Query Moved and Approved.

First Congratulations & Good Luck

There're few threads that you need to go through & YOU HAVE TO contact bluevolt as he completed the GQ successfully during Feb 2010 on his Ninja. Here're the links on his ride below. He has neatly logged his ride & I'm sure you'll have 90% of your questions answered.
The Gift A Dream Ride: 12th Feb - 28th Feb 2010 - xBhp.com : The Global Indian Biking Community

15, yes you could do it.

^^^ Is my favourite circle because the Kolkatta-Orissa-Vizag route is terrible & if you start with this route first, then you experience the bad first & then taste the good roads. So I personally prefer this, though many people do the other way from Delhi. I feel this is good enough.

From Chennai stretch, I can help you guide when from AP to TN (via Chennai) - BLR as I live close to NH5 & NH4. As far as I remember Bluevolt did about 800+ Kms run from Bangalore to Vizag on day 1; IIRC it took about 15 hours.

If you halt at Chennai, then you may want to consider doing Chennai to Pune/Mumbai in one day & I think it possible for a person like you.

Good Luck champ!!!

Hey champ, send me a pm and I will help you with whatever information I can.

That reminds me - I have not finished writing the logs of the last three days of the GQ trip. Aargh! Have to do it pronto...

hey guys

thanks for those lovely replies....that surely boosts up my confidence....would keep planning and please frequent this thread...

I need to have all the information before hand

All right, how's this stretch? I mean, comparable to NH8??? or better/inferior to that??

around 1400km do not seem to be a difficult task in one stretch!!!

1400 kms is very difficult - why do you want to do that when you have 14 days at your disposal. Keep your max to 800 and have enough energy for the next day.

yeah...thats right!!


however, can you please tell me about the road conditions...it it easy to maintain speeds above 100, majorly?

also, which is the worst part of the ride and how bad is it??

There are a lot of roads where you can keep your bike around 100, but you will be be averaging around 70-80. The bad stretch is just before Bhubaneshwar - around 100 odd kms or so. I'm hoping that things might have improved now, but in feb, there was thick slush for a few kilometers, then small rocks on the road on some and then some really narrow roads through the diversion. Rest of the roads are great, though you might find switching from four lane to two in areas between Hubli-Chitradurga, Ahmedabad-Baroda a pain. But the roads are decent there.

I also experienced massive traffic jams starting from Faridabad to Delhi via the badarpur border, but in hindsight, I should have bypassed Delhi and gone directly to Gurgaon from Faridabad.

Try and avoid Calcutta since the traffic might be too much in this summer heat. Just keep going on straight on the highway as you head towards Calcutta and you can conveniently byepass it. Same for Mumbai, try and take the help of some Mumbai xbhp members to give you specific pointers on how to cut through the city. I went through Gorbunder-Panvel.

Well I've planned the ride a bit later and not in this blazing summer as I'm not sure if a 220 would be able to sustain such heat for such a long distance!!!

moreover, I'm stuck with a new job, so no leaves as of now...a medical certificate would do wonders after sometime

Till then, I'll plan as much as possible

Hey guys!!

sorry I couldn't keep up due to professional responsibilities. Well, here is the "tentative" plan...please excuse for the days that would be spent in sight seeing... Cant miss them

The Golden Quadrilateral

Day 1
Delhi to Varanasi: 805km ~ 12 hours

Day 2:Varanasi
Place to See:
Assi Ghat
Burning ghat
Kedar Ghat
Panch Ghat
Ram Nagar Fort

Places to stay in Varanasi: Around Burning and Assi Ghat.

