[gajadonga]

Originally Posted by joshuakeys

I

My Suggestion, Go ahead and take zaheerabad route, the only mess on road you will have is zaheerabad town traffic, post that u can just zoom.

There is a bypass to Zaheerabad too.
When coming from Sholapur before Zaheerabad town there is a RTO check post that left turn goes to Bidar.
U have to ride for about 3 to 4kms towards Bidar and then take a right turn but no road signs thou as most lorries take the route u can make out. Its a single road and u will cross a leather factory and that road reaches Hyderabad highway after Zaheerabad.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by unoczar

Thank you Joshua. I took the gulbarga route and although the roads weren't bad, I didn't actually enjoy them. I'm in mahabaleshwar now and intend to take the NH for my return on Friday.

If you are driving back in the dark,just lookout sudden diversions where one side of the road has been widened and the other side is work in progress.( between Solapur and Sangareddy-update from a friend)

[unoczar]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

If you are driving back in the dark

No question of that. Starting early morning around 6am.

[unoczar]

Originally Posted by gajadonga

There is a bypass to Zaheerabad too.

Hello friends.

Came back last night from mahabaleshwar.

Paid only 1 toll (on the Pune - Bangalore road to reach satara) on the whole journey back. My lucky day!

Coming to the route, the whole 80-100km after Solapur to MH border is full of diversions and rough roads. This stretch is far from done as no works are being carried out currently. This was horrific and took a lot of time.

Given this update, the gulbarga route is the better option as it saves close to 60-90 minutes. No doubts about this.

After MH border, you can see fresh tarmac and barring a couple of diversions, the road is good. The MH side of the NH will take more than year now as they are busy carving out road out of a mountain near the border. That's the only activity on their part.

From there, journey to HYD took less than 3 hours for around 200km. More good news - you no longer have to enter zaheerabad as the bypass is done done with complete new asphalt, flyover over the bidar turn and what not. I had a smile over my face as soon as I crossed over into KA and then TS.

To reach home I straightaway took the ORR after SR and arrived without any more hassles.

I'll be happy to answer any other doubts etc.

[VKS]

Originally Posted by unoczar

Hello friends.



Came back last night from mahabaleshwar.



I'll be happy to answer any other doubts etc.

It's very nice that you travelled on both the routes and can compare them.

I had similar views on NH 65 which I shared few posts back. The Sholapur to MH Border will take long to be complete. Rest of the roads are nearly done.

What was your drive time in both the routes?

[unoczar]

Originally Posted by VKS

I had similar views on NH 65 which I shared few posts back.
What was your drive time in both the routes?

Yes, I remembered your post while driving also.

As I said, it took me at least an hour more while coming back.
While going - started at 6am - reached mahaby at 7.45ish
While coming - started at 6.30am - reached home at 9pm.

We stop a lot on the way, but the stops were similar duration both ways. So the extra hour is definitely attributed to the Solapur to MH border stretch. Also, given that I did the last leg of my journey in very quick time - the NH will set you back by about 90 minutes given current conditions.

[Zezé]

Originally Posted by unoczar

Yes, I remembered your post while driving also.

As I said, it took me at least an hour more while coming back.
While going - started at 6am - reached mahaby at 7.45ish
While coming - started at 6.30am - reached home at 9pm.

We stop a lot on the way, but the stops were similar duration both ways. So the extra hour is definitely attributed to the Solapur to MH border stretch. Also, given that I did the last leg of my journey in very quick time - the NH will set you back by about 90 minutes given current conditions.

One, reading the posts related to your recent trip to Mahabaleshwar, I believe that though you didn't enjoy driving via Gulbarga, it is preferable to the Zaheerabad route. Right?

Two, what is is like negotiating the ghat section up to Mahabaleshwar at dusk? Or was it still bright being summer?

[unoczar]

Originally Posted by Zezé

One, reading the posts related to your recent trip to Mahabaleshwar, I believe that though you didn't enjoy driving via Gulbarga, it is preferable to the Zaheerabad route. Right?

Two, what is is like negotiating the ghat section up to Mahabaleshwar at dusk? Or was it still bright being summer?

Yes, you're right. Until the whole highway is done, gulbarga way is preferred.

