7th October 2024, 18:08 | #1 |
Newbie Join Date: Sep 2024 Location: Pune/Kolkata
Posts: 1
Thanked: 37 Times
| West to East : Tata Tigor iCNG I'm excited to share that I've finally achieved a long-held dream. Ever since I moved to Pune for work and purchased my first car, I've always wondered if I could drive it home (~2200km). To many it might be a silly since they have achieved far greater milestones in their life but for me, this was a benchmark in my driving journey. The plan was Pune->Hyderabad->Vizag ->Puri->Kolkata with my brother, driving Tata Tigor ICNG. Day 0 (560km): We started on our journey at 3 AM, driving overnight to reach Hyderabad around 11 AM at my friend's place. This route was familiar to us from previous trips, which actually boosted our confidence for the entire road trip. For this initial leg, my wife accompanied us as she had a flight to Kolkata from Hyderabad. The road condition is good throughout Maharashtra all the way till Hyderabad and can easily maintain cursing speeds of 100kmph. The part we struggle with is early morning breakfast. It seems most stores in MH open around 11 and we could only find tea stalls open in Maharashtra. Once we left the state, food became more available. We took some rest and completed some pending work there. Also enjoyed few Hyderabadi delicacies. I enjoyed the drive and missed taking more pictures may be its just one of the things you need to do to witness the varying landscapes. Day1(600km): We left after some light breakfast on to our next stop – Vizag. The roads were even better than what we found in Maharashtra and Telangana. Even the road side shrubs were visibly maintained. We took few breaks for fuel(CNG) and food. Its worth mentioning that because we saved location of all CNG pumps on our way, we only needed to drive 200km on petrol (since no cng was available on 1 stretch) and rest on CNG. For the night halt we stayed in a town Anakapalle outside of Vizag to avoid time spent in city traffic. We did not have time to stay and explore the city this time. Day2(460KM): Left early for puri as we intend to visit the Jagannath Temple in puri. With a quick bite of idli near our hotel, we drive non stop to Puri and reached by 12:30pm. Took us extra 30mins as we took a wrong turn and the map routed us through a village with extremely bad roads. Also on day 2 we encountered a lot of rain throughout this patch. Upon arrival, we found a convenient hotel near the temple, freshened up, and immediately set off to the temple. Post that we did some shopping at the local market for gifts for family at home. Treated ourselves with some sweets and street food available there followed by a relaxing time sitting near the beach. The cool breeze and calming sound of the waves made leaving even more difficult. but we had one more drive to cover, so we reluctantly left the seaside and returned to the hotel. We could have pushed ourselves and drove directly to Kolkata (890km) but going by this route, we just had to visit Jagannath Temple. Day3 (510km): we had a good rest and left puri around 8 with proper breakfast by the beach and plans to reach home by evening. As soon as we left Bhubaneshwar and continued in Orrisa -driving towards Kolkata, the roads gradually Deteriorated. In Odisha, we found the highway speed limit is 80 km/h, which is easy to exceed if you're not constantly monitoring your speedometer. Also, there are significantly more speed cameras on Odisha's highways compared to the previous states we passed through, where the speed limit was around 100 km/h and speed cameras were more reasonably spaced. With so many cameras in Odisha, I'm concerned that I might have inadvertently received a fine for going 85-87 km/h. As we approached Kolkata, speed cameras were no longer a concern, as we couldn't even reach 60 km/h due to the poor road conditions. Throughout the journey, we encountered rough patches and several detours caused by construction. Here, the main bridge and highway were particularly riddled with potholes. We expected the roads to deteriorate further as we entered Kolkata, but surprisingly, they improved. Seeing the welcome sign for my hometown was a unique experience. Although I've returned multiple times by flight and train, the feeling is not the same. Knowing that I successfully drove from west to east, crossing multiple states and nearly the entire country, the experience is truly fulfilling. The long journey was slowed down by crawling traffic at junctions, but that was manageable. We kept our family updated, as they were very worried since we started. After dropping off my brother, I finally drove home. I returned home after a year, and my car returned after two. Despite the elements leaving their mark on its exterior, which others might see as dirt, I see it as a badge of honor from its most incredible journey yet. Throughout the trip, it performed flawlessly, handling various terrains and weather conditions while keeping us cool, comfortable, and confident. |
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8th October 2024, 13:21 | #3 | |
BHPian Join Date: Mar 2023 Location: Mumbai
Posts: 696
Thanked: 2,925 Times
| Re: West to East : Tata Tigor iCNG Nice travelogue, and great to see you enjoying the Tigor iCNG. Quote:
Default Route and Fuel Pump options for Pune-Kolkata stretch Default Route and Fuel Pump options for Pune-Hyderabad stretch After completing 50,000 km in less than 1.5 years in my HyRyder CNG, I think it is very easy to find a fuel pump, but in peak hours expect long queues. Cheers Last edited by graaja : 8th October 2024 at 17:02. Reason: As requested | |
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The following 11 BHPians Thank ex-innova-guy for this useful post: | AlphaKiloPapa, digitalnirvana, Draunzer21, FlankerFury, Guru_Shikhar, haisaikat, InControl, KBNick24, rajaramgna, sanjayrozario, Tetatola |