The car performed flawlessly. I spent around Rs 17,000 on fuel and paid approx Rs 6000 for the tolls.
BHPian Nothing@007 recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
I have not clicked many pictures because I had a strict schedule and drove for almost 15-16 hours for 3 days.
To give a brief about me, I am a PSU banker currently posted in Coimbatore, originally belonging to Dehradun. Since my office is near my home, I rarely get the opportunity to take my car on a long drive. It all started when I came across a vlog of a couple travelling from Bangalore to Delhi. On further fact finding I was convinced that Coimbatore to Dehradun can be done in 3 days. By the way, my drive for the trip was a Nissan Kicks turbo petrol (154 hp and 254Nm of torque).
After much planning, family convincing and getting the vehicle ready, I finally left Coimbatore on the night of 20th October. Since this was the first time I was going on such a long trip, I had my apprehensions about the dreaded Bangalore traffic and hence decided to pass it during the night or early morning.
Day 1
- Coimbatore to Aadilabad
- Distance travelled – 1250kms
- Time taken – 19.5 hours
Started from Coimbatore at 10.30 in the evening, hoping to reach Hyderabad for the first leg of the journey covering 900kms. The roads to Bangalore were in good condition, barring a few diversions. However, when Bangalore was about 130kms odd, I prompted Google to take me to Hyderabad, and then from Hosur Google took me to a different route, completely bypassing Bangalore. The road which I took was lonely and in poor condition for about 30 kms but it eventually connected me to NH 44 at around 4 am in the morning.
Once on NH 44, the road quality is good, and the views are spectacular. However, to my surprise, there are speed breakers on the national highway which I found very annoying. Had coffee on the way and for lunch had sambhar at a roadside eatery which was below average. Once near Hyderabad, I took the Hyderabad Outer Ring Road, which is an engineering marvel. Eight-lane highway with 120 kmph speed limit. Reached Hyderabad at around 12.00 pm in the afternoon and decided to push for Adilabad, which is another 300 kms from Hyderabad. Reached Adilabad at around 6 pm in the evening, checked in to the hotel had dinner and crashed on the bed.
Day 2
- Adilabad to Jhansi
- Distance – 800 kms
- Time taken – 16 hours
Next day me and wife woke up early and hit the road at 6 am in the morning. My goal was to reach Gwalior by evening, but the most difficult day of the road trip was just starting. As I had been seeing and hearing the roads in Maharashtra were poor, to say the least. The roads are full of potholes and in a pathetic condition. At a point, I had to apply brakes so hard that the backrest of the rear seat came off the hinges because there were cater-sized potholes on the road.
Food options too are limited. Had lunch at a roadside restaurant named Villa 44, on the outskirts of Nagpur, towards Madhya Pradesh. My wife and I were pleasantly surprised with the quality of the food and the service. I highly recommend this restaurant to anyone travelling via NH 44 in the Mahabharata – MP region.
Crossed into MP hoping to find better roads, which did meet my expectations initially, but soon turned into below average with plenty of patchwork and diversions in abundance. The patchwork is so consistent in MP that the car cannot be stable for a sustained interval of time and coupled with numerous diversions the speed is reduced drastically and could reach only Jhansi as against planned of reaching Gwalior. Reached Jhansi at around 9.30pm in the evening. Checked in, had dinner and slept.
Day 3
- Jhansi to Dehradun
- Distance – 670kms
- Time taken – 12.5 hours
Again started early in the morning with great excitement of reaching home today, passed Gwalior and again entered Uttar Pradesh and I was blown away by the road infrastructure of UP. Earlier the state was known for its lawless nature and poor infrastructure, but this is a thing of the past. I have no doubt in saying that I think the best roads in India are in UP presently.
Reached Agra and then took the Noida expressway. The food options too are better and frequent in this part of the country. One can easily find good eating options every 50 kms on the Noida expressway. After exiting the Noida expressway we took the Western peripheral expressway and then the Delhi-Meerut Expressway and reached Meerut. From Meerut, it was a familiar territory and excitement knew no bounds.
Once I was about 40 kms away from Dehradun, again encountered diversions due to the ongoing construction of the Delhi-Dehradun expressway. Crossing every hurdle, finally reached Dehradun in the evening at around 6.30 pm and battling through traffic reached home at 7.30 pm
- Total distance travelled – 2700kms
- Total cost of fuel – Rs 17000 approx
- Total toll cost – Rs 6000 approx
- Spent on food and stay – Rs 7000 approx for 2 people
All the costs mentioned above are not exact, because I never calculated them but one can assume them to be a rough estimate. Car performed flawlessly and not at one point in time did I feel tired in spite of being the lone driver.
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