P Cheetah brought us safely and comfortably to Hotel Winway, Indore at 9 pm today. On the way, we visited Sanchi Stupa for 3 hours.



I enjoyed driving on the 4/6 lane toll road between Bhopal and Indore via Dewas.

Purple Cheetah, me and wife arrived at our Bangalore Basaveswara Nagar home at 11:40 am today. We had left Hotel Winway, Indore, yesterday at 12:10 pm.



As usual, there has been no puncture, no breakdown, no accident, no damage and no problem in this trip. I am thankful to Purple Cheetah for that.

I will post the details and photographs in due course.

I had planned to visit 4 UNESCO World Heritage Sites located in MP and MH after attending a marriage at Hyderabad. But in reality, the 4 UNESCO World Heritage Sites got reduced to 2 in MP due to paucity of time and scorching summer.

[GKMahajan]

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

I had planned to visit 4 UNESCO World Heritage Sites located in MP and MH after attending a marriage at Hyderabad. But in reality, the 4 UNESCO World Heritage Sites got reduced to 2 in MP due to paucity of time and scorching summer.

Dear J. Ravi,

I always read your posts. They are really good.

So, I am hoping you will give us another good report - of this trip.

Girish Mahajan

[Durango Dude]

It's always a pleasure going through your travelogue, you were born to drive!

[smekad]

Wow how I envy you ravi sir. Did you complete Indore- bangalore without a break for sleepover.. That is some driving!!:-)

Originally Posted by smekad

Did you complete Indore- bangalore without a break for sleepover.

Thanks for the appreciation, smekad. During my Indore-Bangalore drive, I had 2 power-naps in the early hours of the day, each of half-hour, [3:30-4 and 7-7:30] in KA. Earlier, I did Bangalore-Indore in 26 hours - including darshan at Shirdi - in 2013 in my erstwhile Linea. In fact, Linea had tankful of petrol at the same BP COCOO, Dhule, where P Cheetah had diesel in this trip! I slightly changed the route and didn't visit the temple this time. So, I could do it in 24 hours.

[doc_zeus]

Hello sir. Am planning for a trip from Hubli to Indore on 1st week of may. I actually planned to travel Hubli>Belgaum>Kolhapur>Pune>Sangamner>Nashik>Maleg aon>Dhule>Indore. A total of about 1050kms one way. GKMahajan sir advised to take the Pune>Thane>Nashik road instead, because of road construction in Pune-Sangamner-Nashik segment. Which route would be better? I initially planned to complete the drive in a day, from Hubli to Indore. Is it doable?

I've recently gifted myself the new Tata Safari Storme 400NM 2 weeks back. Your travelogues have been a great inspiration.

[AutoIndian]

Originally Posted by doc_zeus

Hello sir. Am planning for a trip from Hubli to Indore on 1st week of may. I actually planned to travel Hubli>Belgaum>Kolhapur>Pune>Sangamner>Nashik>Maleg aon>Dhule>Indore. A total of about 1050kms one way. GKMahajan sir advised to take the Pune>Thane>Nashik road instead, because of road construction in Pune-Sangamner-Nashik segment. Which route would be better? I initially planned to complete the drive in a day, from Hubli to Indore. Is it doable?

I've recently gifted myself the new Tata Safari Storme 400NM 2 weeks back. Your travelogues have been a great inspiration.

First of all congratulations on your new Tata Safari Storme 400NM. I would second what GKMahajan sir has advised. You will touch Pune on NH4 at the Katraj-Ambegaon bypass. From there getting onto the Nasik highway (NH50) would be a nightmare (at least during daytime) due to the very heavy traffic. Then further on NH50 upto Chakan it its a 4 lane toll road, but with medium to heavy traffic. The 4 lanes converge to two from Khed-Rajgurunagar. You will get good traffic upto Narayanga & Alephata. Alephata to Sinnar would be a breeze, though 4-laning is underway.

You can avoid all these hassles if you take the Katraj-Dehuroad bypass and touch the Mumbai-Pune expressway directly. At Belapur you will have to go straight towards Airoli (instead of the left flyover towards Vashi-Sion). From Airoli you cross the Thane creek and get onto the Eastern Express Highway. Once you touch that, there is no looking back till you reach Indore. This de-tour would increase your distance by 100-200 kms, but would definitely save you 2-3 hours. I would suggest a stopover journey, because this is really a very long one.

