Re: The Great Monsoon Ride - Half the country in 27 days

Its never too late to post a t log like they say, older the wine better the taste....

Re: The Great Monsoon Ride - Half the country in 27 days

Wow, speechless. Waiting for your splendid collection of pics and details about it.
And for sure it is going to be one hell of information of places atleast for Kerala side.

Re: The Great Monsoon Ride - Half the country in 27 days

If teasers are so good, how would be the actual log? Bring on the rest!

Re: The Great Monsoon Ride - Half the country in 27 days

Beautiful pics there. Monsoon will be the season most of the bikers will be looking for, as it will be the treat to eyes.

Waiting for your loads of beautiful pics and log.

Re: The Great Monsoon Ride - Half the country in 27 days

Bring it on Gourab!!!

Re: The Great Monsoon Ride - Half the country in 27 days

Amazing

Sent using Moto X

Re: The Great Monsoon Ride - Half the country in 27 days

Great pics Sir. Where exactly is this Kalvary Mount located?

Regards,
Niks

Re: The Great Monsoon Ride - Half the country in 27 days

Day 1 & 2 - Pune - Aurangabad - Mehkar - Nagpur - Bhandara - Raipur - Bargarh - Sambhalpur - 1350kms
Pune-Kolkata was stretch was in my mind from a long time just for the fact that not many have done the route beyond Raipur and anything which is unknown excites me. The usual route for most of the guys is through Hyderabad, Vijayawada and then taking the NH5 to Kolkata. Kolkata is 2000kms from Pune and I decided to make it in 2.5days with almost 1000km on second day. It was a very tough plan as the road condition beyond Raipur is dicey and no one could give me an idea as to how bad it will be. Also Naxalite activity is always a concern while you are riding through Chattishgarh

Initial plan was to start by 3.30 and cross Jalna for the night. Finishing all the work I could start only by 6.30 in the evening. I knew that doing Pune – Kolkata in 2days will be immensely difficult. Multiple blasts in Pune city just an hour after I left didn’t helped my cause and I had stop at Ahmednagar just 100km from Pune owing to multiple checks by police and calls from close ones

I have done Pune – Nagpur stretch quite a few times in the last couple of years and taken almost every route which goes upward towards Nagpur. Roads in this part of Maharashtra are pretty good and since I had done this sections multiple times I made pretty good progress and reached Nagpur by 6.30. Was supposed to meet an xBhpian Roshan but due to some problem in coordination I lost my way in the new Outer ring road made to bypass Nagpur city. By the time we met it was 7.45 and Roshan said that road ahead might not be in great condition to do in night time and the weather was also not looking rosy for a night ride. Since I was already frustrated by an hour loss in the city I decided to stop at Nagpur. With almost 1200kms left for Kolkata I knew I can’t make it in a day so decided to break it in 2days.

Roads beyond Nagpur are not in great shape all the way till Bhandara and what has been a superb flat out ride on Day 1 turned into a bumpy ride on Day 2. I realized soon that by not continuing beyond Nagpur in the night proved to be blessing in disguise for me. Not only I had to ride in bad roads but the next decent hotel could have been only in Durg which was good 200km away.

It was drizzling from Nagpur but by the time I hit Chhattisgarh border it started raining very heavily. I knew that four lanes will start around 80km before Raipur but I always had an impression that even after Raipur there will be four lane for atleast a good 200kms. I was shocked when the four lane finished abruptly between two homes and became two lane battered road within 30km from Raipur. With disbelief I checked multiple times whether I’m on NH6 which goes to Kolkata or not. After multiple confirmations I realized that this narrow lane is called NH6.

Rain was getting very heavy and for the next 3hours and what I could see a thin strip of black tarmac which can be classified as road and kms of submerged land on both of the road. It was like riding in the middle of a flood. Since the road was not in great shape and it was raining very heavily my speed took a hit as I was not sure whether I’m running over a big or small pothole. The route is quite beautiful but could hardly stop and click because of rain. Sometime later it started raining so heavily that going got tough and I started looking for a shelter. This section had hardly any dhabas leave aside any good restaurant and it was only after an hour or so that I could find a shabby dhaba.

Reached Orissa border only by 7 after riding for almost 12 hours and 500kms from Nagpur. Roads improved little bit after I entered Orissa near Bargarh. My destination for the day is Sambalpur which is the second largest city by population in Western Orissa but for me it is the place for longest earthen dam in the world called Hirakud. The reservoir is very near to Sambalpur town but unfortunately for me I couldn’t visit it due to my urgency to reach Kolkata. Some other day for sure

Somewhere outside Ahmednagar on way to Aurangabad


The fully loaded bike


Sexy 2 lane roads after Jalna all throughout to Nagpur


Stopover at some random trail just of the road


Another stopover at a very small dam


The overflowing Wainganga river at Bhandara


Waiting for the train to come to get that perfect shot


And next moment see what happens
Classic case of photographer going overboard!
Park the bike, run across to click only to find this happening through the viewfinder.
Culprit: Not checking properly and parking on loose soil


A decent train shot


Finally a place to eat


Love monsoon and greenery


Some respite from rain as I close towards Orissa and the road also improves


And now going straight into heavy rains little ahead

Re: The Great Monsoon Ride - Half the country in 27 days

good one bro.... waiting for the rest..... superb clicks...

Re: The Great Monsoon Ride - Half the country in 27 days

Awesome clicks [MENTION=10454]MG[/MENTION] bhai...so good...

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Awesome clicks [MENTION=10454]MG[/MENTION] bhai...so good...

Re: The Great Monsoon Ride - Half the country in 27 days

Thank you guys

Will try to post one update every 3 days so you can make a visit once in 3 days

Thanks. Its in Idukki district near Idukki town

Re: The Great Monsoon Ride - Half the country in 27 days

Awesome photos there
Waiting for the rest...

Re: The Great Monsoon Ride - Half the country in 27 days

This kind of surroundings can't be had during dry seasons! Brilliant captures too!

Re: The Great Monsoon Ride - Half the country in 27 days

Nice trip

Jaggudada