The ride to Kanpur due to the sheer distance to be covered was divided into 3 legs with 2 night halts planned. The first leg was to take me to Indore to my Maushi’s place. It had been 7 years since I last met up with her and I was particularly looking forward to it. The second leg was to take me to Jhansi and the final leg was going to bring me to my destination Kanpur
I dutifully began from my place in Pune at sharp 5AM. Infact even I was surprised that when I checked the time just before starting, the hour hand was on 5 and the minute hand was on 12. It was a good omen for a journey which was both going to long and lonely. The route to Indore was Pune-Sangamner-Dhule-Mhow-Indore. Out of that I was more than familiar with the Pune-Sangamner route as that is on my regular Pune-Nashik road. The surprise started as I started nearing Dhule. Right from that moment the only vehicles I can remember until now on the roads are nothing but trucks, trailers, more trucks and more trailers!!!!
The road is a National Highway (NH3) which goes right upto Agra. So I never was worried about the road condition however what I did not know was the major portions of the National Highway are still under construction due to which large portions of the road have been converted into single lanes ones with the ‘USE DIVERSION’ signs pinned every few kms. And on these single lane roads imagine an unending line of trucks which move albeit very slowly. If you can then you can very well imagine how the first leg of my journey went. Plus the first leg which I had chosen was the single longest leg of the entire journey with a little over 600kms. So when I finally took the Indore exit of the National Highway the time was well over 8.20PM i.e a bit more than 15 hours on the road :) Another thing which I had not paid much attention to when planning the trip was that in these winter months, light fades fast. So with a good 124kms still remaining to get to Indore I was forced to switch the headlights on. Anybody would know how riders hate to travel in the night because plain and simple it is dangerous and on top of that the ‘USE DIVERSION’ signs were still coming on and in all the road construction activity somehow the milestones were nowhere to be seen. In the last 45 minutes till I spotted the Indore exit, I was literally cursing myself as I was more than sure that I had missed a turn and by now was way off track. But all said and done I did get my route right and got to my Maushi’s place without much of an incident.
Though I wanted to begin the next day at 5AM again, it was just not possible for me. With my body already having taken some tear the day before, I just could not get out of bed before 7AM the next day. So finally with tea and a light breakfast I was back on the road for the second leg of the journey which was going to take me to Jhansi. The distance to be covered was 473kms and at the same time I was advised not to cross the MP-UP (Shivpuri is in MP and Jhansi in UP) border if there is no daylight. So having started at 8AM by day light faded and night began I was nearing Shivpuri still 90kms adrift from Jhansi. Better sense prevailed and finally I called it a day there in Shivpuri, but the day was still not over for me. I had to hunt for decent staying quarters in a town I had never been to before and arguably would never set foot into again. The strategy was simple: - get to the town and enquire with the locals. The strategy paid off and I got holed up in the most shadiest lodge I have ever been to. The name was Hotel Vasthasali and a single seater room (read a room with a single bed) cost me just Rs150. I would not waste words to describe how the room was like, cos simply put it was indescribable!!!
But I just cant hold back so I think I will let you know just a tiny bit about the room. There was no mosquito menace in the room, absolutely none at all cos there was no ventilation for the mosquitoes to enter :) I guess that this much information will be enough for you to atleast imagine my living quarters in Shivpuri.
In those settings finally sleep came to me at around 12AM and I planned to get up latest by 6:30AM so that I could begin the final day of the ride by 7AM.
Things went to plan and I was able to ride out of Shivpuri at 7AM. With just 321kms more to go until I reach Kanpur I was finally thinking that this ride is finally in the bag. But as always is the case I was grossly wrong, cos this last stretch happened to be the most frustrating part of the journey. The only reason for that was that the highway stretch between Jhansi to Kanpur is still under construction and the diversions are a real pain in the ass. However finally with every ounce of will power left in me tested and churned till the last drop I reached Kanpur. But wait, there was a minor surprise in store with me too. Just when I was literally a few blocks from where my friend (Rohit), who was waiting to receive me, the rear tyre got punctured and by the time I reached him, the bike had begin to limp a bit. I thanked my stars that this happened in Kanpur and that too when Rohit was at hand. With his help, I got the tyre fixed and thus ended one of the most eventful ride on the Bullet for me.
