[Sommos]

Gratitude :
At the very beginning I would like to offer my sincere thanks to senior and distinguished members like Ampere and Ranjitp1; newbie member Subirdas; other members like Ajaybiz, Ravi Yadav, Erlebrito, Shabahmed and all other people from other forums who provided valuable inputs in finalising the whole journey. With all the help and information provided by the esteemed members we had a smooth journey and a splendid holiday in Goa.


Disclaimer :
There are many travelogues on Goa in this forum but most of them are from Mumbai-Pune and Bangalore/Hyderabad and some other from Delhi. I could not find a travelogue from the central part or the eastern part of the country. I have no intention of matching up with any of the innumerable other travelogues on Goa but hope that this travelogue would encourage others from this part of the country to gather the courage and embark on a road trip to Goa.


Prelude :

Being born and brought up in the eastern part of the country, I never had the oppurtunity to visit Goa in my childhood or adolescent days. My wife also had never visited the place. After marriage, whenever the name of Goa came up as a holiday destination, it was discarded mainly because it was regarded (by both of us) as a costly affair. But the urge to visit this quaint little state was always there in the heart and the urge just grew stronger with time. Last year we planned to visit Goa during the puja vacations but was denied leave from my office. This year around the same time we were determined to make this trip and the planning started from the month of June. I know that the best time to visit Goa is from the month of November to February, but our tour plans are restricted by the holiday sessions of the school and thus end of September and first week of October was the best possible time for us to visit Goa. Accordingly the hotel booking was done from 29-09-2014 to 04-10-2014. The mode of journey was undecided at this stage and we frantically searched for discounted flight tickets to Goa for some time before we finally discarded the idea and decided to go by road on our trusted Linea.

This is where this forum came to the rescue and the route was decided with the help of the valuable inputs from the members. A very big Thank You from the bottom of my heart for all the members for their valuable contribution.

The Journey :

a. Bhilai to Pune - My holiday started from 27-09-2014; made all the final arragements in the morning and had a healthy sleep in the afternoon. Had an early dinner in the evening and tried to rest, but due to the excitement could not sleep again. Since every thing was ready, we decided to start the journey at midnight itself instead of the planned three o'çlock start. Finally we started at 00:30 from home.

We encountered the first hurdle after crossing around 8/9 KM when we saw that one side of the four lane highway has been blocked by the police just after Durg town. People from all over the state visit the MAA Bambleshwari temple at Dongarhgarh in Rajnandgaon district of Chhattisgarh and many of them travel bare footed. To ensure the safety of the people going to the temple on foot the administration has shut-off one side of the highway. Also there were several people on two wheeler and cars including some high profile government officials travelling towards the temple. This huge rush created some jams on the road and we could cover the distance at snail's pace. The second hurdle came at the Chichola border checkpost between Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra. I should have taken the right side of the road and crossed the checkpost area, but I missed it in the dark and before I could take a decision and reversed I was surrounded by trucks. I had no other option but to follow the queue and lost some forty five minutes in the process.

We reached Bhandara around 4 o'clock in the morning, the four lane construction for the Bhandara-Nagpur portion is complete however, the portion of the road passing through the town is still old style two lane road. We continued ahead and reached Nagpur ORR just after 5 o'clock in the morning. The Nagpur ORR charges a toll of Rs. 85.00 and the operator has maintained the road in good condition till the toll plaza. The condition of the road deteriorated just after the toll plaza, the top asphalt layer has been completely wiped-off for some 5KM and what is left now is some heaps of loose stones on the road creating a rut from the truck tyres. In one such place, where I thought that the Linea would safely pass, the underbody scrapped. Proceeding ahead we rejoined the NH6 at the Nagpur-Amravati section at around 05:30AM. This portion of the NH6 is immaculately maintained without any potholes and I always love to drive through this section. Crossed this section at triple digit speed and made up some of the lost time, reached Amravati bypass by 07:20AM a distance of around 150KM.

Now I'll let the pictures narrate their story.

