Round the Country in My Manza. 5000+ Kms in 7 Days, 9 States

[anisghos]

Pictures follows :

















Dhule is still 700 kms.. A long distance from here..









Trees plantation drive.. NHAI was sued for not planting enough trees in the newly constructed highway till Amravati after cutting thousands of trees for building the highways... So the drive for plantation is on...

















Continued..

 

[anisghos]

As i earlier mentioned in the log, there are a couple of stretches of 2 laned roads between Sakoli and Bhandara which falls under tiger reserve sanctuary. The reason for being 2 laned is that the NHAI is not getting permission for 4 laning those stretches as that might hinder the free movement of tigers and other animals. There have been numerous incidents reported where tiger or some other animal has been smashed by speeding traffic in that area, and this is becoming a issue of great concern. Lots of ideas are being discussed like flyovers in the area or underground roads in that stretch but none of them are being approved and still the plan is under discussion. Lets have couple of pictures of those stretches...

 

[anisghos]

Last few pictures of this stretch...

















With the arrival of the Waiganga and the Bhandara toll, we were at the end of the super 4 laned roads. From Bhandara to Nagpur it would be plain 2 laned roads. Once we reached Bhandara, we were having a good feeling that we have made up some lost time as we had travelled around 200 kms in almost around 2 hrs time if we deduct the time for diesel fillup and toll time. But at reaching the Bhandara toll we were greeted by a huge queue for the toll and thats when the agony started.

Before continuing forward lets have a look into couple of short videos in between this Durg - Bhandara stretch...


Durg to Bhandara 1 - YouTube



Durg to Bhandara 2 - YouTube

 

[anisghos]

After the toll plaza it was 2 laned roads, somewhat patchy but very much drivable but traffic increased by leaps and bounds.





Truck traffic was too heavy to negotiate and it was heartbreaking once we reached the outskirts of Nagpur. Traffic almost came to a standstill once we were approaching the Nagpur ring road. The roads were totally messed up with broken roads, huge queue of trucks on both sides and some flyover construction and having only space for one vehicle to pass at a time with no other choice left we were travelling at a snails pace if not anything less. Our delay had started to increase and we knew that we are going to face some tough times in the hours ahead. From around 11.30 at Bhandara, its past 1 pm and we were still in the outskirts of Nagpur and we were just waiting to cross Nagpur.

I suppose Soham praying for getting us relieved from the bottleneck.








Earlier we planned for early lunch at Nagpur, but looking into the delay we postponed that and wanted to move forward as much as possible in day light. We took a short break in Nagpur to freshen up and then managed to steer clear of the traffic and move towards Amravati. We got into the Nagpur-Amravati road at around 1.30 pm and that was a great amount of delay. The time we made up earlier had all diminished and we were back again to square one.

Still lots more to come, this time i will be back very soon . So, keep reading and enjoy.

 

[anisghos]

There was good amount of city traffic in the Nagpur-Amravati road at that point of time and we had to cross some major signals. We crossed Wadi at around 2 pm after which the traffic reduced to some extent.

We skipped lunch at Nagpur and to keep the elephants at bay we were munching on some oranges which was really refreshing. It was a bit hot that afternoon when we were crossing Nagpur.

Around Wadi..



Once we crossed the city limits it was again 4 laned excellent tarmac with not much traffic. The scenic beauty was also pretty good. Lets have a look at the pictures of the Nagpur - Amravati Road..















There were 2 toll plaza s in between, one being Kondhali and the other being Karanja.. We were running at high speeds and were zipping by small towns. Roads were in very good condition.












Continued

 

[anisghos]

We crossed a very small ghat section as well ...











Continued..

 

[anisghos]

The pleasure was till Talegaon. Once we reached Talegaon, the 4 laned roads ended and we were into 2 laned roads which were not in good condition as 4 laning was in progress and there were lot of diversions as well. If you are unlucky you might get stuck in a jam. Roads were dusty, patchy and narrow. We had to close all the windows as it was very very dusty and you would be all white if you go by that stretch with the windows open.

