[vsbabu]

Just did a weekend trip to Palakkad. Road condition is great. I usually take Thoppur - Mettur - Bhavani instead of Salem. Mecheri to Mettur is little rough. Some 4-5km from Mettur to Ammapettai is bad with some big potholes. Those were getting fixed when I returned last Sunday. L&T byepass in CBE was a mess both for onward and return journey with long backlog of trucks at each toll gate - I am pretty sure going through CBE city would've taken much less time (if you know the route from Gandhipuram to Ukkadam).

Going back again this evening and coming back on Sunday.

One note : Kerala Police checking for seatbelts seems to be in full swing at least till noon when going into Kerala. After Walayar checkpost and all the trucks from the opposite lane, there is a right turn followed by almost 1km of straight road. Then a blind mild left turn - patrol waits about 100m after that to specifically catch non KL registered vehicles.

[jkdas]

Diversion at Karunagapally coz of accident.

National Highway 47 witnessed a serious accident today at 4:30 AM when a truck carrying LPG overturned following a crash with a car. The LPG that leaked on the road caught fire and has caused a fatality and few serious injuries in the accident.

The accident occurred near Karunagapally at Puthentheruvu Junction.( between Puthiyakavu and Vavvakkavu - near Mother's Kitchen Restaurant).

Reports say that it might take till evening for the traffic to be restored. Those who plan to take NH 47 today, are advised to look for alternate routes/ modes of commutation, as far as possible.

Those who still can't avoid the NH will have to take the routes as prescribed :
From Trivandrum : Turn right in front of Chavara KMML to reach Thevalakkara, Mynagappalli, Vavvakkavu and get into NH again.
From Cochin : Kayamkulam, Thamarakulam, Shooranad, Sasthamkotta, Kundara, Kottiyam and get into NH again

[vrvarier]

just back from my kerala trip on 28th Dec. Salem route is much preferred than the Mettur route. There is some bad stretch around sankari, otherwise excellent roads till kerala border, and unusually clogged traffic from then onwards. Lost 2 hrs from chalakkudy to anagamaly due to christmas rush and construction works. Return trip on sunday eve was much better, with traffic thinned out. I was expecting some speed checking in kerala, but did not see any.

[nairrk]

Originally Posted by jkdas

Diversion at Karunagapally coz of accident.

National Highway 47 witnessed a serious accident today at 4:30 AM when a truck carrying LPG overturned following a crash with a car. The LPG that leaked on the road caught fire and has caused a fatality and few serious injuries in the accident.

The accident occurred near Karunagapally at Puthentheruvu Junction.( between Puthiyakavu and Vavvakkavu - near Mother's Kitchen Restaurant).

Reports say that it might take till evening for the traffic to be restored. Those who plan to take NH 47 today, are advised to look for alternate routes/ modes of commutation, as far as possible.

Those who still can't avoid the NH will have to take the routes as prescribed :
From Trivandrum : Turn right in front of Chavara KMML to reach Thevalakkara, Mynagappalli, Vavvakkavu and get into NH again.
From Cochin : Kayamkulam, Thamarakulam, Shooranad, Sasthamkotta, Kundara, Kottiyam and get into NH again

+
Very good information cautioning the prospective drivers and also nice to give alternative routes. Members and guests who are unaware of this accident may well be benefited by this message

[linoos]

Back to Bangalore from Edathua yesterday 3rd Jan , Sunday
Route Taken: Edathua--> Neeretupuram--> Muttar--> Changanacherry--> Karucachal--> Vazhoor--> Ponkunnam-->Kanjirapalli-->Kuttikannam--> Vandiperiyar--> Kumali--> Kam bam--> Thyeni-->Dindigul.Bypass-> Salem.Bypass--...Bangalore.

Total time taken: 11:35 Hours with breakfast and Lunch break of 15 and 40 minutes.
Breaks: Breakfast- Theni,
Lunch - Dharmapuri-A2B

Road Condition:
All the way way till Dindigul - the road is 2 ways but the condition of the road was accepctable. a very small straches with pot holes.
Dindigul to Salem - Excellent 6 lanes. Travelled more than 20 Kms without seeing a single vehicle or human. At Salem Bypass there was good traffic and spend near to 10 mins to overcome it.

The driving stress is 30% lesser than comming via palakkad.

Scenic beauty - I enjoyed.. the mist clad mountians till half way through.

[coolclouds]

Just reached Bangalore from Kochi via Palghat-Salem. The whole stretch is fine without any issues now.

[NFS2024]

Guys - thanks to all of you for providing the directions for my trip. We had a good trip in kerala. An update on my driving experiences. One day was lost in the resort due to a strike called by a local politician and we could not go anywhere.

1. Bangalore to Munnar - It took me over 12 hrs to commute 520kms including a break of around 2 hours for breakfast, lunch and tea. There was heavy rush of traffic throughout being the year end drive and not to mention the rush at popular restaurants on the way. The roads were not great after taking the detour to chennimalai from perundurai. NH47 is not fully complete and lot of one way diversions on this route. Lot of stop and go traffic and 4 stops in chinnar to write down vehicle details. The guards also demanded 10 bucks in each of those places. By the time we hit munnar there was a downpour and visibility was terrible and slowed down the speed considerably.

2. Munnar to Trivandrum - Good roads, but took me 10 hours to cover 320kms. The route i took was through Kottayam instead of poopara. There was a heavy downpour for half an hour, visibility came down to zero and traffic came to a halt on the way.

