On The Road

[wildnwacky]

The best drive(s) u've been on....rather most scenic drive...??

[Shan2nu]

The Best
NH 48 - Bangalore-Mangalore
NH 63 - Hubli-Ankola

I also enjoyed the roads to Devarshola and Valparai, tea estates in Tamil Nadu. The 41 hairpin bend climb on the way to Valparai is brilliant.

This is what the Valparai road looks like.


Shan2nu

[nitrous]

thats one hot stretch... must take a roadtrip to valparay tea estate some time

[revtech]

hey thats a great looking road it looks smooth as ever too bad its so narrow .

[speedsatya]

Originally Posted by wildnwacky

The best drive(s) u've been on....rather most scenic drive...??

nh17,mangalore-ankola
nh63 hubli-ankola road
nh48,mangalore-bangalore road
nh4,pune -satara
nh4, karad to belgaum
nh?????,mumbai-ahmedabad
nh17, panvel to goa

[cheatingdeath]

hey nice pic shan... look at those trees and the grass...

[amitoj]

best drives...
Went on a midnight (more like 1AM) drive to Nandi hills... not a soul in sight.. except for rats scurrying around under the car's headlights... lol.. actually never made it to the hilltop... missed the last right turn... kept driving.. finally halted under an old tree.. turned off the lights and treated myself to some star gazing on a moonless windy night.
Another one... through a totally dried up bandipur forest... i remember there was this tree with white flowers on it and not a single leaf...

But the "most scenic" one would be the drive down the East Coast Road...

Cheers
Amitoj

[vinsanity]

Mysore-Calicut via Wayanad
Cochin-Wagamon-Munnar-Thekkady...Awesome, u guys would luv it..

Also one trip i had recently with my friends.. They rached Cochin at 11pm on a weekday and was like, dude we'l go to Pollachi... I was like ***?? But then they said it would be kool.. i had work the next day but since the project was over, would be idle most of the time.. so i called up my boss the next mornin to say i had symptoms of jaundice and i need to go for treatment(Couldn't resist the trip)...
So at about 12midnight we are off.. Cochin-Palghat-Pollachi.... We went very slow cos we would reach there early and so we took breaks in between and at about 5:30am we left from palghat to pollachi... We reached one of his MCA friend's place.. We were 4 of us in a zen... We had breakfast and lunh at his place.. The return we wanted to go to Athripally water falls... So we took an alternate route, through Solayar dam and all... Man it was awesome.. We reached a forest section and it was friggin deserted forest area for about 140odd kms.. It was about 6-6:30 and man was it dark or what... i was so damn excited.. I was like dudes, we click some snaps.. But all otthers were $#!t scared.. hehehe.. We stopped in btw and my friend putoff the lights and man, it was pitch dark.. We saw elephant dung on our way and all were like, let call home for the last time and speak to our folks... heheh... They told at home that they were goin to Trichur to attend their friend's brother's wedding... hehehe.....
And at one point we stopped the car and my friend was like, all get out and we saw oneof the best things i'v seem in my whole life.. Nah, not a gal... there were millions of fireflies.. And they looked like X'mas decoration,.. We shot a video but it isnt clear u can only hear the 4 letter words used to express our excitement...... Seriously it was one hellowa feel.... we clicked some snaps at stops in btw in the forest.. Then all of a sudden we see this huge tree fallen right in the middle of the road.. We were like-'oh mai god'..... But then we came off road and managed to sneak through... phew... Then another moment when all freaked out was when my friend took off and was taking turns in high speeds.. Road was not properly tarred, and this one turn where he applied brakes real hard cos he knew he couldnt take the turn at that speed.. and had he gone a few more inches, we would have fallen into this huge ditch.. God wilingly nothing happened.... He was like, sorry but we should go this fast in order to make it out of the forest very soon... Elephants are common in these parts.. The noise in the forest due to crickets and other insects were ever growing..... Man, finally out of nowhere we see an auto... wonder what he is upto at this part of the world and at this time(we came up with crazy thoughts as to what he might be upto, hehehee)...
Then finally we get to Athirapally and the waterfalls area is closed... but man this trip has all of it.. scenic places, tea estates, dams, hair-pin bends, some good stretches of tarred road, some roads fit for the jeeps and the forest(Awesome).. And the atirapally-Chalakudy road was the best.. It is rubberised, awsome finish and man my friend made full use of it.. Heard the skid sound on each curve, he really does them good but we keep telling him to just go slow... I think that stretch is the best road i'v seen in Kerala... Real good.. Narrow though..
To this day i dont regret goin... One thrilling ride.. Just got the pics recently from him.... Some have come out really well..

[haryan]

I will say that drive from Cochin to Munnar ... Munnar to Thekkady ... are very very scenic routes /....

[vinsanity]

Hey haryan, u'v been there?? I just luv that route.. Will be doing the route someday in the coming months....

[vivaid]

tend to agree on the mysore-calicut via wayanad... have done a vagabond trip there..... awesome scenic beauty... especially a certain stretch of estate within waynad.. this a stretch of some 5 kms.. of winding.. curvy mountain roads... excellent condition.. and lush green plantations..... on either side and fantastic roads.... and guess what we stumbled on this coz we took a wrong turn .....

I also like the ghat stretch just enroute waynad-calicut... absolutely wonderful views ... makes u want to watch and drive both at the same time...

the road to ooty via bandipur and verrapan ilaaka.. rocks tooo!!!

The himachal roads are fabulous tooo.... well maintained roads..... long stretches of safe ghat roads..... had been there on my honeymoon and travelled almost all of it by road..... cudnt be on the driver's seat tho

and of course.. last but not the least.. NH 17 ..to GOA.... THE BEST!!!

cheers

[gkrishn]

I did my secondary schooling in pollachi... Its right next to the small break in the continous strecth of westernghats. This small opening helps to keep the region not as dry as rest of TN and also not as heavy as the rain forrest on that side of kerela. Cycling to my school on the morning drizzle during the early monsoon is one of my best drive so far! Life now is a far cry from those days...
The valpari, shan mentioned above is pretty close to pollachi.

Also there is a stretch of 20 kms on the Bangalore-pondicherry road. The pondy deviation comes after krishnagiri. The winding neat roads thru the country side with den like feeling from those old big trees makes it one sweet little stretch. Lots photo op here too...

[vinsanity]

Does valpari come in the pollachi-solayar dam route???

[nitinbhag]

1. Halfway between Blr-Hyd.. On one stretch of NH7, if you stop and get out of the car, its sunflower fields all the way to teh horizon, on both sides of the road

2. Last Nov, hired a Safari petrol 135ps 4x4 for a trip, Delhi-Corbett national park.. took it off road through streams and mountain tracks.. awesome!!

[puthari]

Coorg - Drive from Mercara to Thadiandamoll - is very scenic. From the next week onwards , Coorg estates will have blossomed with Coffee flowers . The whole drive is pleasent - nice fresh smell of the flowers.

The second drive - have anyone tried the Avenue road in B'lore