I understand I got to get back home too, but then as they say, If God got you this far then He would definitely have had means to bring you back!!!
I dutifully began from my place in Pune at sharp 5AM. Infact even I was surprised that when I checked the time just before starting, the hour hand was on 5 and the minute hand was on 12. It was a good omen for a journey which was both going to long and lonely. The route to Indore was Pune-Sangamner-Dhule-Mhow-Indore. Out of that I was more than familiar with the Pune-Sangamner route as that is on my regular Pune-Nashik road. The surprise started as I started nearing Dhule. Right from that moment the only vehicles I can remember until now on the roads are nothing but trucks, trailers, more trucks and more trailers!!!!
The road is a National Highway (NH3) which goes right upto Agra. So I never was worried about the road condition however what I did not know was the major portions of the National Highway are still under construction due to which large portions of the road have been converted into single lanes ones with the ‘USE DIVERSION’ signs pinned every few kms. And on these single lane roads imagine an unending line of trucks which move albeit very slowly. If you can then you can very well imagine how the first leg of my journey went. Plus the first leg which I had chosen was the single longest leg of the entire journey with a little over 600kms. So when I finally took the Indore exit of the National Highway the time was well over 8.20PM i.e a bit more than 15 hours on the road :) Another thing which I had not paid much attention to when planning the trip was that in these winter months, light fades fast. So with a good 124kms still remaining to get to Indore I was forced to switch the headlights on. Anybody would know how riders hate to travel in the night because plain and simple it is dangerous and on top of that the ‘USE DIVERSION’ signs were still coming on and in all the road construction activity somehow the milestones were nowhere to be seen. In the last 45 minutes till I spotted the Indore exit, I was literally cursing myself as I was more than sure that I had missed a turn and by now was way off track. But all said and done I did get my route right and got to my Maushi’s place without much of an incident.
Though I wanted to begin the next day at 5AM again, it was just not possible for me. With my body already having taken some tear the day before, I just could not get out of bed before 7AM the next day. So finally with tea and a light breakfast I was back on the road for the second leg of the journey which was going to take me to Jhansi. The distance to be covered was 473kms and at the same time I was advised not to cross the MP-UP (Shivpuri is in MP and Jhansi in UP) border if there is no daylight. So having started at 8AM by day light faded and night began I was nearing Shivpuri still 90kms adrift from Jhansi. Better sense prevailed and finally I called it a day there in Shivpuri, but the day was still not over for me. I had to hunt for decent staying quarters in a town I had never been to before and arguably would never set foot into again. The strategy was simple: - get to the town and enquire with the locals. The strategy paid off and I got holed up in the most shadiest lodge I have ever been to. The name was Hotel Vasthasali and a single seater room (read a room with a single bed) cost me just Rs150. I would not waste words to describe how the room was like, cos simply put it was indescribable!!!
But I just cant hold back so I think I will let you know just a tiny bit about the room. There was no mosquito menace in the room, absolutely none at all cos there was no ventilation for the mosquitoes to enter :) I guess that this much information will be enough for you to atleast imagine my living quarters in Shivpuri.
In those settings finally sleep came to me at around 12AM and I planned to get up latest by 6:30AM so that I could begin the final day of the ride by 7AM.
Things went to plan and I was able to ride out of Shivpuri at 7AM. With just 321kms more to go until I reach Kanpur I was finally thinking that this ride is finally in the bag. But as always is the case I was grossly wrong, cos this last stretch happened to be the most frustrating part of the journey. The only reason for that was that the highway stretch between Jhansi to Kanpur is still under construction and the diversions are a real pain in the ass. However finally with every ounce of will power left in me tested and churned till the last drop I reached Kanpur. But wait, there was a minor surprise in store with me too. Just when I was literally a few blocks from where my friend (Rohit), who was waiting to receive me, the rear tyre got punctured and by the time I reached him, the bike had begin to limp a bit. I thanked my stars that this happened in Kanpur and that too when Rohit was at hand. With his help, I got the tyre fixed and thus ended one of the most eventful ride on the Bullet for me.
I understand I got to get back home too, but then as they say, If God got you this far then He would definitely have had means to bring you back!!!