The date was 19th Feb’2010. My Father had some official work in Haridwar. So I decided to accompny him . We planned to go by our own car. The previous night I preapared my car for the long drive. We planned to leave Delhi early morning.
No. of adults – Two
1. Myself – The solo driver
2. My father
My car – Maruti 800
Total distance covered in the trip – 420 Km
So I started my car at 4 am . We had to visit Harki Paudi first. From Delhi we started from Rohini. We crossed the bypass and went straight towards Wazirabad. Then we turned towards Ghaziabad. We followed our same old route. We reached Ghaziabad at around 5:15 am as in the morning roads were empty. Till now it was NH-24. Now we turned towards NH-58 and reached Meerut by 5:45 am. Now we headed towards Khatauli. We crossed Khatauli by 6:30 am and we were till now right time. We took the Muzaffarnagar Byepass and headed towards Roorkee. After Roorkee we went straight towards Haridwar, We entered in Haridwar at around 10 am. Parked our car at the Harki Paudi Parking. And then we proceeded towards the Ghat.
I was really feeling very lucky that i was there in Haridwar during the time of Kumbh. It was a truly Divine feeling.
KUMBH MELA
The largest religious gathering in the world! According to astrologers, the ‘Kumbh Fair’ takes place when the planet Jupiter enters Aquarius and the Sun enters Aries.
Kumbha (Kumbha means pot) Mela (means fair) is a sacred Hindu pilgrimage that takes place at the following four locations of India:
Prayag, Allahabad (in the state of Uttar Pradesh) at the confluence of three holy
rivers – Ganga (Ganges), Yamuna and Saraswati
Haridwar (in the state of Uttar Pradesh) where the river Ganga enters the plains from Himalayas
Ujjain (in Madhya Pradesh), on the banks of shipra river, and
Nasik (in Maharashtra) on the banks of Godavari river.
The pilgrimage occurs four times every twelve years, once at each of the four locations. Each twelve-year cycle includes the Maha (great) Kumbha Mela at Prayag, attended by millions of people, making it the largest pilgrimage gathering around the world.
Now we entered Harki Paudi Ghat. There was a security check. The CRPF checked my Latop bag, Wires with gr8 patience. I was really satisfied with the security arrangements at the Kumbh.
Some pics –
As it was not the Day of Shahi Snan there was not much crowd. We could easily take a dip at the Holy River Ganga.
The water of the Ganga was crystal clear at this time.
After doing the Darshan we headed towards the Market.
After roaming there we started our car and finally reached the hotel where my father completed his Official work. He had to conduct the meeting there. By this time it was 5 pm.
Now it was the goodbye time to Haridwar. We started our return journey at 6 pm. This time the traffic was quite a lot. We reached back Delhi at 12 am.
It was just like a dream day. I had earlier many times visited Haridwar but it felt great that this time I visited during the Kumbh Mela. I felt really blessed. It was a divine feeling……………
nyc post sahil…it feels really nyc reading about Dev Bhumi Uttarakhand….
Jai ganga maiya. Very nyc. Short and sweet post.
thnx tarun…
Thnks jaideep… Uttarakhand is really beautiful…
I need to visit a place mid way between Haridwar-Roorkee. Seems like it would be a worth a drive with same day return.
you know what, the ability to squeeze travel opportunities like this is not something to be not admired (sorry for being cryptic). Ghumakkars like you make this site what its called……. :-)
Mr. Nandan,
No doubt about that the same day return trips become hectic , but after the trip it feels really great and the driving really becomes enjoyble.
Sahil
HI i surpassed haridwar as i was going to rishikesh as i was appearing for sbi clerk interview. There was so huge arrangement at haridwar. Everywhere there were tents of police. The whole area near har ki pauri was lit and looked awesome during night
Yes Sandeep , actually there were large no. of tents for the police and for the priests who came there for the Kumbh. The Aarti at Har Ki Pauri at night is simply divine.
Sahil
The DELHI-Modinagar-Meerut bypass- partapur-Khatauli-Muzaffarnagar-Roorkee stretch is now better due to Toll patches at approx. 170 kms. Can do in 3 1/2 4 hours..
Delhi-Modinagar 45 kms. Takes about an hour .. Dabur-Mohan Nagar-Ghaziabad-Murad Nagar-Modinagar strech is all crowded at most times of the day though there is a bypass after Mohan Nagar now after hindon bridge via Raj Nagar Extension Housing project which saves you atleast 20 mins.
Modinagar Modipuram Toll Gate 25 kms is a good strech with flyovers on the partapur bypass meerut and you can do 80-90 kmph here.
Modipuram Muzaffarnagar 50 kms strech is the Best !! Once you pay the Toll you can cruise at 100+ kmph and pass the sakauti Tanda Rail overbridge and stop at Khatauli bye-pass @ Cheetal Grand.. This is Must Stop.. Excellent food and ambience/service. Muzaffarnagar bye-pass is also good.
Muzaffar Nagar Roorkee 50 kms is a single road with oncoming traffic and just 2 lanes as soon as you exit MZN bye-pass.. 4 laning is in process in patches and will take another 2 years !!! Road is bad in patches and to add to it is the Trucks line for Uttrakhand Border tax. Easily 01 hour until you reach Roorkee.
Overall 4 hours for 170 kms with a stop.. Safe strech though avoid Night driving and Kanwariya season in July..
Reply
saleem says:
January 15, 2013 at 5:31 pm
Return Roorkee Delhi Trip .. 170 kms .. 4 hours
Roorkee Muzaffar nagar bye-pass 50 kms . Road is not too good which is bad in patches. Being 2 lane and loads of traffic saharanpur/haridwar/Rishikesh/Dehradun/Mussorie it can be quite bad.
Be careful of speedbreakers at Gurkul Narsan and Barla which have no markings and appear out of nowhere.
Muzaffarnagar Meerut : 75 kms is an excellent stretch and can be done in an 0100 0115 hours. Once you start off from the MZN by-pass via khatauli bye-pass, Toll plaza at Mawana crossing, Modipuram, partapur meerut bye-pass its a great hassle free stretch with speed upto 100 kmph.
Lots of food stops on this stretch starting with Cafe Midway/Mc Donalds/Haldirams/Bikano before Katauli and Cheetal Grand once you pass Khatauli.
Meerut Delhi: 50 kms.. 0115 0200 hours . This is the worst strecth with you slowing down from the word go as soon as you exit from the Partapur byepass. Modinagar stretch for sure takes 30 mins minimum sue to bazaars esp. after 4 pm until 10 pm. If its the sugarcane / marriage season then Lord may help you !!! Then you have until Murad nagar canal of clear but packed traffic before you hit the Ghaziabad stretch to crawl again.. Take a right at the Hapur Mod tri-junction red Signal. This will take you via Raj Nagar extention housing societies.. and again take a right at the signal tri-junction after the traffic Triangle.. This is a pontoon makeshift bridge for LMV/2 wheelers and takes you straight to Mohan Nagar After this is smooth though packed traffic of Autos, tempos, buses, trcuks until you reach Delhi Border.
Minimum 4 hours for this trip !!!!
NO CNG on this route, though plenty of petrol pumps and Dhabas
Cheers !!