[silversteed]

Originally Posted by ARG

Timing wise, except for the 1am-4am slot, I'm OK with being on the road, throughout. Have either of you done Blr-Kochi, recently? How long did it take, including breaks, and at what time?

I did Palakkad-Kundara earlier in April. Had started a little after 3 o'clock in the morning, and was at Kundara at around 10:30, with a couple of breaks for food and refreshments. It rained very heavily until 5. We made it to Alappuzha by 8, IIRC, and then we were a lot slower because of traffic. On the return, a 3pm start helped us get home by 11:30 with multiple breaks.

Unless you do the stretch from Palakkad to Kollam in the wee hours, the traffic can get you very tired. Since you're starting from Bangalore, it's better to break for the night at CBE/Palakkad/Thrissur and resume early in the morning - that is, if you really want to try the BLR-CBE-PGT-QLN route.

I'd recommend taking the Madurai route if your plan is to cover the entire distance without any overnight breaks.

[Sandy28]

How is the Bangalore- Salem-Coimbatore-Palakkad-Ottapalam-Shoranur route for a late evening/night drive?

I am planning to start from Bglore by 4 pm after office and hoping to reach destination by 12 am. Is this doable? How safe is the route at night? I will be with wife and 2 kids. I understand that road till Coimbatore is excellent. Any update post that?

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by Sandy28

How is the Bangalore- Salem-Coimbatore-Palakkad-Ottapalam-Shoranur route for a late evening/night drive?

I am planning to start from Bglore by 4 pm after office and hoping to reach destination by 12 am. Is this doable? How safe is the route at night? I will be with wife and 2 kids. I understand that road till Coimbatore is excellent. Any update post that?

Starting by 4 PM from Bangalore could be a prelude for disaster in terms of traffic. Plus crossing hosur will be a pain. By the time you reach salem outer, lorry traffic will be at it's peak.
I have my own doubts if you will reach your destination by 12 AM.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by Sandy28

How is the Bangalore- Salem-Coimbatore-Palakkad-Ottapalam-Shoranur route for a late evening/night drive?

I am planning to start from Bglore by 4 pm after office and hoping to reach destination by 12 am. Is this doable? How safe is the route at night? I will be with wife and 2 kids. I understand that road till Coimbatore is excellent. Any update post that?

With a 4pm start, you can make it to Palakkad by 11-12, provided you don't take many breaks and the toll booths don't have long queues - Attibele and Krishnagiri are the worst of the lot when it comes to long queues.

If you can start an hour earlier, you may be able to reach Shornur by midnight.

[ARG]

Originally Posted by silversteed

I did Palakkad-Kundara earlier in April. Had started a little after 3 o'clock in the morning, and was at Kundara at around 10:30, with a couple of breaks for food and refreshments. It rained very heavily until 5. We made it to Alappuzha by 8, IIRC, and then we were a lot slower because of traffic. On the return, a 3pm start helped us get home by 11:30 with multiple breaks.

Unless you do the stretch from Palakkad to Kollam in the wee hours, the traffic can get you very tired. Since you're starting from Bangalore, it's better to break for the night at CBE/Palakkad/Thrissur and resume early in the morning - that is, if you really want to try the BLR-CBE-PGT-QLN route.

I'd recommend taking the Madurai route if your plan is to cover the entire distance without any overnight breaks.

Thanks tons for that, Silversteed! The only reason I'm looking for an alternative to the best route, or the next best route, is laziness!

I know NH47 is such a pain to drive on, and one of my drives from Bangalore to Tvm, via Salem, Palakkad, Tcr & Ekm is the stuff of family-legend, when I left Bangalore around 4:00a and hit Tvm, almost the next day, at 11:30p!!!

I'm hoping to leave Blr latest, 6ish (evn) on Thu - which in itself is not a very bright thing to do, as I'll take forever to clear namma Bengaluru traffic!

