[ampere]

Originally Posted by Tempelhof

Return - 255 kms took 4 hours 30 mins.

Recommended route is TVM - Harur - Morappur - Karimangalam - Krishnagiri - Bangalore - this route is safe, scenic and the roads are good enough to allow you a constant 80 kmph.

Its pretty much 200km only I think. Google is messing up with routing. Also a few questions from my side:

- How was Tiruvannamalai-Harur? I have till the Sathanur dam exit and it was good till then. Hope over all length is worth it
- I think taking the Harur bypass is a longer affair. Its there mainly for the Tirupattur-Salem section.
- How is the traffic inside the town?
- Did you find any good hotels?

I find Harur onwards the road is pretty good till Karimangalam till you hit the 4-lane. A bit narrow at some sections, but not a problem.

[Tempelhof]

Originally Posted by ampere

Its pretty much 200km only I think. Google is messing up with routing. Also a few questions from my side:

- How was Tiruvannamalai-Harur? I have till the Sathanur dam exit and it was good till then. Hope over all length is worth it
- I think taking the Harur bypass is a longer affair. Its there mainly for the Tirupattur-Salem section.
- How is the traffic inside the town?
- Did you find any good hotels?

I find Harur onwards the road is pretty good till Karimangalam till you hit the 4-lane. A bit narrow at some sections, but not a problem.

• TVM to Harur road is good, with a few villages in between; road quality is OK, with some minor speed breakers; traffic is minimal
• I didn't see the Harur bypass; I went through the town; narrow roads but manageable
• I travelled on a Sunday morning; minimal traffic; but in some stretches, particularly as you approach Harur, the TVM-Harur road can be very lonely
• Didn't see any good hotels till I reached the NH !

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Tempelhof

• TVM to Harur road is good, with a few villages in between; road quality is OK, with some minor speed breakers; traffic is minimal
• I didn't see the Harur bypass; I went through the town; narrow roads but manageable
• I travelled on a Sunday morning; minimal traffic; but in some stretches, particularly as you approach Harur, the TVM-Harur road can be very lonely
• Didn't see any good hotels till I reached the NH !

Thats good set of update. Esp the fact that TVM-Harur can be lonely. So not worth it at nights. As regards to bypass :

- I once tried Yercaud via this route. So the bypass did help me. Route Link

- You need to turn towards Salem side once you approach from TVM side.
- If the town is crowded, this may help. Route Link

[samabhi]

Folks,

I need to visit my ancestral village near Kanji (C.Nammindal). The usual route is through BLR-Krishnagiri-Chengam-Kanji. And from what I gather through this thread, the available options to me are :

1) BLR-Krishnagiri-Kariamangalam-Harur-Uthangarai-Chengam-Kanji
2) BLR-Krishnagiri-Kariamangalam-Harur-TVMalai-Chengam-Kanji
3) BLR-Krishnagiri-Vellore-Polur-Kanji

Most preferred route is #1, but I am not sure about the road conditions from Harur - Uthangarai and Uthangari - Chengam, its the dreadful NH66.

#2, I am not too interested, because of the detour again from TvMalai and I will be starting in the evening from Blore.

#3, Safe route, but the additional distance adding up is considerably more.

I did try the BLR-Krishnagiri-Bargur-Tiruapattur-Singarapettai-Uthangarai-Chengam route before and its a doable road, when compared to NH66.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Greg

[ampere]

Originally Posted by samabhi

Folks,

I need to visit my ancestral village near Kanji (C.Nammindal). The usual route is through BLR-Krishnagiri-Chengam-Kanji. And from what I gather through this thread, the available options to me are :

1) BLR-Krishnagiri-Kariamangalam-Harur-Uthangarai-Chengam-Kanji
2) BLR-Krishnagiri-Kariamangalam-Harur-TVMalai-Chengam-Kanji
3) BLR-Krishnagiri-Vellore-Polur-Kanji

Another option:

BLR-Krishnagiri-Karimangalam-Harur and then:

- Drive toward TV Malai.
- In between you get a diversion for Sathanur dam.
- Take that diversion and continue. After a few km, you see an exit for the dam.
- Instead of taking the exit, continue on this road and you hit NH66, beyond Chengam. You can then continue towards Kanji.

Route Link

But what ever you do, you at least do an extra 60-70km (as per what I see from Google maps).
Another interesting option if you are willing to try is :

- Drive to Vanyambadi and there on through the ghats via Alangayam/Kovilur.
Route Link

I have absolutely no idea of this route over the ghats though.

