[motomaverick]

I understood the issue with NH66 and have Vellore route in mind. My question is about SH9 from TV Malai onward. @netarchie says that NH45 is not good from kanchi till chenglapettu.

Its SH58 from Kanchi, you will join NH45 in C'pattu.

Originally Posted by netarchie

It took me exactly 1 hour today after turning off frm NH4 to kanchi till chenglapettu (NH45).
Lots of pot holes and traffic on the road, so it takes about 1 hour to cover the 40 odd kms till NH45.

1 hr for 40kms from Kanchi to C'pattu is bit of a long time, which car were you travelling and how bad is bad?

[netarchie]

Sorry for the late reply, I again travelled the next day from C'pattu to Kanchi, it took the same time about 1 hour, was on my way to B'lore from NH5.

Lots of village traffic and pot holes enroute hence one has to travel slow.

I also heard in the news that the road was washed out because of the rains, not sure if it is the same road! if it was , i was pretty lucky then.

I was in my ANHC.

[ranarula]

I am planning a trip with my family from Bangalore covering Kanchipuram, Mahaballipuram, Pondicherry in the last week of December.
Though the rains in Tamil Nadu are a little cause of worry, wanted to find out the real situation of roads covering the places. Though I got to know that NH66 is a strict no-no. I was planning on the following route

Onward:
Bangalore - (NH7)-Hosur - Krishnagiri - Vellore - (SH132)- Arani -(SH4)- Gingee -(NH66)- Pondicherry via Tindivanam

Return:
Pondicherry - (ECR) - Mahabalipuram - (?) Kanchipuram - (NH4/NH46) - Vellore - (NH46) -Krishnagiri -(NH7)- Bangalore

Please suggest if the route is feasible & doable in 4-5 nights. I intend to spend 2 nights in Pondicherry. Also not quite sure about the latest road & weather conditions.

Also suggest family places to stay in Pondicherry/ Kanchipuram/Mahaballipuram.

If the weather doesn't improve for the better I plan to cut short the trip to 2n/3d to Bangalore - Pondicherry - Bangalore following the onward journey route.

Please help in sorting out a better route for my trip.

Thanks Team-Bhp for providing such a wonderful platform and all the members who share useful information.

[motomaverick]

Originally Posted by netarchie

Sorry for the late reply, I again travelled the next day from C'pattu to Kanchi, it took the same time about 1 hour, was on my way to B'lore from NH5.

Lots of village traffic and pot holes enroute hence one has to travel slow.

I also heard in the news that the road was washed out because of the rains, not sure if it is the same road! if it was , i was pretty lucky then.

I was in my ANHC.

how bad are these pot holes, planning to cover at night this section to get to nh45.

[motomaverick]

Originally Posted by ranarula

I am planning a trip with my family from Bangalore covering Kanchipuram, Mahaballipuram, Pondicherry in the last week of December.

Onward:
Bangalore - (NH7)-Hosur - Krishnagiri - Vellore - (SH132)- Arani -(SH4)- Gingee -(NH66)- Pondicherry via Tindivanam

Return:
Pondicherry - (ECR) - Mahabalipuram - (?) Kanchipuram - (NH4/NH46) - Vellore - (NH46) -Krishnagiri -(NH7)- Bangalore

Please suggest if the route is feasible & doable in 4-5 nights. I intend to spend 2 nights in Pondicherry. Also not quite sure about the latest road & weather conditions.

Also suggest family places to stay in Pondicherry/ Kanchipuram/Mahaballipuram.
.

Welcome aboard, well the route you have taken suggests , however, if you have a suv then nh66 might not be that big an issue as it is with small cars. I also travelling to Pondi during the Christmas weekend, i have more or less finalized the following route.

Blore - Krishnagiri - Vellore - Kanchipuram - (SH58) - Chengalpattu - (NH45) - Tindivanam - (NH 66) - Pondicherry

A total of 422 kms apprx but except for one 40kms SH all are 4L NH.

If you have not already booked then getting accommodation during last week would be quite difficult, you can try some hotels in the French quarters.

[netarchie]

Originally Posted by motomaverick

how bad are these pot holes, planning to cover at night this section to get to nh45.

Not too bad, i did not have any serious problems with the potholes, except that I had to slow down many times.

If at night you can surely avoid the village traffic. And also you can avoid those potholes easily.

But pls double check on the road conditions after the recent rains.

[motomaverick]

Originally Posted by netarchie

Not too bad, i did not have any serious problems with the potholes, except that I had to slow down many times.

If at night you can surely avoid the village traffic. And also you can avoid those potholes easily.

But pls double check on the road conditions after the recent rains.

