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A Small Experience of My Pune to kolkata Bike Trip
My first leg of mammoth road trip from Pune to Kolkata embarked on
27th Feb. It gave me an immense sense of self content and made my soul
alive. So I took a moment to pen down my experiences that I found
intriguing and thought of sharing those with the people who have the
passion to go for such long and adventurous journeys.
Actual distance covered- 2282 KMs.
Pune, Maharashtra to Aurangabad, Maharashtra-
KMs travelled- 300 KMs
Time taken- 4 hrs. 30 mins (including breaks)
Toll- NIL
Road quality- Pune to Aurangabad (Good)
Aurangabad, Maharashtra to Raipur, Chhattisgarh-
KMs travelled- 800 KMs
Time taken- 13 hrs. 00 mins (including breaks)
Toll- 0
Road quality- Aurangabad to Nagpur (poor), Nagpur to Raipur (Excellent)
Although, Nagar Road Highway from Pune till Aurangabad is in excellent
condition, the recently developed by-pass road that connects
Aurangabad and Nagpur without entering the bigger towns like Amravati
is not in a good condition (as on 28 Feb. 2017). Especially after
Jalna, the road starts to get into pretty worse condition. It has
dangerous potholes and
driving at more than 60 KMPH may lead you to some breakdowns. I
started at 9 AM in Aurangabad and after few short breaks, I reached
Raipur at around 10:30 PM.
Credits to the well maintained NH6, that we could cover 400 KMs in 6
hours only. Just a stretch of around 10 KMs on the bye pass that
starts before Raipur towards
Bilaspur is in poor condition. Just a pointer that the roads are so
faulty that the potholes may engulf half of your bike tyre. Beware!!!!
It may be a clever move to travel through Raipur and avoid those
dangerous potholes. The route has numerous Tolls.
Raipur, Chhattisgarh to Kharagpur, West Bengal-
KMs travelled- 1081 KMs
Time taken- 14 hrs. 00 mins (including breaks)
Toll- 0
Road quality- Disastrous
Pathalgoan was not a planned stop. I planned to travel 430 KMs from
Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh to Ranchi, Jharkhand. It was a result of an ill
planning, I confess. Although Google Maps suggested this route, but it
did not mention the condition the road was in. Now, I think that we
should have travelled though Rourkela, Odisha to avoid 123 KMs of
horrible road between Hati, Chhattisgarh and Jashpur, Chhattisgarh.
That particular stretch of road seemed haunted. The condition of the
road was too bad with
huge all around. Honestly, it cannot be qualify tied of be termed as a
road. It was full of rubble and white dust. Even the trees on the
roadsides seemed to have a coat of whitewash on them. There were very few
vehicles on the road, only huge Lorries and a few goods bickering
trucks. These trucks were small ones with scanty grocery items which
see any village or any human being travelling for about 100 KMs. It
was frustrating. By the time we reached Pathalgaon, it was 5 PM and
we still had to cover approx. 500 KMs to reach our planned destination
physically tired but that last stretch inferior 40kms made my mind
drain out immensely. I was mentally exhausted after traveling just 40
KMs of the bad road stretch. Once I thought that we could travel a bit more
in the day but that meant that we cannot afford to stop anywhere
before Kharagpur. The area between Pathalgaon and Kharagpur is not quite
hospitable for a night stay. And out of those 500 KMs we had to cover
the rest of the bad road. I stopped by a shop just before we came out
of the village of Pathalgaon. The shop owner too suggested staying in
any hotel in Pathalgaon. But there is nothing in a radius of 500 kms
except jungle.
The best experience to ride through was Lodhasuli Forest. Before we
entered the forest, we were warned by many not to stop in there, under
any circumstances whatsoever. I
crossed the jungle at night around 10 pm. I covered it within an
hour.
Since I covered the bad road stretch till Baharagora, I stopped at a
Dhabba and had an excellent chai (in Bengali "CHA"). It was a moment
of triumph, as I got rid of that boring and taxing experience of the
bad roads of
Orissa. After this, I had a soothing ride all the way had a leisurely
drive through the hills to Kharagpur.
After Baharagora, the roads seemed to get better to my surprise. Quite
surprising! But unfortunately my bike got dirty (dirtiest it has ever
been).
Kharagpur, West Bengal to Kolkata, West Bengal-
KMs travelled- 106 KMs
Time taken- 1 hrs. 30 mins. (No breaks)
Toll- 1 (Rs.5)
Road quality- Very good
NH16 happens to be among the few good roads West Bengal has to offer.
However, I found it stimulating to drive on NH16 with only heavy
trucks. It has a long stretch of much degraded roads and only half the
road is for use, and you have to travel with heavy vehicles along with
poor visibility due to heavy dust. As a result, we witnessed a
Mahindra Bolero got hit in by a truck due to poor visibility. At
another toll plaza our bike got nearly hit by a desperate lorry driver
who could not wait
for us to manoeuvre a high rise speed breaker on the road on the exit
of the toll plaza. These drivers are very ill mannered and fortunately
I did not find a similar experience when I traveled rest of the
experience and I have to think of a time with less traffic to take my
bike onto the Kolkata streets.
Finally I reached home at around 1:30 AM (1st March)
TIP: When you see a queue of trucks or Lorries on West Bengal
highway, do not queue up. Instead try to cautiously overtake them.
You'll find this more than often and when you overtake them you'll
understand you saved a few hours. Always use proper precaution while
riding.
Take Care, Ride safe & Don't drink and ride.
