I did this trip over 29th-30th August. With the offices not scheduled to open anytime soon, we decided to head home so that we can at least have some company. Also, we hadn't stepped outside our locality ever since the lock down started, our only outings (and for the Swift as well) were the weekly trips to the market. Even with the most circuitous route, it was barely above 5 KM. So, even after considering the risks, we both were looking forward to this trip.
Due to the pandemic, outside food was ruled out. We carried our own food in addition to sanitizers, a big can of Savlon spray and the now ubiquitous masks, adhering to current travel rules. Both of us preferred not to stay anywhere during the night, but I simply detest night travel on Indian highways. So we decided to stop at Allahabad or Varanasi. Luckily, we made it to Varanasi on Saturday.
Planned to start at 4AM, and managed to start by 4:30.
Reached YEW after a little more than 1 hour.
Lovely vistas
Agra Lucknow Expressway. This was not made of concrete unlike the Yamuna expressway, so the ride was much more smooth.
Remember the IAF aircraft landing on a road? It was on this stretch. Only, this part stretching for a few KMs was made of concrete, and there are proper diversions which vehicles needs to take if an aircraft decides to land here.
Reached Lucknow a little before 12 and went straight to a petrol pump. Till now the roads were superb but we were apprehensive of what laid ahead. And it did turn rough. In-spite of paying a toll, the stretch till RaeBareli was riddled with potholes. After crossing RaeBareli, we came upon a place where Google was asking us to go left but there was a road straight ahead with a board saying 'Prayagraj'. A policeman told us that this road is blocked for heavy vehicles, so it was a no brainer to take this road.
Had our lunch on a comparatively desolate stretch. The road was lovely with good tarmac and very little truck/bus traffic. And the best part was this led almost all the way till the outskirts of Prayagraj. We were within 30KM of Prayagraj by 3PM, so we decided to continue till Varanasi.
Joined the Delhi Kolkata road now. The tarmac was good.
Approaching storm in Handia, very near to Varanasi
After the rain.. this is the only picture I took of our steed
Sunset..
From Team-BHP, I'm aware of the conditions of Bangalore traffic, the conditions of the Kolkata Siliguri road. All pales in front of what we saw. This snarl easily stretched on for more than a KM, in fact, I would not be surprised if it was 3-4 KM long. This was around 6PM, hardly a few KMs from Varanasi. I sincerely sympathize with those who were unfortunate enough to be stuck there. My return date is not fixed yet, still I'm dreading the day when I have to return, due to this. If anyone knows any alternate route or have any tips on how to avoid this, please suggest so. Unsurprisingly, lots of cars were driving on the wrong side here.
We spent the night in Varansi and next day, we started around 6AM. The stretch till Bihar border had numerous diversions and the tarmac was also patchy at best. After crossing into Bihar, the roads improved. But we were stuck for some time at the Sasaram toll. Again, the other side had much heavier traffic.
Soon we crossed into Jharkhand and the route turned really scenic.
Somewhere near Hazaribagh..
Near Isri..
In-spite of Covid, couldn't resist buying some Kheermohans from this shop. Also, we did not have any proper food for today, so after the quick breakfast from the hotel, we had to survive on varieties of biscuits, all kinds of dried fruits, dates etc.
Now the roads in Jharkhand was till then, tolerable. But after Chauparan, the roads turned absolutely awful. Speed dropped drastically and it was a nightmare of bad roads, traffic snarls and ill planned toll booths which continued for around 3 hours. I simply don't understand how NHAI can charge money when the roads are that bad. Thankfully after Dhanbad, roads improved, almost to expressway standards which continued all the way till Kolkata.
After Durgapur, the roads turned into a 4 laned road, though the tarmac was excellent. But there were small potholes, and they increased in number as we neared Kolkata. I couldn't avoid all of them, passed over some at around 50 KMPH. Yet after the torturous road of Jharkhand, I felt our Swift had magic body control whenever I passed over one
Barring a small stretch of NH19 near Dankuni and the horrible condition of the 16 KM long Belghoria expressway inside Kolkata, roads in West Bengal were mostly good.
Bought some sweets from Shaktigarh.
And finally, around 7PM, we reached Kolkata.
On both days, I approximately drove for 13 hours each. And this includes breaks of more than 1 hour each day for lunch, snacks, bio breaks and even light nap for 5 minutes.
Total toll was 2265/-. No doubt it was stressful in some stretches, but overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the drive. Till now, this is the longest I have driven @1500KM. About fuel, I filled her up to the brim thrice, once before leaving in Delhi, then at Lucknow and finally at Jharkhand. Total petrol expenses came at around 7500/-.
About the car, when the second gen Swift came out, Hormazd Sorabjee mentioned in a car show that the new K series engine is a 'gem of an engine'. After this 1500KM drive, I can say with confidence that he was absolutely right. The engine was always very refined, and after this long drive, this has attained almost an EV level of quietness. I literally have to press the accelerator when stuck in traffic to know that the engine is indeed running. Also, people always praise the driving dynamics of the Swift, and after Madhya Pradesh, I got the chance to try them out again in the hills and twisties of Jharkhand
And lastly, I want to enquire from the members here what to do with this? Apparently, I over-sped, but the toll operator didn't say anything to me and we didn't notice this at all. Only today, when I was looking at the toll receipts that I came to know we were handed this as well. I'm not a rash driver and knowing the safety levels of the car, I always drive within limits. But in YEW and the ALE, sometimes the speedo reached around 110 before I got it down. Anyways, I am willing to pay and I tried to search for a chalan online but unlike Delhi police, I couldn't get anything at echallan.parivahan.gov.in, whenever I try searching by the vehicle number, it keeps asking chassis or engine number (I haven't called at the given mobile number yet).