[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by Twiny

Please see inline the revised ones as on 13/Sep. Now its 273

My friend today went through Sankari route and saved Rs. 94 on two toll booths (Thoppur & Salem)

[sbkumar]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

My friend today went through Sankari route and saved Rs. 94 on two toll booths (Thoppur & Salem)

@coolclouds,
Where do you take diversion from NH to take this route? Any idea what the road and traffic conditions were on this?

[vasoo]

Originally Posted by Twiny

Should it be right at signal on the Outer Ring Road to bypass Mysore city, while going from Bangalore ?
Can I say ~10km additional if we take ORR@Mysore?

I took the left turn at the ring road when going from Bangalore towards Bandipur. The ring road is devoid of any traffic most of the time. It will not bye-pass the entire Mysore though. Will take you basically to SH33. You will still need to negotiate some busy junctions before you are finally in the Bandipur/Ooty road.

[coolclouds]

Originally Posted by sbkumar

@coolclouds,
Where do you take diversion from NH to take this route? Any idea what the road and traffic conditions were on this?

While going from Thoppur, take a right turn below the flyover at Omallur, go to Omallur town, take the bridge. Its a state highway and there are plenty of sign boards on this stretch showing Sankari and Erode. Road used to be in good condition and shorter by 4-5kms and traffic also less than normal. This road is not ideal for those looking for speeds like 120+

But, if you are looking for a faster route, Salem route should be fine

[jacs]

Originally Posted by coolclouds

While going from Thoppur, take a right turn below the flyover at Omallur, go to Omallur town, take the bridge. Its a state highway and there are plenty of sign boards on this stretch showing Sankari and Erode. Road used to be in good condition and shorter by 4-5kms and traffic also less than normal. This road is not ideal for those looking for speeds like 120+

But, if you are looking for a faster route, Salem route should be fine

Oh! Good news if connection roads to enter NH near Sankari is open. Last time when we went all connection roads were digged for some work and had to drive through the town to touch NH.

[cool_dube]

Guys,

I was driving around Kerala last week (09/26-10/01) and here are the latest road conditions for the stretches I did:

A. Bangalore - Salem - Coimbatore - Palghat - Thrissur - Aluva - Cherai (540 kms/9 hrs including a short break)

* Bangalore - Salem: Awesome/super-fast as always
* Salem - Coimbatore: 4-lane till 15 kms before Avinashi, 2-lane thereafter
* Coimbatore - Palghat: Road surface broken at places as your near KL border. KL transport buses going all over the narrow roads at breakneck speeds. Watching the Western Ghats towering over you at close proximity is a treat for the eyes Walayar checkpost was kind to us - stuck there only for 10 minutes.
* Palghat - Thrissur: Fairly ok with decent road surface and low/medium traffic (Note that it was a Sunday)
* Thrissur - Aluva: 4-lane work on in full swing - diversions are well marked and not irritating
* Aluva - Cherai: Narrow roads but manageable

B. Cherai - Kochi - Alappuzha - Chavara - Ashtamudi (170 kms/4 hrs - at least 1 hr was spent negotiating through Kochi and Chavara-Ashtamudi stretch)

* Cherai - Kochi: Took the beach road and then the Cherai causeway to get on to the main Vypin road. Driving my Safari over the narrow Cherai causeway (with backwaters on both sides) was an interesting experience
* Kochi - Alappuzha - Chavara: Took the Goshree bridge to enter Kochi from Vypin. Thanks to my Garmin, was able to negotiate through Kochi without any issues but for one instance of entering a narrow one-way with a city bus coming from the opposite direction. Contrary to my expectations, NH47 is fairly well-surfaced all the way from Kochi to Chavara with very few bad patches and re-surfacing work going on in full swing.
* Chavara - Ashtamudi Lake: The regular approach road was closed due to ongoing work at one of the many bridges running over the backwaters. This was another instance of my Safari negotiating roads which were barely wide enough for it

C. Ashtamudi - Chavara - Alappuzha - Changanssery - Vazhoor - Kumily - Thekkady (210 kms/4.5 hrs)

* Alappuzha - Changanssery: Althogh this was not the shortest route (there are a couple of shorter options like Kunnamkulam, Adur, etc) took this on Kumar sir's recommendation and as always, it was the right choice. The road is very well surfaced, running along backwaters and lush-green fields most of the way.
* Changanssery - Vazhoor: Well-surfaced roads, albeit narrow. Very impressive signages.
* Vazhoor - Kumily: One of the most beautiful stretches of roads I have driven on. Especially the Mundakkayam - Vendiperiyar section is mind-blowing. Also, the road is well-surfaced all the way till 10 kms before Kumily.
* Kumily - Thekkady: It is a stretch of 4 kms. Kumily is the town on NH220 and Thekkady is the area under KL forest dept where the limits of Periyar Tiger Reserve begin.

