[silversteed]

Originally Posted by pat2kin

... I should just take the regular NH47 route till Palakkad and be careful between Avinashi and Palakkad, right? I hope this stretch is nothing as compared to the Palakkad-Thrissur route via Kuthiran.

I am planning to do Palakkad-Thrissur via Ottapalam, Shoranur

My ride is a Honda City and top most preference is road surface. Dont mind traveling a few extra kms.

Avoid the stretch between Madukkarai and Walayar. Your car would most probably scrape its underbody. I did that stretch on sunday last, and it took me quite some effort to avoid damages.

Like many of us have mentioned before, the best route for you is Perundurai-Kangayam-Palladam-Pollachi-Palakkad (merge into NH-47 at Koottupatha), assuming you need to go to Palakkad town or somewhere nearby.

[pat2kin]

Originally Posted by silversteed

Avoid the stretch between Madukkarai and Walayar. Your car would most probably scrape its underbody. I did that stretch on sunday last, and it took me quite some effort to avoid damages.

Like many of us have mentioned before, the best route for you is Perundurai-Kangayam-Palladam-Pollachi-Palakkad (merge into NH-47 at Koottupatha), assuming you need to go to Palakkad town or somewhere nearby.

Thanks NPV, silversteed for your responses. So, I am assuming that http://goo.gl/maps/XfmuS is the route I need to follow.

Final destination (in Palakkad) is Old Kalpathy which I think is 3-4 kms from the town.

I will be starting early morning tomorrow. Will keep you guys posted.

[bdman]

Originally Posted by silversteed

Bangalore-Hosur-Salem-Perundurai-Kangayam-Palladam-Pollachi-Nenmara-Alathur-Chelakkara-Wadakkanchery-Mannuthy-Kochi

Google Maps link:
http://goo.gl/maps/yxHhm

Also, there seems to be a more direct route from Perundurai to Palladam via NH47/SH19, instead of the route through Kangayam. Is the surface bad on the the more direct route?

[dhanushmenon]

I travelled through the same route (Coimbatore- Pollachi- Kollengode- Alathur- Pazhayannur- Chelakkara- Wadakkanchery- Kochi) yesterday.
The roads are in prime condition. Stretches of greenery in Kerala side will be the bonus along with minimal traffic.
Do not expect to cross 90 Kmph anytime due to the curves in the road. But it will definitely give you a relaxed drive.

mallumowgli, who had taken the infamous NH 47 to CBE from Kochi had warned me in advance about the horrible state of the roads there

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by pat2kin

Final destination (in Palakkad) is Old Kalpathy which I think is 3-4 kms from the town.

Some subtle modifications in your route map:
Singasandra-Kalpathy

Originally Posted by bdman

Also, there seems to be a more direct route from Perundurai to Palladam via NH47/SH19, instead of the route through Kangayam. Is the surface bad on the the more direct route?

The Kangayam route is really good and has sparse traffic compared to the route via Tirupur.

[IronH4WK]

Originally Posted by binand

How does the Pazhayannur-Kollengode stretch work? Google Maps thinks you went Pazhayannur-Thrippalur-Kunissery-Kollengode - is that it? Which of the pics you posted shows this route?

Originally Posted by IronH4WK

Yep, that's the route. After Wadakanchery, take right towards Chelakara and follow the path you mentioned. The first three pictures depict this route. It was dark and raining when I was passing through, so didn't get shots of the whole route.

this is the route i took

Thrissur > Bangalore

[ampere]

Originally Posted by bdman

Also, there seems to be a more direct route from

The route you mention, goes via Tiruppur. Crossing Kangeyam is much much simpler than crossing Tiruppur. Just one big cross road and you are on your way to Palladam.

[Rajesh1968]

Hi,
Planning for Independance day travel.

The route - BLR - Madurai - Kanyakumari - Trivandrum - Gurvayur-BLR. PLease help in route and road conditions, need to plan accordingly.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by Rajesh1968

Hi,
Planning for Independance day travel.

