[straightdrive]

Pkumar, you've done the sort of trip I've been dreaming about for a long time - don't know when I'll get a chance.

Please tell us where the photos were taken. Two or three are obvious of course like the one of the Taj and India Gate and the one at Dhanbad. I guess the one with signs of distances to Aligarh and Kolkata and others was also at Agra?

[pkumar]

After having 8-9 tough months at work, my boss finally agreed for a 3 weeks kind of leave for me. It was long due to meet relatives all across India. This started as the primary motivation for the trip. Then we thought why not cover few places like Jaipur & Agra on the way?
Of course the reason for driving (and not taking public transport) was to avoid getting H1N1 at crowded places like trains and planes.

Then began the detailed planning part. And i must say Hvkumar's GQ logs were so much helpful. Sirji also helped in ironing out the small issues in the plan.
Even if your planning is very good, you need to take his blessings before such a trip.

Mumbai is my in-laws place, at Delhi i had countless number of relatives to meet, and Bokaro is my native place. This ensured that i would be on GQ most of the time.

[advaitlele]

Simply Awesome !!! Fantabulous !!

Now post some more pics and a detailed report. Appetizers are over; Junta is eagerly waiting for the main course.

[Fordmanchau]

Originally Posted by pkumar

Very Unfortunate that internet is down for today,at my office.
Wait guys, there would be many more pics, and a detailed xls log too.

But the travelogue would be mostly concentrated around road pics and condition update.

Originally Posted by prince_pervez

^^And don't forget about my question in post #9

And mine too in post 8.
I have visited the thread so many times to check if there is any update from pkumar. Comeon man, get cracking now. I am waiting.

[pkumar]

Today is the day when it all begins. I came back from office early at 3pm. All the packing was done the day before, so did not have much to do. This was proving not so good as I was constantly telling my wife, “Lets start now, why wait for 11 pm”.
Finally we started at 9:30 pm. Wrong decision to start so early. Too much of traffic till Neelamangala. Even though I started from very close to Mekhri Circle in Bangalore, it took me an hour and 10 minutes to reach Neelamangala Toll Gate. And it was raining too, though mildly.
All the night pictures got blurred, so pardon me for that.





Yesventpur flyover



Neelmangala Toll gate



All the pictures that were taken during dark got screwed up, so not much to post about the next 6 hours of travel, except the log.
We reached the Tumkur toll gate in the next 30 minutes, at 11:10 pm. Trip meter reads 60 kms. After this the pathetic Tumkur Bypass comes, the not so good conditions exists for around 10 kms. Now the Toll road resumes and it remains like that for the next 123 kms, till Chitradurga. We arrive Chitradurga at 1:17 am. All this while it was still raining. But then came a really heavy downpour. Things were getting really difficult, and visibility was severely compromised. Naturally the speed reduced drastically. We reached Davangere(250kms) at 2:25 am, Harihar(270kms) at 2:50 am, and Ranebennur(293 kms) at 3:14 am. The last 100 kms took around 2 hours.








After ranebbenur, came the BPCL ghar PP where we took a 15 minutes break. I got a chance to wipe out the layers of wet dust that had settled on the Windscreen, headlights and taillights.







[FONT=&quot]At [/FONT][FONT=&quot]3:40am[/FONT][FONT=&quot] (300 kms) we started again. In 25 kms Haveri came and quickly went by. And then the long unseen 4-lane road started again and came the toll gate 50 kms before Hubli. Next 50 kms to Hubli was covered in 30 minutes. We were at Hubli Toll gate at [/FONT][FONT=&quot]5am[/FONT][FONT=&quot]. Next 25 kms of Hubli-Dharwad stretch was 2 lane road. At this time there was not much traffic trouble, so could achieve an average of 60kmph on this stretch. At Dharwad the 4 lane again began and next 50 kms was covered in 35 minutes.[/FONT]



We took a tea-break at a small tea-shop after toll gate.



[FONT=&quot]And then the wheels started rolling again.[/FONT]



[FONT=&quot]Heavy fog encountered here. Visibility was severely reduced for few kms.[/FONT]






rain again for some time.






We have reached past Belgaum. I see that the fuel meter is at a quarter tank, and it is time for a top-up. I was thinking should I wait for another 100 kms or so to get cheaper fuel in Maharashtra. But then I was not sure how far into Maharashta would I find a good Petrol Pump.
But here is the problem, there are no Petrol pumps that I can find now. Either they are closed at this time, or they are not large enough for me to feel comfortable with the quality. Was this because they usually see less business as the State border is closeby ?
Finally entered a smaller one. But I drew some relief from the fact that they had Xtra premium (no unleaded one actually, only premium). Filled up for 500 bucks.