After crossing that stretch, we took a left turn from Narayanpur, where we refueled. One important thing is we could use our Credit Cards there. There is a restaurant also named Aditya just opposite to the PP, which is good, was actually recommended by the PP guys . Amravati city was around 8 kms from here and after 2 -3 kms we took left into the Amravati new Bypass.






It was around 4.30 when we entered the Amravati bypass.The bypass was 4 laned good roads. We did not waste time there either for lunch and moved on so that in goods roads we wanted to accelerate as much we could. No facilities either in the bypass road. But once the bypass ended we were again back to 2 laned roads and this time for a longer period of time. Till Dhule we will have 2 laned roads. Dhule was still 384 kms from here.

It was almost getting dark, and truck traffic slowly increasing, this stretch will be the most important part of todays drive. Will be back very soon.

Keep reading..

 

[rahul4640]

Very good travelogue. Nice pictures to serve as illustrations as well. Please carry on continuing, at your convenience and leisure.

 

[Tarak]

carry on anish, waiting for more eagerly

 

[anisghos]

Thanks guys, some encouragements really helps to proceed. I am trying my best to complete this as fast as i can...

 

[samarjitdhar]

Thanks guys, some encouragements really helps to proceed. I am trying my best to complete this as fast as i can...

Anis, I am resisting congratulating you on every post you make. Want to give you a very very big one once you are done

For now I am just following this route with intense attention as I might make a trip on this stretch in the future. Keep up the great work.

 

[anisghos]

A small video in between Nagpur and Talegaon..

Nagpur to Amravati - YouTube

 

[hvkumar]

Very comprehensive account, with photos, videos and descriptive account of roads, conditions, facilities, traffic situation, etc. And thanks also for the log books.Truly a primer for anyone planning a drive on this road!

The NH42 to Sambalpur is a great discovery and despite the longer distance vis-a-vis the Keonjhar route, looks like the best one for the time being.

Bemused that the Bhandara-Nagpur road is still 2-laned, it has been one of the busiest trucking corridors for decades! 4-laning of the Talegaon-Amravati secton has also been going on for some time.

 

[anisghos]

Kumar Sir, Welcome to this forum and my TL. Thanks for your appreciation and encouragement. You had encouraged and assisted me throughout the trip as well and really that kept me going on this marathon drive..

To everybody in this forum :

I guess everybody knows HV Kumar who loves cars and driving. But those who are still yet to know him, he is an extraordinary man with

A Journey spanning over 8 lakh kms
Our nation’s mobile atlas
Exposed innumerable routes to fellow travellers
He knows all the national highways are like the back of his hand
He is called the Living GPS...

There is nobody as expert as HV Kumar (HVK) on knowledge about Indian Highways and Automotive Transport. The magnitude and the detailing of precious and up to date information he has is mind boggling and absolutely unmatched...

These are some of the adjectives i have picked up from what people who knows him says about him..

 

[Tarak]

Kumar Sir, Welcome to this forum and my TL. Thanks for your appreciation and encouragement. You had encouraged and assisted me throughout the trip as well and really that kept me going on this marathon drive..

To everybody in this forum :

I guess everybody knows HV Kumar who loves cars and driving. But those who are still yet to know him, he is an extraordinary man with

A Journey spanning over 8 lakh kms
Our nation’s mobile atlas
Exposed innumerable routes to fellow travellers
He knows all the national highways are like the back of his hand
He is called the Living GPS...

There is nobody as expert as HV Kumar (HVK) on knowledge about Indian Highways and Automotive Transport. The magnitude and the detailing of precious and up to date information he has is mind boggling and absolutely unmatched...

These are some of the adjectives i have picked up from what people who knows him says about him..

Yes ur right anish, have been reading a lot of HIS articles in ****.
Welcome HVK sir to this forum.
It will be great to get his expert comments/suggestions.


BTW anish, waiting for the next stage of ur TL.