Bike Trip! Return Journey from Delhi to Bangalore 2400 Kms via Udaipur, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Pune

So after covering the Central India route from Bangalore to Delhi via Hyderabad, Nagpur (Read about it Here), I wanted to take the different route on the way back. Decided to take the Western route via Mumbai. Since I don't ride at night, I had only 12 hours of riding time and I had to cover 800 kms each day

Day 1-  Delhi to Modasa Gujarat - 811 Kms

Plan was to stick to NH48 all along. Roads were absolutely BRILLIANT all through the day. Only problem is, I couldnt cross 120 because this route has the whole fleet of trucks between Delhi and Mumbai. Good part about this route is you will find ample places to eat, refuel and rest all along the way. 

Near Jaipur on the Traffic Filled NH48

The NH 48 (previously NH8) was absolutely Bliss to Ride in Rajasthan

After crossing Jaipur, Ajmer, there is a place called Beawar where there are 2 options to go to Ahmedabad. I took the route via Udaipur as suggested by Google. It had 100 Kms of single road without Divider but post that it was all good. 

The Decision point near Beawar

A HUGE Shiva statue near Nathdwara near Udaipur

Entry to Udaipur is through this Tunnel in the Hill

Udaipur was surely beautiful with its lakes and hills

Crossing Udaipur

Rajasthan parts of NH48 till the Gujarat border was fabulous without any potholes. Since plan was to reach Udaipur (which I did by 4pm). The 100 Kms after Udaipur is HANDS DOWN the MOST SCENIC ROADS I have ever ridden. Roads cutting through the Hills and weather adding the icing on the cake

Hill cut roads after Udaipur were most beautiful roads ever

Although every now and then, you do find a lot of Cows in Rajasthan

Post Udaipur Roads

Nature Finds its Own ways to be resilient of Human Invasion

Rajasthan, you had truly amazing roads!

I thought I will push further and extended the day till Modasa Gujarat. I found a very good stay in Modasa called Hotel Sagarinn which had clean and luxury rooms, sanitized for Rs 600 (COVID Special price)

Sunset and End of the Day in Modasa Gujarat

Day 2 - Modasa to Ahmedabad to Panvel (Mumbai) - 633 Kms

I was planning to take from Modasa to Godhara route to Baroda, but couple of my friends insisted on meeting me in Ahmedabad so decided to take a detour which later I realized would cost me 3 hours and 100 more Kilometers. 

Modasa to Ahmedabad was painful but it was Green all throughout

Enroute Ahmedabad

The road from Modasa to Ahmedabad was PAINFUL single lane, pothole ridden roads that will kill your palms. Constant thoughts in my mind, if the detour to ahmedabad is worth it! After 80 kms of this torture, Out of the two people whom I was supposed to meet, one guy overslept! Anyways, as I carried on, I realized two wheelers are not allowed on the Expressways. The NH from Ahmedabad to Gujarat was not so great either with people driving all over the place. The WORST section of the whole trip was Baroda to Surat with potholes the size of craters and HEAVY tortorous rains making the visibility to almost zero. I could hardly keep safe speeds of 80. 

Maharashtra Roads were a sigh of relief

However, roads in maharashtra was comparitively better with lesser potholes. After countless breaks and snail pace, I realized that I wouldnt be able to make it to my target of Satara.

It was physically challenging to ride with wet leather gloves

Infact when I entered mumbai, I was stuck in traffic near Thane for almost 1 hour. Decided to call it a day and took halt at Panvel. I spent 1 hour searching for a place in Panvel as all the places I navigate to seemed to be closed. Stay was in Hotel Crown which was the only available option for Rs 2000. But their room and service was good and hygenic.

Day 3 - Panvel (Mumbai) to Bangalore - 958 Kms

I knew today was going to be a long day since I couldnt really cover much yesterday. I needed to plan my breaks effectively to be able to reach Bangalore by atleast Midnight. While heading to Pune, realized two wheelers are not allowed in Express way to Pune! Bummer Again. The normal highway from Mumbai to Pune was not bad however had lots and lots of Speedbreakers. The route was beautiful with waterfalls everywhere in Khandala and Lonavala due to rains.

Countless Waterfalls can be seen in the background in Ghat roads of Khandala

 At the view points, there was so much fog that Visibility was absolute zero! I was absolutely loving the surroundings and momentarily forgot about the huge distance i had to cover.

