[ravib]

Originally Posted by ramases6

Two deficiencies in the selected route that come to mind along the route are the lack of a proper enroute stop for refreshment till Vellore. And the lack of traffic that could render roadside assistance if needed, difficult. With tubeless tires, a good pump should come handy for a short drive to a nearby place if raising the car on the jack is a problem. Cell phone connectivity at some portions is also not reliable. Would not,as has been already shared earlier, recommend this route at night.

Since this route between Palamaner to Gudiyattam is mostly forest stretches, i would say let them be that way and untouched as much as possible and not commercialized or let deforestation doesn't happen. Don't get me wrong, i would say it is not the deficiency IMO, but its actually an advantage to drive through a forest/ghat section with clean air with nature. We have umpteen NHs with 4L/6L roads totally commercialized. Agreed cellphone connectivity and emergency services are not there, but they should not be there inside forest anyway disturbing the animals/birds and ecology
For those who want/need emergency options/more stop over breaks, best recommendation is they should opt for regular NH 6L/4L roads. Those who prefer to drive with nature by rolling down the windows and in sedate speed, at least there is an option in this route. My 2 cents.

Originally Posted by ramases6

For the return, plan to do Ranipet, Chittoor, Palamaner, Bangalore.

How is the road section now between Ranipet to Chittoor and Chittoor to Bangarupalayem? The last we read in this thread is that it is very bad between Ranipet to Chittoor in TN side and things slowly improve in AP side. Is the road construction actively happening in that section?

-Ravi

[ramases6]

Dear Ravi,
Thanks. Having done the Palamaner - Gudiyatham- Pallikonda route and looking for an alternate, I thought of checking out the return to Bangalore via Chitoor. A friend in Chennai familiar with that route echoed what you have said; that the route would not be his option based on road conditions.
Depending on how long it takes me to reach Vellore tomorrow, I shall choose to return via Vellore- Palamaner route or alternately the tried and tested route via Hosur. With luck, the traffic from Attibele to Whitefield via the Sarjapur route will not be too heavy after 7 pm.
I agree with,understand and share your concerns about enjoying the drive through forested areas. The ride no doubt is enjoyable and a pleasant change from the usual highway drive. Thank you.

[ravib]

Oops, sorry i thought you already completed your return Journey to Bangalore. My bad. I too stay in East bangalore C.V.Raman Nagar, so can understand the difficulties we face to enter the Bangalore city and time it out correctly.

BTW, i too drove between Palamaner-Guidyattam last month on Feb 16th, but it was actually dry and not green, although it is still good. However, in case if you missed, you can take a look at how green and beautiful it was on a rainy day, last Nov 22nd from my previous post.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route...ml#post4501821 (Bangalore - Chennai - Bangalore : Route Queries)

-Ravi

[ramases6]

Drove from Chennai to Bangalore on a working day yesterday, Monday the 25th May.

Left my hotel at Anna Salai at 11am, Sriperumbudur via Porur was just under an hour. City traffic in Chennai was lighter than I had anticipated and though the movement was slow at times, it was moving. The drive upto Vellore was smooth too except that the heat was a bit uncomfortable. That's when I opted for the Pallikonda-Gudiyatham-Palamaner route. The difference in the driving conditions were immediately
noticeable. The tree cover and the tarred surfaces were a welcome relief and the shade made temperatures felt lower.The traffic was light and though there were hardly any stretches to hit three digit speeds,a healthy 60 kmph average was good going indeed. There are a few road bridge upgrades happening enroute but nothing that would seriously bother even a small hatchback. I drive the VW Polo GT TSI. The situation is likely to improve when the ongoing roadworks are completed.That should not take more than a few months.

The drive from Palamaner to Whitefield, Bangalore was smooth too. For those living in North or East Bangalore, this seems a good option to avoid the traffic delays within Bangalore and upto Hosur. Even the Attibele Sarjapura Option has not always worked for me as well as expected on most occasions. The scenic drive from Palamaner to Pallikonda is a refreshing too and a montony buster.

