[kannan666]

Thanks for the nice update with pics lancersfx ! Hope this road gets relaid soon or at least well patched up !

[sridhar_setty]

Originally Posted by kannan666

Thanks for the nice update with pics lancersfx ! Hope this road gets relaid soon or at least well patched up !

The roads are not good at all. Here is a pic taken few weeks back which shows the reality i.e., NO ROADS

[vinaydas]

Driving at night + Car with a low GC (camry) + speed (:P) = car literally abusing you back (if he could talk).
i did this stretch in the night and believe me It was HELL.
Blame mostly goes on the buses that travel during the season and of course the negligence of the govt to repair the roads.

[lancersfx]

@ Vinaydas -- Camry. I can understand the plight of your car. I forgot to mention for about a kilometer after chengam there were some workers patching up the roads. So hopefully another few months for it to complete till uthangarai.

[polopm]

The Uthangarai Chengam route is horrible and there are huge craters till Thindivanam. Alternate route would be
1. Bangalore-Kgiri-Vellore-Santhavasal-Polur-TVMalai
2. Bangalore-Kgiri-Vellore-Arcot-Arni-Polur-TVMalai

This road is very good in most places, it is bad near Polur town(2kms). Infact route #2 is better than #1. The only irritant is the number of speed breakers on the road. They come in pairs (within few meters ) and are huge in size.

I travelled last week on these roads.

Cheers !

[venkyhere]

did not find enough "chennai-tvmalai" threads, so posting here...

I am planning to start from chennai 0330-0400 ish, hoping to be in tvmalai @0630-0700 ish. Two routes are shown by g-maps :
1) chennai-arcot-polur-tvmalai (NH4+SH9)
2) chennai-tindivanam-gingee-tvmalai (NH45+NH66)

Q1 : since distance seems to be almost same, which of the two is recommended ? (priority order : road quality > traffic > refreshment facilities) & will my time estimate hold good ?

Q2 : how do the "badness" of the SH9 (in option1) and NH66 (in option2) stretches compare to the horrible stretch of NH66 between tvmalai-k'giri (as seen in this thread)

Q3 : where to safely park the vehicle for the temple visit duration (preferably near to the temple & with shade)

Q4 : is it a good time to visit on april 9th weekend (since TN elections will be 4 days after that) from safety and traffic perspective

Q5 : what is the average visit duration inside the temple ? will I get time to visit Sathanur dam (again, no idea about road conditions for this stretch also) (I plan to start the return journey by 1600-1700 ish)

[ampere]

Originally Posted by venkyhere

did not find enough "chennai-tvmalai" threads, so posting here...

I am planning to start from chennai 0330-0400 ish, hoping to be in tvmalai @0630-0700 ish. Two routes are shown by g-maps :
1) chennai-arcot-polur-tvmalai (NH4+SH9)
2) chennai-tindivanam-gingee-tvmalai (NH45+NH66)

Q1 : since distance seems to be almost same, which of the two is recommended ? (priority order : road quality > traffic > refreshment facilities) & will my time estimate hold good ?

Q2 : how do the "badness" of the SH9 (in option1) and NH66 (in option2) stretches compare to the horrible stretch of NH66 between tvmalai-k'giri (as seen in this thread)

Q3 : where to safely park the vehicle for the temple visit duration (preferably near to the temple & with shade)

Q4 : is it a good time to visit on april 9th weekend (since TN elections will be 4 days after that) from safety and traffic perspective

Q5 : what is the average visit duration inside the temple ? will I get time to visit Sathanur dam (again, no idea about road conditions for this stretch also) (I plan to start the return journey by 1600-1700 ish)

The route via Tindivanam is a better option, as I think NH66 beyond Tiruvannamalai till Tindivanam is in a much better condition as compared to Krishagiri-Tiruvannamalai. NH66 is a better option compared to the SH. But I did not see any break-areas/hotels between Tindivanam and Tiruvannamalai. Hence your best bet can be a hotel at Tindivanam. (Any way its only about 70 km from there).

I am sure of the election time and crowd on that date.

Regarding parking:
I had parked outside the temple. It seemed to be OK and there was no crowd them. I am not sure what would be the case when you would go.


