We left Rajahmundary in the early hours of the day so that we could cover up as much distance as possible and visit Vishakhapatnam on the way. The night stay was planned to be at Bhubaneswar. Once we left Rajahmundary , the lovely highway with zero traffic took us to Tuni, where we had our breakfast. After breakfast, we left towards Vishakhapatnam. I had always heard about the beauty of this city from a few friends, now it was the time to actually witness the beauty of the place. Not surprisingly the temperature was hovering around 45 degrees and it was too humid. Thankfully the climate control in the City kept us cool and comfortable. Once in Vishakhapatnam, we quickly asked for directions towards Kailashgiri. But before heading there, we saw a small park overlooking the sea. It was just about noon, and it was really very hot so we had a 10 minute stop at the park before heading to Kailashgiri.





Kailashgiri was absolutely spectacular. The hill-top had a nice park, good walks, a toy train that would take people around the hill. Kailashgiri offered stunning views of the city, the pics here don’t justify the beauty of Vishakhapatnam. It is indeed a splendor, the only fly in the ointment being the boiling temperature during the summer months.

















The road that leads to Kailashgiri is full of curves and twisties that will delight the petrolhead in us. After descending down the hill, we headed to Ramakrishna Beach. There is an abandoned submarine parked alongside the road and there is a Ramakrishna Temple just opposite to the beach.











After spending a few minutes there, we left Vishakhapatnam and headed towards Ichchapuram and Chatarpur. Just after Chatarpur, we stopped over for lunch. There was a small roadside dhaba which served amazing mutton biryani. Delicious and wholesome !!

After a sumptuous meal, we headed towards our destination for the day, Bhubaneswar. Once we entered into Odisha, the truck traffic thinned out, the road surface was much more smoother and the highway offered spectacular views all around.









On reaching Bhubaneswar we realized that it was just 5 pm and we could drive a little more, maybe upto Bhadrak so that the next day we reach Jamshedpur early and spend time with our relatives. The Bhubaneswar-Cuttack road had a fair amount of traffic but once we crossed the Mahanadi River, traffic thinned out. It also started to pour heavily and by 7.30 pm we reached Bhadrak.





The trip meter read 6000 kms before reaching Bhadrak.



Route Taken: Rajahmundry-Tuni-Vishakhapatnam- Ichchapuram-Chatarpur-Bhubaneswar-Cuttack-Bhadrak

Total Kms done: 789 kms

Toll Tax Paid: Rs 515.00

[JoseVijay]

Originally Posted by //M

There is an abandoned submarine parked alongside the road and there is a Ramakrishna Temple just opposite to the beach.

First of all thanks for updating the thread. Most of us were waiting for it eagerly.

And most importantly that was not an abandoned submarine. That is a submarine turned into a museum. Bad that you missed entering the museum.

More information about the museum can be obtained in the following link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INS_Kursura_(S20)

[//M]

Originally Posted by JoseVijay

First of all thanks for updating the thread. Most of us were waiting for it eagerly.

And most importantly that was not an abandoned submarine. That is a submarine turned into a museum. Bad that you missed entering the museum.

More information about the museum can be obtained in the following link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INS_Kursura_(S20)

Oh yes

I didn't know it was a museum.

Thanks for pointing it out to me. I will surely visit the submarine museum the next time I am there !

[//M]

Day 16, 12th June 2014

The amazing stretch of Golden Quadrilateral that runs from Bhadrak to Balasore was a hoot to drive in the early hours of the day. A firm foot on the throttle and the result was astonishing: MID showing a fuel economy figure of 33 kpl.



But the empty highway tempted me to push the pedal and the fuel economy figures went southwards at the blink of an eye. The first serious traffic we saw was at a toll both few miles before Balasore.



We exited the lovely GQ somewhere near Balasore and headed towards Baripada. There are two routes that can be taken from Baripada to Jamshedpur:

1. Baripada - Baharagora - Ghatshila - Jamshedpur (the popular route, pathetic surface, way too much traffic)
2. Baripada - Bangriposi - Rairangpur - Hata - Jamshedpur (single lane state road, zero traffic, beautiful tarmac)

We took the one less travelled by, and that indeed made a difference. The road from Bangrposi to Rairangpur is a driver's delight. The single lane road (at times double laned) runs through picturesque ghats and jungles. It runs through the beautiful and serene Simlipal Biosphere Reserve.





