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Driving Day 7 :

Today the day is going to be tough. 1350kms to go.
We manage to start our journey at exactly 4am. The roads are 2-lane but ok. After 14 kms or so the string of diversions starts. There would be a diversion every few kms. Just when you start believing that situation has improved and you haven’t seen any diversion for many kms, there will be one.
In similar conditions throughout we reached the Andhra Pradesh Border. The tripmeter is at 62km and it is 5:25 am, an average speed of 40kmph. There was Fuel break in between for 5 minutes, at a 24-hour open BP pump.





AP border is horrible to say the least. The road suddenly disappears and you are stuck behind trucks. I thought I missed some turn and now I am behind some parked truck. Got down of the car to realize that they are actually moving slowly, and are stuck because of RTO paper work that they have to do at the border. I was stuck in this jam for about 20 minutes or so. Just after the jam we are in Ichhapuram town. We pass through the town and after 9kms from the border we are onto the 4-lane road again.
Had a sigh of relief to find the 4-lane roads again, after yesterday afternoon.
At 71kms, 6am, we are gunning for Vizag now.









We stopped at a petrol pump for emptying our bladders. There were some “helicopters” stuck on the grill of the car. Actually there were many more casualties, but most of them fell off after crashing.
I am also guilty of killing a crow, which could not fly out of the way on time.








And back on the road.



We are on Srikakulam bypass. It is 7:35am. We have done 120kms in the last 1 hour 20 minutes.



We are getting very close to Vizag.


This is where you fork out for going to Vizianagaram.



At 8:38am – 273kms, we are at a fork where we need to decided if we want to bypass Vizag or go inside. We were hungry and thought that we would certainly find some place inside Vizag. So we decided to go inside. But it was a mistake.

The picture below shows the bypass route.


And picture below shows the inside route.


The bypass is roughly 50kms long and is a good 2-lane road.
The Inside road, though 4-lane, has to go through the Vizag traffic and is also longer at 67kms.



In the above picture the straight going to Anakapalle is actually the bypass road. It goes straight from here and then goes below the 4-lane going to right here. And thus it would bypass Vizag from the right side.
I would recommend taking this bypass.

Few kms from the fork we were doing 100kmph+ speeds and thought this route should be faster. But soon the traffic started hitting us.




Is this the Vizag cricket stadium?





We could not capture any photos of the traffic we passed through. That is why the above roads look doable.
Vizag looks beautiful. There are mountains everywhere. We go through a signal where the left going road would take you to the Beach Road. This is the most happening place in Vizag, and if you want to stay here for the night, it is on the Beach road that you would most likely find a good hotel and sea-side.

We did not find any good place for food so we kept going. Now we have already bypassed Vizag and are at the point where the bypass comes from the right side and joins NH5 .
It took as an hour and 20 minutes for the last 60kms or so. We could have saved half an hour by taking the bypass.

We had lots of snacks items we were carrying with us. Had some of them as breakfast and continued. Our next intermediate point is Rajahmundry. The roads are lovely. I would rate the AP roads very highly.







This SUMO was being towed away. It seemed it had a tyre blast and then crashed on to a pole on the divider.







I am sure many would have heard of several Hanuman statues on AP GQ, but for a change we have Swami Vivekananda.



We have reached Rajahmundry and we are bypassing it now.


Just after rajahmundry we crossed Godavari river.



We were going nicely and we stopped at a Petrol pump for refueling.
That is when I saw that the rear right tyre was flat. I don’t know how long I have driving with this, because I have been feeling a slight lack of power since a long time. Looks like I have easily driven 100-200kms with this state of the tyre.
I drive for another few kms to see a very small puncture repair shop. I had the repair kit but did not want to waste time. I asked the guy to fill air into the tyre and see if it is leaking very swiftly. It was not, and it looked like I could drive on for some distance.

I started driving and after 50 kms or so I visually inspected the tyre again. It looked quite ok and I thought may be I can drive like this all the way to Bangalore, with probably one more top-up.

We reached Eluru and then Vijayawada.






Just 21 kms away from Vijayawada.


We are in Vajayawada. Trip meter is at 687kms and the time is 3:15pm. Very hungry, we are looking for a place to have lunch. We were not seeing any place, so we went inside on a road called ITI college road. Still we could not find anything so we came back to NH5. Finally we settled for a Café Coffee day place. We ate whatever we could to fill our stomach. This was the only day on our entire journey when we did not get good lunch. Luckily, just outside the CCD, we found a place where we got Tandoori Chicken packed.