PS : I also understand, there is some sort of bandh in Keralam, on Thu. Amen. As if NH47 by itself, is not enough to slow the whole world down.

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by ARG

PS : I also understand, there is some sort of bandh in Keralam, on Thu. Amen. As if NH47 by itself, is not enough to slow the whole world down.

The bandh is pan-India, and it's by the Motor Transport Workers' Unions. Though I would be cautious, I won't be too much worried about having a problem with private vehicles.

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by Sandy28

How is the Bangalore- Salem-Coimbatore-Palakkad-Ottapalam-Shoranur route for a late evening/night drive?

I am planning to start from Bglore by 4 pm after office and hoping to reach destination by 12 am. Is this doable? How safe is the route at night? I will be with wife and 2 kids. I understand that road till Coimbatore is excellent. Any update post that?

I did that route last week. If you leave at around 4 am you can be in Shornur in about 5 hours if you push it, less if you have no traffic on the route and are able to sustain good expressway speeds. 4.5 hours of driving time is doable - 1.15 hrs to Salem, 1.30 hrs to CBE, 45 mins - 1 hr to Walayar, 45m - 1 hr to Shornur. Its way better than starting in the evening when you are most likely to hit all the predictable road-blocks.

The CBE-Walayar section is still madness though - once you enter KL @ Walayar you hit great roads - quite surprising because they started work on that section well after the Avinashi-Walayar section which is still not fully complete, and features that ludicrous L&T undivided toll road in between with 8 poorly-manned gates.

[Sandy28]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

I did that route last week. If you leave at around 4 am you can be in Shornur in about 5 hours if you push it, less if you have no traffic on the route and are able to sustain good expressway speeds. 4.5 hours of driving time is doable - 1.15 hrs to Salem, 1.30 hrs to CBE, 45 mins - 1 hr to Walayar, 45m - 1 hr to Shornur. Its way better than starting in the evening when you are most likely to hit all the predictable road-blocks.

The CBE-Walayar section is still madness though - once you enter KL @ Walayar you hit great roads - quite surprising because they started work on that section well after the Avinashi-Walayar section which is still not fully complete, and features that ludicrous L&T undivided toll road in between with 8 poorly-manned gates.

I usually prefer starting early morning but this is an ultra mini trip as I will start back on sunday afternoon. So thought of starting on friday night to get Saturday full day.

Since I will be starting from south Bangalore near Electronic City, am not much worried about Bangalore traffic. Will crossing Hosur and Salem be such a pain in evening?

Also my estimate was that as I drive on I will get lesser traffic as it will be more and more into the night.

[narayanang76]

Originally Posted by Sandy28

How is the Bangalore- Salem-Coimbatore-Palakkad-Ottapalam-Shoranur route for a late evening/night drive?

I am planning to start from Bglore by 4 pm after office and hoping to reach destination by 12 am. Is this doable? How safe is the route at night? I will be with wife and 2 kids. I understand that road till Coimbatore is excellent. Any update post that?

Sandy, please find my update during last month for a trip from BLR to Shoranur, exactly as per your mention. I started by 4:30 PM from whitefield and reached shoranur by 12:30 night. It is doable. I took the Whitefield-Chikka Tirupati - Bagalur - Hosur route though.

After that I did another night drive, to kongad (in palakkad district) and reached in 7 hours including short break. Started at 9:30 PM night and reached kongad at 4:30 AM.

My experience has been the night driving is much relaxed and less traffic, also toll booths are less crowded. You need to be alert and have a good lighting on your vehicle, then no issues. Also you can get away from summer heat during night drive.

BTW - I am also planning to start on Apr 30th, 4 PM from whitefield, plan to go to shoranur. Where are you in shoranur?

Link: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post3679198

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

4.5 hours of driving time is doable - 1.15 hrs to Salem, 1.30 hrs to CBE, 45 mins - 1 hr to Walayar, 45m - 1 hr to Shornur.