Now the road changes to 6-lane for a small stretch, and it is really fun to drive. It is surprising for me that throughout the day-1 I never exceeded 120kmph, despite such amazing driving conditions. Hopefully it is all going to change on the next driving day.
Some road photos.










Why is this guy looking to the right-side before crossing the road !!!



And this guy looks left after he already crossed !

[pkumar]

Belgaum Kolhapur stretch












Here we enter Maharshtra.
Wife : Jai Hind, Jai Maharashtra



Kolhapur is very close now.


We reached Kolhapur at 7:50 am, with 600kms on the trip meter.
Got fuel top-up @ 47.17 per liter as compared to 50.xx in Karnataka(53.xx for premium).

The distance to Satara was around 117 kms. Normally I would have covered it in 1 hour, but today I was extremely slow. Took 1 hour 25 minutes.

Pics for the Kolhapur-Satara strech.



Right after Kolhapur, umpteen number of bikers attacked the road. Most of them were disciplined, but some were really not worried about their lives. Moderate your pace while you are crossing Kolhapur Bypass.









What kind of bypass is this? The other 2-lane is on the flyover, and we have to go through the traffic.



Satara is reached at 9:20 am (717kms).
We had home packet food for break fast.
The place where we stopped had these on either side[FONT=&quot].[/FONT]




And we were on the move.

[v&v]

great trip buddy.
i am also planning a trip (GQ) from Delhi to Kerala via Mumbai, banglore and return Chennai, Kolkata , Delhi. Lots of relatives and friends across the route.
Did you make any Trip Log, if you can share it in an xls file will be great for people like me.

[prince_pervez]

Boy! The GQ in the MH and KA region looks so different during/after the rains. The guy looking at the right is not wrong. In India you can expect any vehicle from anywhere.

[pulsar56]

great teaser and amazing pictures of the roads!
waiting for more!

[pkumar]

At 10:50am we were entering Pune Bypass.

Pune city view


And then began the lovely expressway.









The expressway ends and we enter Panvel. From here onwards hvkumar’s very useful Bombay bypass map comes into play and we navigate ourselves to North Bombay without a GPS, without peeping out of the window to ask a passerby.



Just before we turn off into Virar, we get a glimpse of the next leg of our journey.
Me : Should we continue to Jaipur right away?
Wife : We have already told everybody that we are coming home?
Me : So what, I am not tired, lets continue. It is so tempting.
Wife : Enough; turn left.





And we were done in another 10 minutes, reached Virar.

[muralisk]

Wow! That is one really exciting drive you guys have done in about 3 weeks. Awesome. Waiting to see a lot more pics and the initial shots are quite cool. Keep it rolling and I shall be glued to this one.

[pkumar]

The roads from Chitradurga to Davangere, according to my view, would qualify as one of the worst streches on the GQ. Ofcourse Orrisa roads were equally bad. For me rains made driving on these bad roads even worse.
The good stretches in Maharashtra too have not remained that good. very often you are travelling high speed and you find a pothole and you have to dodge it. Pune bypass is never a problem unless you are travelling during peak evening hours.

The learning from Day 1 was that when you are not travelling alone, you have to take lots of breaks to cater to needs of other passenger(s). Lunch, dinner, breakfast, everything has to happen on time. Thus i realized that for the future days i have to tweak my xls to accommodate more break time.

[iceman7]

Seems like a super trip PKumar. Nice pictures too.

I don't know if you planned this or not, but you covered the pre kolhapur and kolhapur to Satara patch at the perfect time. A little later and your opinion about those bikers would have changed. The worst bikers with 0 road sense and discipline can be encountered here. Try doing this patch at 5 in the evening and you will know what I am saying.

Awaiting more...

PS: Don't forget the logs.

[pkumar]

Originally Posted by prince_pervez

Wow! How much time from Kolkata to BLR (NH5), can it be done in 2 days ? Approx 2000 kms, and obviously this thread deserves more pictures.

Kolkata - bangalore can be done in 2 days.
Kolkata to Vizag should take you 15 hours of drive time.
And vizag to bangalore should be another 14 hours of drive time.
There are bad roads in Orrisa, and the above time budgets that.
But be prepared for 2 continuous, tough days of driving.

[prince_pervez]

Wow! I could remember everthing as I saw the pics in chronological order. Thanks for sharing. After this I cannot visualize anything as I have never been after Mumbai part of the GQ.