[vijuvarghese]

Thanks to everyone who had posted state road to Kerala, I made one of the most enjoyable drives to Kerala this time.

Drove the BLR-Salem-Coi-Trichur-Kollam route (NH7-NH47) route on 30th Sept and drove back on 6th Oct.

The bad stretch between Walayar-Palakkad-Trichur was repaired by 6th Oct. Only very small sections remain bad in the entire route.

Some portions of road in the Mettur-Bhavani section is bad, but manageable.

[laluks]

Thats indeed good news. The last time I drove in these roads was in 2007 Jan with my swift to Trivandrum. We took almost 14.5 hours to cover the 700 odd km to my house. Swift gave a FE of 17 here then.

When the roads were good in 2005 August, I have done the same distance with my esteem in 12 hours. Started at 10PM from bangalore and reached home by 10AM in the morning - it was my first ever non stop night driving for 12 hours too. This time another record I always remember was my esteem giving an unbelievable 21.5 km to a litre fuel efficiency. With a full tank from Bangalore I reached Trivandrum.

[sj_koova]

Originally Posted by vijuvarghese

Thanks to everyone who had posted state road to Kerala, I made one of the most enjoyable drives to Kerala this time.

Drove the BLR-Salem-Coi-Trichur-Kollam route (NH7-NH47) route on 30th Sept and drove back on 6th Oct.

The bad stretch between Walayar-Palakkad-Trichur was repaired by 6th Oct. Only very small sections remain bad in the entire route.

Some portions of road in the Mettur-Bhavani section is bad, but manageable.

I too did the same route in the first week of Oct.
Roads are in very good condition.
Especially the TN part almost done up with 4 lines.
I did 520km in 10hours this time. That is with little more than one hour break in between.
Both ways I took only 10 hours, which is making an average of 60 km / hour.
Net year this time we may have toll road all the way till Walayar

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by pypkmsrikanth

Hi HVK, would it not be better to take the left at the Byepass Jn. and then come back to Nanjangud road via the Lalith Mahal palace. The route you mentioned is about 10 kms longer if my memory serves correct because I have done both routes and have always felt its better to take the left rather than the right.

Yes there is no need to take a right turn at the byepass unless you're headed towards Medikeri, Hunsur, etc. You take a LEFT and pass by the Lalith Mahal Palace as well as the entrance to Chamundi Hills, and join the Nanjangud highway just after the last circle in Mysore.

If you turn right you end up driving more than 10-15 kms extra.

[rex_varghese]

We returned from Cochin yesterday (Sunday, 12th Oct). The road conditions have improved very much. Yesterday being a Sunday made our drive much more easier. We could cover 525 kms in 10.30 hours (including breakfast, lunch and fuel stops).

A good stretch of road between Angamaly and Trichur are done and the surface is pretty good. Trichur bye-pass is partially open. It's great to drive in that stretch now.

Huge potholes exist between Palakkad and Walayar, though the ones before Palakkad are badly patched. We hardly missed any of them since it was raining all through, till Walayar.

Coimbatore-Bhavani stretch, as mentioned by many others, is not very good, but not that bad too.

Bhavani-Thoppur is great. Green, peaceful drive.

Thoppur-Krishnagiri stretch is better now, though work is still in progress.

Hosur road is, as usual, in chaos. At 3:30pm on a Sunday, the road was clogged and people were going crazy.

Overall a great drive.

Regards
Rex

[unni.ak]

I'll be leaving for Kerala at around 3am tomorrow (20th Oct '08). Will be taking the Hosur - Dharmapuri - Coimbatore - Cochin route. Any updates on road conditions? Anything in particular that I need to watch out for?

[vrvarier]

Hi Guys,

We are planning to visit wayanad during the coming week-end. Searched the forum and got quite a lot of help. Would greatly appreciate the latest updates. My plan is as below:

Day-1: Start from Bangalore by 5am. Reach kalpetta before 12. Visit Pookot lake and Soochippara/kanthanpara falls.

Day-2: Visit Thirunelly temple, Kuruva Island, Pazhassi resort, in and around mananthawady.

Day-3: Banasura Dam, and any other adhoc place... need your suggns

Day-4 (reserv day): Any other place...need your suggns . Start back to bangalore by 2 pm.

1. Can someone suggest 2 decent places for Breakfast, before Gundlupet? One I got from this forum is Tiger Pug marks. Exact location please? Anything on the way before Mysore?

2. ANy updates on route? Normally this is a good route with only small bad stretch near the border.

3. For a change, how'bt the route Kanakapura-Malavalli-chamarajnagar-Gundlupet?

3. Suggestions for leisurely family outing? No adventures, please !!

Thanks, folks,
VV

[MadhuG]

Hi varrier,
How was the trip...I plan to go to Kalady soon...Would like to know the road conditions...