1.15 hrs to salem Are you serious?? Don't tell me you will be driving at break necking speeds even if it happens to be early morning drive????

[NPV]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

4.5 hours of driving time is doable - 1.15 hrs to Salem, 1.30 hrs to CBE, 45 mins - 1 hr to Walayar, 45m - 1 hr to Shornur. Its way better than starting in the evening when you are most likely to hit all the predictable road-blocks.

Are you sure ?
Bangalore-Salem is around 200Km and Salem-Coimbatore around 160Km at least and you did that in 1.15 + 1.30 = 2hr 45 minutes ?

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by Sandy28

Will crossing Hosur and Salem be such a pain in evening?

Crossing Hosur won't be a problem, as the flyover is open for traffic. But crossing Salem can take a while - you'd reach Salem at around 6-7pm, which is probably the peak of evening traffic. The Omalur-Sankari SH can save some 15-20 minutes, even though the road is 2-laned and has truck traffic. You will bypass Omalur toll booth and the 3 signals in Salem.

Also my estimate was that as I drive on I will get lesser traffic as it will be more and more into the night.

That's true after about 9 o'clock, when you'll mostly be in Avinashi area without pushing a lot.

Originally Posted by narayanang76

After that I did another night drive... reached in 7 hours

7 hours would mean a rather relaxed drive. I agree about the night driving part.

Originally Posted by Steeroid

I did that route last week. If you leave at around 4 am you can be in Shornur in about 5 hours if you push it, less if you have no traffic on the route and are able to sustain good expressway speeds. 4.5 hours of driving time is doable - 1.15 hrs to Salem, 1.30 hrs to CBE, 45 mins - 1 hr to Walayar, 45m - 1 hr to Shornur.

That's real quick. Guess your signature explains how you could average a good ~80kmph end to end.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by Sandy28

Since I will be starting from south Bangalore near Electronic City, am not much worried about Bangalore traffic. Will crossing Hosur and Salem be such a pain in evening?

Also my estimate was that as I drive on I will get lesser traffic as it will be more and more into the night.

Brace for heavy lorry traffic around salem in the evenings even though you will be commuting on salem by pass.
Even crossing Hosur could be a pain. It is the general shift leaving time for most of the companies. With people and 2 wheelers criss crossing your path, your drive in all probability will be a slow one.

[Sandy28]

Originally Posted by narayanang76

Sandy, please find my update during last month for a trip from BLR to Shoranur, exactly as per your mention. I started by 4:30 PM from whitefield and reached shoranur by 12:30 night. It is doable. I took the Whitefield-Chikka Tirupati - Bagalur - Hosur route though.

BTW - I am also planning to start on Apr 30th, 4 PM from whitefield, plan to go to shoranur. Where are you in shoranur?

Link: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post3679198

Thanks Narayanang for sharing the link. Thats very encouraging . My final destination is Vavanoor on Pattambi Guruvayur road. From Shoranur I am familiar with the route.

From Hosur did you go via Krishnagiri or Rayakottai to Dharmapuri? Any suggestions on good restaurant for diner break? Any idea about Omalur-Sankari road to byepass Salem?

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by Sandy28

Thanks Narayanang for sharing the link. Thats very encouraging . My final destination is Vavanoor on Pattambi Guruvayur road. From Shoranur I am familiar with the route.

From Hosur did you go via Krishnagiri or Rayakottai to Dharmapuri? Any suggestions on good restaurant for diner break? Any idea about Omalur-Sankari road to byepass Salem?

For taking the Omalur Sankagiri road, the landmark is you will a board mentioning SALEM AIRPORT on the left side of the NH (towards salem side). Once you see this board shift to the right lane close to the road divider till you see a board directing to Omalur Town.
The you go via Tharamangalam and Konganapuram villages till you meet NH47 after Sankagiri.
Do note you can expect some traffic at Tharamangalam.