[hvkumar]

From Digha, I have taken the following route to reach NH5 at Jaleswar:
Digha-Sahabajipur 5-Chandaneswar 4-Thanchak 8-Jaleswar 32

Is the same route you followed, mitchontheroad?

[Sutripta]

^^^
Actually Jaleswar is on NH60. Its also where you cross the Subarnarekha. And the spot I was trying to avoid.

Digha to NH5 without crossing NH60 can only mean south of Balasore. Which means there is a (new) bridge south/ east of Jaleswar.

Anyway, did the Digha - Jaleswar road years back. Not to be repeated just for the heck of it.

Regards
Sutripta

[hvkumar]

Sutripta, sorry, that was a typo, I meant NH60 at Jaleswar, not NH5.

[mitchontheroad]

well sutripta, as far as the road tax sitchiation, i have no idea. as that was not an issue for me , i didnt take note. sorry. there was an old guy with a gate to pull down but he didnt stop me, just smiled.
hvk, i came out onto the highway in the middle of nowhere. no town nearby. i MAY have noted the km marker where i came out. i will look in my log and see.
arindamray, yes i will be coming to bangalore sometime in the next few weeks. dont have a total itinerary worked out. i just wing it as i go.
hvk, forgive me but i dont write down or remember all the town names as i pass through. i know, shame on me but i am more concerned with keeping the bike moving! hehehe
and this leads me to a more important question. why are there no very detailed road maps of india????
i am using the eicher atlas. i parted with a lonely planet road atlas i had bought in 2003 for that trip because it was so lacking. now that i have the eicher, i am finding the same thing. the actual roads dont go through the towns they have printed; why can they print all the town and village names on the route? add a few more pages and do it right; very few state road numbers are listed.
overall, i would say maybe 30% of the smaller roads i see every day (old and paved) are not even on the map.
i know i know i know. it adds to the adventure, but...
with the technology today there must be some company willing to produce a quality map, no?
i am thinking with all the members of bhp, some will have a connection with the geological survey of india and be able to get ahold of the good military maps. then we can have them scanned and available at least to our group.
google earth??
this is not a complaint now. just an observation.
by now y'all must know that i love it here in india and driving too.
now in mamallapuram. the sea breeze makes it cooler than AP.
went to the enfield factory yesterday. had a nice little tour.
working my way down to konyakumari. and then up thru the western ghats.
later

[hvkumar]

mitchontheroad, unfortunately, printed maps are terrible on quality in India and mostly out of date, and I found new maps like Eicher older than the old maps! Sometimes, I think the online maps are better. Another problem is that of late there has been so much of road realignment and bypasses that are yet to be updated in the maps.

I don't think the military maps you mention are there for any place but the border areas, mainly because the roads are maintained by the military's own BRO. However, none of these are available to the general public.

The Survey of India does sell some maps, but I found they are also not uptodate.

[ampere]

Folks,

Can some one summarize on the different places that are must see in Orissa?
Places I know: Puri. Chilka Lake and the Konark temple. Thats it.
(Pardon my Ignorance).


PS: I can do a Wikipedia/Google and find out, but I would rather get it
from you guys.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by ampere

Folks,

Can some one summarize on the different places that are must see in Orissa?
Places I know: Puri. Chilka Lake and the Konark temple. Thats it.
(Pardon my Ignorance).


PS: I can do a Wikipedia/Google and find out, but I would rather get it
from you guys.

Standard destinations are Puri, Konarak, Chilka Lake (Satapada,Bhalugaon, Rambha), Simplipal (Jashpur,NH6), Gopalpur-on-Sea (near Behrampur). I can't think of any other place.

[mitchontheroad]

depends on what it is you like to do/see.
riding through the hills is always pleasant to me.
i am not so much into jumping from one tourist spot to another just to see a site/buileing/museum/temple UNLESS it is supposed to be fantastic.

[mitchontheroad]

sutripta, i have noted in my book "digha > kathi > egra > belda > highway. if that means anything to you. i have forgotten those places...dont turn 50!
it was 70kms from mandarmoni to the highway going this way.