And back on the road.




We are now at Guntur bypass. 715kms for the day at 4:40 pm. We have already taken 90 minutes of break since morning and wasted 20 minutes in the AP border jam.


We continued our journey and it is getting slightly dark out there.



Few Hanuman statues we encountered on the way.



These cotton laden trucks were depositing cotton all over the road for several kms.
There was some textile factory here.

Driving Day 7 continued :



Next is Ongole.







And we are at Ongole at 6:30pm, 833kms.
Nellore is 130kms now.






And it was finally dark and I knew I could take few more snaps before the camera would stop working.
The ongole-Nellore stretch was really good, with all the marking very well done for night driving.





The stretch was very lively. Next only to the Mumbai Surat stretch.
There were lots of small-time dhabas and other places for food, cold-drinks, etc. Many truckers and other people were visible at these places.
Looking at the situation, I did not think we would be getting a nicer place to have dinner. So I thought it is better to get something packed here, and we would have the food in the car. And that is what we did. We spent a total of 30 minutes in getting packed the food and then having it.

And finally we reached the Nellore Toll plaza. It was 9:30pm and tripmeter was at 980kms.



Just after the Nellore toll plaza, within a km, we saw Mandakini Food Plaza on our left. This was actually the Reliance A1 plaza acquired by these guys. We kind of regretted not waiting more for a decent place. But since we did not know about this place earlier, so not much we could have done.

Naidupet was less than 50kms from here. Soon Gudur went by and we reached a toll gate.
I told my wife, this is the very last toll gate of our journey.

When we were on one of the flyovers, we saw a board marked right for Naidupet and Tirupati. But there was no right going road visible. I told myself that the turn has to be more announcing that this. Tirupati is a big tourist place and the marking should be definitely more prominent. So we continued.
After few kms we reached a 4-way intersection, where there were many boards announcing Tirupati right 69kms. And we could see few cars and trucks diving onto that road. And we did the same.
Trip meter was at 1029kms and it was 10:39pm.

We had more than 300kms to go and that too on messy 2-lane roads. I checked my state of tiredness to assess if I could go all the way. I was on the road for more than 18 hours, but still fatigue had not taken over. But I clearly knew that these last 300kms would not be easy and I would certainly be very tired by the time I reach home.

I told my wife, let me see how I feel after 60-70kms till I reach Tirupati. If I will feel I can’t go anymore, we would find some hotel and stop. The plan looked ok.
As soon as I was on the 2-lane road, I realized that the roads were twisty and there were occasional bumps, so I had to be alert. I found a mini-truck which was going at 70-80kmph and starting tailing it. After sometime a Verna overtook us and it was going very fast. I thought why not tail this guy, and so I started following him.

But that guy was too fast for me and he disappeared quickly. So now I have neither the fast car to follow and nor the mini-truck whom I left behind. So I started driving fast but cautiously, and I was getting tired.
We reached Tirupati bypass at 1094kms, 11:40pm. We had also taken a 6 minutes break in between. 65kms in 55 minutes. Not bad.

From here on I knew the roads and conditions. We reached Chittor bypass and took it. It was 10kms long and now we were on the NH4 to Bangalore.

Now the situation was getting tricky, we had still 180kms to go and I was feeling very sleepy. To cover next 120kms I took 30 minutes break in total.

It is 3:40 am in the morning, and Bangalore is just 50kms from here. But the problem is I am feeling so sleepy that I can drive no more. I found a very brightly lit café-coffee day and parked the car there. After a 35 minutes power-nap, I was much better. I was definitely not perfect, but good enough to drive 50kms.

We started at 4:15am and reached home, 50km away, by 5am. The last 90kms were full of diversions every few 100 meters and it took a toll on me.

But now we were home and suddenly felt an overwhelming joy at the successful completion of the journey. We took just enough luggage and food back to our home, so that we could manage for the next few hours.
I don’t remember what happened after that. I peacefully slept for 11 hours to wake up at 4 in the evening.

pkumar, thanks for the wonderful write-up, taking us through the trip.

What happened to the punctured tyre? Do you have tubeless tyres, or the tubed ones which came with the car?

