A short ride to Digha.

 

I am ready to Start out for Digha at 0620 hours but let me tell you,

 

I had woken up at 0520 hours and was sure I could leave by 0545, after all how long would I need to get ready and I was probably ready by 0545( or so I thought)  but then I started putting on my clothes for the ride,  and well there is trouser 2 layers, (yes its winter and temperature is 14degrres C, then there’s 2 layer of t-shirt and shirt and then riding jacket, my fanny pack and then another cut jacket, just when I thought I was ready, I realized, I need my shin and knee guards too, once done and riding boots on, I could well understand why kings needed there queens and maids to dress them up, so many layers of protection does make one stand stiff and unwieldy , I have a good mind to actually weight myself next time I am dressed up for a ride.

 

 

Now once down in the garage I was spoilt for choice, do I take the lighter bike (160 kg) or a heavy bike (220 kg) heavy bikes are better at doing high speed and on good roads they munch km’s a lot better, lighter bikes give a rider more control in tricky situations and to off road, One does not need to slow down at bad portions of the roads,  float over speed breakers more easily and so on, the lighter bike has larger wheels facilitating these activities, thus making off-roading easier, as I was mulling on this, a friend sukhbir Singh Raja called to check on my ride status, a co-rider on many a ride, and he was of the opinion lighter bike was more apt for this particular ride,  in case I feel like riding on the beach, making my decision making easier.

 

 

 

It was 0620 before I was on my way; GPS on, and KOGO bot on (am using Kogo bot to track my path of the ride, it also lets one keep track of the path and lets you inform your loved one’s the path the bike is taking)   My mom always a trooper came down to see me off.

 

 

GPS had informed me it would take me 6 hours to Digha distance of 240 km approx., I was conversant with 110 km of the road and I knew it could be done in 2 hours so the last 130 km would need 4 hours and it made me think, it must be state highway’s passing through villages or bad roads to slow me to this speed.

 

Yes Jamshedpur to Sardia was 4 lane highway for most part, and excellent roads, n then from Sardia it was state highway, I would not recommend this road as for the next 30 km, there were quiet a few near misses, people on this road are very careless, and don’t pay attention how they are driving riding, often coming to the wrong side of the road while chatting on there phone and similar incident, I had to often honk just to catch there attention, n this in spite of riding with my lights on, well it was slow progress for 50 odd km and then I was beginning to pick up speed, I had fuelled up in Bahraghora so I was sure I would possibly not need to fuel up till I return back to Jharkhand ( fuel price is often cheaper in Jharkhand , compared to Orissa / west Bengal) 

 

 

As I rode by 0900 hours stomach was rumbling and I was looking for a place to get off the State highway n have my lunch in peace, I was carrying Aloo Paratha and I spied a school building that was shut and decided to make it my breakfast pad, the place was Chandal bandh, Paschim Mednipur Ditrict.

 

there were a few chickens who took a fancy to my breakfast andI was happy to share my Aloo paratha with them, 

 

 

 

The roads were good, the day was cool, and I was enjoying my ride occasional bad patches of road were not a problem as Radha

 (My bike) was negotiating the bumps and bad patches with aplomb,

 

 

And then at a place called kankamathani, I was informed I could make my trip a little shorter if I undertook a river crossing, the bike could be put on a boat and I would save a good 20 km this way. My curiosity was raised and I decided to go this route, needless to say this would need me to ride on the sand for 3 km, and finally I was on a small boat, there was another bike so I was sure this was a safe path (hopefully) and we did the river crossing, the opposite bank was quiet steep and looked scary but once on the bike I was able to negotiate it ok( there was no going back now)

 

 

The way it works, there are 2 boats and as they both get loaded they exchange places across the rives Subernarekha ( this very river flows past my house in jamshedpur, Jharkhand where I had started the journey from today and here I was crossing the river approx. 160 km from home.

