[issigonis]

arindam_xeta,

Nice pictures. As I can guess from your travelogue, roads have improved since the time I did Puri-Konarak-Chilka-Berhampur, nearly nine years ago.

If roads are fine, and the driver is careful whilst driving, there are no major causes of worrying. Alexander had travelled almost half the world and conquered it all by the time he was 31-32 years old and our very own Sam Maneckshaw had 14 bullets removed from his stomach in Burma during the Second World War when he was a young army officer!
Don't worry, be happy.

Have a safe and enjoyable drive.

Regards

[akas_chauhan]

Arindam, Nice pictures. I liked that Marine Drive mainly ChandraBhaga Beach, RamChandi etc.

Didi you spot any Dolhin in Chilka Lake? There is a Dhaba on Right side of road while you going from Cuttack to Chilka, Name is Hotel/Dhaba Chilka, just Before entering Balugaon. They have very nice prawn dishes and very cheap also. Do enjoy that on your Vizag trip.

[black_panther]

Originally Posted by arindam_xeta

Guys I'm planning the same trip as Suman in Jan 2010 after 10th, please let me know if any of you have similar plans around that time and if it can be synced. We will drive together, its just for the sheer fun of being together! Kolkata - Puri - Vizag - Pui - Kolkata something like that. I'll be halting at least for a day during both onward and return journey, since my 4 months old won't be able to do 15 hours continous journey to Vizag (which will be my actual destination though).

I am planning a similar trip to Vizag in Jan. My plan is to start early and finish it off in a day.

In case of a break journey, I would prefer to halt at Barkul. But, i'm not sure whether the beautiful birds would still be there.

I'll take my 6 months old kid with me. We took him for a 4000+ km trip of Rajasthan when he was 2.5 months old. Don't worry about your kid.

What worries me is the current situation in AP due to Telengana issues.

Also , I'm not sure regarding the exact road conditions between Bhubaneshwar and Icchapurum.

Can someone help me with these two?

[arindam_xeta]

Hi all,
Roads were good last time I travelled on 10th Jan 2009; I'm travelling again on 10th Jan 2010. I have some 2nd hand information from a colleague that the Balasore to Bhadrak Stretch is still a sore to drive. But NHAI will just sit on that road for one full year is a little hard to imagine. So I presume it’s as good as what I got last year or may be a spot better considering NHAI worked for at least a month to undo the normal wear and tear that road surfaces are exposed to over last 12 months time.

The political disturbance is really a cause of concern will have to decide up on reaching Puri.

Any other information on that route please share

I’m looking for similar info in another thread; please check that out too for some info

[Captdey]

Arindam,

Photographs are very eye soothing, nice light and perefect exposure , is it a SLR ?

By the way road are still pretty bad Between Baleswar
and Bhadrak, there are some pretty good hotels has
come up near Bhadrak on NH5 , good for lunch break
or overnight stay .

Cheers

[KALINGA]

Originally Posted by arindam_xeta

Hi all,
Roads were good last time I travelled on 10th Jan 2009; I'm travelling again on 10th Jan 2010. I have some 2nd hand information from a colleague that the Balasore to Bhadrak Stretch is still a sore to drive. But NHAI will just sit on that road for one full year is a little hard to imagine. So I presume it’s as good as what I got last year or may be a spot better considering NHAI worked for at least a month to undo the normal wear and tear that road surfaces are exposed to over last 12 months time.

The political disturbance is really a cause of concern will have to decide up on reaching Puri.

Any other information on that route please share

I’m looking for similar info in another thread; please check that out too for some info

Balasore to Bhadrak Stretch is not that bad as described here. you can maintain 60-70 kmph on that road. But many diversions are there. because Golden quadrangle project is still under construction on this patch.

Be careful...if you are covering that stretch at night. Drive carefully when you crossing roadside DHABAs. Between Balasore and Bhadrak many petrol bunks are there. So refulling is not a issue for both petrol and Diesel car. There is a place called SORO between Balasore and Bhadrak, you can take snacks there but dont except good facility. Small topri like shops near highway. But you can except good quality RASOGOLLA there.

[sumannandy]

Road conditions are good if you are driving through Balasore city. You just need to drive through a village road for about 7 kms.

Roads around Ichapuram is bad.

AP roads are good(NH5 will bypass most of the towns anyway). Political disturbances should not be a problem. The day we went to Visakhapatnam, there were demonstrations going on. But there was no problem for us, although we were worried.

Road conditions:
Kolkata - Balasore : Good, GQ except last few kms.
Balasore-Bhadrak - not bad, multiple diversions but possible to drive in 70-80 kmph.
Bhadrak-Balugaon- Good, GQ except last few kms
Balugaon-Barakul: Broken in places
Barakul-Berhampore:Mix of good and bad, four lane work going on, mostly no issues
Berhampore-Ichapuram:Bad
Ichapuram-Visakhapatnam:Great

Facilities:

Kolkata - Balasore : Bad after Kolaghat
Balasore-Bhadrak - not bad, but food only at small huts at Soro
Bhadrak-Balugaon- Lot of options after Cuttack. We had food at Bhubaneswar. Bad after Bhubaneswar.
Balugaon-Barakul: Bad
Barakul-Berhampore:Bad
Berhampore-Ichapuram:Bad
Ichapuram-Visakhapatnam:Great, dhabas with every big petrol pumps. There are a lot of COCO petrol pumps as well.

Watch out for cows in Orissa. Also watch out for autos in AP.

Wish you a safe trip.

[arindam_xeta]

Originally Posted by Captdey

Arindam,

Photographs are very eye soothing, nice light and perefect exposure , is it a SLR ?

By the way road are still pretty bad Between Baleswar
and Bhadrak, there are some pretty good hotels has
come up near Bhadrak on NH5 , good for lunch break
or overnight stay .

Cheers

Thanks Captain, no its not an SLR its Sony DHC H9. Shot in manual mode mostly and at times in auto mode when my wife was behind the camera.

Its bad its taking such long time for NHAI to complete that part and worse that its not improved a bit in last one year. But I've now got some very good info on the road conditions thanks to all.

Suman how was your trip, please share with us! Thanks

[sumannandy]

Here is the link to the travelogue.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travelogues/72488-gq-driving-kolkata-chennai-bangalore.html

[Sudipto-S-Team]

I just did Puri-Kolkata-Puri. Went out on December 26 and came back 30th. Roads are just as good or bad as they were a year ago. My travel time was around 7/8 hours. I should say 10 km on either side of Balasore is really bad. Rest is just fine. Balasore to Bhadrak took me about an hour. I drive at a very leisurely pace.

[PearlJam]

Very descriptive and great photos! Just curious, why is the dashboard covered with cloth?

[KALINGA]

Originally Posted by PearlJam

Very descriptive and great photos! Just curious, why is the dashboard covered with cloth?

I think to prevent the dashboard from sunlight. And a towel on dash come handy for clean the inner side of front windscreen, cleaning our face etc

[arindam_xeta]

Ya Kalinga got it kind of right , I don’t quite like that plastic look of the dashboard offered in Indica and the texture allows dust to settle very easily. I try to keep the dashboard area dust/stain free and the cloth kind of helps that way to keep it tidy. It does not really enhance the aesthetics by any bit.