[tomchacks]

I had referred to this post before traveling on this route on 28th Aug '13. Now that I have become a member, I thought it would be ungrateful if I did not report on the experience.
we were traveling from Salem to TVM via Harur. The road upto Harur from the Ayodhiapatnam turn off was very good and scenic along the east side of the Eastern ghats. The roads from Harur via Thanipady continued to be in good condition and devoid of traffic. The only problem we encountered was while nearing TVM. This happened to be an interesting one. We were diverted from the main road by the Forest and Police personnel as some 6 wild elephants had strayed into the villages and an exercise was in progress to drive them back using tamed elephants. After reaching TVM we saw some shots in the TV news. The problem was that we had to take diversion through very bad village roads and had to travel 20 km instead of 5 km to get back on the TVM road by which time it was dark. Then it was a one time incident and none of us felt a need to fret over that.

From TVM, we went next day to Kancheepuram via Gingee(Senji), taking time off to see the wonderful fort. The road was good. As I had in July experienced the bad road between Gingee and Tindivanam, we went via Chetpet, Vandavasi and then drove north to Kancheepuram. Up to Vandavasi was excellent with little traffic. Beyond Vandavasi it was having lot of pot holes, but still OK more so as we were driving a Qualis.

[NPV]

An update on Bangalore-Tiruvannamalai route via Morappur-Harur, from a friend who traveled this past weekend:
Road is very good upto Teerthamalai (beyond Harur). From here about 40-50Km almost till Tiruvannamalai is slightly rough (he says mostly "3rd gear territory") but not very bad.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by NPV

An update on Bangalore-Tiruvannamalai route via Morappur-Harur, from a friend who traveled this past weekend:
Road is very good upto Teerthamalai (beyond Harur). From here about 40-50Km almost till Tiruvannamalai is slightly rough (he says mostly "3rd gear territory") but not very bad.

I think at least Thanipadi to TV Malai is decent. Its a wide road I think. Its the same road you need to take when driving to Sathanur dam.

[tharian]

Is the road upto Tuticorin , an expressway?
I am planning a bike trip from Banagalore-Tuticorin-Chennai-Bangalore and since my bike has reached old age, I am looking for the best surfaced roads for this trip.
Expressway is the priority since although it gets boring, distance is covered fast and there is less strain on the engine.

Any pointers would be good.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by tharian

Any pointers would be good.

Its 4-lane all the way to the end.

Bangalore-Madurai : Nh7
Madurai-Tuticorin : NH45B

But why the query on this thread?

[tharian]

Originally Posted by ampere

Its 4-lane all the way to the end.

Bangalore-Madurai : Nh7
Madurai-Tuticorin : NH45B

But why the query on this thread?

Ooops.
Just realized I posted on the wrong thread.
I was looking for a Blore- Tirunelveli thread and this caught my eye and posted without looking twice.

[Shiwik]

Originally Posted by ampere

I think at least Thanipadi to TV Malai is decent. Its a wide road I think. Its the same road you need to take when driving to Sathanur dam.

Any updates on NH66. I plan to drive to TMalai tomorrow morning. The last time i remember one of the taxi guys mentioned that they were doing up NH66.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Shiwik

Any updates on NH66. I plan to drive to TMalai tomorrow morning. The last time i remember one of the taxi guys mentioned that they were doing up NH66.

No Idea. If you plan to do T Malai, go via Karimangalam-Morappur-Harrur. Much much better.

How to spot the routes:

- After the Chennai turn off drive to 20km towards Salem. You will see a board saying Morappur to left. Get off the 4-lane and turn to this on the left. (This is below a flyover)
- Drive via Morappur to Harur.
- At Harur you can use the bypass. Route Link

At any time if you ask for the road to TMalai, there is quite a high probability that you would be thrown back to NH66 (esp to Chengam). Please make sure about that part.

[venkyhere]

planning onward journey on the tried and tested route :
BLR->karimangalam->morappur->harur->thanipadi->tvmalai

because I am bored of the above route, considering alternates for the return.

how about :
tvmalai->chengam->ambedkar->tiruppattur->bargur->NHjoin->krishnagiri->blore
a) the tvmalai to ambedkar is the infamous NH66 (how is it now, any recent update ? )
b) how is ambedkar to tiruppattur ? (width/potholes)
c) how is tiruppattur to bargur ? (width/potholes)

your help is appreciated

[ampere]

Originally Posted by venkyhere

your help is appreciated

Venky, I don't expect the Chengam route to be any better as of today. Especially the Chengam-Uttangarai-Samalpatti stretch. Not that I have driven recently on this stretch, but all stories still put my thoughts about driving against on this route.