[Rama Kumara]

Originally Posted by rajivtelang

I used to take this road all those years but the villagers at Gorantla release the sewage water on the road making the whole area messy. I stopped using this road due to that. The depth of sewage water ponds on road becomes unpredictable and could be disastrous for low GC sedans.

Agreed with your concerns here.
When we went about 15 days back, even the sewage had dried up, probably considering the blistering A.P heat.

It is quite disturbing to see that the roads to such a massive pilgrimage place have tarmac this bad. Also, it is painful to see the villagers living here amidst this din and not really caring two hoots about this.

[kavensri]

Originally Posted by rajivtelang

I agree partially here. I took the road Gooty, Aspari, Adoni on 6-7th of March and found to be OK. I agree there are some bad patches post Pattikonda bypass until Adoni Bypass but quite manageable.

I completely agree with you. Even I took this route in Jan and found to be driveable. There are few bad patches, but definitely manageable.

[kiran_aithal]

Completed a day trip to Mantralaya during the Good Friday weekend

Started at 05:30 from Southwest Bangalore (near Mysore road). Took the following route:
Bangalore - Ananthapur - Gooty - Pattikonda - Aspari - Adoni - Yemmiganur - Mantralayam
As roads were relatively empty, could reach in 6 hrs with a 20 min home packed breakfast break.

Returned using the same route and this time it took 7.5 hrs to reach home with a 30 min restaurant packed lunch break; mainly due to Bangalore city traffic.

Road conditions
1. Bangalore to Gooty: Excellent 4 lane NH
2. Gooty to Pattikonda: Avg road with lot of potholes in the Gooty town. Once you cross Gooty town, the road is manageable 2 lane road.
3. Pattikonda to Aspari: Avg road with recently covered potholes. However, as you near Aspari, the roads are bad with potholes. Good news is, they are repairing this road along with strengthening the shoulders.
4. Aspari to Adoni bypass: Again, Avg road with occasional potholes. Road gets better as you move away from Aspari.
5. Adoni to Mantralaya: Excellent and wide 2 lane roads.

Though a lot of interstate trucks use the Gooty - Adoni stretch, surprised that the road conditions is not good.

[narayans80]

For anyone looking for longer but better road to Mantralayam, don't take the Veldurthi-Laddagiri-Kodumur-Yemmiganur-Mantralyam. Instead take the Kurnool-Kodumur (SH27) -Yemmiganur-Mantralayam.

Kurnool-Kodumur is a wide 2-lane where you can do 90-100 in the stretches between villages. The roads keep their shape through the villages as well. Takes ~ 1:45 hrs from Mantralayam to NH7. So timings wise isn't much different from Veldurthi-Kodumur, but you get fantastic roads.

Here's my assessment on the Veldurthi route which I took onward:

Veldurthi-Laddagiri - Good 2-lane
Laddagiri-Kodumur - Ok to bad
Kodumur-Yemmiganur - Except village section rest are good
Yemmiganur-Mantrlayam - Excellent!

That said, how is the Hiriyur-Chalakere-Bellary-Alur-Adoni-Mantralayam route? I do remember reading the Challakere-Byrapura section being 4-laned. Part of Adoni-Alur was in brilliant shape and rest non-existent to Bellary way back in 2012. How has this route fared now? I was tempted to try this on the onward, but dropped it due to an early start from Hosur

[svdath]

Any update on this? I am planning to do this trip later this week using a beemer. Low GC. what is the best route suggested, even if it is a little longer is fine

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by svdath

Any update on this? I am planning to do this trip later this week using a beemer. Low GC. what is the best route suggested, even if it is a little longer is fine

Go via Kurnool bypass as mentioned above. You still need to be careful about crossing towns/villages, one big diversion on Kurnool bypass

[TorqueyTechie]

Hi All, planning for a day trip to Mantralayam next week. Just want to check on any rt pcr checks on the way? Will be travelling with kids ( not vaccinated), wife( both vaccinations done), mom( one vaccination done). I am double vaccinated but in UK not sure if they accept it. Should I carry the rt pcr tests for everyone except wife? Any checks on the way or at the temple?

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by TorqueyTechie

Just want to check on any rt pcr checks on the way?

No checks either at Bagepalli (both ways) or at Mantralayam.

I don't remember there being any restrictions between AP<->KA except maybe in peak caseload times.

[TorqueyTechie]

Originally Posted by narayans80

No checks either at Bagepalli (both ways) or at Mantralayam.

I don't remember there being any restrictions between AP<->KA except maybe in peak caseload times.

Thanks this info is helpful. I was not aware of no checks between AP and Kar. Btw how is the rush at the temple? Considering next week is holidays I am expecting more people to visit.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by TorqueyTechie

Btw how is the rush at the temple? Considering next week is holidays I am expecting more people to visit.

