[Samba]

Since November 2019, am yet to answer a call from the mighty Himalaya! I feel guilty!

Dad managed a three days off in the 1st weekend of March and he uttered Darjeeling & I was like, lets go!

But good sense prevailed soon, it would be too hectic, so we decided to look for a place which will be nearer. As it's the month of March we zeroed on Purulia once again. At this time Purulia will be red with Palash.
I told him, we have been to Purulia so many times, so let's go to Ranchi & Netarhat, we will club-in Purulia while returning. Dad agreed, mom never says no to me.

The Itinerary-

Day 1- Kolkata - Ranchi & visit Patratu in afternoon.
Day 2- A day trip to Netarhat.
Day 3- Ranchi - Rajrappa Kali temple - Purulia - Kolkata

In the above itinerary, we skipped the inclusion of few waterfalls, which are actually another major attractions of this region. It was skipped due to lack of time and it's best to visit them in monsoon.

A couple of days before the trip, I was looking for an accommodation in Ranchi & I shortlisted Radisson Blue, but it was sold out. Dbhpian Saket77 suggested Chanakya BNR & I booked it right away. It was an excellent stay with great room, good food & proper parking at the heart of Ranchi.
Thanks to DBhpian Saket77, Dbhpian Leoshashi, Bhpian Swapnil & Bhpian Mountaindeep for their inputs.

Few teasers to begin with-

[Samba]

Day 1, (Kolkata to Ranchi & a drive to Patratu in afternoon. 472 km)

The k9k woke up from its slumber at 7am sharp! It knew its going to be a fairly longer drive as soon as the boot was opened to put in the luggage! The clatter from the cold diesel engine was like a nice music to my ears!

The initial one hour was frustrating. Too much of truck traffic and congestion continued till Dhulagarh toll. I hardly managed to cover 34 km in the 1st one hour. The estimated time to reach Ranchi was 3-18 pm.

Post Dhulagarh the traffic eased out. We soon took a break at Azadhind, Uluberia and tanked up the Duster. Had a light breakfast and started by 8-30 am. From here the road was a bliss to drive.





I was enjoying pushing the Duster. The electronics and the AWD in auto mode was giving me enough confidence to push through the corners.

By 11-15 am we crossed Dalma/ Ashanbani and refueled again.
From a couple of kilometres before Jamshedpur till Chandil, the road was having traffic with diversions. Post Chandil till Ranchi, it was a 4 lane road with winding corners.
Gps helped me to wade through the congested roads of Ranchi and reach our hotel by 1 pm. Odo reads 400 km.

After having a sumptuous lunch, we headed out to visit Patratu valley & Patratu lake by 3 pm.
The ghat road towards Patratu valley brought a grin in my face.
Missed my bike! Or it needed a low slung petrol car! Duster did well, but still I craved for more!











After having a fun drive through the winding corners we reached Patratu lake. The deep blue color of the lake was a treat to watch.









Returned back to our hotel by 6 pm.





Dbhpian Saket77 came to meet me at our hotel. Needless to say, when Bhpians meet, they always have a great time!

[Samba]

Day 2, (Ranchi - Netarhat - Ranchi. 333km)

The sunrise from my bed looked refreshing!



A sneak peek at my Duster from the 3rd floor made me happy!



Had a heavy breakfast, am not a guy who is keen in having a heavy breakfast, but it was complimentary, so had to gobble it as much as possible!

At 9 am we started for Netarhat. Being a Sunday, city traffic was low and it was a nice drive through Ranchi. We went past Vidhana Soudha and finally got connected to NH43.

Nh43 made me nostalgic about our drive to MP in November 2020. We covered a good distance on this highway through CG & MP.

As suggested by Bhpian Mountaindeep & Dbhpian Saket77, we took the road through Lohardaga. This route was 10 km longer, with far better blacktop than the conventional route.
We took right for Netarhat, 26 km before Gumla.

The uphill road was 24 km. Its a narrow road with too many blind curves. The downhill traffic was quite fast. So I was a bit careful and didn't push the car. Drove it in a rather conservative way.

Our 1st visit was to the sunset point to get a view of the mountains. As it was a day trip, we couldn't afford to stay till sunset. Reached here at around 12-30 pm. It's roughly 165 km from Ranchi.













Had our lunch at Hotel Pravat Vihar in Netarhat. Arguably it's the best stay available at Netarhat.







Posts lunch, we explored the ghat roads around Netarhat. It was a lovely drive. Enjoyed it to the core.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iSRuGOZRL4

We left Netarhat around 2-30 pm, took the same route and reached our hotel by 5-30 pm.

Few pics from our hotel compound.

[Samba]

Day 3, (Ranchi - Rajrappa kali temple - Purulia - Kolkata 489km)

Left hotel at 8-50 am and gps led the way through Mesra, Ramgarh to Rajrappa Kali temple. Its a 6000+ years old temple. Ranchi to Rajrappa is around 60 km and took us 1.5 hours. Getting out of Ranchi took time in Monday morning traffic.