3. Alleppey to Bangalore - Excellent roads apart from diversions in NH47, driving was a breeze. I did it in 12 hours to cover 580kms.

[vsbabu]

Returned from Palakkad yesterday. Took a left turn from Sankari to go to Omallur. Road is very good and I suspect about 15-20km shorter than via Salem. At Sankari, you've to go beyond the regular road to Omallur (some small bridges are getting constructed - my Innova could go over the diversions, but smaller cars may scrape the underbody) and take the next left after that.

Started at 8:45am, reached Thoppur A2B by 12:45pm. Too much crowd - so went into Dharmapuri town and had pretty decent non-veg stuff at Adhiyaman Palace. Fairly big restaurant with reasonably clean food. Limited parking though. Got to Indiranagar by 3:45pm. Roads were good throughout. As usual, the section between L&T byepass and Avinasi 4 lane road is horrible to drive due to traffic and CBE->Erode private bus drivers.

[gajadonga]

Thanks for the update vsbabu.Never ventured into the Sankari - Omallur route.Will try this route next time when I travel to CBE.

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by vsbabu

Returned from Palakkad yesterday. Took a left turn from Sankari to go to Omallur. Road is very good and I suspect about 15-20km shorter than via Salem. At Sankari, you've to go beyond the regular road to Omallur (some small bridges are getting constructed - my Innova could go over the diversions, but smaller cars may scrape the underbody) and take the next left after that.

This Saturday, would like to try Omallur-Sankari road in the evening. What is the exit point in NH7/Omallur? any landmarks? How is the traffic?

[jacs]

Originally Posted by jacs

Thanks HVK and All, we reached home safely from bangalore. Driven BLR-HOSUR-SELAM(by pass)-COIMBATORE(by pass)-PALAKKAD-TRISSUR-ERNAKULAM-MUVATTUPUZHA-THODUPUZHA.
Trissur - Angamaly has some diversions but absolutely problem free . Traffic was bit high from Selam to Avinashi and Valayar to Trissur. Started by 3PM and reached Trissur by 11:30PM with an hour break in Shankari in Hotel Grand Bliss which is pretty new with good hygiene serving very affordable but decent food.

Return journey would be either on 2nd Jan Eve or 3rd Jan early morning through same route.

Guys,

Reached Bangalore safely by morning 9:30AM starting @ 1:30AM from Pattikkad with almost 90 minutes break (6 hours 30 minutes approx). Comfortable drive with very very less traffic being a Sunday morning. There was a party in Trissur on Saturday eve so we travelled till Trissur during day and took rest in a relatives house at Pattikad. During day time, travel through Kerala is tough due to heavy traffic. We got held up for almost half an hour in Kalady bridge.

Would be driving Kerala once again by mid January, wanted to try Bangalore - Salem - Dindigul - Cumbom - Idukki - Thodupuzha just for a change only if roads are safe for the car! Will be watching this thread closely

[TomRider]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

This Saturday, would like to try Omallur-Sankari road in the evening. What is the exit point in NH7/Omallur? any landmarks? How is the traffic?

I will try to update as soon as I reach home on Saturday. I am taking the same route on Saturday, but in the morning.

[sbraj]

Thanks to HVK Sir for sharing his trip details, which made my trip planning much easier.

Did the following routes last fortnight:

1) BLR -> Salem -> Madurai -> Tenkasi -> Thenmala -> Kulathupuzha -> Palode -> TVM
- Total drive time was 10:30 hours.
- Excellent 4 lane till Madurai, took 5:30 hours for 444 KMs.
- Decent 2 lane roads till Tenkasi, took 2:30 hours from Madurai for 147 KMs.
- Tenkasi to Thenmala stretch is narrow, but good quality.
- Kulathupuzha to Palode stretch has pot holes; at times one has to go dead slow to avoid car bottom scraping the road surface.
- Palode -> Kilimanoor -> TVM is good.
- Drive time from Tenkasi to TVM was 2:30 hours for 112 KMs.

2) TVM -> Ernakulam -> Paravoor -> Kodungallor -> Chavakkad -> Guruvayoor
- Heavy traffic around Kollam town; otherwise good drive.
- Ernakulam to Guruvayoor via Kodungallor had heavy traffic with narrow roads, took 3:15 hours for 100 KMs. Due to the narrow roads, overtaking became very difficult.
- Total drive time was 8:10 hours.

3) Guruvayoor -> Thrissur -> Palakkad -> Walayar -> Coimbatore BP -> Salem BP -> BLR
- Excellent roads all the way.
- Four laning is ongoing around Erode region, at times vehicles approach from the wrong side.
- Total drive time was 8:25 hours.

[nairrk]

@sbraj
You reached guruvayur via chavakkad, which means you arrived at West Nada -is it correct? Where did you stay (Hotel name) in west nada and how was the accommodation?

[sbraj]

Originally Posted by nairrk

@sbraj
You reached guruvayur via chavakkad, which means you arrived at West Nada -is it correct? Where did you stay (Hotel name) in west nada and how was the accommodation?

From Chavakkad, you reach a small Y junction 1 KM before Guruvayoor where left turn takes you to West Nada while right turn takes to the bus stand and then 'Manjulaal' and further East Nada.

I stayed in Kousthubham Rest House near East Nada. Facilities are very basic (with car parking), and nothing special to write about. Only convenience being proximity to the temple main entrance where the queue starts. If one stays in West Nada, one would have to go around the temple to the main entrance to reach the queue. I have not yet stayed in West Nada.