Lucknow to Kolkata
Total: 1000 KM
When I finally got a job in Kolkata, it was time to bring my car from Lucknow. I missed my car for all these months and probably in the toughest phase of my life. And hence, I was about to get back the possession of my beauty. So I decided to go to lucknow and decided to drive my car from lucknow to Kolkata at one stretch, without any halt. Well… that was daring, people would think twice to do that but as per my calculations, if I left early morning from lucknow I should reach Kolkata by late evening, provided there is no major disturbance in between.
Anyway, we started off very early, around 5-30 AM. I had the confidence that dad was with me so we were 2 drivers to share the stretch. Mom was however relaxing at the back seat. Till Varanasi, roads are only 2 lane, without a divider, so obviously you can't speed too much, however condition of road was good, without any significant potholes.
From Varanasi to Kolkata, it was the stretch of golden quadrilateral, and as my earlier experience says, the roads will be too good to slow down. Last time we traveled on this road when I was coming from cuttack to lucknow, via ranchi, this time however we will not leave NH2 and will continue till Kolkata without any break.
Except a stretch in bihar, near Son River, the GQ work is still not complete so you will have to take the old grand trunk road built by sher shah suri. And believe me it seems nobody repaired the road after him. Well, we crossed that part and soon entered border of Bengal and again the roads were good enough. The best thing about this NH2 is that most of the road is built in concrete instead of bitumen. Most other stretches in india wherever I went are built with bitumen, only NH2 is built with concrete with some small stretches of bitumen in between somewhere.
Now the question arises, which is better to drive, Bitumen vs Concrete. When you drive on bitumen, the sound of the tyres in high-speed is comparatively much lesser than it is on concrete. But when you drive on concrete the wear and tear of the tyre will be much less than that of bitumen. It sounds a bit strange, but that's the fact. Bitumen is not as smooth as concrete, still tyre sound is much lesser in bitumen. Concrete is built in sections, however bitumen sections are hardly visible or noticeable. Concrete sections are clearly visible.
Anyway, my personal experience says, driving on bitumen is more fun than driving on concrete.
We reached Kolkata at 9 PM and the first comment or compliment I received was from my grand-father. He said lucknow to Kolkata in 15 hours, well that’s great driving and kudos to the driver. Dad did help me out in between during the journey but I was very happy that we completed the journey as we planned it to be.
Awesome car – The Ford Fiesta.
Total: 1000 KM
When I finally got a job in Kolkata, it was time to bring my car from Lucknow. I missed my car for all these months and probably in the toughest phase of my life. And hence, I was about to get back the possession of my beauty. So I decided to go to lucknow and decided to drive my car from lucknow to Kolkata at one stretch, without any halt. Well… that was daring, people would think twice to do that but as per my calculations, if I left early morning from lucknow I should reach Kolkata by late evening, provided there is no major disturbance in between.
Anyway, we started off very early, around 5-30 AM. I had the confidence that dad was with me so we were 2 drivers to share the stretch. Mom was however relaxing at the back seat. Till Varanasi, roads are only 2 lane, without a divider, so obviously you can't speed too much, however condition of road was good, without any significant potholes.
From Varanasi to Kolkata, it was the stretch of golden quadrilateral, and as my earlier experience says, the roads will be too good to slow down. Last time we traveled on this road when I was coming from cuttack to lucknow, via ranchi, this time however we will not leave NH2 and will continue till Kolkata without any break.
Except a stretch in bihar, near Son River, the GQ work is still not complete so you will have to take the old grand trunk road built by sher shah suri. And believe me it seems nobody repaired the road after him. Well, we crossed that part and soon entered border of Bengal and again the roads were good enough. The best thing about this NH2 is that most of the road is built in concrete instead of bitumen. Most other stretches in india wherever I went are built with bitumen, only NH2 is built with concrete with some small stretches of bitumen in between somewhere.
Now the question arises, which is better to drive, Bitumen vs Concrete. When you drive on bitumen, the sound of the tyres in high-speed is comparatively much lesser than it is on concrete. But when you drive on concrete the wear and tear of the tyre will be much less than that of bitumen. It sounds a bit strange, but that's the fact. Bitumen is not as smooth as concrete, still tyre sound is much lesser in bitumen. Concrete is built in sections, however bitumen sections are hardly visible or noticeable. Concrete sections are clearly visible.
Anyway, my personal experience says, driving on bitumen is more fun than driving on concrete.
We reached Kolkata at 9 PM and the first comment or compliment I received was from my grand-father. He said lucknow to Kolkata in 15 hours, well that’s great driving and kudos to the driver. Dad did help me out in between during the journey but I was very happy that we completed the journey as we planned it to be.
Awesome car – The Ford Fiesta.