Nagpur-Amravati section of NH 6.

















Note : Most of the pictures during the journey have been shot by my wife and some by my son, if you love the pictures the accolades goes to them and if you hate the pictures, then blame it on me.

[Sommos]

We took a short tea break at the Amravati bypass near Badnera and also had our home made breakfast there. After the Amravati bypass the NH6 narrows down from the four lane highway to a traditional two lane road and moves on towards Akola. Just where the NH6 takes a right turn towards Murtizapur and Akola, we left the NH and moved on straight via SH199 and SH212 towards Karanza. As an alternative you can take the SH207 from the Amravati bypass near Badnera. After Karanza we took the same SH207 towards Mehkar. This state highway through Karanja-Mehkar-Jalna-Aurangabad is called the "Nagpur-Aurangabad-Mumbai Hwy" by the state government. The condition of the road was quite good compared to what I had encountered in last year November during my Shirdi trip, there was sparse traffic with soothing greenery all around. We crossed Bibi and Sindkhedraja to reach Jalna. Both Mehkar and Jalna has a bypass road and you need not enter the city. Somewhere between Mehkar and Jalna we were stopped by the police for checking, on asking I came to know that it was part of the routine checking procedure for the forthcoming election in the state. After taking a video footage of the car and the dicky they allowed us to proceed. We took the Jalna bypass and proceeded towards Aurangabad, the road from Jalna bypass turns to a four lane state highway. We reached the outskirts of Aurangabad shortly before 1 o'clock and stopped to have our lunch.

The state highway from Karanja to Mehkar.




The greenery all around was very soothing.




The trusted Linea.


More greenery.






Lunch Break (just before Aurangabad).


Some serious discussion over the lunch (myself and my son).

[Sommos]

Before entering Aurangabad there is a road on the left that takes you to the Beed bypass road, from there took the Paithan road then the Nagar-Paithan link road and joined SH60 near Waluj, thus avoiding Aurangabad town completely. I never knew about this bypass road of Aurangabad but the MMI navigator showed a weird behaviour here. I had tagged the route in the MMI via Aurangabad and the lady would not allow me to take the bypass road. I had to reset the route in the MMI.

The SH60 took us straight to Ahmednagar and from there SH27 took us through Shirur, Ranjangaon to Pune. Our destination for the day was "The Pride Hotel", University Road, Shivaji Nagar, Pune, a five star luxury hotel and we reached the hotel just before 6:00PM. This hotel has a corporate tie-up agreement with my company and I was offered rooms at the official rate.

Distance travelled : 976 KM.
Time Taken : 17hours 30 minutes (approx).

Ahmednagar-Pune road


The greenery on the side of the road continues


More greenery.


As we approached Pune, huge windmills appeared on the hill tops.

[Sommos]

The Journey (continued) :

b. Pune to Goa.
A big bonus of streaching the first day's journey to Pune was that we were in no hurry to start early the next day. We woke up relaxed in the morning, had a luxurious breakfast in the hotel and started around 09:00AM and followed the SH114. I had some scare about the morning rush hour traffic but actually the traffic was moderate and did not face much problem in negotiating the office hour traffic. However, I had to stop and enquire at a couple of points to ensure that I was travelling in the right direction and route. Crossed the Katraj ghat and the moment I entered the tunnel I knew that I was out of Pune, soon joined the beautiful NH4.

The journey on the spectacular NH4 was uneventful yet extremely pleasurable. Had our lunch at McDonald's at Kolhapur at around 01:30PM; noticed that there is a CCD and KFC also at the same location, but I have never read about the KFC and CCD before in any forum. Followed the NH4 till Belgaum where I had to leave this road and take a right turn to enter the city. As my luck would have it, I missed the Chorla road and took the longer route of NH4A through Khanapur, Mollem, Ponda to Panjim and from there took the NH17 to cross the Mandovi river and then took the interior roads to reach Arpora. A drizzle started when we were a few KM ahead of Belgaum and it continued till we reached our hotel in Goa. The NH4A after Khanapur is not in good condition and lacks proper maintenance. The broken surface of the jungle road is something that is bearable but suddenly out-of-nowhere huge craters would emerge and I had to stop the car completely and make out a way through the craters without scrapping the bottom of the car. In spite of being careful the bottom of the car scrapped in two such craters and the car stalled in one. The same road is beautifully maintained without any potholes in the Goa side. In spite of the pathetic road condition enjoyed driving through the serpentine NH4A, certain patches of which were engulfed in thick fog due to the rains.

