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Did Thamarassery to Bangalore via Sulthan Bathery.

Thamarassery - Vythiri road is good, only got slowed down by truck traffic.

Vythiri - Banasursagar road is in good condition. Banasursagar - Kalpetta road has potholes, otherwise is good.

Kalpetta -Chundale- Vadhuvanchal road is good. At Kalpetta I was told by a policeman that the Kalpetta - Sulthan Bathery road is in bad condition and not suitable for a small hatch, so took the Chundale - Vaduvanchal-Kolagappara route - the scenery was awesome, particularly the view of Chembra Peak, and really worth the extra miles.

Vaduvanchal - Kolagappara - Sulthan Bathery road is in good condition.

Sulthan Bathery - Gundlupet - Bangalore road is good. One point of caution - in Bandipur the road has trenches (dug right across the road) with no caution boards etc. Some of the trenches have sharp edges and can damage car's tyre.

Traveled Coimbatore to Kochi last weekend. The stretch from Palakkad to Trichur, especially around Vadakancherry is terrible. Multiple places the road is non-existent. Better to go via Shoranur if you care for your car and your back. That road is in great shape.

Thanks for these updates as I am traveling to Vythiri next week from Bangalore. Learnt about the bad strech between Bathery and Kalpetta from the previous pages. After sulthan bathery, is there any proper landmark to use the Vaduvanchal- Chundale route? How many extra kms is it?

Around 12-14 km extra. An added advantage is that you would bypass the crowded Kalpetta town! I guess the turn off for this route from S. Bathery side is at Kolagappara junction, around 4-5 kms from S.Bathery town. You could look out for the signboard towards Edakkal caves. Kerala tourism has installed plenty of sign boards for all the major tourist attractions, all over Wayanad.
P.S: Have not traveled this particular route since long time, someone more familiar please correct me if I am wrong.

Hi. It was night when I reached the turn out from Kolagappara. However, I do remember that (1) The turn out is a bit more than 3.5 km from LIC of India building Sulthan Bathery. The LIC of India building comes on the right hand side when you drive from SB to Kolagappara. (2) The turn out at Kolagappara is also the route to Edakkal Caves - you can ask the locals who are very helpful. (3) The extra distance will be around 20km - but you make up in time and safety to the car. The reward is the fantastic scenery.

Hi Ananth and folks

I drove down from Madras to Guruvayoor via CBE on Tuesday, Nov 27th. Right from Avinashi until the L & T bye pass, road quality is ok. L &T bye pass until Waliyar checkpost is a bit bumpy. Waliyar until Palakad, it gets worse and when you think "yeah, can't get worse from here surely", you hit the worst stretch, exit Palakad- Wadakancheri until Thrisur! I had the misfortune of driving this stretch sun down.
Simply put: take this route only if you really really need to and drive only in day light!
I will add a detailed note once I return to Madras.
Cheerz
Road Tripper

I guess you meant Vadakkencheri.The Wadakancheri route is absolutely fine.

For your return,you should be sticking to the standard Guruvayur-Kunnamkulam-Pattambi-Kulappully-Ottapalam-Palakkad-Pollachi-Palladam-Kangayam-Perundurai-NH47.Around 250kms should take you around 4.5-5hrs.

https://maps.google.co.in/maps?saddr...2,3,4&t=m&z=10

I think the best option today is :

Chennai - Salem (Krishnagiri/Ulundurpet) - Perundurai-Kangeyam-Palladam-Pollachi-Alathur-Pazhyanur-Wadakancherry-Kunnamkulam-GVR.

Route Link

Thats great. I will surely use this route.

Thanks.
Other queries:
1) Any good bunks in Sulthan Bathery where I can fill up?
2) From Vythiri I am further travelling to Palakkad. Google maps show me the route through Thamarassery, Areekode and Manjeri. Any idea on how good this strech is? I have done the Manjeri-Palakkad before and the roads were decent.

Hi Ranjit

Yeah, there's a subtle difference between the names of both towns ;)

I drove to Ooty from Guruvayoor yesterday morning and appreciate the advice you and the rest of the team gave me. Road quality good to great for most part - Guruvayoor to Gudalur. I then took the Masinagudi route as that ghat section always excites me. But the average speed was about 35-40 for most part in the KL stretch.

I will share a detailed update on this entire trip as I've done quite a drive going by my own modest standards

Thanks again folks.

Cheerz

Roadtripper

Hi Ampere

I'd say for now Madras-Ulunderpet-Salem route is better than the Vellore-Krishnagiri route due to the 6 laning work.

I had to visit someone in Kovai Pudur and had no choice but to take this wretched route (via Waliyar, Wadakanchery) to Guruvayoor.

I drove through this stretch between 6pm and 730pm and it is terrible. You have a choice between focusing on either the potholes, pits, craters or those "high beam terrorists" that are like kamikaze pilots aiming for your car head on as they overtake their peers preferably on curves. I decided to slow down to 30kmph and focus on the on coming traffic instead.

Best to avoid the route sun down.

Cheerz

Roatripper

On Sunday 25/11/2012 I had done the Nilambur - Manjeri - Areekode - Mukkam - Thamarassery - Sulthan Bathery route. The road is good, except for a short rough stretch between Mukkam - Thamarassery where a culvert is under construction (don't recollect the exact place).

No idea about good bunk in Sulthan Bathery

If you dont have any particular reason to take the NH212,take the Nilambur route to Palakkad.Roads are far better than the Wayanad route.Gundlupet-Bandipur-Gudalur-Nadugani-Vazhikadavu-Nilambur-Wandoor-Pandikkad-Pattikad-Perinthalmana-Manarkad-Olavakode-Palakkad.Ofcourse this route is again provided you do not want to take the NH7-NH47 combo

If you do end up taking the NH212,nothing to worry about pumps,plenty of them on the route.

I am planning to take the below route from Trivendrum to Bangalore as I want to visit Srivilliputtur. Else would have taken the known Nagercoil route and then NH7. What is the road condition
Trivendrum –> Nedumangadu->Palode->Thenmala ->Rajapalyam->Srivillaputtur->Madurai->NH7 to Bangalore

Pramod had taken this road. Its narrow but very decent is what I remember him mentioning.