[Akadian]

Dear friends,

I had posted my first travelogue a few months ago when I had driven from Kolhapur to Karnal via Pune - Thane - Amdavad - Udaipur - Chittor - Jaipur - Dausa - Bharatpur - Vrindavan - Delhi. Well, at that time I left my car at home and came back by air to Bangalore. On Diwali, I needed to go home and decided to bring my car back as dad has a Getz '05 to go around. So, here it was. I was home on Diwali and my Indigo CS to ready to swing into action. But I did not want to use the route I had taken while going.

Then I wanted to visit Ujjain once. So, I tried google maps but it never showed the route that seemed like most natural to me. I was set on taking Karnal - Panipat - Samalkha - Namunda - Canal road to Rohat - Sampla - Jhajjar - Rewari - Jaipur - Kota - Jhalawar - Agar - Ujjain. Google maps was telling me to go via Aligarh - Agra - Gwalior etc. Anyway, I was firm with my decision and stuck to the route I have mentioned above. So, first day I started late in the day and went from

Karnal - Panipat - Samalkha - Right turn - Canal road at Namunda - Southward to village Rohat - Right turn - Jhajjar - Rewari - Left turn - NH8 - Jaipur

I must say that the by-pass many people here have recommended does not appeal to me at all. I did it but the road is bad at many places around Rewari and even around Jhajjar. I would rather recommend reaching outer Delhi and taking the right turn at the Karnal by-pass point and going to Gurgaon via Delhi Cantt. That route appeals much more than the one I have just mentioned above. The roads are much better and one can go faster. Anyway, I reached Jaipur by 9 pm after having touched the NH-8 post-Rewari at 6:30 pm. I feel I took a wrong turn at Rewari and instead of going left I should have gone straight or even a right turn there would have been better than the left I took. I say this because when I look at google maps now I'm able to make out where I went left and it actually took me farther away from Jaipur. Both the other options (straight or a right) actually take you closer to Jaipur and may have served me better. I actually lost one of my wheel caps in this stretch as a result of some real bad patches of potholes and horrible speed-breakers, some of which I could not avoid as it was pretty dark.

I stayed at a hotel called Teej, which is right opposite Maya International. This Teej place belongs to the tourism department and is pretty decent. They charged me 1300 for the night but it was clean, had hot water and towels etc. So, I was satisfied with my experience. Next morning I started at 8 am from Teej and went on to MI Road and took the turn for Tonk Road. Some 20 kms out of Jaipur I stopped for tea. By the way, this is NH-12 from Jaipur to Tonk - Bundi - Kota and it goes to Jabalpur. I'll now share the complete route covered by me on day two

Jaipur - Tonk - Bundi - Kota - Jhalawar - Raipur - Agar - Ujjain

Till Jhalawar it was all NH-12. But once there, I took a right turn after a toll barrier and then took a left, where going straight would have taken me to Jhalrapatan. I had lunch in Kota at a place called Jain Restaurant, which was a short distance from the bus stand in the direction of Jhalawar. Lunch was nice and the Marwadi Thali did my stomach a lot of good. The road was absolutely "NH" standard till Kota but deteriorated after that. From Jhalawar, it was no more NH and the going was bad for a while but after entering MP it got good after the first toll barrier. I reached Ujjain before it got dark. I did not note the time but it was 5 pm I believe as I attended the 7:30 pm "aarti" at the Mahakal temple after having found a place to stay, parking my car, taking a bath and resting a bit. I put up at "Duggad Yatriki" for Rs 200 only.

