the countryside across the ganga is a fascinating area, not much explored by bumpy trailers. there are pontoon bridges at bithoor and at shivrajpur - the bithoor one has terrible sandy terrain on the other bank, so we thought we'd check out the pontoon bridge at shivrajpur on this mild sunday morning.

a couple of weeks back we had visited the shivrajpur region - here are some facebook photos and some more photos by Karthik.

route-map

route:

1. iitk - mandhana. Turn right towards bithoor : 7km.
2. at rani-jhansi statue (+6km, entering bithoor), turn Left towards Dhruv Tila : 13km
3. at Dhruv Tila Crossing (+2km), turn left towards Chaubepur : 16km
4. immediately (+0.5km), with power pylons at left, veer right to the "bandi mAtA" road. make sure you don't overshoot and keep going towards chaubepur. 16km

   
   start early. enjoy the sunrise over the vista of grain (photos by ritwik)

5. small hamlet of Fattepur on Chaubepur - Bandimata road +7km. Make a right-then-left dogleg and head towards ThAreshwar mahadev. 23km
   There is an interesting ghAT and bandimAtA temple 3km to the right (NE). There are two omlette shops just N of this crossing.
6. at Thareshwar (+9km), turn right towards Sarsaiyya ghAT. No shops the next 15km or so.
   Alt route: you can also cut the distance (and scenic-ness) by half by following GT road all the way to Shivrajpur (15km) and then turn right (2km) to Thareshwar. 32km
7. Here there are two shiva temples, and a cremation ghAT downstream. The sandbanks are rich in birdlife from Nov-Apr. 34km
   
   amit checking out directions to pontoon bridge

8. Ask the locals and take the kaccha road (< 1km, but feels much longer) from here to the pontoon bridge at Panka village. may be muddy from irrigation. 34.5km
9. Cross the pontoons onto the sandbanks of the ganga (rs10 toll charges for cycles). The pontoon bridge is open from approx. september to may. 35km
10. follow the mudpath through the watermelon and kakri fields, past the small seasonal village of hindupur to dabauli village (abt 2km, but feels really long ). here you hit a tarmac ('DAmar') road. 37km
11. pass through the tehsil town of fatehpur chaurasi (+13km) onto the Unnao-Bangarmau highway at kAlimiTTi (+3km). Turn right for sAfipur. There are some small shops at fatehpur chaurasi, and some good dhabas after you turn for sAfipur. 53km
     
    112km
    0545 to 1330

     

    btb-ers:
    joydeep, ramprasad, saumyen, ritwik and amit

12. this is a relatively empty highway, with an excellent surface for bicycling. the bangarmau-unnao distance is 32km, and is an excellent cycling run (total iitk-bilhaur-bangarmau-unnao loop = 160km).
13. at sAfipur, turn right to the Periyar road - any right turn will do. here you can catch some chhole-bhaTure and omlette and lassi / sugarcane juice. 63km
14. after 12km of pristine countryside you come to the periyar-chakalwansi highway. to the right, this excellent low-traffic highway takes you to lucknow via mohaan. make a right, cross the town of periyar (+1km) and ask for the left turn for the ganga barrage. 76km
15. this meandering road follows the river with occasional glimpses of the ganga. in flood years like 2010 this road is inundated. about 4km after you see the ganga, you come to a small brick road to the right which will lead you to the stone-chip (giTTi) surface of the ganga barrage.
16. 3km of torturous surface, a maaza break, and you cross the ganga to emerge at Azad Nagar near the zoo. The map shows 95km but somehow our speedometers were saying 100km here. (Ritwik's first century run).
17. take the scenic road to via singhpur and kalyanpur. alternately, you can go to Gurdev Palace (3km) and get to iit (4km) - shorter by 2km but not worth it. 107km

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Images 1204_shivrajpur-safipur-ganga-barrage

saumyen and i were on road bikes, which was NOT a good idea. however, the bicycles are sturdy things, and we held up well; only problem was that saumyen had cleats...

on the sandier bits, someone lays down steel sheets (see them also in the image of the pontoon bridge above - you'll find them across from bithoor as well).

birds

Photos by Ritwik