Team-BHP - All Roads to Kerala

On my recent trip to Calicut on the last week of August I agree on the road conditions between Mysore-Nanjangud-Gundlupet mentioned by ampere.

On a low slung car like the ANHC with 5 adults and luggage, it was indeed a harrowing time driving down the Hairpin curves of Wayanad Ghats where the road surface has been completely washed away (barring 2-3 curves).

Worst was when we took this road back to Bangalore and the banking on the hairpin curves along with huge potholes made it a completely messy affair to maneuver and drive up through these ghats without or with minimal scrapping of the underbelly!!

Calicut-Mahe:
This probably was the biggest disappointment as the road condition was extremely horrible and took us almost 2 hours to cover a distance of mere 40 kms from Kappad to Mahe town. The potholes were so bad that we were mostly in 1-2 gears almost 30% of this 40 Kms stretch.

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Originally Posted by cool_dube (Post 2068231)

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

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Originally Posted by ampere (Post 2068475)

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!).

I've tried the NH 209 route between Bangalore and Malavalli and the road conditions were excellent (as of 2 months ago) except for 1 or 2 kms inside Kanakapura town. Way better than the SH17 drive when you take into account the traffic and the humps.

I had tried it out as an alternative to SH17 in order to avoid the crazy traffic on Sunday evenings from Mysore to Bangalore. But the road from Mysore to Malavalli via Bannur wasn't all that great and I eventually ended up taking approximately the same amount of time, so never tried that route again.

Wanted to try out the Kanakapura-Malavalli-Kollegal-Chamarajnagar-Gundlupet route last weekend, but couldn't do it because my starts got delayed in both directions and I was in a little bit of time crunch. So didn't want to risk the possibility of losing an hour or two just in case the road turned out to be bad.

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Originally Posted by kala (Post 2068565)

I've tried the NH 209 route between Bangalore and Malavalli and the road conditions were excellent (as of 2 months ago) except for 1 or 2 kms inside Kanakapura town.

NH-209 b/w Bangalore/Malavalli (and beyond till Shivasaudram turn-off) continues to be in excellent shape barring the passage through K'pura town - I drove on this stretch 3 days back. Do let me know if you are able to do the Kollegal - Chamrajnagar - Gundlupet stretch anytime soon.

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Originally Posted by kala (Post 2068565)

Thanks for that update. I have not drive on this road off late. But will try some time. If the NH209 is in good shape, it would be really worth it and couple it with NICE road, drive may be much smoother.

I heard recently that the road had be re-tarred. Is that so? Since you saying its better than SH17 (Mysore road), looks like it must have been re-tarred. Only issue is that there are no hotels on this and good clean toilets for break.

But definitely lot of picnic spots!

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Originally Posted by Jaggu (Post 2067500)

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.

+1 to that. Just returned from Cochin and the Shornur route was a breeze. We just took 3 hours From Aluva to Palakkad town with the speedo not crossing 100 :)

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Originally Posted by lloydofcochin (Post 2069743)

+1 to that. Just returned from Cochin and the Shornur route was a breeze. We just took 3 hours From Aluva to Palakkad town with the speedo not crossing 100

Very true - except for the traffic diversion currently on because of the road widening work going on between Kulappully and Pattambi. But in case you are taking Shornur route, i think this will not affect

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Originally Posted by lloydofcochin (Post 2069743)

+1 to that. Just returned from Cochin and the Shornur route was a breeze. We just took 3 hours From Aluva to Palakkad town with the speedo not crossing 100 :)

Thats good. Is there any chances to bye pass Trichur and Palghat town to take Shornur route while coming from Alwaye? Also is it possible to join NH47 after Walayar?

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Originally Posted by Twiny (Post 2070160)

Drive till Mannuthy Jn, and take Left turn and after driving some distance there is a right turn indication to Shornur.

Twiny,

The left turn you mentioned here, is that the road which leads to Thrissur town and the one we have to take if we come down from Cbe?

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Originally Posted by cool_dube (Post 2070365)

What about the CBE-PKD stretch?

Coimbatore - Palakkad is breeze except for the 2 lane Avinashi road. Once you cross Avinashi, you're blessed with L&T's excellent 4 lanes. If you mean the traffic, there's nothing to worry; except for the ultra low toll fee of Rs 31 for all 5 of them put together.

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Originally Posted by aargee (Post 2070386)

Thanks aargee. How much of the Salem-Palghat stretch on NH47 is 4-lane?