 

Approx 50 km before Digha I came across a small field of Kaash flowers ( this is actually a kind of Grass and blooms during October- Nov period)  Another 45 minutes and I was in Digha.

Ready to spend the next 3 days camera in hand.

My KOGO bot claimed I had travelled 240 km, my bike speedometer says 235, at average speed of 55kmph.

 

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Chat pooja, wirshing Sun God

 Worshipping the Sun God and her sister, chatti MA, one of the most eco friendly festival this chat is, offering water and sweets and abstaining from drinking water or eating,,,

Road trip : Tatanagar - to Chattisgarh, 2800 km trip, part Nine : Puri, will be our base for 3 days .

 

We woke up and were dilly-dallying when I looked out of the window and the Sun was on its path up,

 

Well we grabbed out camera and raced down, it would be hardly a minute or so before the sun was too bright, n there was a fishing boat too on the horizon, we weren’t going to miss this wonderful experience.

 

 

We shot a few pictures and then re hydrated our self with Coconut water

 

 

bought a few toys as gifts from the beach.

 

 

We managed to get some breakfast too right on the Gopalpur beach, things were going good

 

 

 

We drove back keeping within the safety limit of 60 – 80 kmph, well we did make it back by afternoon and enroute we once again rehydrated and stocked up on coconut.

 

 

 

This would be our routine for the next few days, to drink fresh coconut water everyday.

 

 

We had started back by 0830 hours this was going to be a 5 hour drive again according to Google and once in Puri we were going to stay at a my co-traveller’s house, which was closed so we anticipated having to clean the house some.  

 

 

But before that a plate of Biryani was calling and yes

We had picked up fresh vegetable along the way, organic or village fresh, little overpriced but felt good to shop here.

And yes finally here is a plate of delicious fare for tomorrow, Pomfret fresh from the sea.

 

 

Today we had driven a good 197 km to Puri and we will be staying here for the next 3 days, we have completed 2360km approx., by now.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Road trip : Tatanagar - to Chattisgarh, 2800 km trip, part Eight : Gopalpur and Traffic ticket

 

We had been on the road for a few days now and today we decided to just chill before we took off homewards, we had the whole return journey and the traffic ticked situation to be dealt with, final destination tomorrow will be Gopalpur in orissa.

 

 

 

we chose to take off at 0630 hours, which meant getting up by 530 and getting ready, we were sure no one was going to be up at the resort at this hour, so we had settled the bills previous day

 

Early morning we took off, today we were to do 500 + km, even though it would be a long day, no sweat as we knew we were going to be at Gopalpur and even if we reached late we would be fine, ( spoke  to the hotel to hold our reservation)  days have started getting  short and little chance of reaching before  sundown, having received a ticked we were definitely more careful.

 

 

To try and save my reputation of not  driving with a valid license. We would have to detour and deal with the echallan situation at Badli or Bhawinipatana as it would turn out eventually.

The drive was mostly by the same route that we had taken while coming to Bastar and we stopped along the way this time we had excellent dosa's for Breakfast along the way, 20km before Badli, on the state highway.

 

 

The drive was smooth n we were making good time, we managed to get to Badli,  get the " driving without license charge removed” they were aware of the situation and on us showing up they did the needful very quickly in the nearest RTO office which was in BhawaniPata, Orissa,

We stopped for lunch at 1320 hours; we were making good time and eating on right time, plus healthy food, at a roadside dhaba run by a family, at Ramanaguda in Raigad district.

 

 

The roads were mostly empty and we were doing good time, it almost seemed like we could make it in time for sunset at Gopalpur, Well sorry to say, but we almost made it but did not also. We got lost NH was one way and we lost 20 minutes trying to figure out the way, by the time we did, it was already past sunset time

 

 

We had a beach just outside our hotel; this particular hotel is very well situated for sunrise ( as we would eventually find out)  and sunset view.

 

 

Another day comes to an end, 530 km done this day and yes did I mention the Driving without license false charge was waved. Phew !

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