Unlike a usual Monday when a morning glance on wall-clock feels like personal pestering by its needles, excitement didn't allow me a sound sleep and woke up at 3:30 AM.
Finally at 4:25 AM I was all set to start for a long awaited cross capital drive.
My plan was to drive from Mumbai - Delhi, celebrate Raksha-Bandhan and Independence Day with my sister & family there, then proceed further as weather & road conditions would allow.
Preparedness was needed so did pack some stuffs like:
First aid kit, Tyre air pressure gauge, torch, candle & matchbox, umbrella, minor toolkit apart from the car's one, lot of drinking water & regular water separately, some packaged food and extra clothes with bed-sheet, cash money in 4 different places, 1 extra SIM in a different mobile handset for emergencies .
+++ a galaxy of songs lead by Kishor Kumar's :)
It started today as per plan with:
Day 1 : Mumbai > Vadodara, Gujrat (small break) > Udaipur, Rajasthan.
4:30 am : Left from my place in Powai. Took to WEH via JVLR and merges on NH48 after Dahisar. Earlier known as NH-8. Beautiful Highway till Bharuch exit and also cross exit of Surat on the way, 10:30 am : Crossed Vadodara exit - approx 400 KMs. stopped here for a break.
** due to recent floods in Gujrat, parts of NH48 was damaged so GPS guided internal state highway routes till Gujarat end and turning of Udaipur. Except for small stretches which run near city/village, road conditions were nothing to complain about but to enjoy the drive amidst cloudy weather and green farms. It was a delightful scenic route.**
1:30 PM : Lunch at Modasa bypass.
2:00 PM : Gujarat ends, touched diversion with target 129 KMs to Udaipur, Rajasthan.
4:20 PM : reached my Hotel accommodation at Udaipur - 749.7 KMs
Must to pen that Udaipur - the city of lakes, welcomes with superb scenic beauty all around blended with enriched heritage of royal medieval India in and around city. My Hotel was also one such building which offered view of beautiful lake surrounded by hills from the window/balcony. A view in evening was sufficient to pull out any exertion of road.
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City Palace (Above) & Lake Pichola Palace (Below) in Udaipur - the city of lakes.! |
kept it a lazy day to understand if I can tolerate exertion on 1st day and continue the immediate next day. Also it gave me decent time to explore local heritage sites like City Palace, Fateh Sagar lake etc on the way. Plan was : Udaipur > Ajmer, Rajasthan
09:00 AM : Left from hotel after breakfast
11:30 AM : Left from city, after seeing City Palace & lake side. Straight on NH-58.
Rajasthan offers you some incredible spectacles when you sail through the highway. Highway runs straight through the state and is well maintained. Though we would see many 2 wheeler and cattle running by on & off so driving awareness is a key to survive safe.
2:00 PM : Lunch & small break
4:30 PM : Reached hotel in Ajmer.
Had sufficient time &energy to strolled down a near by Ajmer Chowpatty. Clean & tidy place built around a reservoir of water treatment plant.
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| Ana Sagar lake Chowpatty @ Ajmer |
Ajmer > Jaipur, Rajasthan (Small break) > New Delhi (Janakpuri W)
9:45 AM : Left from Hotel
1:30 PM : Reached Hawa Mahal, Jaipur
2:50 PM : Jal Mahal, Jaipur
7:00 PM : Touched Gurgaon entrace.
9:30 PM : Reached home at Janakpuri.
Wander lust offered delight of ride till I reached Gurgaon entrance. mild rains & bad roads through Farrukhnagar paved moon like craters on Gurgaon roads, and summoned toughest 40 KMs of drive which took me 2.5 hrs of tiring snailpaced drive to home.
Day 4 : Thursday, 15th Aug '19
Celebrate Independence Day & Raksha-Bandhan with sister & family
Day 5 : Some casual time with family.
Day 6 : Saturday, 17th Aug '19
New Delhi > Chandigarh > Kasauli (Himachal).
06:20 AM : Left from Delhi.
12:00 PM : Reached Chandigarh. - 262 KMs.
Peaceful highway, beautiful scenes and blissful food available in any dhaba you enter on the roadside. Parantha lovers would surely spend time at Murthal to feast upon lip smacking paranthas here.
Not to forget & mention, what a disciplined city is Chandigarh, to be appreciated or idealized. Vehicles stopping at traffic signal before zebra crossing, dedicated bi-cycle lanes and pink lanes for specially abled people certainly gives you a pleasant feeling of being in the city.
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| Saukhna Lake, Chandigarh |
04:15 PM : Weather was worsening and started seeing heavy rainfall while moving towards Solan on the highway. Landslides at Dharampur stopped the traffic for more than an hour, and somewhere near 'Kumarhatti' we realised that it may not be a good idea to drive to Solan today considering the worsening weather. Next option was Kasauli for which we had to descend till Dharampur again and then exit towards Kasauli.
