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A 6000 km road trip from Guwahati to Spiti in my Nissan Kicks

28th June 2024, 12:08 by Ananth Iyer

Since I did my Leh Ladakh Expedition in 2021 on my Mahindra Thar CRDE I wanted to do the Spiti circuit specially the winter Spiti.

Expedition Members : Yours truly, Nomi (My better half), Anaya (Our 8 years old Daughter)

Dr.Hrishikesh Bora Tbhp handle pyrodrive, Jiny (Hrishi’s wife)

Vehicle: Nissan Kicks XV 1.5 NA

Total Kms Covered: 6000

Itinerary:
Guwahati > Darbhanga > Varanasi > Lucknow > Agra > Delhi > Narkanda > Kalpa > Nako > Tabo > Kaza > Lhanza > Komic > Hikkim > Kaza > Chitkul > Sangla > Zirakpur > Delhi > Lucknow > Darbhanga > Guwahati

Dates: 07/04 to 22/04

Since I did my Leh Ladakh Expedition in 2021 on my Mahindra Thar CRDE I wanted to do the Spiti circuit specially the winter Spiti getting motivated by the various Expedition companies on their winter Spiti 4WD Expeditions but for that I would need to take my Thar again but I was pretty sure that Thar CRDE would struggle in winter Spiti specially in the mornings and cold start would be a huge problem in -25 to -35 temperatures and on top of that Hrishi was not keen on doing Spiti through some expedition company so we decided to do Spiti in April with my Nissan Kicks purchased on 03/01/22 as 4WD not required at that time.

So, now preparations started as late as March’24 and dates finalized accordingly as my father passed away in January ’24 and my family decided to do the Asthi visarjan in Varanasi in the holy Ganges in april. It was decided that me, Nomi and Anaya will drive down to Delhi via Varanasi from Guwahati and Hrishi and Jiny will fly down to Delhi on 14/04 and join us from Delhi.

Vehicle Preparation: Post second service vehicle had done only about 2000 Kms so a general checkup was done in Binod Nissan the only Nissan ASC in Guwahati and I carried the usual stuffs like tyre inflator, puncture repair kit, coolant, jump start cable, etc.

Self Preparation: Warm clothes, warm head gear, essential medicines (Diamox), extra pair of shoes, Crocs, Gum Boots, Food bag, water, etc.

Kicks at Nissan ASC for Checkup

Day 1: 07/04 Guwahati to Darbhanga (765 Kms)

Started from home at 3:40 am as have learnt in the last few years one can cover a lot of distance if started early we crossed Siliguri by 12:30pm after that took the other shorter route through Bagdogra, Thakurganj to enter Bihar where 4 lane construction was going on and a lot of mess due to a lot of diversions took 4 hours to cover 125 Kms finally to check-in to a great property on the highway 32 Kms before Darbhanga The Great Mithila with a huge compound and safe parking with a multicuisine restaurant with good food.

Day 2 : 08/04 Darbhanga to Varanasi (380 Kms)

Started by 7:30 am had packed our breakfast to have it on the way this time again Gmap took us through a inner road through Chapra and we got stuck in huge truck and tractor trolley pileup which were hauling sand on a bridge over the Ganga river, I have never seen such a huge line up of trucks somehow we managed to squeezed out in 2 hrs and entered UP through Buxar border where again I took the old highway to Varanasi by mistake instead of the new Purvanchal Expressway which could have saved a lot of time. Well after a hectic day we reached Varanasi by 5:30 pm and checked in at our AirBnb.
We were gonna be in Varanasi for the next 2 days till 10/04 as we had to do asthi visarjan of my father my mother, sister & brother in-law flew down to Varanasi from Guwahati.

On the outskirts of Varanasi

In front of BHU

Morning Aarti in Assi Ghat

Breakfast in the famous Terracota Cafe near Assi Ghat

Evening Aarti Scenes at Assi Ghat

Day 3: Varanasi to Agra via Lucknow 10/04 (650 kms)/

Started by 11:30 am after performing my father’s Asthi Visarjan and having brunch, this time took the Purvanchal Expressway after exiting Varanasi Bypass we were able to cover a lot of distance in a short time reached Lucknow by 3pm to have lunch at the famous Tunday Kababi and some shopping by wifey of the famous Lucknowi chikan kari work kurta. Post this we continued our onwards journey and checked in at our treebo hotel in Agra by 11:30pm taking the Taj Expressway.