Wow pkumar!! amazing for you to have driven all those 1350kms alone!! great work.
Wanted to know how the car behaved through out the journey?any niggles ,issues with it. which tyre are you running on the car? is the tubeless with stock configuration on the stock steel rim ? how many Kilometers have totally clocked on your car?
Sorry for bombarding with so many questions. But I have been waiting for you to reach bangalore ;)

pkumar, I admire your spirit for adventure, and you are lucky to have a spouse who shares your spirit. Congrats!
I dread to think that your travelogue is ending. Keep posting man! When is your next trip?
Thanks for those pics of roads near Vizag---I'm glad to note that the GQ has made right turns now left turns (eg Road to Vizianagaram and the one for bypassing Vizag).

To answer your question, yes that is the Cricket Stadium at Vizag. As regards the bypass, though it is shorter, the road is narrow and rough at places. You'd also need to travel in thick traffic till Pendurhi, hence you did not miss much.

:Cheering:

Superb and excellent.

If such travelogues are what I will keep getting from Team-BHpians, I think I am in for a fantastic time here.

:thumbs up

Hi Pkumar,

i admire your planning, organizing, executing this great trip
i also like your simple narration and the interleaving withe some fabulous photographs of the sites, roads and other interesting aspects.

simply this is a great travelogue, just marking it as 5 star

keep posting

The tyres are Tubeless type. Bridgestone Turanza ER60. 185/70/13. on the stock rims. I must say the tyres are superb. They behaved wonderfully over corners, wet roads and bad patches. Amazing traction and braking. I never heard the tyre screeching sound even in the case of hard braking.
I got the puncture repaired once back to Bangalore. ANd the first top-up of air i did was sufficient to reach me home.

It was more the case of driving for 24 hours at a go rather than the distance of 1350kms. if the 500kms out of 1350 was 4-lane road then it would have taken several hours less.
There were absolutely no issues with the car whatsoever.
My car has clocked 42k+ kms till now.
No problems, keep shooting questions.

Thanks for the clarification on te Vizag bypass and your appreciation for the travelogue.

I am yet to post the xls log and the gps log.

Thanks for liking the travelogue.

Thanks a lot really.

Hey pkumar, that is an amazing travel. You must be an avid driver and have the zeal to drive. It’s incredible to know that you have been driving for long distances without taking proper nap. Once I had been to Cochin, I had to cover Cochin to Salem on the same day, and upon reaching home I fell on the bed like a log and couldn't get up for hours. You rock man!!!

Ichhapuram actually has a bypass. If you are coming from Orissa side there is a unmarked left fork. The road is not tarred for 100 odd meters, but after that it is well done 4 lane road. As it is not marked, there are very less vehicles, and kids there use it as there cricket pitch :)

pkumar,
Some lovely pics and gritty driving there. Congrats on completing the GQ Drive :)

So here you go, you wrote what I wanted to hear thatstupid:
1)Tubeless can run good on stock steel rims
2)That Ikon is good enough car for its price.
You must seriously put an long term ownership report like benbsb29 and condor has put up.
It is really assuring to know how good the car is. It was really a commendable journey you took.Your have almost spend more than 20K in fuel and tolls. What all initial preparations you did for the travel factoring in any breakdowns?
I belong to Patna and do wish to drive down someday to my home too. lets see when that happens.

Arindam, I did not know this. i had some idea but was not sure about which fork it was. Since i got stuck for only 20 minutes i guess i did not lose much, but i would watch out next time.


Thanks a lot Fountainhearder & sabsubs. I seldom feel sleepy while driving. But whenever i do feel sleepy, i make sure i do not force myself too much.

Tubless can run nicely on steel rims given the rims are not bent and the new tyres' beading is proper.
Regarding Ikon, it is a superb car in my view and very reliable too, obviously i would be biased. :)
I would post an ownership report when it is more than 50k kms old. Another few months.

Driving to Patna would be fun. Should be comfortably possible in 3 days.
Go ahead buddy.

Regarding the preparations, etc let us catch up over PM.

Hey congrats for your 100th post buddy!!

hehe..I am biased too. Will wait for your ownership report kumar, hope you cover up remaining 8k km in no time.
yes hopefully, have to get my wife agree to it first. Now I have many people to guide me through out the distance(hvkumar, adc, akroy and now even you).I know I am in safe hands now :D
Sure, will catch this up through PMs.