And our decision to stay back proved correct, when next day we read news of more than 15 vehicles drowned in flood at Solan.
06:30 PM : Descended till Dharampur and then started on way to Kasauli.
07:45 PM : A deafening & blinding downpour mandated stopover before the Kasauli top viewpoint . We stayed in a rusty home-stay accommodation just near by to wait till morning before plight to return. Also wanted to see the famous sunrise at Kasauli hills.
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| Clouds inside & outside.. en route Parwanoo-Kasauli..!! |
Kasauli > Chandigarh > New Delhi
4:30 AM : Woke up with deafening sound of thundering, downpour which is unusual for us, might not be the same with locals though.
5:30 AM: Realized that the cloud cover will not allow visibility of sunrise point. We took to stall nearby locations which were all cloud covered.
Sipping at smokey tea from coal lit stoves at local Tea joints would give you joy of lifetime and an eternal peace to mind for a sure shot breeze of philosophical thoughts. Spent some silent golden time.
Amrit played a perfect local guide to help explore the place amidst bad bad weather..
9:30 AM : We were back to Chandigarh at my friends place.
01:00 PM : After having delicious Chole Kulche at a locally food joint where Amrit was regular and a short visit at beautiful Sukhna Lake, started rolling back to Delhi.
7:00 PM : Reached home back in Delhi, and took to bed straight away as had to rest for return journey next day.
Day 8 : Monday, 19th Aug '19 : New Delhi > Udaipur (Rajasthan)
Till now I gained confidence on capacity on daily drive limits so decided to take a single night halt at Udaipur avoiding Ajmer unlike the onward trip.
5:45 AM : Started for Udaipur
4:00 PM : Reached Hotel room at Udaipur - 650 KMs
The famous Fateh Sagar lake was just behind my hotel, so spent the evening admiring beauty at the lake bay where they have also engraved paintings of all local destinations.
Day 9 : Tuesday, 20th Aug '19 : Udaipur > Mumbai
As its the last day, full day dedicated to spend time with my Nexon... loved the Revotorq engine capacity, turbo response and overall subtle toughness of the vehicle. I wanted to drive continuous for 4-5 hrs stopping anywhere before lunch so will look for an early breakfast around 7:15-7:30 AM
6:00 AM : Left from hotel at Udaipur.
7:30 AM: connected on NH48 after mild breakfast.
1:45 PM : Lunch at Ankleswar (Nana Bharosa), Gujrat
7:25 PM : Reached home at Powai, Mumbai safely. 754 KMs
Stopped couple of times for tea, breakfast, lunch etc.
I will soon plan for next trip #live to drive.
Mathematics of the trip :
Total KMs driven : 3800 KMs
Total Diesel (lts) : 198
Total no. of toll booths : 50
Total Toll paid :Rs 3290/-
Approx hrs of drive: 80
Vlog of the trip will soon be uploaded and will update the link here.!
9:30 AM : We were back to Chandigarh at my friends place.
01:00 PM : After having delicious Chole Kulche at a locally food joint where Amrit was regular and a short visit at beautiful Sukhna Lake, started rolling back to Delhi.
7:00 PM : Reached home back in Delhi, and took to bed straight away as had to rest for return journey next day.
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| Dare not skip Garam Dharam & Choley Kulche in Punjab |
Till now I gained confidence on capacity on daily drive limits so decided to take a single night halt at Udaipur avoiding Ajmer unlike the onward trip.
5:45 AM : Started for Udaipur
4:00 PM : Reached Hotel room at Udaipur - 650 KMs
The famous Fateh Sagar lake was just behind my hotel, so spent the evening admiring beauty at the lake bay where they have also engraved paintings of all local destinations.
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| Evening at Fateh sagar lake - Udaipur.. |
Day 9 : Tuesday, 20th Aug '19 : Udaipur > Mumbai
As its the last day, full day dedicated to spend time with my Nexon... loved the Revotorq engine capacity, turbo response and overall subtle toughness of the vehicle. I wanted to drive continuous for 4-5 hrs stopping anywhere before lunch so will look for an early breakfast around 7:15-7:30 AM
6:00 AM : Left from hotel at Udaipur.
7:30 AM: connected on NH48 after mild breakfast.
1:45 PM : Lunch at Ankleswar (Nana Bharosa), Gujrat
7:25 PM : Reached home at Powai, Mumbai safely. 754 KMs
Stopped couple of times for tea, breakfast, lunch etc.
I will soon plan for next trip #live to drive.
Mathematics of the trip :
Total KMs driven : 3800 KMs
Total Diesel (lts) : 198
Total no. of toll booths : 50
Total Toll paid :Rs 3290/-
Approx hrs of drive: 80
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| My vehicle & its footprints on map as recorded on timeline |
Vlog of the trip will soon be uploaded and will update the link here.!