Did not return via Chitoor as planned as the briefing I got from a recent user of that route was that it is still work in progress. Total time from Hotel Raintree, Anna Salai, Chennai to Whitefield was 5 hours 45 minutes. Inclusive of a 30 minutes refreshments break. A record of sorts for me on this route during peak(?) hours. Average kpl was 16.9 too!

Thanks.

[Miyata]

Originally Posted by narayans80

I don't remember good options until Sai Sangeet

Thanks Narayan. Returned well from the Chennai trip. Could not spot Sai Sangeet while driving, but had our food stop at Murugan Idli shop. Looked like a newer branch - clean restrooms and decent food.

Originally Posted by NPV

Murugan idly or coffee Day

Did try Murugan both while going and on the return leg. Decent food.

Over all impressions of my Chennai visit - first visit in last about 10-yrs : Roads were quite good all through. No issues faced on that front. Within the Chennai city limits, encountered more cases of slow vehicles hogging the fast lane (compare to B'lore). Otherwise nothing too different - traffic wise - between the two cities.

Have saved all the toll receipts. Will update on how much that cost. My office will anyway reimburse the fuel/toll/etc.

Overall fuel efficiency seemed to be about 18kmpl on hatchback (liva) with AC on 100% of the time.

Only sour point in the trip - A KUV 100 made a rash lane change and came dangerously close! This was towards the end of my journey near the Hebbal flyover.

Mildly Sour : Fairly heavy truck traffic for about 70-kms exiting Chennai and till about Kanchipuran.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by Miyata

Returned well from the Chennai trip. Could not spot Sai Sangeet while driving

Surprised that you missed this, unless you started really early and it was dark when you were passing by.
They have pretty big signboards before the place and it is about 10+ km after Vaniyambadi toll.

Did try Murugan both while going and on the return leg. Decent food.

On the Kanchipuram bypass there are 2 Murugan idli outlets one on either side of the highway and about 3km apart. Did you try both ?

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by Miyata

Could not spot Sai Sangeet while driving

This is where it is located.

[hserus]

Originally Posted by NPV

Surprised that you missed this, unless you started really early and it was dark when you were passing by.
They have pretty big signboards before the place and it is about 10+ km after Vaniyambadi toll.

On the Kanchipuram bypass there are 2 Murugan idli outlets one on either side of the highway and about 3km apart. Did you try both ?

And a barrier across the road seconds before Sai Sangeet so you have no option except to slow down there. Such clever fellows these restaurant owners.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by Miyata

Murugan Idli shop. Looked like a newer branch

Yes it is new, opened sometime in November. Lunch is transported from the outlet you ate in return, so their lunch service was very late. Wrote about it here (Bangalore - Chennai - Bangalore : Route Queries).

Originally Posted by NPV

On the Kanchipuram bypass there are 2 Murugan idli outlets one on either side of the highway and about 3km apart. Did you try both ?

Neither outlet is on Kanchipuram bypass actually The main outlet on Bangalore bound direction is at 95th km and the newer outlet on Madras bound direction is at 100th km milestone. Kanchipuram exits are at 67th, 72nd and 76th km respectively.

[Miyata]

Originally Posted by NPV

They have pretty big signboards before the place and it is about 10+ km after Vaniyambadi toll.

On the Kanchipuram bypass there are 2 Murugan idli outlets one on either side of the highway and about 3km apart. Did you try both ?

Oh. From your description of it and from Suhas' map link, it appears this might have coincided with a bit of distraction on my side - my infant was showing some signs suggestive of motion sickness or something. Must have missed it in that confusion.

