[SS-Traveller]

Finally, after two weekends of preparation, I am all set to start off. Tomorrow night. On my 26th roadtrip one-way, between Delhi and Kolkata. The 26th since December 1988.

The car: Accent GTX 2001, WB-reg, dual fuel (petrol + LPG). A relative's car, being taken back to Kolkata after being used in Delhi for almost a year. Car came to Delhi on a truck.

The passengers: 5 -- the relative couple, and us. Count the LPG tank and we've got 6!

The preparation:
First, the AC. Full service done, including opening & cleaning the condenser and cooling coil. Radiator also cleaned, with new coolant put in. I was taking no chances, and I'm glad I didn't.

It was 43.5*C yesterday, and the cabin is like Shimla in November now, when driving for 15 minutes with the AC full on.

Then the brakes. Full overhaul done. Rear wheel cylinder leaking, both changed.

Pads and shoes changed.

Discs and drums turned. Brake oil changed.

Suspension checked. Rear damper struts were changed. Front wheel bearings replaced.

Tyres -- two replaced, new tubeless tyres running on the rear axle.

Engine -- spark plugs replaced. Cam cover gasket found to be leaking. Replaced. Engine oil changed.

The itinerary: ETD Delhi - 10 pm, 01 May '09; ETA Benaras - 2pm, 02 May '09. Shopping, religion-related and night halt at Benaras. ETD Benaras - 6am, 03 May '09; ETA Kolkata - 4 pm, 03 May '09.

Note: NH2 now NH19 - more information.

[btirthankar]

Thats one Hell of a Teaser.


And the timelines are very realistic indeed, and why not for a seasoned cruisebug like you. Have a Safe, Comfortable and Entertaining Trip.







----------------------------------------We will Watch this space--------------------------------------------------

[Lu€iFer]

Wow war scale preparations

Awaiting a treat of pics and your experience.

Have a safe trip.

[suman]

Have a Safe trip. Waiting for a flood of pics.......

[btirthankar]

Originally Posted by suman

Have a Safe trip. Waiting for a flood of pics.......

and videos too!











--------------------------we are staring at this space------------------

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by btirthankar

--------------------------we are staring at this space------------------

Thank you, Lucifer, suman, Tirthankar, for your good wishes. Will update this thread again after I'm back in Delhi on 5th May.

For the info of other BHP-ians, Tirthankar has taken off alone to Benaras this morning. As of sms received right now, he's crossed Isri Bazar about a half-hour ago, and should be reaching Barhi about 5 pm. He ought to be in Benaras by 10 pm, where I'm supposed to meet up with him at UP Tourism's Raahi Tourist Bungalow tomorrow afternoon.

Expect another brilliant photoblog from him soon too.

[btirthankar]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

For the info of other BHP-ians, Tirthankar has taken off alone to Benaras this morning. As of sms received right now, he's crossed Isri Bazar about a half-hour ago, and should be reaching Barhi about 5 pm. He ought to be in Benaras by 10 pm, where I'm supposed to meet up with him at UP Tourism's Raahi Tourist Bungalow tomorrow afternoon.

Expect another brilliant photoblog from him soon too.

Samindra-da's estimates on my driving time, destination arrivals and even my mileage was closest accurate. That shows how seasoned and experienced he is. Left me amazed!!!

[predatorwheelz]

An update:

SS-traveller has successfully completed the trip to Kolkata. Met him yesterday night at his Kolkata home, and had a long chat. Even after a 2 day road trip, he was fresh enough to entertain me for about an hour.

The man is an encyclopaedia on road travel in India. We discussed cars (obviously), life and a lot of travel. Has given me a lot of inspiration to do a CCU-DEL-CCU trip myself later in the year!

For Kolkata TBHPians, he is in Kolkata till tomorrow evening. Dont hesitate to get in touch with him if you have any travel related queries.

[SS-Traveller]

Another end-to-end NH2 journey completed on the 3rd of May. Smooth as it can be, good fun at Benaras, meeting BT at Benaras and predatorwheelz and adc at Kolkata were some of the highlights of the trip. Back to the usual grind since early morning, so here we go with the narration and pics.

Day 1 (actually Night 1), May 1, 9:30 pm: The car was finally loaded. And I mean, LOADED. Overloaded. Superloaded. I've never liked loading any car like this, but yes, I've done some long trips with overloaded cars. Ok, so we have new struts at the rear, and a pair of brand new tyres. Things shouldn't fall apart. They didn't, either.

The bags are packed, and we're ready to go.


The fully loaded state of the rear suspension was more evident next morning.


So we hit the road at 9:45 pm. Didn't get to fill up with LPG, so after the first 60 km we were on petrol. Well, the car felt peppier, though I wasn't pushing it past 100 km/h at all.

Aah... the midnight drive. My favourite time of day to drive long distance on known highways. Known to be safe and unbroken, that is. And we arrived at Mathura just past midnight, to top up on whatever empty space there was in the tank. This was our P&P stop.




A quick note here: While on my drives, the stops are classified into the following:
P&P: Pee/poo and Petrol, or P&D: P... and Diesel - 10 minutes.
P-stop: Nature's call only - <5 min.
P&T stop: Liquid in, liquid out. 15 min.
Meal stop: A half-hour to 45 minutes.

[Mpower]

Did you feel the rear suspension was bottoming out at any time?
Accent rear is pretty soft as it is.

[akroy]

Nice start SS da, eager to read the rest !! and also some pics.

Abhi

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by Mpower

Did you feel the rear suspension was bottoming out at any time?
Accent rear is pretty soft as it is.

A few times yes, I've felt the rear suspension hit the bump stop. But not too hard, since I'd ben taking the car through bad patches very gingerly. Also scraped the underbelly a couple of times. But no damage done, thankfully.

Originally Posted by akroy

Nice start SS da, eager to read the rest !! and also some pics.

Abhi

Hang on, Abhi, more coming up! We've just reached Mathura - only 10% of the journey done. Let me resize and edit my photos before posting!

[SS-Traveller]

The gas flare at the Mathura Refinery has always fascinated me, and here are a couple of shots from there.




After Mathura, there was just one P-stop in the night. This was at the toll-gate after Etawah.

Looking back at Delhi, over 350 km behind us.


And Auriya 29 km ahead. That was a really low light shot!


The grey twilight of dawn came upon us as we bypassed Kanpur on the seemingly endless corridor heading towards Allahabad.


There was this truck turned turtle in the middle of the corridor, spilling stone chips across the road in a huge mess. Tough job taking the car through, with wheelspin and underbelly scrapes promising some drama, but we were through with no damage. No pics, unfortunately.

[phamilyman]

goooood show boss. is that you in the first pic!

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

goooood show boss. is that you in the first pic!

Sorry, no... The gentleman in the pic is my bro-in-law, who owns the Accent, the lady in white is my sis-in-law, and the lady in black is, as they say in these parts, The One (and Only!)... The golden Swift to the right is one of my rides.