Team-BHP - View Single Post - Road Trip from Bangalore to Thandampalyam (Erode)

snaronikar · 1st May 2008, 16:00

BANGALORE-THANDAMPALYAM (ERODE)-BANGALORE

Date Travelled: 29.04.2008 (Tuesday)
Vehicle: Ford Endeavour XLT (Intercooler Turbo)
Members : Me and my colleague.
Fuel: BPCL normal.
Comfort: Good.
Photographs: Yes, below. But very few.
Route taken: Bangalore-Hosur-Krishnagiri-Dharampuri-Thoppur-Mettur-Bhavani-Erode-Thandampalyam & return same in same route.
The total kms travelled : 670 (To & Fro)
Ac: 100%.
Driven by: Chauffer.
Mileage: Around 8.5 kmpl
Total travel time including breakfast and dinner time: 16 hrs & 15 mins.

Travelogue: This was the official trip as I was visiting the vendor in Thandampalyam which is towards Karur going from Erode. Booked the Taxi Qualis the previous day. But to my astonishment, we got a Ford Endeavour as the Qualis was not available. Had asked the driver to come to my home at 5.00 am in morning. He came at 5.30 am. Anyways, we started and headed to BTM Layout for picking up my colleague. Picked him up at 6.00 am. We started our journey towards our destination. We had earlier visited this place twice before finalizing on the vendor. The driver was good and he knew Tamil, Kannada, Hindi and English. The last 3 were not fluent though. I thought it will be very helpful to us as I and my friend do not know how to speak Tamil and we were going interior Tamil Nadu.
We passed Hosur and then Krishnigiri. Now, the real problem started with the 4 lining of NH7, there were many diversions. All the vehicles had to necessarily pass through one road with two lanes Could not even achieve 90 kmph on these roads. This roads continued upto Dharampuri. The time was 8.45 am. Had breakfast at Saravana Inn. A decent hotel. Then again started our onward journey towards Thoppur. Again the problem with road widening. This ended at Thoppur. From Thoppur, you need to take the right turn to go towards Mettur/Bhavani & Erode. This is the SH and the roads are very well laid. Passed Mettur and Bhavani and reached Erode. On the way to Erode from Mettur, the scenery is good as there is greenery along both the sides of road. Ultimately reached Erode at 11.45 am. Then the problem started. To find the way to Thandampalyam from Erode dist which is around 47 kms was a big problem. As we did not know the route, we had to ask many people. None of them knew languages other than Tamil.

Fortunately, our driver could speak Tamil and he asked the way and by the time we reached our destination, Thandampalyam it was 1.15 pm. We had taken straight 7.45 hours to reach this place including a stop at Dharampuri for breakfast for 45 mins. The total distance was around 330 kms.

We finished our work at the vendor's end and started to head back home at 5.45 pm. We reached Erode at around 6.30 pm. Our driver lost his way as he following a TNRTC bus which was going to Bhavani via Perundurai. He followed this bus blindly and by the time he realized it, we were nearing Perundurai. Again we had to take many diversions and reached Mettur at around 8.30 pm. The rains stated pouring in. The rains was too heavy and our speed slowed down and we were doing only 50 kmph for about an hour. We reached Thoppur around 9.15 pm. Then we decided to have our dinner in the same place we had breakfast in morning. We reached Dharampuri at around 10.15 pm and went to hotel where we wanted to have dinner (rice). But to our dismay, the dinner time closes at 10.00 pm and we had to eat out what ever was available. Hence ordered Chapattis. After dinner we again started back to Bangalore. By the time we reached Hosur it was 1.00 am. We asked Driver why he was driving slow. He informed that if he drives fast, the mileage will reduce and his office had informed him to get the mileage of 10kmpl (with 100% ac) otherwise they will cut the balance amount from his salary. We banged our head (to car) and we could not do anything on this part. We had to just keep quite and he drove the vehicle at 90~100 kmph (a FORD ENDEAVOUR going at 90 kmph to save Diesel). Never heard of this though. Back to the story, we reached Silk Board junction around 1.30 am and headed towards BTM layour where in we saw many trees were uprooted and the electric poles were toppled. Fortunately, the power had been cut off. Dropped my friend at his residence in BTM layout. And headed towards my house and I reached my house at around 2.15 am. We had taken the travel time of about 8.30 hrs for a drive of around 370 kms.

Thanks for your patience and reading guys.

Here are some of the pics taken on my way (randomnly). It is taken from my mobile camera which has 64K colours. Pls bear with this. The attachment contains (1) Pics of Mettur Dam (2) The car we travelled (3) SH in which we travelled (4) Sunset across the field.