Left the temple at 11am and headed towards Purulia. Gps showed 103 km and took us through Bokaro. Road was good all throughout.
After reaching Purulia, we decided to go towards Sirkabad, as we knew that road is always filled with Palash and we were right! Purulia never disappoints!

But our Duster sometime disappoints! I suddenly noticed that the handbrake cable came off from it's clip and it was dangling.
Had no other options, so I put the floor mats beneath the car and went under the car & put the cable back to the clip, but it was slipping out.
Took out three zip ties, which I keep in my tool kit and tied the cable & it was fine.





Palash around Purulia.





























After having a late lunch, we started our return journey.

Met my cousin brother who bought the Honda City just a few days back at Durgapur.



Reached home at 9 pm with nearly 1300 km of memories.

[BlackPearl]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to Travelogues section. Thanks for sharing Samba!

[DogNDamsel12]

Such a simple and lucid writeup for an equally delectable trip. And lovely photos. The Duster seems to be at home with the palash and the colour of the roads

What was the cause of the handbrake snapping - any clue?

[ABHI_1512]

So the twisting roads of Patratu also got the taste of the Red Duster burning the tarmac. Nicely written log of a fabulous journey through the forests and specially of Netarhat. I would have expected you to go to Mckluskigunj too but may be some other time.

BNR properties are a class apart, both at Puri as well as Ranchi. The heritage feel and charm as well as the fabulous food makes the properties worth every penny. Lovely pictures there from the hotel too.

Since you didn’t visit the falls, leaving a picture of Dassam falls from a previous trip here :



P.S- Repeating BHPian DogNDamsel12’s question- how did the hand brake cable come off ?

[88_TANK_88]

Originally Posted by ABHI_1512

P.S- Repeating BHPian DogNDamsel12’s question- how did the hand brake cable come off ?

The handbrake cable runs along the transmission tunnel from front to back and is held in places by plastic u-clips.
These clips grow weaker with time and cable slips out. Or the clip becomes brittle and cracks.
My cousin's car had similiar issue. Cable ties are the way to go as they loop around the the handbrake cable and doesn't let it slip out of place.

[arindam_xeta]

The destination surely is attractive and since you gave the Waterfalls a miss, that warrants another visit. The serpentine roads and lush green foliage looks really beautiful. This place is definitely in my wishlist this year. Thanks for the lovely photographs! Duster surely made those red polash (state flower of Jharkhand) even more red. Thoroughly enjoyed!

[soumiksett]

Beautiful drive, superlike snaps.

Skipping of Ranchi waterfalls is a good decision, as the water in the falls will be very less this time. My aunty stays in Ranchi, I visit there every year, but alas, I didnot visit Patratu till date, have to plan a bike trip there and not car, it is a superlike cornering zone.

Netarhat is also a very good spot, last visited in Jan 2019. But it would have been better if you could stay 1 night at Netarhat, and visit Maromar and Betla on next day on the way return to Ranchi.

I have not visited Rajrappa after 2010, and this time Purulia is a very good choice, the view of Palash is beautiful. I just loved the pictures of Palash.

Some snaps from my trip:

Hudru Falls



Jonha Falls



Sita Falls



Dasam Falls



Hotel Prabhat Vihar new unit



Hotel Prabhat Vihar old unit



Murguma Lake



Sirkabad Route

[puneetakhouri]

What a great post with such amazing pictures!
Being from Ranchi I can assure that Jharkhand and the areas around Ranchi have a lot of untapped, unexplored natural beauty. With the recent governments investing heavily in building good roads, and the Naxal problems becoming lower and lower, these places are now slowly popping up in the radar of avid travelers of the region.
Given the number of waterfalls in the vicinity, missing those means you need to make one more trip.
Fun Fact - Ranchi was known as the "City of waterfalls", before being known as the "City of MS Dhoni"

[shreevishnu]

Amazing pictures indeed!

[turboNath]

Amazing travelogue as usual Samba !
The Duster seems to blend in perfectly with the red soil and the fiery Palash. Thanks to your thread, I will definitely have to explore Patratu real soon. One of my favourite sections of this TL is the one where you're driving to Netarhat. The road through the forest looks way too tempting. Based on your feedback and ABHI_1512's recommendation to add in Mccluskieganj, I am thinking to target the entire belt this Monsoon. I will miss the Palash for sure but then again the greenery coupled with the waterfalls should make up for it.
Rating it a very well deserved 5 stars !
Thanks for sharing !

[bordeaux]

Thanks for the wonderful pictures. I wonder how/why everything is so clean in Jharkhand. Makes me feel like I live in the wrong part of India.

[Carpainter]

Great travelogue Samba da.

Had been planning Purulia trip for some time now but getting postponed for various reasons. Thanks to your post I'll add some new destinations to it.

Btw, how did you notice the handbrake cable dangling in the first place. Usually it's not visible when you're standing close to the car.