Drove 430 km from Bhagalpur to New Town, Kolkata today (18 September 2020), concluding a week's self-drive holiday including 3 enjoyable days in Darjeeling. Total distance from Ghoom to New Town via Rishi Road, Siliguri, Kishanganj, Dalkhola, Purnea, Bhagalpur, Dumka, Nala and Asansol was 760 km. This was about 150 km more than the total distance of 610 km during outward journey via NH-34, Botolbari, Dhantola, Siliguri and Rohini Road. However, the total time taken during return journey (17 hours) was 2 hours less than outward journey (19 hours).
Road condition : NH-34 : 40% bad; Botolbari – Dhantola (64 km) : 40% bad, last about 20 km near Dhantola newly resurfaced and good; Dhantola – Siliguri : 10% bad.
Dhantola to Bhagalpur via Kishanganj, Dalkhola, Purnea : 95% good; Bhagalpur – Dumka : 25% bad, most bad stretches being closer to Bhagalpur; A bridge has reportedly collapsed between Hansdiha and Dumka and I had to take a 20 km detour through narrow village roads, some stretches pretty bad. This detour is being correctly shown by Google Maps. Dumka to Asansol : 90% good; the Dumka-Masalia-Kundhit-Nala stretch inside Jharkhand is superb. After entering West Bengal road becomes bad and one has to suffer for about 20 km before reaching Asansol. NH-2 condition good, lot of patch repairs undertaken.
Conclusions : (1) Bhagalpur route to Siliguri from Kolkata preferable as on date, if one does not mind the extra distance of about 135 km. (2) For the Siliguri-Darjeeling stretch Rishi Road (via Mirik) is far more scenic as compared to Rohini Road (via Kurseong) though it is about 23 km longer. Rohini Road is also much steeper and Kurseong and Sonada are prone to traffic jams. (3) Driving in the Darjeeling hills is always an exhilarating experience, regardless of the pain in getting to Siliguri.
Courtesy: Debashis Mukherjee
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* Kolkata to Siliguri
* Kolkata to Darjeeling
* Siliguri to Kolkata
* Darjeeling to Kolkata
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