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Yes, this is exactly ("test your patience") I heard from others.

All advised to choose Mysuru-Madikeri-Mangalore-Udupi route and Mysuru to Mangalore route via Madikeri-Suliya-Puttur is opened now.

I traveled back last night due to an emergency from Attingal to Bengaluru. I deviated from Kilmananoor then Punalur. There are some repair works and its a forested area so any emergency you are at God's mercy. The roads will be tarred soon as there are materials so in time for Sabarimala season. I touched NH744 before Urukunnu then continued the same way all the way to touch NH44. There are lot of policing on both the sides of border with checks and also one strange thing was too many cows let in the road at night on the Kerala side which on the small roads can be a hassle. The NH744 is all good and also NH44 all the way. I made the journey in 11.5 hours with two pit stop and two coffee breaks.

Hello friends,

I am travelling from Bangalore to Ashtamudi in the week of Oct 02. Google suggests this route : Bangalore - Madurai - Rajapalayam - Thenmala - Kundara - Ashtamudi. How is the Madurai - Themala stretch? 2-laned, I suppose.



Does it make sense to continue from Madurai all the way to Tirunelveli and take the Tenkasi route towards Thenmala? How is the Tirunelveli - Tenkasi - Thenmala road?

I would suggest you take Madurai bypass and go up to Kovilpatti (same route to Tirunelveli) - Take a right from there and head to Shankaran koil, Courtallam and Thenmala. Route is much better till Kovilpatti atleast compare to turing off from Madurai itself.

You travel more in 4 Lane NH and less on state roads.

That's my take.

Best Regards & Drive Safe

Ram

Did anyone do Valparai - Chalakkudi in the near past? How is the route and road condition? Is there any restriction on vehicle travel in this route?

I had driven from Trivandrum to Bangalore 2 weeks back via Nagercoil, apart from some broken stretches till Nagercoil it was pretty good experience. We left at 730 AM from Trivandrum and I was at my home in Indira Nagar by 8 PM, with break fast at Nagercoil, Lunch before Salem and then 2-3 coffee breaks. This was on a Sunday. Could reach Nagercoil by 9'ish and with a leisurly drive.

Had travelled several times but no recently, so don't know current road conditions. Traffic is allowed between 6.00 am to 6.00 pm from both sides. One need to cover some 50 kms within 2 hours. No silencer altered motorcycles allowed. Also they take count of plastic bottles/items at the entry point and give a receipt, which must be tallied at the exit check post. If there is shortage, fine will be imposed.

All other rules applicable for forest entry shall also apply.

Gents, may have to make a road trip to Calicut side from Bangalore this week end. Planning for an early afternoon start from Bangalore.
1. How is the Bangalore-Kanakapura-Bannur stretch? Given a choice I prefer to keep away from the Mysore highway.
2. Planning to proceed via Gundlupet and Sulthan Bathery as we may not be able to cross the H.D Kotte check post before 6PM.
3. The Meenangadi-Niravilpuzha was in a better shape when I made a trip last time, but don't know if it is still in good shape.

I need to make a couple of visits to Thalassery & Kannur side and plan to start my return leg on 7th. What would be the ideal route to get back to Bangalore? I have not tried the Mattannur-Iritty-Virajpet route. Is it worth a try?

Waiting for your inputs :).

Bangalore-Kanakapura is WIP, rather Work stalled!!, lot of diversions and rough stretches. Kanakapura-Malavalli is manageable. Malavalli-Bannur I believe is very good.

More than worth a try :)!! Scenic.
Extremely good wide roads for most of the part between Mattannur and KA-KL border, narrow Iritty bridge but of late not much jams being reported, decent roads on the Makutta ghats with a couple of landslid areas being rough (few meters), very good roads up to Gonikoppal town and a couple of Kms beyond that, patchy for next 8-10 kms, good roads with speed breakers along the forest stretch for around 10kms, and very good roads then on all the way to Mysore.

This is the route which was plotted on Google Maps. To reconfirm, this route is the one which you mentioned right? :).

Yes, this is the default route. Immediately after the ghat section, you would find couple of decent hotels to stop by. There is a check post and after crossing it, proceed straight on to Virajpet Bypass to join Virajpet-Gonikoppal road. (all marked in Gmaps)
There is a diversion just before Gonikkoppal town due to the newly introduced one-way system. Nothing confusing, but this short stretch of around one km is a bit bad.

I'm driving to kochi from Calicut this weekend. Which is the better driveable route now? I usually take Tirur- Chammravattom- chavakkad-paravur- edapally route. But according to my friend it's not in a driveable condition. So should I need to take the NH? What's the status of traffic in Valanchery and construction work in Edappal?

The best available route is Calicut - Kuttippuram - Thrissur - Ernakulam, The other via Chavakkad, Kodungallur is not in good condition, according to a friend who drove recently.

You can bypass Valanchery by turning off at Puthanathani and going via Thirunnavaya to Kuttippuram. Google normally suggests this route.

Edappal flyover work is in progress and there is a diversion a couple of kms after crossing Kuttippuram bridge. The diversion is well marked with sign boards and policemen are also usually there to guide.

Did a round-trip Bengaluru <--> Guruvayoor/Triprayar last weekend.

Decided to take the well-tested & trusted route via Salem --> Coimbatore.

There was severe confusion whether to take the infamous "kuthiran" route or go via alternate route (Ottappalam -- Shoranur -- Wadakkanchery -- Thrissur -- Vadanapally -- Triprayar/Guruvayoor), given the recent floods and damaged roads in this stretch.

Checked with some friends who did the route recently, but their inputs didn't help much. While one said the "kuthiran" route is quite ok; the other quipped you'll be lucky to clear the stretch in 2-3hrs, that too if a long container truck gets stuck before you, you'd spend a good 3hrs in that stretch!

Didn't want to take chances, hence chose the alternate route mentioned above. Until Kerala border, as everyone knows road quality is much better but the Coimbatore bypass is median-less on many stretches. After Kerala border, it was 4lane median-ed roads, quite fine until Palakkad. After Palakkad, up until Thrissur was OK-OK, mostly motorable and fair roads although median-less. The state-highway atleast between Thrissur -- "Vadanapally" and further the NH-66 after "Vadanapally" were in absolutely abysmal/horrible condition -- HUGE CRATERS all along. When one is nearing the destination and is offered such hellish roads, it takes away the pleasure of the smooth drive so far one had.:Frustrati

So, overall the drive from Bengaluru until Palakkad was smooth; from Palakkad till Thrissur was average, and from Thrissur -- Triprayar/Guruvayoor was hellish.:Shockked:

Route, for ref: https://goo.gl/maps/AzvyXF8UkyXBKr5fA