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The speed limit on 4 lane NHs is 90. It was 70 previously. For 2 lane NHs 85, State Highways 80 and other roads 70.

I have crossed the speed guns at 90 KM/H and have not seen flashes.

Some more break options on the NH 7 Bangalore-Dharmapuri section.
1. Saw a Gokul Veg on left side when going from Bangalore (branding & logo very similar to the Bangalore based chain) some 100 meters or so before the Sree Saravana Bhavan on Kaveripattinam bypass (about 3-4Km after Krishnagiri toll and 1 Km after the Chennai road junction). Not sure if this place is open for breakfast (their outlets in Indiranagar Bangalore and Kanakapura do not serve breakfast).

2.Saw a newish Annapurna hotel on left side, probably mid-way between the Krishnagiri and Thoppur tolls, looked decent from outside. Location wise a nice one since it's amidst the hilly section and probably the only option.

Guys, planning to be in Kerala coming weekend. Driving via Dindugal - Kumily - Erumely - Ranni - Kozhencherry. Any information on the quality of the roads on this route?

Thanks for your help!

Good Route from Kumily to Ranni. (I was at Thekkady during the Independence Day weekend and took this route from Trivandrum) Ranni to Kozhencherry should also be good. Was excellent when I took the route 3 months ago. It was newly tarred then with the edges painted as well.

Just did a day trip to Guruvayoor from coimbatore. Thanks to all the suggestions on this thread.
Onward route taken was - Coimbatore- walayar-palakkad-tiruwilvamala-pazhyannur-chelakkara-wadakkanchery-thrisshivaperur-ollur(halt)-Paruppur-Guruvayoor.
Roads were great till Tiruwilvalamala, then it was average for a 2 wheeler until Wadakkanchery. Cars should be OK. Further on beautiful roads.

return route taken was - Guruvayoor-Kunnamkulam-Wadakkanchery-Chelakkara-Pazhyannur-Alathur-Palakkad-Walayar-Coimbatore. Excellent roads and beautiful scenery.

No rains anywhere :(

Have updated the details on this thread - http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorb...ml#post4039935

7 hours - that's great!! Well how are the road conditions all the way?
Specially the Kanakapura road until Malavalli and the Thappekkadu stretch?

Also why would you say that the day drive is not recommended?

Am planning a return trip to Bangalore via this route on Sunday.

Cheers.

Road conditions are good on this stretch - From Kanakapura-Malavalli-Chamarajanagar-Gundlupet and then Theppakadu to Masinagudi and Ooty as well as Gudalur-Ooty it is good (Theppakadu-Gudalur-Ooty was patched up few months ago).
*Some small rough patches between Chamrajanagar-Terakanambi and Gundlupet but that should be manageable.

However, I'm not very sure about the Gudalur-Nilambur route, if I remember correctly there was a post that said the condition is good.

But I guess @jacs will be a better person to comment on that stretch if he took it very recently.

See this update from Rajeev, more recent one - here

Thanks for the update NPV.
Looks like I quoted a few year old post of jacs, my mistake :)
Well anyways from your post I take it that the roads are now in good condition. The last time (November 2015), they were a lot bad. The Gudalur - Nilambur stretch was good at the time though with a few potholes here and there.

I drove from Tiruvalla to Bangalore last week, via Kumily, Dindugal.. All the broken sections are perfectly laid. So Problem whatsoever. There is an uncompleted stretch at Vathalagund bypass. Except that all the roads are great!

WALAYAR TO COIMBATORE - ROAD CONDITION

We have traveled to Thrissur from Bangalore during the second week of August via Alathur, Pazhayannur, Chelakkara, Wadakkancherry. Road condition remains excellent throughout except the small stretch between Walayar & Coimbatore. Construction work is almost completed.

Check the video.

Direction: From Walayar to Coimbatore

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkNvGNLmewI

Please note that at 12:01 of the video, we should have taken the deviation to the service road. Since there was no proper signage, we proceeded straight on to a flyover. There was couple of unfinished points on the flyover but managed to come out without scraping the underbelly.

Driving to Tiruvalla and planning to take a different route other than the boring NH47. need help on the road conditions via kumily and eateries enroute please:

Thanks for the video.
10:31 - This rut on the road has been there for months, and I stick to the left side as it's not as bad as the right side
10:47 - The temple/shrine that you see on the far right, used to be bang in middle of the present-day road. Surprising as it may sound, the temple was shifted out of the road perimeters when the 4-laning began
15:00 - The dip doesn't appear that bad in the video, but the way the 49-tonner's wheels go in and out gives a fair idea of the depth
18:45 - The dug-up portion of the road used to be a pain area for months, so most of the smaller vehicles usually took the left side shoulder area of the road
22:21 - Moving to the main carriageway from the service road would've avoided the steep dip at 22:54

VIDEO UPDATE: BYPASS SALEM TOWN

Note: This is an update to my earlier video posted an year back. LINK

Bypass Salem Town by taking Sankari - Edappadi Road, Tharamangalam, Omalur route to connect NH7. Thanks to arjithin for his help.

Compared to the first video, the road conditions has been improved a lot. This is a good option to avoid Salem city during peak hour traffic. In the whole process you bypass 2 tolls as well. It took me precisely 55 mts to cover this distance of about 55 KM.

Direction: From Coimbatore to Bangalore

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWqK6UgKds4

At 11.493746, 77.867485 take a left to Sankari - Edappadi Road. Google suggests you to take a right at 11.503991, 77.863359. But you may proceed straight on the SH 220. After that you can follow Google directions.

The road conditions are good except at one point @ 7:00 in the video.

Since the service road for almost the entire stretch is ready, the confusion regarding the diversions may become a thing of the past in another day or two

Some notes from an overnight drive I did from Calicut to Bangalore yesterday via Palakkad-Salem.

Started at around 6:45 PM from home; after stocking up on water and stuff and negotiating the various Janmastami processions I was at the Ramanattukara junction at 7:15 PM. The pile-up towards the Airport at this junction was about 4-5 km long (!).

Slow progress till Mannarkad which I crossed at around 9:15 PM. Olavakkode arrived at 10:30 PM where I stopped for tea; I merged with NH 47 at Chandranagar at 11 PM.

Walayar-Coimbatore including the bypass had to be negotiated carefully but still, the going was quite good. Salem arrived at 1:30 AM. Another tea break and refuelling; soon I was at Krishnagiri at 3:15 AM.

It started raining when I reached Hosur so had to slow down considerably. Reached home at 5 AM on the dot. Total 10 hours drive.

The two ghat sections were excruciating. And the max time was spent at the toll booth on top of Thoppur ghat. Seems to me this is because slow-moving trucks accumulate many other vehicles behind them all of whom then arrive at the toll booth simultaneously.

There is a coffee shop called Caife Coffee Point near Shoolagiri; open all night but best avoided. Some hot water with a bit of milk powder (undissolved) and a little Hershey's squeezed on top goes by the name of hot chocolate here. The only good thing to say about this place is that they have managed to replicate the atmosphere of the other more illustrious chain of coffee shops quite well.

I always thought of night driving with trepidation; but it was on the contrary quite stress-free and enjoyable. There were none of the usual irritants (bikes, pick-ups, autos, tractors...); the ones on the road were experienced long-distance drivers who'd stick to their lanes and give way when requested. I was doing 95-100 kmph most of the time but still could average 80 kmph.