We crossed the Odisha-Jharkhand border at Tiring and headed towards Jamshedpur, reached my cousin's place in Jampot by afternoon and thought of taking the road back home to Ranchi the next day.



We had lots of stories to tell to my relatives there in Jamshedpur about the trip, so much so that we didn't realize that it was quite late in the night. So we retired to bed.

While I was trying to sleep, the whole trip flashed right in front of my eyes: the lovely Kasara Ghat, the drive at the Diveagar Beach, ferry crossings, the scenic Agonda Beach, the swaying palms in the Konkan coast, delicious cuisines that we tried, the spectacular tarmac between Bangalore and Chennai, the beautiful city-scape of Vishakhapatnam and the scintillating views near Rairangpur. I knew I will cherish this trip for a long time to come !!

Considering the distances we covered, the last 140 kms to Ranchi was a stone's throw away. The Honda City i-DTEC behaved impeccably well, returning amazing fuel efficiency figures. The comfortable sofas and the huge space never made any of us feel fatigued.

Tiring? Nah..the City is quite a comfortable mile-muncher



Route Taken: Bhadrak-Baripada-Bangriposi-Rairangpur-Hata-Jamshedpur

Total kms done: 293 kms

Toll Tax Paid: Rs 70.00

[//M]

Day 17, 13th June 2014

We took the City for a spin around Jamshedpur, to the famous Jubilee Park area and Bistupur.





Saw an old lady, a 1950 Ford Prefect in Bistupur.



Post lunch, we left for Ranchi. The Jamshedpur-Ranchi road is not really in a good shape. The 140 kms to Ranchi took us 3 hours to cover, and we reached home by evening. At the end of this long 6467 km roadtrip, each one of us were all praises for the City's abilities.

Route Taken: Jamshedpur-Kandra-Tamar-Ranchi

Total kms done: 170 kms

Toll Tax Paid: None

[saket77]

The travel has come to an end but the journey will continue forever...this is the magic of the legendary road trip spanning across most of the length & breadth of the country. And hats off to you & your family to have the perseverance & zeal to take a trip like this one.
Here's one looking forward to your forthcoming travelogues.

One question: As you have relocated to Pune recently, have you taken the RE or is it waiting at Ranchi? I am sure that if the RE is with you, we will soon get to see more bike travelogues.

[yogesh.janghel]

Congrats for a wonderful travelogue. Nice photos.

[yogesh.janghel]

Nice to see my town Jamshedpur. Sorry //M, using your thread to ask one question to the experts here. How is the road from jajpur to Jamshedpur through Karanjia. I did talk to some guys in Jamshedpur, they say now its very good and Tata Steel hired cabs frequent this road. This is real shortcut to Jamshedpur from Bhub,Cuttack, if its good.

[//M]

Originally Posted by saket77

One question: As you have relocated to Pune recently, have you taken the RE or is it waiting at Ranchi? I am sure that if the RE is with you, we will soon get to see more bike travelogues.

Yes the Enfield is very much with me here in Pune. It arrived here on 20th August so it has been just a couple of weeks since then. The monsoons have restricted trips, but I recently rode to Sinhagad Fort on a rainy saturday. It was a 130 km trip but thoroughly enjoyed riding it after a long pause.

[//M]

Originally Posted by yogesh.janghel

Nice to see my town Jamshedpur. Sorry //M, using your thread to ask one question to the experts here. How is the road from jajpur to Jamshedpur through Karanjia. I did talk to some guys in Jamshedpur, they say now its very good and Tata Steel hired cabs frequent this road. This is real shortcut to Jamshedpur from Bhub,Cuttack, if its good.

No issue sir ji !!

There's a thread which discusses the various routes from Ranchi/Jamshedpur to Bhubaneswar. I guess you might find your answer there:
Link