Tentative Stay: Maa Vaishno Guest House (09336 490 694, 09889 054 756)

Not to miss: Shiv Lassi Bhandar, Ramnagar Fort

Day 3
Varanasi to Kolkata: 670km ~ 10 hours

Day 4 & 5: Kolkata
Place to see:
Writer’s Building
General Post Office
Raj Bhawan
Shahid Minar
Eaden Gardens
Indian Museum
Victoria Memorial
Howrah Bridge
Places to sleep:
Check out Suder Street for budget accommodation options.
Tentative stay: Hotel Maria 033-2252


Day 6:
Kolkata to Visakhapatnam: 870km

Day 7:Visakhapatnam
Places to see:
Matsyadarshini Aquarium
Borra Caves
Submarine Museum
Bddhist Excavations
Kambalakonda

Places to stay: To be confirmed/researched

Day 8:
Visakhapatnam to Chennai: 835km

Day 9: Chennai
Places to see:
Birla Planetarium
Marina Beach
Kapaleeswarar Temple

Places to stay:
Zam Zam Guest House (41 Subathral Street, Triplicane)
Old Woodlands (044-28482150/52)
Paradise Guest House ( No. 17/1, Vallabha Agraham Street)
Cristal Guest House (34, CNK Road, Triplicane. Phone: +91 44 285 13011)
Hotel Chennai Gate, Gandhi Irwin Road. Phone: +91 44 2819 4377

Day 10: Tentatively the longest and mind freaking
Chennai to Mumbai: ~1350km

Day 11&12:Mumbai
Places to See:
Marine Drive
Band Stand
Gateway of India
Taj Palace
Hanging Gardens

Places to stay:
Anywhere around Colaba, , Bombay Central, Andheri

Day 13:
Mumbai to Udaipur: 785km

Day 14:
Udaipur to Delhi: ~650km

Day 15:
Back to work!!!


Let me know if something needs to be changed/added/removed completely. Moreover, I need inputs on the "stay" part in some cities that I couldn't find much information for. Kindly Help

Here's a little suggestion
If Day 9 falls on Sunday, then we could all meet at Besant Nagar beach which is as good a Marina. If Marina is for poor, then Besant Nagar is for the other community. Marina is must visit as this is the second longest beach in the world.

Add Parthasarathy temple which is also in Triplicane along with Kapaleeswarar temple in Mylapore; while the former is for Lord Vishnu, the later is for Lord Shiva.

Planetarium is purely your choice. The show is for about 45 minutes there & the science museum. Both put together will be around 3 hours to spend. How about a drive through ECR & a visit to historical famous Mahabalipuram? You can probably consider visiting this place.

Also try to include a visit to little mound to have a good view on the airport & the flight take off & landings & visit the St Thomas church.

If you're interested in wild life or visit the first zoo established in India, then Anna Zooligical park a.k.a Vandaloor zoo is a must visit

If you don't mind visiting (and a good ride) you can visit temple city, Kanchipuram & also do a good shopping for Kanchipuram silk sarees & may be visit the MMSC (Madras Motor Sports Club) Track on the way too.

Do not plan to be in Chennai around Oct/Nov during the monsoon to witness the worst part of the flooded city.

Let me know when you intend to arrive & I can guide you in Chennai during your stay. I can pick up you up as my house is in the outskirts connecting NH4 (Chennai - Mumbai) & NH5 (Chennai - Kolkatta).

Edit - Oh!!! on accomodation, don't worry, there're several good & budget places, we can very easily manage.

Hey!

Thats one great compilation of suggestions!! Atleast now I'm fully certain about one of the cities.

If you dont mind, Can you please sketch a two days itinerary for Chennai. Also, Thanks for offering your kind help when I arrive in Chennai. That would be an added advantage and would surely ease off some stress!

Ok, but when're you planning to be here? Have you finalized the dates? Give me the date & time by when you intend to arrive, we can work something for you & may be even a small G2G with Chennai xBhp folks.

Edit - Did you speak with Bluevolt? What's his suggestion? You cannot get a better itinerary than what he suggests.

I did talk to Bluevolt over this in the forum itself...he seems to be pretty ok with the plans. And as far as the dates are concerned, they're yet to be finalized as I'm stuck with a new job and would need sometime for things to settle down. However, Would surely let you know about the plans