From Linea To Leh

Before starting this travelogue, let me salute the valiant Indian security personnel, both who sacrificed their precious lives and who were/are working against odds in bad weather conditions at unfriendly, isolated locations, but for whom, this expedition would not have been possible.  

I started dreaming of driving to Leh in my Linea in May 2011, when the roads to Leh were open to civilian traffic.  First, I wanted to take my family.  When I came to know that my Linea just cannot climb Zozilla Pass with the entire family in the car, I dropped that idea.  Then, I invited my friend to join in Leh expedition, which he readily accepted.  Later, I had to postpone the expedition due to unavoidable personal reasons.  Afterwards, when I rescheduled it, my friend's leave application was rejected.  The next right of refusal was given to my son, and as expected, his leave was also not granted.  The reason why I wanted to take my friend or my son was there must be somebody to push my Linea from behind at Zozilla Pass in case she struggled to climb!  Then I thought, I must do this trip, come what may!  So, I asked my wife and she readily agreed.  The planning part of this trip has been detailed here.

I reserved our accommodation in advance for the up journey including Leh.  The return journey part was left open so that we would have some flexibility.

Since we had to participate in a marriage at Chennai, we decided to start the expedition from Chennai, actually from my niece's home at Orchards, Arcot Road, Chennai.  My niece had packed enough chappathis and mixed veggie side dish to last for our dinner and breakfast.  Myself, my wife and my Linea left Orchards at 6:05 pm on 9 September 2011 [Friday].

I took the route of Chennai>Ongole>Chilakaluripeta>NagarjunaSagar>Hyderabad>Nagpur for the first lap of my Leh expedition.  The road from Chennai to Chilakaluripeta was superb 4-laned NH 5.  However, from Chilakaluripeta to Nagarjuna Sagar, there were many bad stretches.  My Linea bottom-scraped 4 times.  Again, from Nagarjuna Sagar to Hyderabad, the road was very good.  I drove on NH 7 from Hyderabad to Nagpur.  Except for about 100 km, where 4-laning work was still in progress, the remaining stretch was fantastic.

More to come.

We reached Peanut, Nagpur at 2:24 pm on 10 September 2011 [Saturday] after driving for 1171.8 km.  

After checking in, we had a wash, rushed to the nearby Haldiram's at Bardi, tasted our favourites, returned to Peanut and crashed to the bed for much-needed sleep.

More to come.

Some vital statistics of my Leh expedition:

7849.8 km

19 days [9 - 27 September 2011]

13 states/UT [TN/AP/MH/MP/UP/HR/DL/PB/JK/CH/RJ/GJ/KA]

2 occupants [Myself and my wife]

1 car [My Linea]

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We got up late in the morning, breakfasted in the room itself ordered from room service and again rested.  Peanut was a good budget hotel.  I made advance reservation through MakeMyTrip at a lower tariff.  I went down and requested the security guard to arrange for a car wash and my Linea was gleaming and shining within another hour or so.  

We checked out at 1 pm on 11 September 2011 [Sunday] and went straight to Haldiram's at Bardi for lunch.  After relishing a delicious lunch, we headed for IOC COCO pump at Nagpur where my Linea had her tankful.  

We headed for Amritsar at 2 pm.  I took Nagpur>Seoni>Lakhnadon>Narasimhapur>Sagar>Jhansi>Gwalior>Agra>Delhi>Panipat>Ludhiana>Jalandhar>Amritsar as guided by my MMI Lx130 navigator.  

I had horrible experience of driving through many bad roads all along the night.  My Linea bottom-scraped 21 times before reaching Gwalior.  One good stretch followed by a bad stretch.  All along the route, there was cattle menace in MP and UP.  Driving through huge mound of slush, craters and potholed roads in towns like Lakhnadon, Sagar, Jhansi, etc. was pain in the neck.At that time itself, I decided that my return journey would be via NH 8/4.  I got fed up of North-South Corridor.  I could not click photographs in the night as I had to concentrate on my driving and my wife was totally shell-shocked.

Since the road-widening works were in progress, there were no signages, no indicators for diversion.  At a Y-junction, I entered into Narasimhapur town instead of its bypass.  At last, I found some human beings from whom I came to know that I had to take the bypass on the left fork.  My MMI navigator many times went blank or showed old route through the towns.  After Narsimhapur bypass, we stopped and had delicious tava roti and dal fry at a road-side dhaba frequented by truckers.  

We reached Gwalior the next day early morning.  The road condition improved after Gwalior.  After crossing Agra, we had sumptuous breakfast at Bikaneerwala on NH 2.  Later, I had a power nap for about half-hour and continued the journey.  

We continued our journey, crossed New Delhi and entered NH 1 and stopped at Sukhdev Vaishno Dhaba at Murthal for late-lunch at 4:30 pm.  We ate a hearty and satisfying meal.  The journey continued.  I parked my Lina at the road side and had the second power nap for about half-hour in the night somewhere between Ludhiana and Jalandhar.

We reached Hotel Sapphire, Amritsar at 2:30 am on 13 September 2011 [Tuesday], checked in to our room and slept immediately.

Many more photographs are waiting in the queue!

I need some time to read your detail travelogue Sir. 

But could not avoid to write as the title of this thread reminded me a James Bond movie,

From Russia With Love.

Great job done Ravi. It takes lot o courage to even dream such a trip. We had been waiting for your travelogue

Finally you have made it !!. Congratulation . Waiting for more .

You should be awarded for Traveller of the Year 2011 - CW . 

Thanks, NMP.  Yes, I got the inspiration from that mvoie title only!  But, only the titles resemble, not the screen-play!

Thanks a lot, Sarandilip and ashish.naik, for nice words.

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On 13 September 2011 [Tuesday], we got up late, breakfasted in the room itself ordered through room service of Hotel Sapphire. Hotel Sapphire was located near Golden Temple and within walkable distance from Jallianwala Bagh. There was ample car parking space available at the hotel. 

Later, we drove to Automobile Kapoor's India Pvt Ltd., Amritsar, for servicing of my Linea with prior appointment. I had already posted a detailed review here. 

The best part was, the SA refused to take any payment for the service rendered including complete check up of my Linea, cleaning of air filters, topping up of engine oil and other fluids, complete car wash with tyre polish, interior vacuum cleaning, etc.

At the time of checking in at the small of hours of the day, I parked my Linea at the hotel. But, during the busy day time, that area was very congested. So, after returning from Automobile Kapoor's, I parked my Linea at a multi-level car parking [MLCP] near Jallianwala Bagh. I was told that one time parking fee was Rs 30 and overnight parking fee, Rs 40! So, immediately, I opted for the later as my Linea was also in need of rest after driving for more than 2800 km. After parking my Linea at MLCP, we strolled in the main bazaar road. In the evening, we took a shared cab MS Omni to and fro Atari [Wagah] border costing Rs 110 per head for the entire to and fro trip.

Atari border wore a festive look. Bollywood popular hits including Oscar Award winner Jai Ho were blaring through the loud speakers with people in highest patriotic fever. Ladies were dancing. BSF staff was urging the crowd to shout patriotic slogans! But, the sun was scorching us. Here are some photographs clicked at Atari border.

More photographs of Atari border:

After returning from Atari border, we shopped dry fruits, nuts and spices, went back to our room dumped our shopping bags and we visited Golden Temple at 8:45 pm. Golden Temple [Sri Harmandir Sahib] is the only place of worship in the world which is open 24x7, IIRC. Kindly correct me if I am wrong. After worshiping there, we had our dinner at the Langar comprising roti, sabzi and kheer. We returned to our hotel and fell into deep slumber. Here are some photographs clicked within the Golden Temple:

The next day morning, we got ready, checked out, came to MLCP, packed our luggage in my Linea and walked to Bade Bhai Ka Brothers' Dhaba located a stone's throw from MLCP for breakfast. We had stomach-filling Special Amritsari Kulcha [King size] with masala chai.

Later, we walked to Jallianwala Bagh and spent some time there. Here are some photographs clicked:

More details and photographs are on the anvil.