[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by laluks

From my recent trip I did a Kumily - Bangalore in 06:30 hours
It was on 01.09.2010.

Kumily Dindigul was 2:30 hrs (Kumily Theni was 1 hour)
Dindigul Salem was 1:45 hrs
Salem Bangalore 2:15 hrs

Started at 20:00 from KumilyCP, reached Banagalore by 02:30AM. 520Kms.
The 6Km from kumily to lower camp ghats section is bad, rest is smooth roads, 2 lane till Dindigul, and 4 lane all the way from Dindigul.

Also onward journey Bangalore Coimbatore BP was done in 04:30hrs. Start from Banglore was at 23:30.

Lalu ji, that is very aggressive driving, I agree that it can be done. BUt for someone who is not familiar with the route and wants to take it a little more easy, your timings are undoable!!!

[laluks]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Lalu ji, that is very aggressive driving, I agree that it can be done. BUt for someone who is not familiar with the route and wants to take it a little more easy, your timings are undoable!!!

. I followed your scheme for planning the drives. I now look for the leanest period of traffic in each stretch.

Salem Bangalore stretch is almost clear in the 12 to 2 time frame. That's what I've realised in this as well as the previous drive from Tranquebar. So if you are starting from Salem by 12:00, with fairly decent driving you can be in Bangalore in 2.5hours. This is the stretch which gives you the difference.

On a different time, this stretch normally takes up to 3.5 hours.

But Bangalore Salem, I'm still to find the sweet spot to start.

[pypkmsrikanth]

Originally Posted by laluks

But Bangalore Salem, I'm still to find the sweet spot to start.

I doubt there is a sweet spot. You have buses starting till about 11:30 in the night after which you have the trucks crossing from NH4 to NH7. May be around 3:00 could be the closest you can get.

[shamanth]

I did Bangalore-Salem-Coimbatore-Pollachi-Munnar on 5th Sep I started at 4:30 am and reached Coimbatore by 8am and by 1-30 pm Munnar, road was supper smooth all the way, found 1st poth hole at 400th km

Munnar-Thekkady was also very good road, nice scenic road and lot of curves. I did it on 6th Sep.

Thekkady-Kumily-Gudlur-Kumily-Chenganasari-Harippad, i traveled on 7th with Wedding written on Car in Malayalam as kerala was completely closed. As petrol was almost empty i had to go to Gudlur(TN) and fill up and come back. Did this route fast since roads and city was empty.

Harippad-Cochin-Thrissur-Pallakad-Coimbatore-Salem-Bangalore I did this route in 11 hours on 10th. There was big Jam at Kerala-TN border, so they were diverting cars in a small route and which emerged at 18kms to Coimbatore, so this took 45 min more.

[Twiny]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

Twiny, how is the latest road condition between Palghat & Mannuthy?

Though some areas are given rough patch treatment, still lots of potholes with very bad short stretches between Palakkad-Mannuthy.

Originally Posted by hvkumar

That is really long!
Surprised about the Salem jam - why?
Walayar 2.15 hours is also longer than normal - same issue with trucks crowding all around, but then why should it take so long? I am bemused that the police has no control over truck parking at the check posts.

We could not understand what was the reason for Salem Jam.. Vehicles were piled up at the second circle, from both sides.

@Walayar there were only hardly 40 trucks waiting for entry, but the Exit truck queue was about 1km before we got stuck. Because of water pools in the road shoulders, nobody was willing to offroad there vehicles, except one SUV. Police arrived about an hour later, were trying there best.

Originally Posted by mallumowgli

I too got stuck yesterday for nearly 3 hours at Walayar. I was in the bus. between 10am and 12 noon. Jams of 2-3 hrs are normal in Walayar and this is the 3rd or 4th time am getting stuck and the first time in a bus for this duration
Thats why Iam repeating - PLEASE DO NOT PLAN TO CROSS WALAYAR ON FRIDAYS. I've no choice, since I stay at Palakkad and work at Coimbatore. But you all can - take a different route or plan a different day
By saturday things are clear - today while driving down, I saw a maximum of 6 trucks at the check post
@Twiny - when did you cross walayar?

Reached Walayar by ~11:25pm and by the time I escaped the jam, it was 1:15am with only ~1km added to odo. Heard BLR buses were crossing Muvattupuzha around 12noon, (~6hrs late) on last Friday.


Why can't the State Govts make use of there on Land for Checking/parking trucks. Now its going as a State Govt run business on the NH.

[sudheermenon]

Palakkad Trichur route is in a bad shape as usual. I went to kodai last weekend.

[Jaggu]

Did a trip to Kerala over the weekend and the roads except the Palghat-Trichur were excellent. So on return i took a deviation from Trichur to Shornur and then to Palghat, superb roads except for minor section, but that also not car breaker like the NH47.

For peace of mind and a relaxed driving i strongly recommend the Shornur route.

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Lalu ji, that is very aggressive driving, I agree that it can be done. BUt for someone who is not familiar with the route and wants to take it a little more easy, your timings are undoable!!!

