Delhi to Goa road trip

[mundaire]

It's been a while since I posted anything of substance on the board and while I've had demands on my time, I can't but help feel guilty of neglecting my friends here . I've had to make several longish road trips (for work/ pleasure, alone/ with business partners/ with the wife & kids) in the past 12 months and since I seem to spend more time these days on road than anywhere else, thought I'd begin my "claw in" with sharing the experience of this trip with everyone here - as it happens!

It's a boys only trip with no real mandate other than to hit Goa and come back to Delhi within the next 10 days, (hopefully) having ourselves a good time en route, angling in a few water bodies (if the Gods bless us, maybe we'll even catch something)! Initially it was supposed to be 4 of us, but Murphy's law kicked in and we had one drop out just 48 hours before we were to depart (which is 7 AM tomorrow).

So now it's 3 men in a boat (SUV actually, so maybe we should call it a ship? ) and the initial agenda, so far as we've planned, is to hit Shivpuri (Madhya Pradesh) sometime after lunch and cast off by 3-3:30 PM tomorrow.

Next up is Nashik via Indore, which (I'm told) will probably be the most gruelling stretch of the journey - a 14+ hour drive with half of it (Shivpuri - Indore) over rather poor roads (which can pretty much mean anything in India). Indore - Nashik is supposed to be a super road though, lets see! We expect to just hit the sack on arrival and depart early morning for Goa, (all going well) arriving by mid-evening in Goa.

The way back is still undecided, but we've been talking about a night in Daman and then a straight drive from there to Udaipur, then on to Swai Madhopur (Ranthambhor National Park) and finally back in Delhi on the 20th.

Hoping to get in a bit of angling almost every day, including (a first for me) some shore/ creek fishing while in Goa.

Will try to keep updating this thread as it happens

Cheers!
Abhijeet

[Mack The Knife]

Safe journey and keep us updated. Pics can be uploaded later, if need be.

[xl_target]

Looking forward to seeing the photos from this trip.

[nagarifle]

do not forget to pack your puncture repair kit.

happy rolling mate

[Moin.]

have a safe trip abhijeet.

best
moin.

[kanwar76]

MP roads( if you can call them that) were real bad. There is highway work going on. Most of the journey is bone breaking. I did a Bangy to Ldh trip few months ago. This a vid somewhere between Jhansi and Nagpur, we took MP route while going and came back via GQ, which is a breeze BTW. Look at the Truck in front to gauge the depth of that hole


(Please pardon my Punyanvi there )

There are many rivers in MP which look like heaven for Maral and Malhi. I hope you are carrying some scum frogs. Try your luck there.

Best of Luck and click loads of pics.

-Inder

[AgentDoubleS]

In case you do decide to spend a night in Indore- don't forget to visit Sarafa at night- foodie's paradise!

Have a safe trip.

[Vikram]

That was a scary one,Inder.


Best-
Vikram

[kanwar76]

That was one of the scary one Vikers, my cousin told me there was another one atleast 75-100ft high which we crossed. I didn't get to experience that coz i wad dozzing that time . Just to give you an Idea here is one of the pics just after crossing MP.

untitled.jpg

Some of the highway which was completed was very good but rest of it is hellish and another big problem in MP is cattle on the road. They are in tens of thousand and all of them are on roads. We must have seen atleast 50 cattle road kills but good thing about MP is partridges on the road side, saw hordes of them. If ever hunting gets legalised in India, i know where to go for some upland fun

-Inder

[mundaire]

Update :
Left south Delhi at around 7.15 a.m. today, entered Agra around 2 hours later, we took the new greater NOIDA expressway. An absolutely fab drive, highly recommended!

From there on it took us about an hour to wade through Sunday morning city traffic. Anyhow, 450 odd kms later, with a brief halt just after Dholpur, we reached Madhi Khera dam. This is bang in the middle of a nationall forest, about an hour before Shivpuri. The initial idea was that we'd do some angling there before crashing out at the irrigation dept. guest house. Upon reaching there, we spent an hour or more on a tour of the hydel plant and dam, leaving little time for fishing. We probably could have still managed at least an hour or more on the water, but as things turned out the power transformer at the guest house was shot and we needed to find ourselves alternate digs before dark. Wasted opportunity, but 9 more days to go, fingers crossed!

Tomorrow we have a 14 hour drive from Shivpuri too Nashik via Indore, so will hit the sack now and try and post again tomorrow.
Cheers!
Abhijeet

[mundaire]

Road condition so far - Delhi too Agra via the new expressway is excellent

Agra to Dholpur and to almost Gwalior is a great 4 lane road (almost throughout) some short stretches are a work in progress.

Gwalior to Shivpuri is a mediocre 2 lane highway and I'm told that this is the road condition all the way to Indore!

[xl_target]

Wow! Abhijit,
That is not a pothole. That is an axle breaker at best or a car swallower at worst.
Does the SUV have 4 wheel drive?

[kanwar76]

Goog Going Abhijeet,

Yamuna expressway have taken the pain out for going to Agra. One of the best roads in India.

Be safe

-Inder

[Mack The Knife]

Thanks for the update.

[timmy]

There is nothing in life quite like a good road trip! Hope you are getting the chance to enjoy seeing scenery and sights, along the way, and doing a little thinking and reflection. Of course, these days there are accursed cell phones, causing the traditional places where one could hide from the world for a short time, like cars and restrooms, to become little more than a bench in the middle of a bus depot. Hopefully, you will get the opportunity to turn off the electronic leash and run free for a little bit!