[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by mithunkb

Slightly OT.

Can anybody suggest the route from Thrissur to Srikalahasti temple(AP).
How are the road conditions? And can this drive be done in a single stretch?

Take the Thrissur-Salem-Dharmapuri-Krishnagiri-Right Turn onto NH46-Vellore-Katpadi-Renigunta-Kalahasti.

Roads are by and far excellent till Katpadi.Not sure of present day conditions after that,but I dont expect the roads to be that bad,as this is the main route between Vellore & Tirupati.

It can be done in a full day's drive.If you start around 4am from Thrissur you should be in Kalhasti by 5 in the evening.4 laned all the way till Vellore.

If you want to do the drive over two days,then you could stopover in Vellore on day 1 and leave for Kalahasti the next day morning.

On the return leg,you could stopover in Salem and leave for Thrissur the next day morning.

[coolclouds]

Did Bangalore- Kochi last Friday. Two weeks back Palakkad-Trichur was doable but now horrible as mentioned by Naveen. I started from Bangalore at 7pm, stuck in a traffic jam at Vadakkancherry for 2 hrs and finally reached Kochi at 6.00 am.

Once again, NO NIGHT DRIVE on Trichur-Palghat route.

[Prowler]

I am planning to go to Cochin from Madras by the end of this month. Google map shows the route covering 710 km - via Salem, Palakkad and Thrissur. From the foregoing discussion, I am a little worried about the bad conditions of the road in Kerala - especially the part between Avainashi and Thrissur. I have to cover the distance in a day time drive starting at about 8 am from Madras.

I would be thankful for any suggestions or alternate route.

[coolclouds]

No need to worry on TN roads/Avinashi stretch even though there are tarred deviations.
Only worry would be some 20-25kms stretch between Palakkad and Trichur for which you should be prepared for a snail ride.

[Prowler]

Thanks coolclouds. Some others have suggested the detour - thirupur - Pollachi route to avoid congestion/bad roads upto Palakkad. Is this preferable to the standard NH47 ?

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by Prowler

Thanks coolclouds. Some others have suggested the detour - thirupur - Pollachi route to avoid congestion/bad roads upto Palakkad. Is this preferable to the standard NH47 ?

I still prefer to stay on NH47.

[pramodpk]

August 13th Bangalore Vaikom

Drove solo from Bangalore to Vaikom on 13th August. Started from Bangalore (Brookefields, Kundalahalli) at 4:30 AM and reached home at 4:30 PM. Total distance 628 KMs.

I was able to reach Avinashi by 8:30 AM. Stopped for breakfast and resumed the journey at 8:50 AM. Reached Palakkad by pass at 10:35 AM.
Stopped for fuel at the BP petrol pump 8 KMs after the by pass and resumed the journey. I was able to cover the first 27 KMs from Palakkad bypass towards Thrissur in 30 mins and I was happy. I was also expecting to reach home for lunch. But my happiness was shortlived. There was a road block because a truck overturned. It was somwhere before Vadakkencherry. I saw many vehicles returning. Upon enquiry, it was suggested to take alternate route. I followed a convoy of cars expecting to rejoin NH 47 after some distance. Travelled almost 12 KMs through narrow village roads. Finally, i realized that I reached the Wadakkancherry route via Pazhayannoor and Chelakkara. This made the journery 47 kms longer. Finally reached Wadakkancherry only to be stuck up in a traffic jam for 15 mins. Finally police directed me to another small road and to Thrissur. Finally managed to reach stop for lunch around 10 KMS before Thrissur at 1:30 PM. Resumed the journey at 2:00 PM after lunch and reached home at 4:30 PM covering approx. 110 Kms. There were long vehicle queues inside Thrissur town also. Hence I WILL NOT recommend the Wadakkancherry route during daytime. Road surface is good but you will get stuck in major towns. Traffic is heavy and overtaking difficult due to curves. On the NH 47 you have to tackle around 20 - 25 KMS of bad roads. The Avinashi Coimbatore deviations did not bother me much. There was no traffic pile up anywhere. Road is patchy between end of Coimbatore bypass till Palakkad.

August 15th - Vaikom to Salem via Trivandrum

Had to make a last minute decision to go via Trivandrum to Bangalore. Started from Vaikom at 5:15 AM on Aug 15th and reached Trivandurm at 8:30 AM.
Road Condition

Vaikom to Ettumanoor -Excellent
Ettumanoor to Chengannur - Patchy but OK.
Chengannur to Tivandrum - Excellent

Trivandrum to Salem

Started from Trivandrum at 9:45 AM. Reached Kavalkinar at 12:35 PM.
Kerala side of NH47 is good. Surface has peeled off in some sections of NH47 in Tamlnadu.

Stopped for lunch at 1:25 after Tirunelveli at Capsi Family Restaurant. This was around 88 KMs from Kavalkinar on the RHS. Looks like a newly opened one.
Food was decent with clean toilets. Meal for 3 costed Rs 418. Resumed journey at 2:45 PM and stopped for Tea around 22 KMs before Karur at 5:15 PM. Again the restuarant was newly opened with clean Toiltets. Name of Hotel 'Vallavan' on the LHS. Good for a coffee and some snacks. Resumed the journey at 5:55 PM and reached Salem at 7:15 PM. Checked in to Hotel Cenney's Gateway Salem since I had already driven 745 KMs.

August 16th - Salem to Bangalore

Started from Salem at 7:45 AM and reached home (Brookefields) via Attibele, Sarjapur and Varthur at 10:30 AM. Total distance 200 KMs.

