Team-BHP - Chennai - Kochi : Route Queries

I did Chennai - Cochin and back last week. I started at 8 in the morning from Cochin and could reach Palakkad only by 2 in the afternoon. I made the mistake of coming back by NH47 instead of the onward route from Thrissur to Palakkad by the Shoranur - Ottapalam route. From thrissur it is a crawl with literally hundreds of trucks vying for space.

Palakkad to Avinashi is a mess too with lots of diversions. I reached Madras in the night at 12. Except the drive from Krishnagiri to Chennai, others are in bad shape in the monsoon.

Watch out for the over bridge when you enter Salem - I missed the arm which leads to Krishnagiri and ended up in the road to the city of Salem. Wasted one hour retracing my way in the chaotic Salem city traffic.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prowler (Post 2496816)

How is the condition of NH 47 between Thrissur and Palakkad? Did you see any repair work?

Yes Pramod. There is some work going on in that stretch making the roads narrow in many places. With increased lorry traffic, it will be a crawl. Shoranur route, though a state-highway is better.

I have attached samples of the photos I have taken on the way after Thirussur. You can see the kind of hugh truck traffic and also the bad patch of the road in some places here.

As Ampere said, Perundurai - Pollachi - Vadakkancherry route would not be a bad option - Addition of 50 odd Kms i assume but if the road is OK, this could be opted. Again frequent travellers would be best to advice.

While I travelled, Aug first week, Avinashi - Coimbatore Bypass Jn was so-so, Bypass - Walayar was Ok but 4 laning work in progress, did not hamper much though. Walayar - Palakkad was OK.. with some craters and Palakkad - Mannuthy was not so great with "missing" roads near Kuthiran and all..

Cheers!

Just thought of writing a consolidated reply, based on (recent) comments received so far. It is also my route guide :D

Route:
Chennai - Vellore - Krishnagiri - Dharmapuri - Salem - Bhavani - Avinashi - Coimbatore - Palakkad - Ottapalam - Shoranur - Thrissur (Thrissur Bypass (Mannuthy)) - Kochi

Points to note:
* Avinashi - Coimbatore - 4 Laning under progress - Majorly completed but still would have a fair share of deviations
* Coimbatore Bypass - 2L but not bad at all.
* Stretch between L&T Bye-pass and Walayar is in very bad state due to widening. Walayar-Palakkad is slightly better. Watchout for many killer potholes in both the stretches.
* Take the Shoranur-Ottapalam route for Thrissur to Palakkad both for onward and return journey
* cAug 1st weel: Bypass - Walayar was Ok but 4 laning work in progress
* Walayar - Palakkad was OK.. with some craters
* Palakkad - Mannuthy was not so great with "missing" roads near Kuthiran

Based on experience c01st Sept, from @Prowler: I made the mistake of coming back by NH47 instead of the onward route from Thrissur to Palakkad by the Shoranur - Ottapalam route. From thrissur it is a crawl with literally hundreds of trucks vying for space. Palakkad to Avinashi is a mess too with lots of diversions. I reached Madras in the night at 12. Except the drive from Krishnagiri to Chennai, others are in bad shape in the monsoon.

Someone needs to confirm the below please:

Alternate route (if hitting Avinashi in peak hours, which I assume to be 0900-1000, 1200-1400 or 1700-2000):
Chennai - Vellore - Krishnagiri - Dharmapuri - Salem - Bhavani - Perundurai - Pollachi - Shoranur - Vadakkancherry - Thrissur (Thrissur Bypass (Mannuthy)) - Kochi

Folks,

What is the best route from Chengannur to Chennai? Google map predicts around 12 hours of journey, I am afraid it would take close to 15 hours if coming through salem, coimbatore.

My current plan (Leave at 2 PM):
allepy->Ernakulam->trichur->shornur->ottapalam->pallakad->kovai->salem

Stay at a hotel in salem, leave to Chennai at 6 AM in the morning.

Please let me know your thoughts. I won't be able to handover the ride to my wife, so driving for longer periods?

Rgds,
Vinod

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr_Bean (Post 2570910)

Trichur - Palghat is in OK condition now. No need to think about Shornur route. Coimbatore-Chennai can be done in 7 hours and Chengannur-CBE in another 5-6 hrs. Since you are planning to start at 2pm, you may have some tough time with Trichur-CBE-Avinashi traffic.

Also, is there any reason for taking Palghat route? You may try Dindigul-Trichy-Chennai route which can be much shorter and easy drive with little bit of ghat section.

Quote:

Originally Posted by coolclouds (Post 2570927)

Also, is there any reason for taking Palghat route? You may try Dindigul-Trichy-Chennai route which can be much shorter and easy drive with little bit of ghat section.

Hey thanks for the inputs. I did think of Dindigul route, wasn't sure about it ,hence posted here :).

My worry is the ghat section & also fear of taking the wrong routelol:,

What route to take from Chengannur to Dindigul?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr_Bean (Post 2570946)

You can take Ranni-Erumeli-Mundakayam-Kuttikkanam-Kumili-Dindigul-Trichy-Chennai route. If you start at 2pm, you can do the ghat section in day time without any issues. A small stretch from Kumili to lower camp was in bad shape sometime back. Hope others can comment on this.

Hey guys,

Might be travelling by road from Chennai to Thrissur. Am not used to road travel but don't mind driving for long duration.

The route I will be taking is Chennai-Krishnagiri-Salem-Coimbature-Thrissur.

What is the condition of the roads? Any pointers on the route would be very helpful. I have driven till Salem before, but any pointers after that would be appreciated.

Will update the condition of the roads when I reach back.

Quote:

Originally Posted by xtremeshock

Good roads throughput.walayar palakkad thrissur has bad sections but manageable.plenty of places to break for food enroute.

Hello,

Chennai - Vellore - Krishnagiri - Salem - Coimbatore - Palakkad - Thrissur - Cochin is the recommended one.

However, anyone tried Chennai - Ulundurpet - Trichy - Dindugal - Plani - Udumalpet - Pollachi - Meenakshipuram - Kollangode - Vadakanchery - Cochin route.

The first one is more than 720 Kms and the second one is close to 670 Kms. The roads are good till Pollachi but not too sure about Kollangode - thrissur section.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sanoop.Patteri (Post 2774031)

However, anyone tried Chennai - Ulundurpet - Trichy - Dindugal - Plani - Udumalpet - Pollachi - Meenakshipuram - Kollangode - Vadakanchery - Cochin route.

The first one is more than 720 Kms and the second one is close to 670 Kms. The roads are good till Pollachi but not too sure about Kollangode - thrissur section.

Roads are ok,but would lose too much time driving through the towns.Kollengode-Vadakkencheri is ok as well but would lose time as overtaking becomes difficult,pollachi town would also ensure you lose time.