Day
2 started with a ‘TN bandh’. We were to
go to Madurai which was a distance of roughly 300kms.
We didn’t want to take a risk, so we stayed back
at the hotel for the day. With nothing much to do, the
team caught up on some well needed rest. This meant
that we would have to travel to Trivandrum directly
which meant we would cover a distance of around 650kms.
Since we were going to do a lot of mileage, we decided
to start early. We eased out of the hotel parking at
6.00am. The temperature was a relatively hot 30 degrees.
Even then the morning air was cool and the drive was
pleasant. We hit Trichy at 10.25am and it was time for
the first driver change. Roads till here had been pretty
good, but after Trichy, we hit a lot of diversions and
unfinished sections which meant the progress was slower
than we had expected.
At around 280kms from start, the first fuel needle movement
was noticed. Road conditions had improved and we made
good progress and reached Madurai at lunch time. Till
now we had covered 335kms. Due to the hot weather, the
cars weren’t running at their best. We helped
along by spraying some cold water on the radiators and
the engines did seem to run smoother.
But as evening approached, the temperatures began to
fall and the cars felt smoother than before. Around
this time, our GPS systems got confused due to new roads
that were not updated. We wasted around an hour in backtracking
to get back on the correct path. At around 7pm, the
team saw sight of Vellore and that’s where the
traffic started almost all the way to Trivandrum. We
finally hit Trivandrum at 10pm and had covered 646.6kms
according to the GPS. We went straight to the pump to
check our fuel economy. And not to our surprise, the
first Ikon managed 29.12kpl and the second Ikon returned
a slightly better 30.26kpl. Our efforts of light footing
had paid off. Tomorrow we head to Mangalore which is
around 600kms away and that means another early morning
start. Stay tuned for the next update.
Trip Details
GPS Distance – 646.6kms
Average Speed – 42kph
Total Time – 15hrs 26mins
Moving Time – 13hrs 56mins
Stopped Time – 1hr 30mins
Ambient Temperature – 39 C
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