D. Thekkady - Kumily - Theni - Dindigul - Salem - Bangalore (510 kms/8 hrs including lunch break)

* Kumily - Theni - Dindigul: The road is not as good as I expected with some stretches being real bad. Also, negotiating through towns like Cumbum, Theni, Periyakulam is very time consuming. It took me close to 3 hrs to cover this stretch of 130 kms.
* Dindigul - Salem - Bangalore: Superb stretch, I was cruising at 100-120 kmph most of the way. There is a A2B some 20 kms before Salem on the LHS where we stopped for a late lunch.

Please let me know if anyone needs further details on any of the above stretches.

[RSimonS]

Originally Posted by cool_dube

Guys,
* Palghat - Thrissur: Fairly ok with decent road surface and low/medium traffic (Note that it was a Sunday)

* Kumily - Theni - Dindigul: The road is not as good as I expected with some stretches being real bad. Also, negotiating through towns like Cumbum, Theni, Periyakulam is very time consuming. It took me close to 3 hrs to cover this stretch of 130 kms.

CD, which route would you suggest to Kerala because of Road Condition, via Palghat or via Kumily. I am thinking of driving down tomorrow.

[cool_dube]

Originally Posted by RSimonS

CD, which route would you suggest to Kerala because of Road Condition, via Palghat or via Kumily. I am thinking of driving down tomorrow.

Where in Kerala are you driving to?

[RSimonS]

My destination is Kottayam

[cool_dube]

Originally Posted by RSimonS

My destination is Kottayam

Both routes (via Salem - Coimbatore - Thrissur - Kochi as well as via Salem - Dindigul - Theni - Kumily) are 600+ kms and either one would be a pretty long drive if you intend to do it in one shot. Of the two, I would recommend Salem - Dindigul - Theni - Kumily - Kottayam route. Should take you 10-12 hours depending on your driving style and number of breaks.

[v&v]

We too did yesterday Bng - Pandalam. We were driving from Delhi and started our last leg yesterday.

Route till Dindigul is real fast. We covered in just 4 hours.
Dindigul - Kumili - Undivided two lane. One can just manage 80 to 100 kmph. Average will be around 40 - 50 km/hr.

Dindigul - kumily - is undivided 2 lane highway. it took 2.5 hrs to reach.
Ghats to kumily and kerala border is really bad. Climb, narrow roads and Potholes and opposite traffic.

Kumily - Pandalam -Via Tengana - 4 hrs. - First 15 kms is full of pot holes. Now being patched. after that winding road with high traffic density. Also it was raining and visibility too was poor.

Overall it took approx 10 hrs to reach. This route is recommended inspite of little bit of bad section between kumily - kottayam.

[sbraj]

Originally Posted by cool_dube

* Kochi - Alappuzha - Chavara: ... Contrary to my expectations, NH47 is fairly well-surfaced all the way from Kochi to Chavara with very few bad patches and re-surfacing work going on in full swing.

How were the roads near Haripad, Ochira, Kayamkulam? How was the weather in Kollam? Heard that it is raining heavily in some parts of the southern districts.


Anyone has update on stretch between Trivandrum-Kollam (NH47) and Trivandrum-Kottarakkara (MC Road)? Areas near Paripally, Kalluvathukkal? I plan to be in Trivandrum next week and would be driving around via these places.

[prasad14]

Originally Posted by v&v

We too did yesterday Bng - Pandalam. We were driving from Delhi and started our last leg yesterday.

.

V&V, hearty congrats on completing a long stretch. Its inspiring. Waiting for a travelogue and pics.

Thanks,

Prasad

[sbkumar]

Originally Posted by RSimonS

My destination is Kottayam

I would suggest taking the Dindigul route in your case. It would be a relaxed drive due to the lesser traffic on this route than the Nh47. It needs just a little bit of planning though if you are traveling in night as you might not find as many number of shops/restaurants/petrol bunks on this as you might find on the Coimbatore route.

[cool_dube]

Originally Posted by sbraj

How were the roads near Haripad, Ochira, Kayamkulam? How was the weather in Kollam? Heard that it is raining heavily in some parts of the southern districts.

As I said, NH47 all the way from Kochi to Chavara is good barring a few bad stretches (no big potholes, just broken surface) and repair work is on in full swing. It took us barely 2.5 hrs to cover Vyttila - Chavara despite having to negotiate through Alappuzha and moderately heavy traffic all through the NH.

We were at Ashtamudi for 2 days - it was bright and sunny on one day and overcast and rainy on the other