The one's I tried - Going towards Chennai from B'lore, we come across one closer to Krishnagiri. Returning from Chennai, there is one closer to Kanchipuram

Originally Posted by narayans80

Yes it is new, opened sometime in November. Lunch is transported from the outlet you ate in return

Seemed like they had a fully functional kitchen though - could see signs of cooking smoke and various sounds typical of functional kitchens.

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

This is where it is located.

Thanks. Will look out for it on the next trip. From the rave reviews it's garnered, looks like totally our bad that we missed it.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by Miyata

The one's I tried - Going towards Chennai from B'lore, we come across one closer to Krishnagiri. Returning from Chennai, there is one closer to Kanchipuram

Oh, looks like you had breakfast at the newish Murugan idli just before the krishnagiri toll. I thought if you'd started at 5am this may not have been open as you'd have crossed this one around 6:30am but looks like you did start a bit later and stopped here.

The Murugan idli you stopped at on your way back from Chennai is the one just after Kanchipuram on the left. About 3-5km after this one you may have noticed there is another Murugan idli outlet on the right (in the Bangalore-Chennai direction) and I thought you stopped there for breakfast in your onward journey

[Miyata]

Originally Posted by NPV

I thought if you'd started at 5am this may not have been open as you'd have crossed this one around 6:30am but looks like you did start a bit later and stopped here.

The Murugan idli you stopped at on your way back from Chennai is the one just after Kanchipuram on the left. About 3-5km after this one you may have noticed there is another Murugan idli outlet on the right (in the Bangalore-Chennai direction) and I thought you stopped there for breakfast in your onward journey

Yea, man proposed for 5:30am start and god (the little kiddos!) disposed that plan and had us re-set for a 10:30am start!

One question I had though that I forgot to ask earlier and only remembered while having tea this morning - every place in Chennai that I had coffee, they always had sugar lying unstirred at the bottom. With my broken Tamil I tried getting clarity as to why they do that and not just mix it up well to start with, could get no clear answer to that.

Any idea why they do that?

[ravib]

Originally Posted by Miyata

One question I had though that I forgot to ask earlier and only remembered while having tea this morning - every place in Chennai that I had coffee, they always had sugar lying unstirred at the bottom.
Any idea why they do that?

Its not just in Madras, but in many parts of TN. The main reason is that, people traditionally like to consume Coffee "very hot" and the more you stir it up for sugar to dissolve, it starts losing the heat and becomes "hot", then "warm" and then "cold". In last few years, in many places they started to serve coffee (you would have seen umpteen Kumbakonam Degree Coffee outlets in NHs) in brass vessel (in Tamil its called Pitthalai). That will help to retain heat for long time.

So, generally people don't stir up the sugar while serving and leave it up for the consumer to choose how much to stir it and how much sugar they want to mix with coffee.

-Ravi

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Miyata

Yea, man proposed for 5:30am start and god (the little kiddos!) disposed that plan and had us re-set for a 10:30am start!

The basic idea while leaving Bangalore, is if you can plan *not* to break before Krishnagiri. Because that is where most time gets lost (Getting out of Bangalore). That 90km stretch till Krishnagiri toll takes anywhere from 75 to 100 minutes at a decent pace (assuming an average of 60-70).

Once you cross Krishnagiri and the car gains its wings thanks to 6 lane, and you can do more a relaxed drive and saunter to a break.

Also the next set of break points are at good locations and have great views. Couple of Coffee days have awesome locations which I can think off. And like many mentioned, these locations are after Vanyambadi toll and in general hit close before you go past the Yelagiri range.

every place in Chennai that I had coffee, they always had sugar lying unstirred at the bottom. With my broken Tamil I tried getting clarity as to why they do that and not just mix it up well to start with, could get no clear answer to that.

Well.. Ravi answered that very well! Its very obvious, but it did not strike to me too!

[showboat]

I need to get to Nandi Hills from Chennai. Has anyone tried the route from Hosur to Malur to Devenahalli? How far along has the work on Old Madras road come? Is it faster than the normal Krishnagiri route?