1st May 2008, 16:00	#1 (permalink)
snaronikar Senior - BHPian Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Bengaluru Posts: 1,645	Road Trip from Bangalore to Thandampalyam (Erode) BANGALORE-THANDAMPALYAM (ERODE)-BANGALORE Date Travelled: 29.04.2008 (Tuesday) Vehicle: Ford Endeavour XLT (Intercooler Turbo) Members : Me and my colleague. Fuel: BPCL normal. Comfort: Good. Photographs: Yes, below. But very few. Route taken: Bangalore-Hosur-Krishnagiri-Dharampuri-Thoppur-Mettur-Bhavani-Erode-Thandampalyam & return same in same route. The total kms travelled : 670 (To & Fro) Ac: 100%. Driven by: Chauffer. Mileage: Around 8.5 kmpl Total travel time including breakfast and dinner time: 16 hrs & 15 mins. Travelogue: This was the official trip as I was visiting the vendor in Thandampalyam which is towards Karur going from Erode. Booked the Taxi Qualis the previous day. But to my astonishment, we got a Ford Endeavour as the Qualis was not available. Had asked the driver to come to my home at 5.00 am in morning. He came at 5.30 am. Anyways, we started and headed to BTM Layout for picking up my colleague. Picked him up at 6.00 am. We started our journey towards our destination. We had earlier visited this place twice before finalizing on the vendor. The driver was good and he knew Tamil, Kannada, Hindi and English. The last 3 were not fluent though. I thought it will be very helpful to us as I and my friend do not know how to speak Tamil and we were going interior Tamil Nadu. We passed Hosur and then Krishnigiri. Now, the real problem started with the 4 lining of NH7, there were many diversions. All the vehicles had to necessarily pass through one road with two lanes Could not even achieve 90 kmph on these roads. This roads continued upto Dharampuri. The time was 8.45 am. Had breakfast at Saravana Inn. A decent hotel. Then again started our onward journey towards Thoppur. Again the problem with road widening. This ended at Thoppur. From Thoppur, you need to take the right turn to go towards Mettur/Bhavani & Erode. This is the SH and the roads are very well laid. Passed Mettur and Bhavani and reached Erode. On the way to Erode from Mettur, the scenery is good as there is greenery along both the sides of road. Ultimately reached Erode at 11.45 am. Then the problem started. To find the way to Thandampalyam from Erode dist which is around 47 kms was a big problem. As we did not know the route, we had to ask many people. None of them knew languages other than Tamil. Fortunately, our driver could speak Tamil and he asked the way and by the time we reached our destination, Thandampalyam it was 1.15 pm. We had taken straight 7.45 hours to reach this place including a stop at Dharampuri for breakfast for 45 mins. The total distance was around 330 kms. We finished our work at the vendor's end and started to head back home at 5.45 pm. We reached Erode at around 6.30 pm. Our driver lost his way as he following a TNRTC bus which was going to Bhavani via Perundurai. He followed this bus blindly and by the time he realized it, we were nearing Perundurai. Again we had to take many diversions and reached Mettur at around 8.30 pm. The rains stated pouring in. The rains was too heavy and our speed slowed down and we were doing only 50 kmph for about an hour. We reached Thoppur around 9.15 pm. Then we decided to have our dinner in the same place we had breakfast in morning. We reached Dharampuri at around 10.15 pm and went to hotel where we wanted to have dinner (rice). But to our dismay, the dinner time closes at 10.00 pm and we had to eat out what ever was available. Hence ordered Chapattis. After dinner we again started back to Bangalore. By the time we reached Hosur it was 1.00 am. We asked Driver why he was driving slow. He informed that if he drives fast, the mileage will reduce and his office had informed him to get the mileage of 10kmpl (with 100% ac) otherwise they will cut the balance amount from his salary. We banged our head (to car) and we could not do anything on this part. We had to just keep quite and he drove the vehicle at 90~100 kmph (a FORD ENDEAVOUR going at 90 kmph to save Diesel). Never heard of this though. Back to the story, we reached Silk Board junction around 1.30 am and headed towards BTM layour where in we saw many trees were uprooted and the electric poles were toppled. Fortunately, the power had been cut off. Dropped my friend at his residence in BTM layout. And headed towards my house and I reached my house at around 2.15 am. We had taken the travel time of about 8.30 hrs for a drive of around 370 kms. Thanks for your patience and reading guys. Here are some of the pics taken on my way (randomnly). It is taken from my mobile camera which has 64K colours. Pls bear with this. The attachment contains (1) Pics of Mettur Dam (2) The car we travelled (3) SH in which we travelled (4) Sunset across the field. Attached Images __________________ Love your job but Never love your company because you never know when your company stops loving you-NRN Last edited by snaronikar : 1st May 2008 at 16:12.