Almost zero visibility due to Fog in Khandala

Ghat sections after Pune were mesmerizing green

Perfect weather to ride the ghats

The Ever beautiful Karad Kohlapur 4 Lane Dream Project

She knew I will give her food

Once I reached Pune, there was occasional rain every now and then till Kohlapur but the good roads ensured I could maintain 120 throughout.

Some Treat for the Bike

Once Crossing Karnataka, my body and bike gained some unknown energy. With the brilliant views, TOP NOTCH Roads and sparse traffic, I felt so BLESSED to be living one of the BEST states in India. In the whole of the Trip, I think I would rank roads of Karnataka 1st followed by Telangana and Rajasthan.

At the Karnataka Border

From here on, I was pretty familiar with the route having already done Bangalore - Pune - Bangalore earlier in Feb on my bike. My target was to cover the Hubli Chitradurga stretch before dark as there is road widning work in progress. I just managed it as I reached chitradurga by 6.30 pm.

Spotted a Rainbow in Davangere

Beautiful Highways of KARNATAKA

Sunset, usually till when I ride

The Last Sunset of the Trip

Panoromic Windmills of Chitradurga welcoming you

Chitradurga to Bangalore is a bliss to drive and I could cover this easily with adrenaline of going home carrying me through. However dur to my tinted visor and rain, I couldn't go beyond 100. Riding at night is fun and body doesnt get tired as much

Because of my Tinted Visor, I cannot ride at night with it

The LEDs and Indicators were surprisingly good at night

I reached home much earlier at 10pm lucky to be greeted by my wife and 3 daughters with wide grin and relief!

At home with my ladies :)

All through the trip, I saw different faces of my country and I am just proud of every part of it. I know it is not a very good idea to travel during COVID times, but I never stopped at places for food and rode on Portable / fast food. At night, I would order room service in the hotels. At none of the Borders was I stopped or asked for Pass. I did have my COVID Test done before the trip and had the report ready but nobody asked for that either. 

Now, I will observe quarantine for 14 days and get tested after 7 days just to be safe. This was one of the most memorable trips for me especially in these times with all the uncertainties in travel due to Pass and limited stay options but I guess it adds to the planning and preparation. Next up is the eastern route, Bangalore to Delhi via Chennai Kolkata!

Bike Trip! - Bangalore to Delhi 2100 Kms through Hyderabad, Nagpur

Pre Ride Planning

So its been WFH for almost half an year and things were starting to open up. I had plans to do the GQ on my new bike on Independence day but unfortunately, lockdown was still prevalent. After following many Travelers from HVK group and TeamBHP, finally decided to travel from Bangalore to Delhi after obtaining all the Passes

I got the Travel passes of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka easily but Maharashtra and UP required a COVID Test to be done. So I did the Test from Thyrocare in Bangalore for Rs 600 and got the necessary passes. Gave my Bike for checkup and changed the Brake pads and Tyres just in case. 

Bike is ready with New Tyres and Brake shoes

The plan was to stick to the NH 44 all along for 3 days with Day 1 halt at Nizamabad and Day 2 at Sagar. Even Identified places to stay, called them and confirmed that it was open. It was the eve of the ride and as usual, I did overpack

Packed Took 50% of these things

Day 1 - Bangalore to Adilabad - 905 Kms

Started from home at around 5am and breezed through till Bagepalli Border for Andhra Pradesh. Surprisingly, No checking or asking for epasses. After entry to Andhra, there was one cop who asked to open my bag to check for Liquor.

Beautiful Roads of Andhra

Easily reached Hyderabad by 12 pm but couldnt enter the Expressway as it was banned for 2 wheelers. Hence took the road through the city traffic.Roads in Andhra were beautiful going through the hills. The climate was a pleasure to ride. As soon as I crossed into Telangana I was surprised to see even better roads. beautiful flowering trees were planted on both sides of the road making it feel like a grand welcome.

Bikes not allowed in Hyderabad Expressway

The entire stretch of day was was magnificent and I was able to cover more than 900 kms today. It was the adrenaline of starting the journey as well which made me push extra.

For the Night, I halted at Adilabad which was the last Border point between Telangana and Maharashtra. I didnt want to go through epass checking at night so decided to halt in Telangana itself.