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by pramodpk

August 13th Bangalore Vaikom

There was a road block because a truck overturned. It was somwhere before Vadakkencherry.

Pramod, I started at 7pm previous night and stuck in this traffic block for about 8-10kms. A lorry got into a big pothole and damaged. There were only one policeman to pass the vehicles through one lane and others were sitting in the next shop! Adding to this, the cars tried to squeeze in worsened the situation.

Later came to know that they had a tough time to bring a crane to this spot to move the lorry.

[pramodpk]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

Pramod, I started at 7pm previous night and stuck in this traffic block for about 8-10kms. A lorry got into a big pothole and damaged. There were only one policeman to pass the vehicles through one lane and others were sitting in the next shop! Adding to this, the cars tried to squeeze in worsened the situation.

Later came to know that they had a tough time to bring a crane to this spot to move the lorry.

In my case, i think the truck got stuck few minutes back because there were not too many vehicles ahead of me. That is the reason why decided to try another route. Since I was alone, I did not want to wait indefinitely.
I think this will be a regular phenomenon until the road is repaired. Private buses were also going back.

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by pramodpk

In my case, i think the truck got stuck few minutes back because there were not too many vehicles ahead of me. That is the reason why decided to try another route. Since I was alone, I did not want to wait indefinitely.
I think this will be a regular phenomenon until the road is repaired. Private buses were also going back.

Private buses are off the road on Trichur - Palakkad route today demanding repair. Hope they will do at least some repair work at the earliest.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by Prowler

I am planning to go to Cochin from Madras by the end of this month. Google map shows the route covering 710 km - via Salem, Palakkad and Thrissur. From the foregoing discussion, I am a little worried about the bad conditions of the road in Kerala - especially the part between Avainashi and Thrissur. I have to cover the distance in a day time drive starting at about 8 am from Madras.

I would be thankful for any suggestions or alternate route.

You could go via shornur-ottapalam-thrissur.roads are very good,and except for the railway gate at wadakancheri,the rest is a smooth ride.I have stopped taking the thrissur-palakkad road since january this year and now there is just no road.you may end up driving an extra 15kms,but thats a small price to pay considering the fact that your car may end up with broken parts.!

[Ramp]

Went to Guruvayur on 13th from Bangalore. Have taken the following route,
Bangalore - Salem - Coimbatore Bypass - Palakad - Ottapalam - Patambi - Kunnamkulam - Guruvayur.

Roads till Perumanallur is very good.
From preumanallur to Coimbatore bypass is under construction and ok to drive.
Coimbatore bypass is good.
Coimbatore to palakad is patchy road, still ok to drive.
Palakkad to Patambi is good.
Patambi to Kunnamkulam is moderate.
Kunnamkulam to Guruvayur is good.

No stoppage for traffic. The only stretch most bothered me is between Perumanallur and Coimbatore bypass. Other than this the entire stretch was good. Maybe i have travelled bit more, but didn't felt tired.

[bejoy]

Originally Posted by pramodpk

In my case, i think the truck got stuck few minutes back because there were not too many vehicles ahead of me. That is the reason why decided to try another route. Since I was alone, I did not want to wait indefinitely.
I think this will be a regular phenomenon until the road is repaired. Private buses were also going back.

This is already happening every other day. I was also stuck in the same stretch last year on two occasions. I had to take a detour via Shoranur road. The road shoulders have eroded and the huge trailers invariably fall into the trap.

I think its wise to take Shoranur-ottapalam to Trissur as mentioned by ranjitp1. Though it is longer by 30kms or so.
Got a question, is it still possible to byepass Trissur town while taking the Shoranur road by joining Mannuthy end of NH47? Is it worth?

[avasekeh]

Just did the mangalore - Calicut - guruvayoor stretch last weekend and the NH17 from Mangalore - Calicut is really really bad. Craters is an understatement. We set out from Shirali (near bhatkal) at 1:30pm ish and couldnt get anywhere close to Calicut by 9:30pm so we bedded down in a KTDC motel about a couple of hours away from Calicut. The state highway to Guruvayoor from Calicut was really good after what we had gone thro' on NH17. I kept pinching myself to make sure that we were suddenly on such a good road.

The guruvayoor - Athirapally - Kalady stretch was also very good and we made good time on this road.

Kalady - Varkala via Chalakudy and Alleppey was good too but lot of traffic.

Varkala - TVC - Kanyakumari - Great roads and we made very good time on these roads.

[naveen.raju]

Originally Posted by pramodpk

August 13th Bangalore Vaikom

There was a road block because a truck overturned. It was somwhere before Vadakkencherry. I saw many vehicles returning.

Originally Posted by coolclouds

Pramod, I started at 7pm previous night and stuck in this traffic block for about 8-10kms. A lorry got into a big pothole and damaged. There were only one policeman to pass the vehicles through one lane and others were sitting in the next shop! Adding to this, the cars tried to squeeze in worsened the situation.

Later came to know that they had a tough time to bring a crane to this spot to move the lorry.

I think you guys are talking about this?



Anyways, I managed to reach Cochin by 8pm after starting at 10AM. Started re surfacing Kuthiran and have temporarily laid few section between Thrissur - Vadakanchery.

Wont recommend this route for the time being since a lot of time is wasted due to the traffic block. I was lucky to escape the long queue. Was held up for 30 min but had to drive really slowly since there was one heavily loaded truck in front of me. Here's a pic of work under way near Kuthiran.