I wanted to leave early next morning but could not depart at 5 am because there was a car blocking my exit in the parking. Woke up one attendant but he could not find out whose car it was. Went for "bhasm-aarti" and came back at 7 am to find the obstacle removed. It was a late start and cost me dear later in the day. I'll now sketch out the route I followed to Kolhapur on this day (day three)

Ujjain - Indore - NH3 - Sendhwa - Dhulia - Malegaon - Left turn to SH10 - Kopargaon - Towards Shirdi - Right turn - Talegaon - Sangamner - NH50 - Pune (Nasik phata - Aundh - Vakad) - NH4 - Satara - Kolhapur

The road was pretty bad while exiting Ujjain. I re-fuelled just before Indore and then took the by-pass for AB Road. Made a mistake by taking a right turn too early and then followed the road straight to meet the NH3 (AB Road). For a while it was fantastic and the gold standard was evident but somewhere the road turned horribly bad. Had lunch at a road-side dhaba close to Shirpur. I had planned on reaching Malegaon by 1 pm but it was not to be. Malegaon to Kopargaon was not bad but out of Kopargaon, it became much worse. When I took that right turn towards Talegaon and Sangamner, the going was tough for quite some time as the road was pot-holed all over. Reached Sangamner around 4 pm, I believe and then spent some time in there as I was out of both cash and diesel. Used an HDFC atm to draw some money, stretched my limbs, had some tea and re-fuelled once on the Pune road. It was 5 pm when I was finally making some real progress towards Pune. The NH50 wasn't great, frankly speaking. There were only two lanes almost all the way except a short stretch just before hitting Pune. It got dark and I went faster because I could not afford to spend another night on the way without reaching Kolhapur.

8 o'clock, I reached Nasik phata and spent some time trying to figure out the best way toward Satara and Bangalore. With the help of some good advice from several passers-by, I managed to reach Aundh and then Vakad. At 9 pm, I saw a board on the NH4 announcing Satara 100 kms. 11:30 pm, I entered Kolhapur city and crashed into bed by 12 midnight

[hvkumar]

Any signs of road repair work now that the rains have ended?

[Akadian]

A lot of four-laning work is going on in many places along the AB Road. I really wish it could all become like the great highway one gets to see for a while after exiting Indore

[mobike008]

No Offense but, shouldn't this post be in route updates rather than the travelogue section.

[Akadian]

Hi mobike008,

This is more than a route update. I'm also sharing my experience and other information apart from how the road is while going from point a to point b. If that does not qualify to be called a travelogue, then please correct me

[Akadian]

Hi friends,

I'll roughly like to share what was the distance covered and in how much time for each of the three days. First day, Karnal to Jaipur, it took me 6 hours (3 pm to 9 pm) to cover approx 390 kms. Could have been shorter if I had not taken a long-cut at Rewari and also if I had stayed somewhere on Jaipur by-pass instead of preferring a location close to the Sindhi Camp bus stand.

Second day, Jaipur to Jhalawar was 330 kms and from there to Ujjain was 185 kms. Rounding it out and including some extra running inside Ujjain, I did 520 kms and it took me 9 hours (8 am to 5 pm).

Third day was the longest as I started out at 7:15 am from Ujjain and reached Kolhapur at 11:30 pm. That translates into 16 hours and 15 minutes for approximately 910 kms (including inside city running in Indore, Pune, Sangamner and Kolhapur).

The third day was really tiring as it was not the same quality as GQ roads on which I even did 1200 kms in nearly the same time on August 7 this year. Bad quality roads and highways don't just slow you down but even sap your energy levels harshly. I have recorded an average of 16 kmpl in this trip with the ac running in first and second levels almost all through the journey.

Queries are most welcome and I would like to help anyone else planning on running the same route

Warm regards

[naren_gs1]

Originally Posted by Akadian

Third day was the longest as I started out at 7:15 am from Ujjain and reached Kolhapur at 11:30 pm. That translates into 16 hours and 15 minutes for approximately 910 kms (including inside city running in Indore, Pune, Sangamner and Kolhapur).

If one takes Dewas road from Ujjain, Indore city traffic can be bypassed altogeter. There is a 4 lane easterly bypass for NH-3.

[Akadian]

Thanks for the tip naren_gs1. I'll keep that in mind for the next time. Actually, this was my first time in Malwa even though my community elders say that our history is deeply intertwined with that of Malwa. I have one more curiosity and maybe you could throw some light on this. Close to Agar, I saw one path leading toward Baijnath Mahadev shrine. Do you have any idea how far that is from the main road?

Thanks and regards

[Niks14]

Originally Posted by naren_gs1

If one takes Dewas road from Ujjain, Indore city traffic can be bypassed altogeter. There is a 4 lane easterly bypass for NH-3.