The route - BLR - Madurai - Kanyakumari - Trivandrum - Gurvayur-BLR. PLease help in route and road conditions, need to plan accordingly.

Bangalore-Kanyakumari all the way on NH7.Budget for a 10-12hr drive.

Trivandrum-Edappally via NH47 since MC Road is also bad now,better to stick to NH47 all the way till Edappally.From Edappally take the NH17 via n.Parur-Kodungallur-Chettuva-Guruvayur.

GVR-Pattambi-Kulappully-Ottapalam-Mayannur-Pazhayannur-Alathur-Kollengode-Pollachi-Palladam-Kangayam-Perundurai-NH47-Sankari-Salem-Bangalore

http://goo.gl/maps/DpKKy

[IronH4WK]

Originally Posted by Rajesh1968

Hi,
Planning for Independance day travel.

The route - BLR - Madurai - Kanyakumari - Trivandrum - Gurvayur-BLR. PLease help in route and road conditions, need to plan accordingly.

i did a Bangalore > Madurai > Kanyakumari > Trivandrum > Thrissur > Bangalore recently (July 14th - 20th). i used Google Maps on my iPhone for all navigation (and it's damn accurate). we started from Bangalore at around 4:30am and reached Kanyakumari by 5pm, with a 2.5hr break in Madurai to visit the Madurai Meenakshi and lunch. on the return trip (Thrissur > Bangalore), we started at 5:30am and reached Bangalore by 4pm (initial part in Kerala was rainy, so had to drive defensively).

Bangalore > Madurai > Kanyakumari: the roads are good.
















Kanyakumari > Trivandrum: the road becomes 2-lane, so you gotta be careful.




Trivandrum > Kollam > Aleppy: you're gonna have some crappy roads before Kollam and really crappy roads when you're nearing and in Alleppy.














Aleppy > Kochi bypass > Thrissur: once you cross Alleppy, roads are better.










Thrissur > Bangalore: take the route i've mentioned above. roads are pretty good.


ps: when driving on Kerala highways, be wary of the Highway Patrol Interceptors. they stay hidden.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by IronH4WK

few pictures on the aforementioned route. hope it helps

IH,just took the liberty of naming the pictures,please feel free to correct them wherever the labelling is wrong.

Attachment 1115588[/quote]Guess this is between Thrissur & Chelakara

Originally Posted by IronH4WK

Attachment 1115589

B/w Pazhyannur & Alathur

Originally Posted by IronH4WK

Attachment 1115590

Attachment 1115591

Between Kollengode & Pollachi

Originally Posted by IronH4WK

Attachment 1115592

Just before you enter Pollachi town,after Zamin Uthukuli

Originally Posted by IronH4WK

Attachment 1115593

Attachment 1115594

Attachment 1115595

Between Pollachi & Palladam

Originally Posted by IronH4WK

Attachment 1115596

B/w Palladam & Kangayam

Originally Posted by IronH4WK

Attachment 1115597

B/w Kangayam & Perundurai.

Originally Posted by IronH4WK

Attachment 1115598

NH47

Originally Posted by binand

How does the Pazhayannur-Kollengode stretch work? Google Maps thinks you went Pazhayannur-Thrippalur-Kunissery-Kollengode - is that it? Which of the pics you posted shows this route?

This route seems to avoid both the Kuthiran and Walayar trouble spots, I might try it when I go to Perumbavur later in the year. Thanks!

The Perundurai-Alathur-Wadakancheri-Thrissur stretch is the best of the lot at the moment and the roads are in excellent condition even after all the rains so far.

The other advantage of this route is that you can stop and buy the famous banana chips at SNR at Alathur Bus Stand.The chips are one of its kind for sure-melt in the mouth types.