[Jaggu]

Did BLR to Perundurai of this road last weekend.

Onward trip,

BLR to Hosur - as usual confusion galore and pretty bad at the Jn where flyovers are being built.

Hosur to Krishnagiri - Brilliant roads as usual

Krishnagiri to Dharmapuri - things have improved quite a bit since last time, diversions are there so watch out. But many parts 4 laning is completed or atleast one side is through new roads and other through old road, still better than previous cramped 2 lane.

Dharmapuri to Thoppur: Dharmapuri bypass is open, so if you want to skip you can zoom by saving atleast 20-30 mts. Careful diversions and unmarked road laying process.

Thoppur ghat: surface has been relaid, so no more bad upper layer, but careful can get slippery.

Thoppur to Bhavani: generally good roads, apart from 2-3 small bad stretches.

Bhavani to Perundurai: Construction, happening at fast pace, so things have improved, though watch out for sudden deviations and road height.

Return trip:

This time we took the salem route after a long time :P

Perundurai to Salem: Painful with deviations and road work, but again its become much faster thanks to the widening bit getting completed.

Salem to Thoppur: Much better since most part 4 laning is over, though watch out for some overbridge construction and deviations.

Overall roads in TN side is progressing at a fast pace. Hopefully in a year or two doing BLR to TVM in 10-12 hours will become a reality

[vrvarier]

MadhuG, I returned from my wayanad trip today, and roads are in pretty good conditions. We took: Bangalore-mysore-N.gud-G.pet-s.bathry-kalpetta-m.vady-Thirunelly. There is a short bad stretch just after mysore city to Ngud, and a stretch b/w kalpetta & Mvady. But nothing major. Roads within wayanad is in excellent conditions. Almost bored of seeing good roads...BTW, no rains there in the last few days !! rgds, venu.

[MadhuG]

Thanks Venu...I am sure situation would improve by December...

[johnda]

Hi Guys, My friends are planning to drive to B'lore on Monday Nov 3rd, I need some help with the best route with the better road condition. There had not been an update on this thread since 1st sept.
Pls suggest route.
Tvm to bangalore!

[deepclutch]

well ,I had travelled twice last week Muvattupuzha-Coimbatore.
Angamali to Trichur ,there is not much any problems except 4 laning works going on.and near chalakudy towards thrissur you have to go through one lane traffic. :(

Thrissur byepass 4 lane work seems almost finished.from Mannootthy byepass to palakkad - there are lot of potholes after vadakkanchery especially.palakkad valayar route too infested with potholes.

But almost kind of OK.

[_shamboo_]

I did a Bangalore - Palakkad - Bangalore trip over the weekend and I must
say, the conditions of roads have significantly increased.

Here is my route..

Car=Indigo CS (LS) Diesel.
No. of Passengers=3
No. of Drivers=2

Bangalore - Hosur - Krishnagiri - Thoppur - Avinashi - Erode - Coimbatore - Palakkad.

I know you are saying Dharmapuri is missing. Yes, I was not expecting that
either. Wanted to get into the city to have breakfast either at Adhiyamaan
Palace or Sri Ram Vilas. That did not happen. But we managed to gain time.

Anyways, more on the trip...

We left Bangalore at 4.45 and reached Palakkad at 12.15. Thats about 7.5
hours. The new road from Krishangiri and the Thoppur diversion gave us the
speed and comfort. Very few sections of the road is bad, its mostly good till
you hit Avinashi. After that you will have traffic to deal with and then once
you hit the L&T highway, its back to speed.

The total distance when you take the traditional route is about 419 KM and
with this route it was 400. We saved 19km and atleast an hour. On some
sections of the road it easy to drive at 120-130.

[TIP: There is a Sarvana Bhavan just when you hit Avinashi. Its not the same
Sarvana Bhavan thats in Chennai. Food is just ok!]

The return took a toll on us. We left Palakkad at 3.45 and reached Bangalore
at 1.15. Thats close to 10 hours.

Route...

Palakkad - Coimbatore - Avinashi - Perundurai - Erode - Salem - Thoppur - Krishnagiri - Hosur - Bangalore.

We got slowed at
- Palakkad - Coimbatore (just before highway)
- Avinashi - Salem (traffic jams, on-coming headlights)
- Salem Thoppur (on-coming headlights)

We avoided the Bhavani route because it was already late night and some of
my friends had warned me not to take that route after evening.

HTH, Cheers!

[trrk]

Hi _shamboo_,

> Bangalore - Hosur - Krishnagiri - Thoppur - Avinashi - Erode - Coimbatore - > Palakkad.

That Avinashi - Erode combination does not seem to be correct.

Should it not be Erode - Avinashi?