[swathyd]

A very good travelogue indeed . Got insight into bihar and especially patna . Excellent narration , never been boring .

[Shubhendra]

Originally Posted by lucifer1881

Day 2 - Jabalpur – Katni – Varanasi – Patna (735km; 5:00 am)

Katni is 90km from Jabalpur and we covered that distance in a respectable 90 minutes. We stopped for breakfast a little ahead of Katni. Refuelled the Bolero as well. The road gets slightly bad once you cross Satna, which is about 80km from Katni, and it is bad all the way to Varanasi with intermitent good portions.

Spotted somewhere between Katni and Satna: This thing had 16 axles with 8 wheels per axle.Total 128 wheels. It was pulled by a 440hp Volvo head.

Lucifer,
you don't need to go to Satna for Patna route, because Satna does not come on NH 7. you simply leave road for satna when you cross Maiha and go towards Amarpatan and rewa.

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Did you have to go inside Jabalpur town for the hotel? Location and contact details?

HV Saheb,
As Jabalpur bypass is built only few years back, you won't get good hotel enroute. If you want to save time in this route you can stay MPT's (Madhya Pradesh Tourism) Motel before Katni, cheap and good.
But if you want to stay in Jabalpur, enter Jabalpur just after you cross Narmada River bridge and go to Bus Stand area. you would get good and cheap hotels.

Regards,
Shubhendra Singh

[adg_andy]

Originally Posted by lucifer1881

Day 5 - Patna Sightseeing


The Gandhi Maidan of Patna needs special mentioning. No where else in the world have I ever seen a round-about bigger than this. The ground bore witness to the launch of Gandhij’s first experiment at Champaran and the Quit India Movement in 1942. JP Narayan launced his JP movement from this very location. The sheer expanse of the grounds has to be seen to be believed. No pictures can ever do it justice.

Attachment 536664
Gandhi Maidan, Patna

The biggest round-about in the world is The savannah @ Port of Spain, Trinidad. However, I must admit that Gandhi maidan is reasonably BIG.

Andy

[IUNKWN]

Rohit, you da man. Hyderabad to Bihar in a Bolero in just 2 days

Now I am planning to follow you soon, probably 2011 annual visit would be a journey by road.

Btb, it was a great travelogue, nice pics.

I recall your Bolero was hit while on way back from Ooty or Pondicheery and was lying at VVC motors. I lost that thread somehow. send me a link. You held up the rest of the story as insurance was under process. I am eager to know what happened.

[vipul_bscity]

Dear Lucifer: You are the real brand ambassador for Bihar for travel enthusiastic. As some member has rightly said, I also have seen all these no less than hundred of times, but to see on T-bhp as a travelogue, its an astonishing experience.Its my native where I go twice an year.

I did Pune - Patna in late 2008, my fault, no pics and no travelogue I have posted. I have to leave my Wagon R for my Mom in Patna, so driven there. Pune - Nagpur (Stay over night) - Varanasi (Stay over night) - Patna.

Pune Nagpur was almost in good condition, but as soon as you touch NH 6 after Buldana, drive changes (towards bad) and the Dhabha food gets better. NH 6 was in shoddy state meant for trucks. After Nagpur, road condition was on and off to Moderate and bad. Only after Varanasi, I got the Brand new good road, till you get the left exit to come state highway 30. NH 30 was good and moderate.

Just an update, the Koilwar bridge is supposedly India's first Rail Road bridge. (Its a very very old bridge) Its two tier takes Trains and Road both.

From Pune to Patna was 1750 KM. Pune - Nagpur was 750, we stayed in some Hotel in SitaBuldi. Again Nagpur till Varanasi was 750 again. Entry into Varanasi at night was a nightmare with no less than few hundred trucks entering into the city.

Your travelogue has bitten be for another drive trip there. May happen soon, let see.

Cheers !! Man.

[Judemayne]

Dear Lucifer,

The way you have potrayed "hell" so artistically that one puts Patna on the must see Map. I have passed Patna on many of my journeys from West to East and last time being 2001/2002 when moving from NJP to Rajasthan when we had a little problem with the very same neighbour that had given refuge to Bin Laden. Every pass of Patna was an experience I did not want ever to repeat-even the 1st AC of the Rajdahni was not spared by Ticketless travellers.
I have been informed by my many Bihari friends that the situation has changed for the better. It is great to read that the roads are good.
I like the style of your writing. At one time we had three Sinhas with us at the same time

Jude

[rhandle]

WoW nice.

I have been just back from quick trip to Bihar - starting 3rd May ending 8th May.

Route was

Delhi - varanasi - gaya - rajgir - nalanda - bakhtiyarpur - begusarai - Purnia.

