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A 2,600 km road trip from Calcutta to Cherrapunji in a Skoda Karoq

13th March 2024, 14:09 by Ananth Iyer

Ever since shifting to Calcutta, innumerable plans have been made to drive to Darjeeling, Sikkim, Arunachal and what not, basically the lovely north Bengal but none of them materialized due to paucity of time.

BHPian cpabhijit recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

This travelogue is from 2022! Apologies for the delayed post.

There'd been quite a lull since my last travelogue but that is only in posting and not in road tripping. But this one is longer than my 2300km Ahmedabad - Calcutta one way trip (Ahmedabad to Calcutta road-trip in a Skoda Karoq)!

So, ever since shifting to Calcutta, innumerable plans have been made to drive to Darjeeling, Sikkim, Arunachal and what not, basically the lovely north Bengal but none of them materialized due to paucity of time.

Finally over the Durga Puja holidays (2022), there was a nice window where this could be undertaken. Itinerary was drawn up as follows:

CCU - Siliguri (550km)
Siliguri - Guwahati (470km)
Guwahati - Shillong
Shillong - Cherrapunji

Back the same way.

Got in touch with team-bhpian ABHI1512, who guided me on the route and gave me invaluable advice.

Day 1

Started at 5am and exited the city through Howrah and encountered a long line of trucks at Dankuni with Google showing +33 mins and it was exactly that much when we got out of the jam and onto the Chinsurah - Krishnanagar road. This is a 4 lane divided road, sees minimal traffic and tarmac is in excellent condition, all till Bandel. After that we get onto SH6 and the tarmac worsens, local traffic picks up and it is a single carriageway. It is mainly totos, or e-rickshaws, which dominate the roads. They trundle along at 15-20kph and stop bang in the middle to pick up passengers and this becomes a problem on undivided roads. Also, on 4 lane roads which also are designated as NH, there is this strange practice in WB of putting up barricades at all divider breaks. One has to weave through them and it slows you down interminably.

Anyway, just as we were approaching Krishnanagar, stopped to have breakfast at this place called Mishtanna Bhandar. The food was delicious to say the least. Took a 45 min break here and resumed. A line of trucks were at a standstill getting onto the Krishnanagar bypass and 2 other roads leading to the same bypass were also at a standstill. Most drivers were out of their vehicles and chatting away. The locals were excited about the whole thing and chorused that it will take a couple of hours to clear. I looked up on maps an a road through 'Betai' joined the Krishnanagar Behrampore highway at Plassi and showed 1 hr more for 25kms extra. Took a U-turn and went into Krishnanagar. This road was more of the same, average tarmac, undivided, tons of local traffic. I was slowly making my way, the rural scenery was not bad at all, when at a rare good patch, there was the entire force from the local police station jumping and waving for me to stop. I did and they all excitedly told me I was overspeeding. The chief of them walked up and asked his guys how much was I doing and they all chimed '56 sir' . He was taken aback, and said "I have to give him a challan for 56 also"? His guys wouldn't hear of it and said this was a 40kmph stretch and 56 was way too much. He reluctantly and rather apologetically handed me a 1k fine and I moved on.

Finally I think around 1pm, having covered just 200kms in 7hrs, I got onto the highway at Plassi. Stopped at Pappu Dhaba for lunch at 2pm and resumed at 3pm. The road is a 4 laned highway but with a lot of patchwork.

But for me, coming from SH6, this was autobahn. With barricades.

We reached Farrakka barrage by about 5pm and the traffic was moving. Now, this is another point of interest. The speed limit is 20kph for this 2.5km stretch. I will hand it to you if you can manage 10 (in 2022, now it is much better). The surface is rutted with truck tracks and the expansion joints are all big speed breakers you have to hobble over. With the bumper to bumper traffic, I managed 7kph. Which is a full 20 mins to cross over. I saw a too-little-too-late new bridge coming up. 30% of the pillars are there. Looks like it'll be another 5-6 years for that to be completed.

It was quickly getting dark and the puja revelers in all the towns and villages were out in full force. We crossed Malda quickly (new bypass) and made it upto Raiganj by 6.45pm, 3h 45m not bad at all for the 190kms from Pappu Dhaba. Raiganj bypass is not done yet and we entered the town. Puja pandals everywhere and traffic was painfully slow. Took 30 mins to cross the city and then we got stuck in a long line of trucks 3kms before exiting onto the highway. And we were there for an hour. A 407 had broken down and caused the jam. Got out at 8pm and had been at the wheel for 12.5 hrs already. Thankfully, my son was sleeping away and at this time had been asleep for 4 hrs straight! Moved onto Dalkhola and stopped at BPCL Apna Ghar just after Dalkhola for dinner. This place maybe a good choice for breakfast and lunch but is a bad choice for dinner simply because of the innumerable Siliguri - Calcutta Volvos which stop here. Very crowded and dirty restrooms.

From here on, we made good progress, what with the barricades being cast aside for the night. Just as we were about to enter Siliguri, there was some Google Maps confusion which took us along the Fulbari route, instead of through Bagdogra and we spent another 15 mins extra. Finally reached Hotel Ramada Encore at 12.20am. That's 19 hrs on the road, 16h 26m of driving! Redbull gives you wings!

Ramada Encore is a new property and the room was very clean, well appointed and the fittings were shining.

What an abysmal avg speed!

Day 2

Got up by 8.30, got ready and headed for breakfast, which was good. Service was a tad slow but we were in no hurry. Left the hotel by 11am, heading to Sevoke to cross the Teesta. But, Google suggested I go via NJP instead. So, took that route. This is about 30km longer but seriously, much much better than going through Sevoke and the narrow winding stretch of road leading to and from the bridge. This stretch is always choc a bloc and full of trucks.

Via NJP, takes one through Dhupgiri and joins the Sevoke - Bongaigaon road after Hasimara. This road is a single carriageway but of excellent quality and manageable traffic. Goes through tea gardens and the Jaldapara National Park.

Dream tarmac

Stopped just before the Assam border for lunch. Sankush Valley hotel, very clean, simple food.

Dusk came on quickly and the roads changed from asphalt to cement with frequent bridges which were in uniformly bad shape.

With Guwahati 90kms away, Google suggested a diversion to NH427 instead of NH27. Quick call to relatives and we proceeded on NH27. 15kms on, once again ran into a long queue of trucks. All cars were trying their best to wriggle into spaces and move ahead. We were stuck here for 45 mins, moving very slow. Finally, we came to a divider break where the cars were asked to proceed on the opposite lane whereas the trucks were kept waiting. Don't know if this is usual practice for trucks entering Guwahati but we saw the same phenomenon on our return, as well. From here on we moved quickly and entered Guwahati by 8ish and home by 9pm.

Day 3,4,5 - Guwahati

Me and son slept through the next day while the missus caught up with her relatives. We roamed around Guwahati over the next 2 days.

Day 6

Shillong. While we had planned on spending a couple of days in ML, there were absolutely no rooms to be had! The road to Shillong is a winding one, 4 lane throughout.

Jiva is a default choice for a break enroute. Food is good, clean amenities.

Stopped at Barapani for some pics.

Shillong is (in)famous for its traffic. It was bad. We stayed at the State Convention Center, which was not bad at all, though. Nice clean rooms and food at Pinewood. We reached at 1pm. Went on a walking tour of the city. Came back post dinner and crashed.

Day 7

Cherrapunji. The roads are broken in some stretches and makes the progress very slow. Takes over 2 hours to cover 60 km. But lovely views are to be had throughout and at the end of it