Stay - Hotel New Krishna Lodge, Adilabad for Rs 600

Night Stay in Adilabad

Day 2 - Adilabad (Telangana) to Lalitpur (UP) - 700 Kms

I had a very eventful day today. After the bliss of southern states and a relatively easy day yesterday, today I entered Maharashtra. As soon as I entered, I realised it's going to be tough. Very very bad quality roads. After riding for 100 kms decided this is not happening and pushed suspension 1 point on softer side. While on the break felt extremely sleepy and slept on a bus stand for an hour. This was just 8am and I knew I am not going to cover the intended distance today (Plan was Jhansi). The mod on suspension helped but still was not able to keep up more than 120. Then entered Nagpur and the big fiasco happened.

At 8am, I just couldnt fight sleep so took 1 hour nap in a Bus Stand

While in the Nagpur City, I missed the deviation to NH44 and entered NH 547. This NH 547 was the worst of roads with best views around. Later I heard from locals that due to heavy rains, there was a landslide in NH44 after Nagpur and all the truck traffic was diverted from NH44 to this 547. What was worse is there were 3 huge traffic jams with one of them due to an overflowing river and other two due to over turned trucks in the Ghat roads. This Highway is not well equipped for the huge trucks and doesn't have a divider as well.. to add to the misery, the roads had HUGE potholes and going above 40 was turning out to be a challenge.

Beautiful Green across MP

To safely navigate, turned the suspension to the softest side and reduced psi in rear tyre from 41 to 39. This section between Nagpur to Narsinghpur of 255 kms took me close to 5 hours whereas in the main Nh44 I could've covered this in 2 hours. Plus the strain on legs additional. Couple of Good things about this route is, the Ghat roads and view is amazing. Plus, since I was going slow, I got a very good mileage of around 25

Anyways, once I reached back nh44, I just couldn't control myself. Pushed the suspension up 2 notches and immediately started cruising in 140. The next 200kms I could cover in 2 hours easily. However all those 200 kms it was pouring constantly and everything I wore was soaking wet. Driving in mp and up part of nh44 is very challenging because of so many dogs and cows.  In the journey today 3 times abs kicked in due to the dogs and cows.

Crossing the Border in UP

The roads in MP and UP are top notch and the greens around the highways are mesmerizing.. I could cover 100 kms more than my original plan and reached lalitpur for night halt. Overall I covered around 700kms today in 12 hours with all the sleep break, traffic, bad roads etc. Could've done it faster with lesser strain had I not deviated to the other Highway, but nothing much to be bogged over about.. end of the day body is fine too ride another 1000 kms tomorrow and looking forward for the next day tomorrow!

Amazing Food and Tea in UP

Stay - Hotel Anand Residency, Lalitpur. Rs 1000 

I just love the small town ppl and their mentality.. I told them I'm coming from Bangalore to Delhi and looking at the mud covered bike, the security guard cleaned it with a bucket of water without me telling him... I paid him 100 bucks which he accepted with a wide grin on his pan filled face 😀

Security Guard Washed my bike without asking

Day 3 - Lalitput to Delhi - 556 Kms

Today I reach delhi. The excitement of going home was taking me across the Cow filled roads of UP. I've read a lot about the Jhansi- Gwalio stretch in Teambhp which was under construction but managed  to breeze through this stretch easily. Guess the work has progressed afterall.

Green Route near Gwalior

Once I was nearing Agra, I made a mistake of following the Highway rather than going in the city for the expressway. Realizing this late, decided to take the Expressway in Mathura, for which I had to travel 15 kms inside the city with painful traffic

Once I reached the Expressway, I covered 100 kms in 42 minutes 😁😁 the Taj Yamuna expressway to me was like giving food to a man hungry for a month! 

And so I reached Delhi. Stopped for a quick photo in front of Buddh International Circuit

A quick shoot near Buddh International Circuit

My Bike standing tall and Dirty with my Dad's Car

Family in Delhi surprised to see me

Amazing route, raining all throughout. Highways and mountains fully green. Loved traveling through the lengths of my country especially during the monsoons. Overall it was 2100 Kms covered in 2.5 days. Looking forward to the return Journey through the Western Route. 

Edit - You can read about my return Journey from Delhi to Bangalore through the Western Route HERE