It was busy enough on 10th September. Took 30 min Saturday evening and Sunday morning. If you are going around Diwali, expect half of Madras, Bangalore and Hyderabad to be there For reference, call up a hotel and check their availability on the day, based on that you'll get an idea.

[DragonHawk]

Looking for an update on the latest road condition towards Mantralaya via Bellary

I am planning to visit Mantralaya from Mangalore and the default route takes via
CK Magalur - Kadur - Challakere- Bellary - Moka- Alur- Adhoni - Mantralaya.

A couple of years back my friend did this stretch and Bellary - Moka - Adhoni stretch was horrible and full of craters. So any latest update on Challakere - Mantralaya route would be very much appreciated.

[DragonHawk]

Since this thread is on Bangalore - Mantralaya, I didn`t find any suitable thread to update the road conditions to Mantralaya from Hiriyur. I will update it here so that it will be helpful for someone driving from hiriyur side to Mantralaya.

Last weekend I had been to Mantralaya from the Mangalore side. For my onward journey, I took the direct route to reach Hiriyur via CKM. Nothing specific to update here as roads were excellent and scenic all the way to Hiriyur.

Puttur - Hiriyur - Challakere - Bellary - Adhoni - Yamingalur - Mantralaya

• Even though it was a dual carriage road all the way till Challakere but roads were excellent. 4 lane work is happening but at a slow pace.
• Witnessed quite a bit of traffic all the way till Challakere and thanks to wide roads overtaking was a breeze.
• Crossing Challakere town was a real pain and it was chaotic with tuk-tuk and 2 wheelers blocking and squeezing every possible gap.
• Except for a couple of flyovers, 4 lane work is almost getting complete between Challakere - Bellary. With almost nill traffic, I could make full use of 150 horses of Kushaq.
• In total it took 10hrs to reach Bellary including an hour break at Sri Vinayaka Cafe, Kadur. Restrooms and food were clean and hygienic and would highly recommended if someone is driving along this stretch.
• Bellary - Moka is excellent, but as soon as one crosses over to AP things start to get worse. Moka - Alur - Adhoni has a lot of broken sections with huge craters.
• As per advice from my friend I took the route via Yemmiganur to Mantralaya against the google suggested route via Kuppagal and it turned out to be an excellent one. Overall door to door it took me around 13 hours to travel a distance of around 540kms.

For my return leg, I took the Gangavati route as I had plans to visit Hampi and had an overnight stay at Royal Orchids, Hospet before departing to Puttur.

It was my first drive in this route and probably the last as well as I felt coming via Bangalore will be stress free even though it might take almost the same or a little more time.

[DiMaGo]

Originally Posted by

[B

Puttur - Hiriyur - Challakere - Bellary - Adhoni - Yamingalur - Mantralaya[/b]

Thank you for putting this detail.

I am thinking of taking this route, although am travelling from blore. Meaning, from blore - tumkur - hiriyur and then follow the route you've given.

Planning on 22-Dec, with Family of small 2 kids. Do I need to take any extra care if am following this route, since am travelling with kids.

[DragonHawk]

Originally Posted by DiMaGo

Meaning, from blore - tumkur - hiriyur and then follow the route you've given.

Planning on 22-Dec, with Family of small 2 kids. Do I need to take any extra care if am following this route, since am travelling with kids.

Unless you have some work or need to visit Tumkur, you should be better off taking the default route from Bangalore ie via Gooty-Yemminganur-Mantralaya.

However, if you still want to go via Hiriyur then do keep in mind that there are no good restaurants available in this route till your reach Bellary. So you should plan your restaurant visit well before you exit Hiriyur. Also if you are driving a low gc car then be careful between Moka-Alur-Adhoni stretch as some potholes can hit the underbelly and most importantly I would suggest to avoid driving this stretch post sunset.

[DiMaGo]

Originally Posted by DragonHawk

Unless you have some work or need to visit Tumkur, you should be better off taking the default route from Bangalore ie via Gooty-Yemminganur-Mantralaya.

However, if you still want to go via Hiriyur then do keep in mind that there are no good restaurants available in this route till your reach Bellary. So you should plan your restaurant visit well before you exit Hiriyur. Also if you are driving a low gc car then be careful between Moka-Alur-Adhoni stretch as some potholes can hit the underbelly and most importantly I would suggest to avoid driving this stretch post sunset.

Thanks DragonHawk for your suggestions. Other main reason of choosing this route is, I want to avoid travelling via North Blore because of notorious traffic; if we get stuck, sometimes it takes hours to cross. I stay in South Bangalore.

I drive New Gen Ertiga, so I believe, Ground Clearance should not be a concern. And yes, I will have the 'Good Restaurant' and 'avoid driving post sun-set' points in mind.