Impressive but for the sake of safety avoid these speeds in our roads. Though we have excellent roads these days, the traffic sense is absolute zilch. Especially in TN where the new bypass's have made the travel a breeze. One often finds villagers, carts, tractors jumping onto the highway at the most unexpected times.

[aargee]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

For peace of mind and a relaxed driving i strongly recommend the Shornur route.

I'm not sure of this route; Is this Thrissur-Wadakkanchery-Ottappaalam-Palakkad route that you're talking about? How's Wadakkanchery-Ottapaalam route? How many more Kms is this in addition to the regular NH47?

[Jaggu]

Yup its via wadakanchery route. Roads as i said, apart from very minor broken patch hardly few 100 mts in total are excellent. I think distance is about 75 Trichur town to Palghat, + 9-10 kms from bypass to Trichur town. Distance might be more by 10-15 kms i guess but your car will have a better time and you can peacefully drive at 60-90 kmph based on traffic.

I really found it relaxing, after taxing my way in between trucks and pulling stunts to overtake them, just to slow down few mts later, for potholes on NH 47 during the onward journey.

[vasoo]

Came back after a quick trip to a village near Mannarkad. Went through Mysore > Bandipur > Nilambur > Wandoor > Pandikkad > Perinthalmanna route. Road is a bit rough between Mysore and Nanjangud. After that it is in good shape till Wandoor. Then the struggle starts! The road is completely ripped down for some drainage work every 200 meters for about 30 kms, till P'manna. It is best to travel on this on a bus or some off roader. My poor Civic with Michelin PLC had to bear the brunt. The road through Melattoor towards Mannarkad is closed at the railway crossing, so had to go through P'manna. Reached Nilambur from Bangy in about 7 hours and took 3 hours for the rest! Total distance was about 390 kms.

Came back through Palakkad > NH47 >Salem > NH7 route today morning. Excellent all the way as usual. Had two stops for breakfast at Rajabhojanam near Avanashi at about 9AM and lunch at Krishna Inn at Shoolagiri at 12 noon. Could maintain good speed of about 140 on many parts of the road. Michelin PLC makes a big difference here! Total distance in this route was 443 kms. Driving time was about 4 hrs from start of CBE bye-pass to Electronics City.

On the way back near Walayar a biker rammed into the back of my car when i braked to avoid an oncoming car. There are some big scratches on the bumper and a crack on the left tail light.

[laluks]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Impressive but for the sake of safety avoid these speeds in our roads. Though we have excellent roads these days, the traffic sense is absolute zilch. Especially in TN where the new bypass's have made the travel a breeze. One often finds villagers, carts, tractors jumping onto the highway at the most unexpected times.

Agree 100% Jaggu. That stastitics is not a daily feat, it just happened due to that timing since the roads were free

Originally Posted by vasoo

Michelin PLC makes a big difference here! Total distance in this route was 443 kms. Driving time was about 4 hrs from start of CBE bye-pass to Electronics City.

On the way back near Walayar a biker rammed into the back of my car when i braked to avoid an oncoming car. There are some big scratches on the bumper and a crack on the left tail light.

That road is pleasant to drive.

Sorry to hear the biker incident. Carnation can do the painting for cheap, around 2.5 to 3k for the full bumper. The Rear tail lamp is around 5K.

[kala]

Travelled from Bangalore to Kalpetta over the weekend through the Mysore-Gundlupet-Bathery route. The conditions of the roads in Kerala has become much worse over the last month or two. Not that it isn't drivable, but there are huge potholes that appear out of nowhere quite frequently, so it's good to drive with some caution.

[cool_dube]

Originally Posted by vasoo

Road is a bit rough between Mysore and Nanjangud.

Correct - I have always detested this stretch and have been trying to find alternatives. Has anyone tried Kanakapura - Chamrajnagar - Gundlupet?

Originally Posted by vasoo

The road is completely ripped down for some drainage work every 200 meters for about 30 kms, till P'manna.

Anyone knows the conditions beyond P'manna towards Pattambi - Kunnamkulam - Chavakkad?

[vasoo]

Originally Posted by cool_dube

Correct - I have always detested this stretch and have been trying to find alternatives. Has anyone tried Kanakapura - Chamrajnagar - Gundlupet?



Anyone knows the conditions beyond P'manna towards Pattambi - Kunnamkulam - Chavakkad?

I was in Pattambi this weekend for a marriage. Roads are in pretty bad shape all around. I went through Cherplassery route and it was pretty bad all the way from Mannarkad. Not sure about the route from P'manna.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by cool_dube

Correct - I have always detested this stretch and have been trying to find alternatives. Has anyone tried Kanakapura - Chamrajnagar - Gundlupet?

That stretch is only for 20-25 Km and is doable. But beyond Nanjangud its a beautiful 2L NH212 which has been recently tarred all the way up to Gundlupet and and then NH67 from Gubdlupet is also very good all the way till Gudalur (Gudlupet-Bandipur has been tarred and its a beauty to drive. So I would say its worth going via Mysore rather than Chamrajnagar. NH209 is not all that great as SH17 (discounting humps!).