P.S. Have fun. Be active. Ride a bike.
27th Feb. It gave me an immense sense of self content and made my soul
alive. So I took a moment to pen down my experiences that I found
intriguing and thought of sharing those with the people who have the
passion to go for such long and adventurous journeys.
Actual distance covered- 2282 KMs.
Pune, Maharashtra to Aurangabad, Maharashtra-
KMs travelled- 300 KMs
Time taken- 4 hrs. 30 mins (including breaks)
Toll- NIL
Road quality- Pune to Aurangabad (Good)
Aurangabad, Maharashtra to Raipur, Chhattisgarh-
KMs travelled- 800 KMs
Time taken- 13 hrs. 00 mins (including breaks)
Toll- 0
Road quality- Aurangabad to Nagpur (poor), Nagpur to Raipur (Excellent)
Although, Nagar Road Highway from Pune till Aurangabad is in excellent
condition, the recently developed by-pass road that connects
Aurangabad and Nagpur without entering the bigger towns like Amravati
is not in a good condition (as on 28 Feb. 2017). Especially after
Jalna, the road starts to get into pretty worse condition. It has
dangerous potholes and
driving at more than 60 KMPH may lead you to some breakdowns. I
started at 9 AM in Aurangabad and after few short breaks, I reached
Raipur at around 10:30 PM.
Credits to the well maintained NH6, that we could cover 400 KMs in 6
hours only. Just a stretch of around 10 KMs on the bye pass that
starts before Raipur towards
Bilaspur is in poor condition. Just a pointer that the roads are so
faulty that the potholes may engulf half of your bike tyre. Beware!!!!
It may be a clever move to travel through Raipur and avoid those
dangerous potholes. The route has numerous Tolls.
Raipur, Chhattisgarh to Kharagpur, West Bengal-
KMs travelled- 1081 KMs
Time taken- 14 hrs. 00 mins (including breaks)
Toll- 0
Road quality- Disastrous
Pathalgoan was not a planned stop. I planned to travel 430 KMs from
Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh to Ranchi, Jharkhand. It was a result of an ill
planning, I confess. Although Google Maps suggested this route, but it
did not mention the condition the road was in. Now, I think that we
should have travelled though Rourkela, Odisha to avoid 123 KMs of
horrible road between Hati, Chhattisgarh and Jashpur, Chhattisgarh.
That particular stretch of road seemed haunted. The condition of the
road was too bad with
huge all around. Honestly, it cannot be qualify tied of be termed as a
road. It was full of rubble and white dust. Even the trees on the
roadsides seemed to have a coat of whitewash on them. There were very few
vehicles on the road, only huge Lorries and a few goods bickering
trucks. These trucks were small ones with scanty grocery items which
see any village or any human being travelling for about 100 KMs. It
was frustrating. By the time we reached Pathalgaon, it was 5 PM and
we still had to cover approx. 500 KMs to reach our planned destination
physically tired but that last stretch inferior 40kms made my mind
drain out immensely. I was mentally exhausted after traveling just 40
KMs of the bad road stretch. Once I thought that we could travel a bit more
in the day but that meant that we cannot afford to stop anywhere
before Kharagpur. The area between Pathalgaon and Kharagpur is not quite
hospitable for a night stay. And out of those 500 KMs we had to cover
the rest of the bad road. I stopped by a shop just before we came out
of the village of Pathalgaon. The shop owner too suggested staying in
any hotel in Pathalgaon. But there is nothing in a radius of 500 kms
except jungle.
The best experience to ride through was Lodhasuli Forest. Before we
entered the forest, we were warned by many not to stop in there, under
any circumstances whatsoever. I
crossed the jungle at night around 10 pm. I covered it within an
hour.
Since I covered the bad road stretch till Baharagora, I stopped at a
Dhabba and had an excellent chai (in Bengali "CHA"). It was a moment
of triumph, as I got rid of that boring and taxing experience of the
bad roads of
Orissa. After this, I had a soothing ride all the way had a leisurely
drive through the hills to Kharagpur.
After Baharagora, the roads seemed to get better to my surprise. Quite
surprising! But unfortunately my bike got dirty (dirtiest it has ever
been).
Kharagpur, West Bengal to Kolkata, West Bengal-
KMs travelled- 106 KMs
Time taken- 1 hrs. 30 mins. (No breaks)
Toll- 1 (Rs.5)
Road quality- Very good
NH16 happens to be among the few good roads West Bengal has to offer.
However, I found it stimulating to drive on NH16 with only heavy
trucks. It has a long stretch of much degraded roads and only half the
road is for use, and you have to travel with heavy vehicles along with
poor visibility due to heavy dust. As a result, we witnessed a
Mahindra Bolero got hit in by a truck due to poor visibility. At
another toll plaza our bike got nearly hit by a desperate lorry driver
who could not wait
for us to manoeuvre a high rise speed breaker on the road on the exit
of the toll plaza. These drivers are very ill mannered and fortunately
I did not find a similar experience when I traveled rest of the
experience and I have to think of a time with less traffic to take my
bike onto the Kolkata streets.
Finally I reached home at around 1:30 AM (1st March)
TIP: When you see a queue of trucks or Lorries on West Bengal
highway, do not queue up. Instead try to cautiously overtake them.
You'll find this more than often and when you overtake them you'll
understand you saved a few hours. Always use proper precaution while
riding.
Take Care, Ride safe & Don't drink and ride.
P.S. Have fun. Be active. Ride a bike.
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