Ok then its cool. Wondering how I can check on latest road conditions, google search does not return any fruitful results.

[hdnivara]

I just did a Kalpaakam-Bangalore via Chengelpet-Kachipuram-NH4. Road conditions from Kanchipuram to Chengelpet is pretty low. Lot of potholes and a 4km long stretch is very poor (near Walajabad). Rest of the road is manageable. You should be able to do the entire 40kms in not more than 45-60 mins. My humble opinion - avoid night drives in this road.

[mgh]

bangalore-hosur-krishnagiri-uthangarai-chengam-thiruvanamalai-gingee-tindivanam-pondy
do krishnagiri-tindivanam only in day time.
road krishnagiri-chengam road is not all that good
do not exceed 70 km/hr even on good portions-you never know when the next pothole will come up-you see vehicle coming from opposite side, plan immediately where to pull to the side and wait in case it is a bus or a truck, else where to pull to the side and continue! That is how the road was when i started using it more than ten years ago, it has improved since then. it is the shortest route to pondicherry. have done it often in
my earlier indica dlx 2000 and even earlier premier padmini diesel. with the indica, have done it consistently in five and half hours, including a tea stop at uthangarai or gingee, and one or two smoke breaks.
if you plan to have breakfast on the way, take the stop at Hosur or Krishnagiri. nothing much after that.

At pondy, places to stay with family
pure south indian veg, no bar (you can buy from outside and drink in your room)
Hotel Jairam, Hotel Surguru and Hotel Sairam
medium priced hotels with bars
Hotel MASS, Ananda Inn, new Ginger
higher priced
anna malai international, le club, and a few newer ones.

If you like continental food, especially non-veg, be sure to visit Rendezvous- people come to Pondy on weekends to eat there and of course for the cheap booze. The owner Vincent obviously enjoys his food (one look at him and you would agree!). The continental food is better than at any five star.
If you like french food visit Le Club (their main restaurant, not the cafetaria)

[bsdbsd]

My recent travelogue covering your intentions can be found here;

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...bangalore.html

Rest assured that your 2010 sins will be washed away during Krishnagiri-Tiruvannamali route. Mahabalipuram to Vellore road conditions are average at best. After the recent rains, it may have become worse. I let my wife drive that route as she wouldnt exceed 20kmph anyway!

[madhukar_n]

Seems like a lot of bhpians visiting pondy during christmas. I am also one of them. Let us hope the whether is better.

So what is the consensues on the route - BLR-Krishnagiri-vellore-kanchi/thirvanamalai-tindivanam-pondy ??? i mean shud we take the kanchi-tindivanam or the vellore-t'malai-tindivanam ? i guess the former is about 380 and latter 410
This will be my first long in the T-jet, so do not want to take a bad road. ;-)

[mgh]

the krishnagiri-uthangarai-chengam-tmalai-gingee-tindivanam route to pondicherry is 330 kms.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by madhukar_n

Seems like a lot of bhpians visiting pondy during christmas. I am also one of them. Let us hope the whether is better.

So what is the consensues on the route - BLR-Krishnagiri-vellore-kanchi/thirvanamalai-tindivanam-pondy ??? i mean shud we take the kanchi-tindivanam or the vellore-t'malai-tindivanam ? i guess the former is about 380 and latter 410
This will be my first long in the T-jet, so do not want to take a bad road. ;-)

The Kanchi option is better. That totally avoids NH66.

[motomaverick]

I taking the Kanchi route, 40kms bad road is fine with 50-60kph in worst case scenario. i have already buffered 1 hr time for this section.

I will be going for Pondi only at night coz thats when I can come back from Office and we did not want to waste 1 half day in driving. Starting at 3 or 4am is as good as starting in the evening and reaching there by 1am and sleep off

Why dont we have a small Blore Tbhp meet in Pondi

[rjstyles69]

Originally Posted by ampere

The Kanchi option is better. That totally avoids NH66.

errrr !! Its like the moons surface all the way from Kanchipuram to Vandavasi. No big shakes about this route too except for the GQ till Kanchi. Follow the normal route and save on that extra 80+ kms kms , its just that you would be driving a tad bit slow.

Originally Posted by motomaverick

I taking the Kanchi route, 40kms bad road is fine with 50-60kph in worst case scenario. i have already buffered 1 hr time for this section.

I will be going for Pondi only at night coz thats when I can come back from Office and we did not want to waste 1 half day in driving. Starting at 3 or 4am is as good as starting in the evening and reaching there by 1am and sleep off

Not a good idea, with the size of the potholes along this route. You would end up busting your suspension with one small wrong move. Sunlight is free of cost use it to the fullest and stick to day driving.