Return was

Purnia - Begusarai - Bakhtiyarpur - Patna -Ara - Mohaniya - Varanasi - Delhi.


There was a jam on Gandhi setu for over five days. I was glad to be on a 4wd comfortable vehicle.

[pamiboy]

Thanks for the awesome travelogue. Nice to see that pretty places still exist in India. Good job.

[ottocycle]

Thanks for the great travelogue.

My inlaws are planning roadtrip Varanasi to Hyderabad in few days. Vehicle- Tata Indigo CS GLX. Any tips for the trip would help.

I was thinking the trip breakup like this:
Day1: Varanasi to Jabalpur
overnight stay at Jabalpur
Day2: Jabalpur to Hyderabad (is this over ambitious in Indigo?)

Thank..

[lucifer1881]

Originally Posted by ottocycle

...I was thinking the trip breakup like this:
Day1: Varanasi to Jabalpur
overnight stay at Jabalpur
Day2: Jabalpur to Hyderabad (is this over ambitious in Indigo?)...

One is usually the freshest on day 1 of a road trip. Aim to cover maximum distance then.

One can quite easily do Varanasi-Nagpur in one day. Should take you about 13-14 hours (including 45 min stop for lunch, 30 min stop for breakfast, 15 min stop for evening tea, cumulative 30 min stoppages for nature breaks and photo ops).

Nagpur-Hyderabad is a runway. Should take you less than 6 hours once you cross the infamous level crossing just outside Nagpur.

[planet_rocker]

Very detailed Travelogue loved it.

Wish you a belated birthday. Take care.

[m.shekhar]

This pic - https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...count=1&ref=nf has been lifted from Post#25 of this thread only I guess, also the watermarks have been cropped.

*Posting here as my PM facility hasn't been enabled yet.

[RollingWheels]

Hello Everybody,
I am planning to take Bangalore- Hyderabad-Nagpur-Jabalpur-Rewa-Mohania-Patna route this October. I had taken the same route last year (June 2011) and found the roads to be quite bad after Nagpur till Varanasi. My car brushed thrice in MP and my back was in bad shape for almost a week after this stretch. The average speed also dropped to 45 Km/hr on this stretch compared to a respectable 65 Km/h on Bangalore-Nagpur section. While returning I took the longer Patna-Kharagpur-Vishakapatnam-Tirupati-Bangalore route and found this route to be comparatively comfortable albeit time consuming. I again took this route to and fro this February and it was just a cruise with better averages (Time and Fuel consumption). However, the NH7 route is still the preferred one subject to road conditions. Also since I might be travelling mid week, I want to clock less hours on the road and get back to my virtual workplace ASAP.

What is the present road condition beyond Nagpur? It will help if you can give me some additional details on the bad stretches beyond Nagpur especially post monsoon. What would be a realistic target for a sedan like Fiat linea T jet which has a ground clearance of 170mm.
Regards
Rolling Wheels

[Travelator]

Originally Posted by lucifer1881

One is usually the freshest on day 1 of a road trip. Aim to cover maximum distance then.

One can quite easily do Varanasi-Nagpur in one day. Should take you about 13-14 hours (including 45 min stop for lunch, 30 min stop for breakfast, 15 min stop for evening tea, cumulative 30 min stoppages for nature breaks and photo ops).

Nagpur-Hyderabad is a runway. Should take you less than 6 hours once you cross the infamous level crossing just outside Nagpur.

Wow..read this only today and felt as though i was traveling along with you through the journey. Fab write-up and nice clicks.
I am planning to do a similar trip along the same route, just that i would be starting from Bangalore.

Let me know if you have any info on the current road conditions and any other updated along the route. An alternative plan is to explore any suitable areas along the route, with short deviations. Any suggestions on the attraction en route will also be helpful.

[lucifer1881]

Originally Posted by Travelator

Wow..read this only today and felt as though i was traveling along with you through the journey. Fab write-up and nice clicks.
I am planning to do a similar trip along the same route, just that i would be starting from Bangalore.

Let me know if you have any info on the current road conditions and any other updated along the route. An alternative plan is to explore any suitable areas along the route, with short deviations. Any suggestions on the attraction en route will also be helpful.

Thank you .

Incidentally, I took the same route when I visited Patna last year enroute Bhutan. Some interesting things can be done along the way:

1. Stay at MPTDC Bhedaghat - this is right next to Dhuadhar Falls
2. Stay at MPTDC Bargi - an awesome place near Jabalpur that has rooms right on the edge of the lake
3. Stay at Varanasi - and soak in all the amazing things that city has to offer

Link to Bhutan log: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ml#post3823629