[nariyani]

It all started on an evening in September when I was sitting with 2 of my Brother in Laws and discussing WHAT NEXT!

I always had in my mind to drive to Jaisalmer. Deserts inspire me. The road reviews suggested that it will be a tough journey and its better to halt either in Bikaner or Jodhpur and continue to Jaisalmer the next day.

But me being me wanted to break this thought and wanted to reach Jaisalmer in record time safely.

All I did was that I broke my Journey in 4 parts which gave me 4 sub-targets to accomplish my main target -Jaisalmer. I took help from google Maps and decided to follow the below route.

Gurgaon- Shahpura-172 km. Start time 4 am. End time 6.30 am. To be covered in 2 hrs 30 min.

Shahpura to Sikar- 102 km. Start time 6.30 am. End time 8 am. To be covered in 1 hr 30 min. Halt for Breakfast for 1 hour.

Sikar to Bikaner- 222 km. Start time 9 am. End time 11.45 am. To be covered in 2 hrs 45 min.

Bikaner to Pokhran- 225 km. Start time 11.45 am. End time 3 pm. To be covered in 3 hrs 15 min. Halt for Lunch for 1 hour.

Pokhran to Jaisalmer- 110 km. Start time 4 pm. End time 5.30 pm. To be covered in 1 hour 30 minutes.

The plan was to start the trip on 2nd December from Gurgaon Malibu Towne at 4 am. The key was to start on time so that we don't find traffic till its dawn. We went with respective families and took 2 cars. I have a Duster 110 PS which has already clocked 77000 Km in 3 years. The other car was Hyundai Xcent which has clocked 6000 Km so far.

So the previous night the cars were tanked up. The luggage was kept a night before to save on time on the cold Delhi early morning. It was 4 am and we switched the engine of our respective beauties ON. The journey had finally begun and I was sure it will be a dream run.
We wanted to follow the above route plan to the T and we were almost ahead of our schedule till Bikaner.

We crossed Bikaner 15 minutes ahead of schedule. The vegetation started to change post Bikaner. The roads were smooth and we were zipping at 130 KmpH. It was a great feeling. Occasional camels were roaming on the roads.
The roads were empty with very few trucks seen crossing us. By 4 pm we reached Pokhran and took a right to our final destination. By 5.30 we hit the Jaisalmer town.

The summary of the drive showed some happy results.
Drive time 11 hrs 30 min
Halt time 2 hours
Total Km till Jaisalmer- 830 Km.

We checked in Hotel Moonlight and next day we hit the roads to Khuri. We had booked Pal Rajah Resort in Khuri which was 45 Km from Jaisalmer town.
We took good 2 hours to reach the resort as we halted 4 times in between to click pictures.



On 4th December we planned to take the Jodhpur route for Delhi. The route plan was Jaisalmer-Jodhpur-Beawer-Ajmer-Jaipur-Delhi.
This route is less scenic and has more traffic compared to the Bikaner/Pokhran route. We started our Journey at 10 am and reached Delhi by 1 am facing jams on NH8 for 2 hours.

It was a wonderful and satisfactory drive. The fatigue levels were Zero. The cars performed very well. Total Kms clocked were 1720 Km. Duster gave an average of 13.9 KMPL. Xcent gave an average of 14.2 Kmpl.

Done and Dusted with Jaisalmer. Next trip on the cards in Laddakh in April 2016.

[KomS_CarLog]

Neat, nariyani! Cool pics of the Duster. There is a night photo of tents. Is this Pal Rajah Resort, Khuri? Did you find fog during this trip?

It seems you started your journey on 2nd Dec and headed home on 4th Dec '15 - just 2 nights? A very short trip considering the distance travelled

EDIT: Could you also share the googlemap route taken.

[nariyani]

Hi KomS_CarLog. Attaching the bifurcated route map which I carried along with me.

Yea. We stayed in Pal Rajah Resort Khuri which was 45 Km ahead of Jaisalmer. It was quick 2 nights. Wanted to be on the roads as long as possible

[mathuranuj]

Good going buddy and very nice pictures...
Nice precise log.

[Jose.solorider]

Nice travelogue, must say quite a spirited driving