[ampere]

Originally Posted by vasoo

Took lunch from a KTDC restaurant a couple kms before Nilambur, called Tamarind. Good parking space and visible from main road. Food was ok, not great though.

I did see this hotel, but did not go in as I thought Non-Veg would be more prevalent.

[vasoo]

Originally Posted by ampere

I did see this hotel, but did not go in as I thought Non-Veg would be more prevalent.

My family is veg. They took veg fried rice and it was decent, but a bit spicy. I took Fish curry meals. It was good but cold.

[jacs]

Originally Posted by vasoo

I took Fish curry meals. It was good but cold.

Oh! man. Meals is something which is served hot even in the worst hotels of Kerala. KTDC had only one meal customer for that day?

Thanks for sharing the details, have you touched Kumaramputhur from Melattoor to reach your detination near Mannarkkad?

[vasoo]

Originally Posted by jacs

Oh! man. Meals is something which is served hot even in the worst hotels of Kerala. KTDC had only one meal customer for that day?

Thanks for sharing the details, have you touched Kumaramputhur from Melattoor to reach your detination near Mannarkkad?

I think we were late, as we reached the restaurant at about 2.50PM. There were quite a few people there having the same food.

I did not have to touch Kumaramputhur as I had to turn right towards the Palakkad - Perinthalmanna road before it, near Alanallur.

I also reached back Bangalore yesterday through the regular NH47, NH7 route. Roads are amazing almost all the way, even though it gets too boring to drive at the same speed for about 4-5 hours. I did not take any detour towards Mettur. Came through Salem and did not face any problems with traffic through out the trip. There are some short rough segments just before Salem, otherwise it was fantastic 4 lane roads after Avanashi all the way till Bangalore. Took about 6 hours to cover 400 kms from Palakkad including two short pit stops. Max speed was 150 kmph, maintained 110 at most segments.

In terms of time taken, it seems to be better to drive towards Mannarkad through this route (NH47, NH7) rather than Bandipur. It will not take more than 7 hours. I took almost 10 hours in the other route including more pit stops and some slow driving (40 kmph) near forest areas. Of course that route is much more scenic. It may not work well for those who tend to get nausea on hilly roads. My wife had this issue.

[Twiny]

Originally Posted by vasoo

In terms of time taken, it seems to be better to drive towards Mannarkad through this route (NH47, NH7) rather than Bandipur.

And almost no Humps except at Toll gates, when compared with Mysore-Blr road. But yes Toll comes to ~200/- oneway

[jacs]

Originally Posted by vasoo

I also reached back Bangalore yesterday through the regular NH47, NH7 route. Roads are amazing almost all the way, even though it gets too boring to drive at the same speed for about 4-5 hours. I did not take any detour towards Mettur. Came through Salem and did not face any problems with traffic through out the trip. There are some short rough segments just before Salem, otherwise it was fantastic 4 lane roads after Avanashi all the way till Bangalore. Took about 6 hours to cover 400 kms from Palakkad including two short pit stops. Max speed was 150 kmph, maintained 110 at most segments.

In terms of time taken, it seems to be better to drive towards Mannarkad through this route (NH47, NH7) rather than Bandipur. It will not take more than 7 hours. I took almost 10 hours in the other route including more pit stops and some slow driving (40 kmph) near forest areas. Of course that route is much more scenic. It may not work well for those who tend to get nausea on hilly roads. My wife had this issue.

Infact we got bored of the ride via NH47,NH7 and thats why thought of taking an alternate route. Moreover have a whole day at my disposal so no worries on travel time but to have some leisure. My wife and Son are very used to hilly roads and never had an issue till date which is encouraging me for this trip.

[mallumowgli]

Jacs - just saw your reply to my intro

I've taken the route described by you- Mannarkad-Kumaranputhur-Pandikkad-rightturn towards Nilambur. The road from Kumaranputhur till Pandikkad is a kind of state highway, with some smooth sections, more of somewhat 'un-smooth' section and a few really bad sections. I'd driven this road during the last monsoon- around 8 months back, and it was definitely drivable.

The road from Pandikkad to Nilambur is much better. Nilambur to Nadukani checkpost is heaven, particularly the Ghats. I'd gone till Gudallur and then turned towards Bathery.

[jaisha8]

Has anyone driven especially Trichur to Palakkad of lately? How are the roads now, because during theerainy season this stretch is the worst stretch. I would be driving to chennai with my Linea next month and wish to know if this can be taken as I dont want to catch up any surprises.

[Twiny]

Tcr-Plkd road is ok now. Going to start a roundtrip this weekend from Blr-Cok.. will update if otherwise

[vasoo]

Originally Posted by jaisha8

Has anyone driven especially Trichur to Palakkad of lately? How are the roads now, because during theerainy season this stretch is the worst stretch. I would be driving to chennai with my Linea next month and wish to know if this can be taken as I dont want to catch up any surprises.

I came form Kottayam to Bangalore on the "regular route", MC Road, NH47 and NH7 last week. I can say that road surface is pretty good in most places, except for the extremely heavy traffic in the Angamali to Palakkad (NH47) segment. There are no surprises in the route. It would have been great if they made the road 4 lane throughout as it is in the TN section. Unfortunately in Kerala, any development programs such as this will go into an ugly political loop and never gets executed.

[sbraj]

Originally Posted by vasoo

It would have been great if they made the road 4 lane throughout as it is in the TN section. Unfortunately in Kerala, any development programs such as this will go into an ugly political loop and never gets executed.

True. NH7 is a better option becuase it is 4 lane. Especially while going to TVM.

Kerala is a populous state. Highways have lots of establishments around it. Hence road widening becomes political.

[hellstar]

Originally Posted by jaisha8

Has anyone driven especially Trichur to Palakkad of lately? How are the roads now, because during theerainy season this stretch is the worst stretch. I would be driving to chennai with my Linea next month and wish to know if this can be taken as I dont want to catch up any surprises.

I went through last week , surfaces are good and TCR palghat is ok but the traffic kills and it gets on your nerves , NH7 ie better any day or night.

[poloman]

I have been a regular driver on SLM,CBE.PKD,TCR route.Usually every 3 months I make a trip to my home town. I am highly impressed by the 4 lane highway till Avinashi. But I am worried when I see people even in small cars doing atrocious speeds, two wheelers coming on wrong sides and ever increasing tolls. Also I am not sure why on earth authorities allow such a high toll on CBE L&T by pass. It is a bad designed double lane road with inumerous traffice lights and toll booths. Toll booths are poorly managed and at each toll booth you have to wait and show your toll receipt.Only one booth is operational most of the times for cost cutting.

[coolclouds]

The big mistake they did in L&T bye pass is that the toll booths are in the main line itself. They could have shifted the booths to entry points from other roads so that once the toll is paid, the driver need not show the ticket everywhere.

I traveled from Bangalore till Avinashi on last Saturday. We entered electronic city flyover exactly at 4pm and reched Avinashi at 7.20pm. For the second time in recent trips, we bye passed Salem via Omallur-Sankari route, which has some greenery and a relief to boring highway drive.

[vasoo]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

...For the second time in recent trips, we bye passed Salem via Omallur-Sankari route, which has some greenery and a relief to boring highway drive.

I also wanted to take this route while coming back. However I seem to have missed the turn at Sankari from NH47 and ended up in Salem town. On NH47 and NH7 it is very easy to miss many of the exits due to poor directions...