The ghat section was manageable, it was a joy to drive in the rain. But if it gets dark, visibility drops to max 8-10 feet. The cloud covers the whole region and it is risky to drive. So, make it while it is still bright and you should be fine.

[Zezé]

Originally Posted by unoczar

Yes, you're right. Until the whole highway is done, gulbarga way is preferred.

The ghat section was manageable, it was a joy to drive in the rain. But if it gets dark, visibility drops to max 8-10 feet. The cloud covers the whole region and it is risky to drive. So, make it while it is still bright and you should be fine.

After Solapur, did you continue on the Solapur-Pune Expressway and approach Mahabaleshwar via Wai and Panchagni? Or did you drive on the Pandharpur-Satara-Medha route?

Whilst I wouldn't want like to drive the ghat section on first route post dusk with cars coming in the opposite direction with high beams, I'm not too sure of the gradient and bends on the other route. Any inputs?

[unoczar]

Originally Posted by Zezé

After Solapur, did you continue on the Solapur-Pune Expressway and approach Mahabaleshwar via Wai and Panchagni? Or did you drive on the Pandharpur-Satara-Medha route?

Whilst I wouldn't want like to drive the ghat section on first route post dusk with cars coming in the opposite direction with high beams, I'm not too sure of the gradient and bends on the other route. Any inputs?

I went via pand-satara route while going and came down via wai. The satara route has steeper gradient and narrower roads when compared to wai road. But is more enjoyable with better views of the valley.

More risk - more gain kind of a thing.

[Zezé]

Originally Posted by unoczar

I went via pand-satara route while going and came down via wai. The satara route has steeper gradient and narrower roads when compared to wai road. But is more enjoyable with better views of the valley.

More risk - more gain kind of a thing.

You mentioned that you took quite a few pit stops on both legs of the journey. Difficult, therefore, to work out your average speed for the journey.

If one uses the Gulbarga route, Sadem to Gulbarga is one stretch that offers an opportunity to build on the average speed. The TS section to/from Sadem was not so great when I last used this route at the beginning of this year.

Neither, according to you, is the Gulbarga-Akkalkot-Solapur section. What are the road conditions, once you leave the Solapur-Pune highway at Mohol and head towards Pandharpur/Satara?

[unoczar]

Mohol onwards, one can maintain speeds of about 80-90. Although there are a couple bad sections in between of about 20-30 minutes each.

It won't be a bad choice to take the Pune highway-Wai-Panchgani road instead of this.

[Zezé]

Originally Posted by unoczar

Mohol onwards, one can maintain speeds of about 80-90. Although there are a couple bad sections in between of about 20-30 minutes each.

It won't be a bad choice to take the Pune highway-Wai-Panchgani road instead of this.

I believe that some of the sections after Mohol are not just bad but very bad, because of heavy truck traffic. More like off road terrain!

If, as suggested, you continue on the Solapur-Pune Highway and don't turn off at Mohol, where would you leave the Highway to reach Wai/Panchgani? Do you drive via Baramati?

[unoczar]

No, actually Satara was the common point for me. I went to Wai and then came back down to Satara on the Pune - Bangalore highway. Took left at Satara and used the same mhaswad-pandharpur-mohol road to get to Solapur.

Let me make it clear -

Onward : hyd-pargi-sedam-kalburagi-akkalkot-solapur-mohol-pandarpur-satara-medha-mahaby.

Return: mahaby-panchgani-wai-kadegaon-satara-mohol-solapur-omerga-humnabad-zaheerabad-hyd.

Going on to the Pune-Solapur highway from Wai would be way longer than this.

The mohol - Satara stretch is bad only for a few Kms. No off roading at all.

[vnabhi]

A friend of mine traveled to Chiplun from Hyderabad last week with a group on two Dusters, and they used the NH to Sholapur.

Per his inputs, there is now a bypass to Zaheerabad and Homnabad which saves you precious time. This apart, the bad stretch is around 50 kms from the KA MH border.

On their return trip, they were able to cover 330 kms from a place between Mohol and Solapur to Hyderabad in about 5 hours. This seems to be great, compared to the earlier posts on this thread.