Wishing you a happy journey

Originally Posted by doc_zeus

GKMahajan sir advised to take the Pune>Thane>Nashik road instead, because of road construction in Pune-Sangamner-Nashik segment.

This is a route full of 4/6 lane expressways/roads. But, you have to cross Pune bypass, Navi Mumbai and Thane bypass to join NH 3.

Which route would be better?

You can consider Hubli>Pune>Ranjangaon>Ahmednagar bypass>Shirdi>Malegaon>Dhule>Indore. 1,038 km. This route has 4-lane roads upto Shirdi and some distance beyond. They don't collect toll for LMV. After that, it is a good two lane road until it joins Malegaon bypass. Beyond that, it is excellent 4-lane road all the way to Indore. But, you have to drive through Shirdi and Manmad. The advantages include lots and lots of eateries between Ahmednagar and Shirdi. I counted 4 Vithal Kamat's, 2 each on either side on that stretch. In fact, we had our dinner in one of them.

I initially planned to complete the drive in a day, from Hubli to Indore. Is it doable?

Easily doable in 18 hours including breaks for food, refuelling and power-naps.

I've recently gifted myself the new Tata Safari Storme 400NM 2 weeks back.

Congratulations and best wishes.

Your travelogues have been a great inspiration.

Thank you, doc_zeus.

[doc_zeus]

Originally Posted by AutoIndian

First of all congratulations on your new Tata Safari Storme 400NM. I would second what GKMahajan sir has advised. You will touch Pune on NH4 at the Katraj-Ambegaon bypass. From there getting onto the Nasik highway (NH50) would be a nightmare (at least during daytime) due to the very heavy traffic.

You can avoid all these hassles if you take the Katraj-Dehuroad bypass and touch the Mumbai-Pune expressway directly. At Belapur you will have to go straight towards Airoli (instead of the left flyover towards Vashi-Sion). From Airoli you cross the Thane creek and get onto the Eastern Express Highway. Once you touch that, there is no looking back till you reach Indore. This de-tour would increase your distance by 100-200 kms, but would definitely save you 2-3 hours. I would suggest a stopover journey, because this is really a very long one.

Wishing you a happy journey

Very detailed info. Thank you AutoIndian. My initial plan included my trip through Pune-sangamner to nashik. That was my main concern, as how much time would it take to cross Pune in day time. That's the main reason I put up the question. So thanks to you and Mahajan sir, I'll take the Thane route to nashik.

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

You can consider Hubli>Pune>Ranjangaon>Ahmednagar bypass>Shirdi>Malegaon>Dhule>Indore[/url]. 1,038 km. This route has 4-lane roads upto Shirdi and some distance beyond. They don't collect toll for LMV. After that, it is a good two lane road until it joins Malegaon bypass. Beyond that, it is excellent 4-lane road all the way to Indore. But, you have to drive through Shirdi and Manmad.
Easily doable in 18 hours including breaks for food, refuelling and power-naps.

Congratulations and best wishes.

Thank you sir.
I'm planning Hubli-Pune-Thane-nashik-Indore. And return trip as you suggested, via ahmednagar bypass-shirdi-ranjangaon-pune. I usually don't follow the same route for onward and return journeys. So this will be perfect.

[pkjains]

Originally Posted by J.Ravi

I was told that the threaded portion was painted, hence, there was some difficulty in screwing in the tow-eye. The excess paint on the threaded portion of the slot was removed, making the fastening the tow-eye an easy job. I could easily screw in the tow-eye to almost full length without any issue now. But, contrary to the instruction of owner's manual, the tow-eye could be fastened by rotating it in the clockwise direction only and not in anti-clockwise direction.

Thanks to the RM, David Charles, now my Purple Cheetah is back to normal as it was earlier. It goes without saying that all these works were done free of cost.

Any recommendations on where to get the tow-eye? I would like to install one on my face lift XUV500 as well in preparation for the Ladakh trip. Is there an option of installing the tow-eye only on the rear? Has anyone installed it in front as well?

Originally Posted by pkjains

Has anyone installed it in front as well?

My P Cheetah has a sturdy tow-hook fixed at the front, centre, bottom. Hope, the new age XUV 500 must have that too. Please check. If not, contact the authorized service station to get one fixed at the front.

Here are some photographs clicked at Khajuraho temples, MP:

Here are some photographs clicked at Sanchi Stupa, MP: