It was an impromptu plan. Though we (me and my friends) knew that we would travel during the Christmas weekend, till two days prior to our journey, we were uncertain about the destination. At the last moment, we settled for Maithon.

Day I

We all decided to meet in front of Maharani (A famous tea-samosa shop on Sarat Bose Road) around 0700 Hrs. We were seven in numbers and all from South Calcutta, so the meeting point was not an issue for any of us. However, the timing was. We all are very punctual. Though the first person arrived around 0700 Hrs, most of us reached the point at 0745 Hrs. And the most experienced rider reached Maharani around 0830 Hrs.

Taking a break - NH2 near Asansol

Yes, we were suppose to ride to Maithon. All Royal Enfields. In the meantime, people refilled the tanks of their machines. After having a brief breakfast with kochuri and jilebi with couple of rounds of tea, we finally left for Maithon around 0900 Hrs.

Maithon, which is located at the Bengal-Jharkhand border is approximately 240 kms away from Kolkata. And we were already two hours behind the schedule. (Nevermind, we never had any schedule). We took the Vidyasagar Setu (Howrah Bridge II) route and entered Kona Expressway. Once we hit the Durgapur Expressway or National Highway No.2, we took a right and went on straight.

The ride was excellent and the road conditions were superb. With four to three lanes, we zoomed at 70-80 kmph on an average. We passed Bardhaman around 1230 Hrs. We stopped in between couple of times either to stretch ourselves, take a bathroom break, have a smoke or just to relax. Around 1330 Hrs we left Durgapur on our left side. After crossing Asansol around 1400Hrs, we stopped at a road side dhaba for lunch. Though this so called dhaba was on the edge of the NH2, it turned to be a not so pleasant experience for us. It was more like one of those small hotels at a popular tourist spot which try to sell your mediocre stuff at an excessive price. We had no option so we had to deal with it.

If you are planning to try out a proper dhaba, then look for places where many trucks are parked together, unless you have prior information.

By 1500 Hrs, we were back on the Enfields and headed straight to Maithon, which was barely 20 kms away from the so called Dhaba.

Finally, we reached Maithon around 1520 Hrs and it was unbelievably crowded and covered with garbage all across the road by the picnickers. Even we had trouble finding a place to park our motorbikes.

Maithon is situated in the Dhanbad district of Jharkhand and is just approx. 250 kms away from Kolkata. It is an ideal picnic spots and you will always find it crowded on National Holidays especially during 25th December. People from Durgapur, Asansol as well as from Dhanbad, Ranchi, Bokaro, Giridhi etc. frequent this place during holidays. The main attraction is the Maithon Reservoir of Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC). There are plenty of hotels available around this reservoir but the best place to stay would be the Guest House of DVC which is situated on a small island.

Sunset at the Maithon Reservoir

And after spending around an hour and taking snaps, we decided to head for Topchanchi which is 70 kms away from Maithon Reservoir. (May be it was a mistake that we made). It was almost 1645 Hrs when we hit back again on National Highway 2. Within 15-20 minutes, the sun was almost dead and after another 15 minutes we were riding in the pitch dark (I was a pillion though). It was an amazing experience – dark roads, Royal Enfield, 70 kms of average speed and 7-8 degree Celsius. There is a famous water body/ lake on the right side of NH2 just after Topchanchi if you are travelling from Kolkata to Delhi. And we planned to stay at a resort just beside the lake called Gulshan Hotel, where couple of the fellow travellers have stayed before. We are smart people and we never bothered to book and even enquire over phone regarding the accommodation before reaching the spot. As expected all the rooms were booked. However, the caretaker arranged a big hall room for us which we happily rejected because the room was too unhygienic.

The time was 1930 Hrs. We took another quick decision and started to roll towards Dhanbad which is approx. 37 kms from Topchanchi. We reached Dhanbad around 2100 Hrs and dragged ourselves into a hotel on Main Road, Naya Bazar. Luckily, they were helpful enough to provide shelter for the bikes too.

We were tired as well as hungry. However, our first day of the trip ended with great excitement and tiredness of travelling of 330 kms, well compensated by delicious food at the dinner accompanied with Rum and coke.

Day II

Though we decided for a three day trip, we had to cut it short by one day due to unavoidable circumstances. After taking shower and having tea, we left the hotel around 1000 Hrs. However, couple of bikes refused to start until an expert came to rescue, which resulted in wastage of almost one and half hours. Finally we left Dhanbad around 1130 Hrs for Calcutta. The distance between Kolkata and Dhanbad is around 275 Kms.

After reaching Govindapur, we took a right on the National Highway 2 and headed straight to Kolkata. Around 1300 Hrs, we reached Panagarh and stopped at a road side dhaba called Panagarh Punjab Dhaba.

It’s a true dhaba in the sense. You can enjoy your meal on the Khaityaa. If you are coming towards Calcutta, the dhaba will be on your left side. A must try out for all.

Royal Enfields at Panagarh

After filling our stomach with mouth watering veg food and a glass of tea made of pure milk, we started our journey towards home around 1400 Hrs. We stopped couple to times in between till we reached Shaktigarh at 1800 Hrs, which is 70 kms away from Kolkata.

Saktigarh is famous for sweet shops and particularly known for giant langcha (no pun intended).

Though we didn’t try the giant ones, we satisfied ourselves with the normal ones. We left Shaktigarh after an hour and finally reached Calcutta at 2115 Hrs after covering 275 kms in the whole day.

It was a kind of unplanned trip, but still very enjoyable. More than the destination, the journey is worth remembering. You can check out some of the trip photographs at my flickr account or facebook photo album.

Things to remember:

•    National Highway 2 or Durgapur Expressway is excellent from driving and biking.

•    Try to avoid Maithon during National holidays or on 25th December or 1st January.

•    You can book the DVC guest house from Calcutta. Go, find out.

•    You can actually spend a day at Maithon.

•    I will not give you riding tips. Get an expert for yourself.

•    Before going to Topchanchi, please confirm your accommodation as there is hardly any hotels/ resorts.

•    Be safe and enjoy your trip.

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