Time of visit depends on that day. Visit to Sathanur would take about 2 hours (I think its about 25-30km). But I would not suggest it. Its April and there wont be any water in the dam. And if you chose after noontime to visit, sun would be on your head. I think I had been there in March and even then, it was hot.


Inspite of this, if you want to visit, road conditions were decent from Tiruvannamalai. You need to take the SH to Dharmapuri and turn right after about 15-20 km. The deviation is clearly marked.

[Fauji]

Originally Posted by ampere

Regarding parking:
I had parked outside the temple. It seemed to be OK and there was no crowd them. I am not sure what would be the case when you would go.


Time of visit depends on that day. Visit to Sathanur would take about 2 hours (I think its about 25-30km). But I would not suggest it. Its April and there wont be any water in the dam. And if you chose after noontime to visit, sun would be on your head. I think I had been there in March and even then, it was hot.


Inspite of this, if you want to visit, road conditions were decent from Tiruvannamalai. You need to take the SH to Dharmapuri and turn right after about 15-20 km. The deviation is clearly marked.

You can park in front of the temple. Temple is not crowded unless it is a festival. You can complete the visit within an hour. Also plan a visist to Ramana Maharshi ashram which is closeby in city.

with Ampere. Do not waste your time visiting Sathanur. There will not be any water and you will be disspointed. Instead, if you have time why dont you go to Ginjee which is 40 KMs from tiruvannamalai? It is an amazing fort complex. If you want to do Ginjee, plan it first and then come to Temple in Tiruvannamalai so that you can climb the hill fort in Ginjee when the sun is not up.

[venkyhere]

@Ampere @Faujee

thanks to you, i searched for "thiruvannamalai temperature" & look what showed up : Welcome to Tiruvannamalai, Tiruvannamalai Temple, Tiruvannamalai Map, Tiruvannamalai Tour,Tiruvannamalai Vacancies (look at the max temp shown ) i think i will skip this trip now - discretion is the better part of valour !

[ampere]

Many folks combine Tiruvannamalai and Vellore Golden temple together as a roundtrip from Chennai. That is actually doable, provide weather is good.

April would be definitely hot!

[venkyhere]

if I have to go from tiruvannamalai to yercaud, there are two options to reach harur, before proceeding to yercaud
1) tvmalai-chengam-kallur-harur (NH 66 till kallur & SH afterwards)
2) tvmalai-thanipadi-naripalli-poyyapatti-chellampatti-harur (not SH)

That the NH66 stretch in option 1 is horrible, is well documented , but can anyone help me with the condition of the roads in option 2 in relation to option 1 ?

[ampere]

Definitely not worth going via Chengam. I am also not aware of the route you mention (non SH). But I think the SH is decent. Its the same SH, from where one turns off for Sathanur dam.

However I would also add, I am not aware of the Harur-Salem road condition.
But a lot of traffic plies on the Harur-Dharmapuri SH. I am hence sure about that route. If someone can help update the Harur-Salem local road, that would be good. Else I would suggest take the SH all the way till Dharmapuri and then the beautiful NH7 to Salem. Its about 40km more, but may be worth it.

[gopikb]

Friends, any update on the latest road condition between Krishnagiri and Tiruvannamalai. It was pathetic until a month ago. I plan to drive in the next 2 weeks from Bangalore. Any update on the road condition would be very helpful to plan the trip.

The last time I drove there, I ended up with a damaged GT3 on my Punto and had to buy new ones. So I am going to be extra cautious during the drive this time and want to plan my start accordingly.

[ampere]

If it is only to Tiruvannamalai, NH66 is still bad.

However I can suggest you a more adventurous option. Adventure because, I dont know how the road is.

What you can do is: Go till Dharmapuri on NH7, then get into the town and ask for Tiruvannamalai SH. This would go via Harur. The road should be in decent condition, but I have no idea/update. (This route will be 55km longer)

Here is the route map:

Bengaluru, Karnataka to Thiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu - Google Maps


However I also see a direct road from Karimangalam (NH7) to Harur. No idea what is this about.

[Ragul]

Go via Dharmapuri as advised. The shorter path is absolute 90 mins of hell.

--
Ragul