[IronH4WK]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

IH,just took the liberty of naming the pictures,please feel free to correct them wherever the labelling is wrong.

i don't remember the exact locations of the shots taken on the Kerala side because it was raining heavily and i was keep my eye on the road and the navigation. the ones you've classified for TN are correct.

thanks for taking the effort

[ak916]

Hi all,

I'm not sure If it has been explicitly stated before but when going from salem to palakkad or thrissur via pollachi, please avoid tiruppur at all costs unless you will cross it at the dead of the night with a good GPS support.

It is just a relentless maze of turns. Also though I have gone to alathur from pollachi before, I missed the turn off at pollachi for kollengode. I saw a solitary board in English which said "palghat". I took that and after few kms from pudunagaram, turned left to kunissery, alathur. In case you face the same predicament at pollachi, just make sure you are not headed to valparai. The other two roads to Kerala will lead you through good roads.

My GPS went blank at pollachi. Murphys law

[NPV]

Originally Posted by ak916

I'm not sure If it has been explicitly stated before but when going from salem to palakkad or thrissur via pollachi, please avoid tiruppur at all costs unless you will cross it at the dead of the night with a good GPS support.

Tiruppur perennially seems to have bad roads and quite confusing inside the town. For those traveling from Bangalore towards the Pollachi, the current favourite is Bangalore-Salem-Perundurai-Kangeyam-Palladam-Pollachi so Tiruppur is safely avoided!

[bdman]

Guys thanks a lot for your route suggestions especially silversteed for this: http://goo.gl/maps/yxHhm

I left Bangalore 4 pm and arrived at Cochin at 5am this morning. I had programmed all the via points on my Garmin GPS and was feeling pretty good. Here is my brief report on road conditions:

Routes followed, as above except Pollachi to Trichur

Bangalore to Hosur: (4-6pm) Traffic, Traffic, Traffic. So much heavy traffic that road conditions do not matter.

Hosur to Salem (6-8pm) NH7 slowly being destroyed due the various diversion related to new overpasses. but great stretches in between where you can hit high speeds. Again heavy traffic, mostly lorries. The glare from oncoming traffic is unbearable and dangerous as you approach villages with cross streets and invisible cyclist etc. Salem city traffic is quite bad as you have to inch through a couple of roundabouts/circles. Tolls galore!

Salem to Erode (8pm-9pm): Great roads, well marked. traffic begins to thin. Tolls continue.

Erode to Palladum (via Perindurai) (9pm-10:30pm). This road is UNBELIEVABLY good! Great surface, curvy and well marked. I was shocked! Never expected this. And I was doing higher average speeds on this road than than NH7. Glare from oncoming traffic, for some reason, is more manageable. got to watch out for overtakers from the opposite side who try to squeeze you out by running straight at you.

Palladum to Pollachi (10:30-11:30pm): great roads, not as well marked, but not needed as the roads are much straighter. ( I took a 3 hour nap after getting to the outskirts of Pollachi)

Pollachi to Trichur (2:30am-4am). Somewhere in between you cross over to Kerala. the road immediately becomes narrower with a lot more road side houses etc. Lorry traffic is much denser here. I suspect lorry drivers are learning to avoid NH47. Given the time of the day, I made good progress. During day times, it might be more difficult.

Then I made an almost fatal error. I missed the turn from SH58 to SH74 and found myself on the NH47. So instead of doing the 70km round about trip from "G" to "J" I took the 30 km "shortcut". What a DISASTER!. Words cannot describe how bad the road condition is. It's not just your wheels that hit the potholes, your entire vehicles goes in and out of the "craters". My Duster's engine stalled a few times, since the crater was deeper than expected. The is absolutely no escape. All you have to do is go from one crater to the next in 1st gear, if you are luck you get to try out 2nd gear for a few brief seconds.

Trichur to Kochi (4am-5:15am): Back to divided highway. But again to close to civilization. Thanks to the early hour there was not much pedestrian traffic.