[Captdey]

Originally Posted by ampere

Folks,

Can some one summarize on the different places that are must see in Orissa?
Places I know: Puri. Chilka Lake and the Konark temple. Thats it.
(Pardon my Ignorance).


PS: I can do a Wikipedia/Google and find out, but I would rather get it
from you guys.

There are some more excuisite places like -

Bhitarkanika wildlife park -
(Turn off at Bhadrak on NH5 , take SH towards Chandbali ) , hire a launch
for touring inside the estuaries .

Daringbari - Known as Darjeeling of Orissa ( Turn off NH5 at Berhampore )

Taptapani - Famous for its hot water Springs , about 60 kms off Berhampore.

Chandipur sea beach - Popular for weekend travellers from Kolkata.

Cheers

[DriveTrain]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

From Digha, I have taken the following route to reach NH5 at Jaleswar:
Digha-Sahabajipur 5-Chandaneswar 4-Thanchak 8-Jaleswar 32

Just back today after "Getz"ing this route. Drove it the other way round from Jaleswar (NH60) to Chandaneswar and then onwards to Talsari. Except for 3 kms, road is in good condition and newly laid. Double lane state highway with no lane markers. The bad stretch is in 2 parts and looks worse than the surface of Mars on those stretches. Culvert laying work is also going on as well.

Talsari is a wonderful place and a quaint and virgin beach. Very good for a weekend Getaway. There is OTDC -Chandaneswar right on the beach as a place to stay.

Came back the "normal route" to Kolkata , via Digha , Kanthi , Nandakumar & Kolaghat and then via NH6.

Managed to give the Orissa Tax rogues the slip this time around , since I did not have to cross the border on NH 60 but did that near Digha.

After a couple of brushes , have developed a theory on the Tax Mafia at the Orissa border. If you cross the border pretty early in the day , it is deserted . The collectors are generally out in the afternoon or later in the day. May be wrong or just my luck

The other route is off course -NH60 - Belda , Egra , Kanthi and then onwards to Digha and Talsari. If you take this while coming from Orissa you already cross the State border at NH60 and are chancing a run in with the road tax .

[Sutripta]

Originally Posted by mitchontheroad

and this leads me to a more important question. why are there no very detailed road maps of india????

Dont you know that only terrorists use maps and GPSs. It is to fool them, in the interests of national security, that we have such poor, outdated, and in fact inaccurate maps.
Maps have always fascinated me, and the lack thereof, a pet peeve of mine. So I could go on and on doing some GOI and SOI bashing, but Ive come around to the view that we get the maps we deserve.

Originally Posted by mitchontheroad

depends on what it is you like to do/see.
riding through the hills is always pleasant to me.

Orissa has some lovely small ghat sections. Two which come readily to mind are the one near Bisoi (unfortunately now sanitised), and the one between Keonjhar and Pala Lahara. And I have driven/ drive in the Eastern Himalayas.

Originally Posted by mitchontheroad

sutripta, i have noted in my book "digha > kathi > egra > belda > highway. if that means anything to you. i have forgotten those places...dont turn 50!

That is the regular Kharagpur - Digha route.
Re: turning 50, are you clairvoyant?

Regards
Sutripta

[Babuda]

Originally Posted by DriveTrain

Just back today after "Getz"ing this route. Drove it the other way round from Jaleswar (NH60) to Chandaneswar and then onwards to Talsari. Except for 3 kms, road is in good condition and newly laid. Double lane state highway with no lane markers. The bad stretch is in 2 parts and looks worse than the surface of Mars on those stretches. Culvert laying work is also going on as well.

Bumping up an old thread. On our way back from Puri we intend meeting up with some friends in Digha before returning home, so feedback from anyone who's done the above route recently will be appreciated.

The other route is off course -NH60 - Belda , Egra , Kanthi and then onwards to Digha.

Did this one a couple of years ago, but I would still prefer the first route as the distance is considerably shorter, subject to favourable road conditions of course.

[A.G.The Rambler]

Originally Posted by Babuda

Bumping up an old thread. On our way back from Puri we intend meeting up with some friends in Digha before returning home, so feedback from anyone who's done the above route recently will be appreciated.

No issues, pretty okay. We did this route twice last year and it was in good condition. Only 1 irritation, there are too many speed breakers.