While coming towards Indore from Ujjain raod one does not need to go into the city. Once can take MR10 about 40 Kms out of Ujjain and continue to NH2 Bypass.

How much of four laning is complete on Ujjain Indore Raod and Between Khalghat and Sendhwa of NH3?

[Akadian]

Hi Niks14,

Even I started on an easterly by-pass after re-fueling just before entering Indore but as I said before, I took a right turn too early and lost the by-pass. Anyway, the four laning is going on and in the Ujjain - Indore stretch nothing is 4-lane as of now even though work is definitely on at several places as I remember taking diversions. As far as I can remember, I saw 4 lanes only on taking the by-pass at Indore. The by-pass was fully 4-lane and on exiting Indore the NH3 was also 4-lane but not for too long. There was a turn for Mhow, which said Mhow 10 kms. It was 4-lanes till there and even for a bit more.

Khalghat to Sendhwa is all 2-lane mostly. Come to think about it, close to Indore as well there was a 2-lane stretch and for a while I was left to think whether this is the famous AB Road. Then it turned into a fantastic GQ standard highway for a while before again deteriorating. I did not take down the exact coordinates of all these points and that could definitely have given you a better picture. I still hope that the information I've presented does help you in getting the picture on the whole.

PS: If someone else has run the same route recently and taken notes on the coordinates, please feel free to chip in

Regards

[naren_gs1]

Originally Posted by Akadian

Thanks for the tip naren_gs1. I'll keep that in mind for the next time. Actually, this was my first time in Malwa even though my community elders say that our history is deeply intertwined with that of Malwa. I have one more curiosity and maybe you could throw some light on this. Close to Agar, I saw one path leading toward Baijnath Mahadev shrine. Do you have any idea how far that is from the main road?

Thanks and regards

Apologies Akadian, I have never travelled on road north of Ujjain.

[naren_gs1]

Originally Posted by Akadian

PS: If someone else has run the same route recently and taken notes on the coordinates, please feel free to chip in

Regards

I have done NH3 recently, observations are:
1) Pune-Nagar : Good roads, almost 4 laned with few diversions (~125 kms)
2) Nagar-Rahuri-Shirdi: Bad roads with heavy traffic (~80 kms)
3) Shirdi-Malegaon : Good 2 lane road with sparse traffic (~95 kms)
4) Malegaon-Dhule : Mostly 4 laned good roads
Beware of flyover construction at the junction of NH3 & NH6 in Dhule city. For continuing on NH3, DO NOT take this and enter Dhule city right away. (~ 50 kms)
5) Dhule-MP Border: Decent 2 lane road, with good amount of traffic around Dhule city (~100 kms)
6) MP-Border-Khalghat: Bad 2 lane road (~85 kms), two narrow bridges prone to huge traffic jams
7) Khalghat-Indore (jnuction of Indore-Mhow Road) Recently laid, excellent 4 lane roads (~80 kms). This road joins to Indore-Mohow road. If you continue on this road towards Indore for 4-5 kms - you get a big round about (with directions), take right for Dewas/Indore on easterly bypass.

[RX135]

You did Ujjain to Kolhapur as single driver in a single day? Wow! That must be painful lot.

BTW, I noticed that you did Pune to Kolhapur in 2:30 hours. That looks fast, I would say. It is not impossible to do that, but one has to maintain high speeds (around 120), which is dangerous. What speeds were you doing in general?

BTW, from Pune to Indore, you can also go via Aurangabad-MuktaiNagar-Burhanpur, which is better road I guess.

[Akadian]

Hi RX135,

You bet I was sore all over at the end of that day. If it was GQ roads and I had run for as long, it would not have been so painful. But on this route, my whole body ached. I definitely ran my car pretty hard in that last leg from Pune till Kolhapur. Never did the speed come below 130 if the road was clear and even when I encountered traffic, I started flashing my lights a lot in advance. I saw the speedometer cross 150 kmph several times in this stretch.

I agree with you about the alternative route and I'm going to use it next time. I was daft not to have searched the forum before setting out on this last trip. Anyway, that is simply my own stupidity.

Regards