re: Kolkata - Siliguri route via Dumka, Bhagalpur or NH-12 (old NH-34) Kolkata to Siliguri (all along NH34)
Date of journey : 17th May 2015
Vehicle : Ford Figo TDCi
Let me put up a brief update at this time, as yesterday, the hotel room at Siliguri (Tourist Inn) neither had wifi nor had a good Vodafone signal. I’m posting this from Kaluk, West Sikkim and this hotel (Ghonday Resort) has a reasonable wifi connection and I am getting sporadic 3G data on my Vodafone connection as well. I would base my information on the route partitions provided by gmhossain. Sir, I took a printout of your post and kept writing my timings on it as and when I passed a given waypoint.
A. Airport to Bara Jaguli : Left home(Madhyamgram) at 0400 sharp and reached Bara Jaguli at 0440 via Barasat. No holdups. Very good surface. Note : Almost all oncoming vehicles were running on High Beams.
B. Bara Jaguli to Krishnanagar : Crossed Krishnanagar at 0610 with a 10 min tea break at Ranaghat. Very good surface with a few diversions. Note : Bottom scraped at Ranaghat level crossing, thankfully the only one till today. Stray dogs, lots of them. Unmarked diversions. Stay really alert.
C. Krishnanagar to Bethuadahari : Reached Bethuadahari at 0740. Huge snarl at Nakashipara railway crossing due to accident. Took unknown diversion through kacchha muddy village roads and rejoined NH34 at Bethuadahari. Note : Lots and lots of diversions, unmarked.
D. Bethuadahari to Baharampur : Crossed Palashi at 0810 and Baharampur at 0915. Missed the Sargachi Bypass. Overall, barely livable roads. Note : Unruly local traffic, diversions, degenerating roads, couple of markets(hats) bang on the road causing minor congestions. 1st can of Redbull.
E. Baharampur to Shibpur Toll Plaza : Reached the toll plaza at 0945. Good roads, did not get held up anywhere.
F. Shibpur toll plaza to Farakka : Reached Moregram at 1005. Stopped for breakfast at the Dhaba adjacent to BP Bunk. 30 mins break. Reached Farakka at 1120. Excellent roads, but if I may say, not exactly NH2 quality, many intersections. Note : Good food at the Dhaba. Had to be. Was recommended by a BHPian. The roads? Oh what a respite. Pedal to the metal mode : ON.
G. Farakka to Kaliachowk : Crossed Kaliachak at 1200. Bad roads approaching Farakka Barrage and afterwards. Slow progress. Notes : At Kaliachowk, you become the errant driver! As Pumba ( The Lion King) once said “When the world turns it’s back on you, you turn your back to the world.” Wrong side of the road, wrestling for space with loaded trucks and rickety old buses, local rickshaws, few ORVM kisses with other cars and full use of that trumpet horn. Oh and how did I miss this one – diversions!
H. Kaliachowk to Maldah : Crossed Hotel Golden Park at 1320. Livable roads, local traffic. Note : Places to see : Plastic scrap capital of the world! 2nd can of Redbull. And wait, diversions.
I. Maldah to Itahar : Reached Itahar at 1410. Excellent roads. Notes : Pedal to the metal mode : ON. Please see : Diversions!
J. Itahar to Dalkhola : Crossed Raiganj at 1435 and reached Dalkhola at 1535. Mostly good roads. Notes : Felt blessed while crossing the railway crossing, had to take to the wrong side to overtake around 40 trucks and claim my spot at the start of the que. The gates opened in 5 minutes. I have seen pot holes, I have seen craters and then there is this thing right after Dalkhola railway crossing!!
K. Dalkhola to Siliguri : Filled up both the car and the tummy at BP Dalkhola. Excellent roads. Patched up till Kishengunj. Blissful thereafter. Entered Siliguri at 1830.
Notes : The food was good albeit delayed. The Figo took in just 27 litres. My first tryst with concrete surface on NH31. Tea estates.
Total Time taken : 14 hours and 30 minutes
Fuel Economy : 18.15 kmpl upto Dalkhola (90% AC)
Planning to take the Siuri-Bolpur route on my way back. Any heads up on that? Signing of which a teaser click :
Last edited by Gannu_1 : 19th May 2015 at 09:27.
Reason: Post edited for readability. Please preview your posts before submitting and do not copy-paste from a word processor. Thanks!
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