Reached Calangute area around 06:15PM but lost the route from there. The MMI could not locate the hotel (maps need an updation, I feel) so tried to find the location from the roadside shops and pedestrian. After some 20 minutes we found ourselves back to the same square. Then I called the hotel and asked for directions; the hotel reception told us to ask for Club Cubana at any roadside shop and the hotel is some 300 mtrs. from there. Finally reached the hotel at 07:00PM.


Distance Travelled : 509 KM.
Time Taken : 10 hours.
Hotel booked : Double Tree by Hilton, Arpora Bardez, Goa.

Exit from Pune.


The NH4


River Nira between Pune and Khandala


The majestic western ghats - after Khandala.
















Lunch at Kolhapur.


The smashing NH4 after Kolhapur




The NH4 in Karnataka - between Nipani and Belgaum.

[Sommos]

Some more photos of the day :

Beautiful flowers on the roadside.


I don't remember but this is probably the Hidkal Reservoir near Belgaum.






Lush green cover on both sides of the road.






My son was fascinated by the sight of these on the roadside.






The green cover was suddenly absent in parts, don't know why.


NH4A beyond Khanapur.


NH4A


The jungle road - NH4A


This was (probably) the first automobile to be designed and produced in India. Production ended in the year 2000. This car was doing 3 digit speed on the NH4 between Pune & Khandala.

[Sommos]

A lot have already been discussed about Goa and the things to do when in Goa. So I would not spent my time in describing in details what we did while we were in Goa. We visited many places that we had planned to and missed some, so that gives a reason to come back to this beautiful place. The hotel was excellent and we loved the stay, the pool was beautifully maintained and we spent all the evenings at the pool side, we even practised snooker after the dinner.

The motor sports had been postponed by the order of the government and my son was really unhappy with the news, till we visited Colva where he could enjoy the para-sailing.

Introduction with the sea at Baga beach.


A boat taking-off from the side.


Not much tourist on the first day.


This dog was also enjoying and when requested....


He turned around and posed for a photo.


Fort Aguada.


The Governor's house from Fort Aguada.


The Mandovi river meets the sea. Look at the dark clouds.


From the top of Fort Aguada.


The jail area at the bottom layer of the fort.


The lighthouse - Fort Aguada.


The details.

[Sommos]

A huge copper "Diya" inside the Se Cathedral.


The cathedral is undergoing renovation inside-out.






Wall paintings inside the cathedral.




Not sure what it says and what lies beneath this stone, it has hooks on four sides to lift it.






Statue in front of the Se Cathedral.


The beautiful front face of Se Cathedral.


Basilica of Bom Jesus.


Front face of Basilica of Bom Jesus.


The main statue.


The remains of St. Francis Xaviers.


Mortal remains of St. Francis Xaviers - closure view.




The imposing structure of the Basilica of Bom Jesus.

[Sommos]

Inside the Bom Jesus church.


The coffin of St. Xaviers.




The Church of St. Cajetan.


Inside the church.




The Chapora fort.


View from the fort gate.


We went till the end of the cliff and sat on the rocks.


The Vagator beach from the top.


The vagator beach.




The confluence of the Chapora river.


The beautiful coast line.


The Chapora river.




At the Vagator beach.




We sat on the rocks and enjoyed the sea.


Fishermen with their colourful boats.

[Rehaan]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line section. Thanks for sharing!

[fusionbang]

Let me be the first to congratulate on your first Road trip to Goa. Very well knitted travelogue with some nice photos sommos. You should have enjoyed the entire drive and I believe you were the only driver.

And instead of taking the Khanapur Route, you should have taken the route via Belgaum city and then joined Goa route, which is really beautiful and one of the best scenic roads to drive on. By the way what was the route taken for your return leg?

[ampere]

Thats one epic drive! To be frank with you, when ever you drive out, I look out for your updates. Thats because you are one of the few guys who so prominently drive across E-W around Central India. Most guys do N-S. And beyond Pune, its all the same story for us folks here. But Bhillai-Pune is what makes it fun for me to read !

I just hope NH6 4-lane conversion gets completed fast. So have the plans for the two lane section conversions to 4-lane in place?

[vnabhi]

Excellent TL and fantastic photographs. Goa makes me feel nostalgic whenever I get to see pictures of it.

Do post details of your return route, timings and road conditions.

[subirdas]

Congratualtions on completing this mega trip and glad that you had a great family holiday.

A very well written crisp travelogue punctuated with nice photos - was looking for this one to come out.

[Sommos]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line section. Thanks for sharing!

Thank you, Rehaan.

Originally Posted by fusionbang

Let me be the first to congratulate on your first Road trip to Goa. Very well knitted travelogue with some nice photos sommos. You should have enjoyed the entire drive and I believe you were the only driver.

And instead of taking the Khanapur Route, you should have taken the route via Belgaum city and then joined Goa route, which is really beautiful and one of the best scenic roads to drive on. By the way what was the route taken for your return leg?

I could not understand the underlined portion. I did enjoy the drive and yes I was the lone driver, what gave you the impression that I did not not enjoy the drive, have I written something wrong somewhere.

I went via Belgaum, but instead of taking the Belgaum-Chorla-Mapusa route I took the NH4A through Khanapur. Ampere had mentioned several times about the Chorla route and I even noticed the signboard but I was directed to follow the NH4A both by the MMI and also the local people. I realised the mistake very late. Well that certainly makes a compelling reason to visit Goa again sometime in the future.

Originally Posted by ampere

Thats one epic drive! To be frank with you, when ever you drive out, I look out for your updates. Thats because you are one of the few guys who so prominently drive across E-W around Central India. Most guys do N-S. And beyond Pune, its all the same story for us folks here. But Bhillai-Pune is what makes it fun for me to read !

I just hope NH6 4-lane conversion gets completed fast. So have the plans for the two lane section conversions to 4-lane in place?

Thanks Ampere for all the help in planning this drive and for your comments.
I would be grateful if this TL can encourage others to take this route.

Originally Posted by vnabhi

Excellent TL and fantastic photographs. Goa makes me feel nostalgic whenever I get to see pictures of it.

Do post details of your return route, timings and road conditions.

Thank you Abhi, as already mentioned in the OP, the photos have not been shot by me except for a very few.
Return was via Hyderabad and the details are coming.

Originally Posted by subirdas

Congratualtions on completing this mega trip and glad that you had a great family holiday.

A very well written crisp travelogue punctuated with nice photos - was looking for this one to come out.

A very big thanks to you for all the help in planning this journey and for all your good wishes. Missed a great oppurtunity of meeting you in person while I was in Pune.

[BlrGuy]

Originally Posted by Sommos

I went via Belgaum, but instead of taking the Belgaum-Chorla-Mapusa route I took the NH4A through Khanapur. Ampere had mentioned several times about the Chorla route and I even noticed the signboard but I was directed to follow the NH4A both by the MMI and also the local people. I realised the mistake very late. Well that certainly makes a compelling reason to visit Goa again sometime in the future.

This is a common mistake done by most people when they reach Belgaum on the way to Goa. The sign board too at the junction where you need to turn to Jambooti on the Khanapur road is not very clear. Surprised that the local people directed you to take the Khanapur route . If you know that the route you intend to take is via Chorla, all you need to ask is the route to Chorla ghats.