[kala]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

I did an ooty trip last month, and I used Mysore - Bandipur - Masinagudi - Ooty while going from here, and while coming back I used Coonoor - Mettupalyam - Satyamangalam - Chamarajnagar - Kanakapura - Bangalore.

Please try the second route if you want a rush-free, peaceful drive. Mysore road has gone to the dogs, I absolutely hated it.

...

Though the second route is longer by 30 km, I actually completed the Ooty - Bangalore stretch in 6 hours via the NH-209 route, and took 7.5 hours via Mysore - Gundlupet route.

Actually the best route for Ooty-Bangalore (Or even Coonoor-Bangalore) is a mix of the two routes above, namely Ooty-Kalhatty-Masinagudi-Bandipur-Gundlupet-Chamarajanagar-Kollegal-Malavalli-Kanakapura-Bangalore.

To me it doesn't make much of sense to climb down to Mettupalayam and then climb back up through Dimbum - especially since the Ooty-Coonoor-Mettupalayam is quite busy a road in terms of traffic. Also, even with the Bhavanisagar-Bannari shortcut that Ampere suggested, Coonoor-Chamarajanagar would be longer by at least 25 kms if you go via Mettupalayam (compared to Coonoor-Chamarajnagar via Masinagudi)

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by kala

Actually the best route for Ooty-Bangalore (Or even Coonoor-Bangalore) is a mix of the two routes above, namely Ooty-Kalhatty-Masinagudi-Bandipur-Gundlupet-Chamarajanagar-Kollegal-Malavalli-Kanakapura-Bangalore.

Good idea, worth trying, except for the fact that the Ooty - Kalhatti - Masinagudi stretch is in tatters now, and requires quite a bit of see-sawing to avoid the moon surface craters.

To me it doesn't make much of sense to climb down to Mettupalayam and then climb back up through Dimbum - especially since the Ooty-Coonoor-Mettupalayam is quite busy a road in terms of traffic. Also, even with the Bhavanisagar-Bannari shortcut that Ampere suggested, Coonoor-Chamarajanagar would be longer by at least 25 kms if you go via Mettupalayam (compared to Coonoor-Chamarajnagar via Masinagudi)

True. I mentioned that it would be longer in sheer number of kms. This route is better suited for the nature lover and petrolhead who doesn't mind travelling a few extra kms in exchange for fresh air, superb roads, nice scenery and zero traffic. Coonoor - Mettupalyam is a ghat section so the traffic will anyway be slow due to the hairpins. It is still any day faster than the Masinagudi crater-ridden road where you can't even maintain 20-30kmph

The major travel-time gain is through Mettupalyam - Sathy - Chamarajanagar - Kollegal section which has no vehicles at all.

Ironically, the Mysore road route being 25 km shorter actually ended up taking 1.5 hours longer for me, and the car also consumed more fuel due to the non-stop speed breakers, obstructions and potholes (near Masinagudi) through the route.

[kala]

Originally Posted by KarthikK

Coonoor - Mettupalyam is a ghat section so the traffic will anyway be slow due to the hairpins. It is still any day faster than the Masinagudi crater-ridden road where you can't even maintain 20-30kmph

That is surprise news indeed.. I hadn't heard about the Masinagudi-Ooty road being in tatters. That was one road that has always been in excellent condition for the past 20+ years or so that I've been driving to Ooty. (Except perhaps for the narrow portions from Theppekkadu to Masinagudi which used to go bad off and on).

The major travel-time gain is through Mettupalyam - Sathy - Chamarajanagar - Kollegal section which has no vehicles at all.

Ironically, the Mysore road route being 25 km shorter actually ended up taking 1.5 hours longer for me, and the car also consumed more fuel due to the non-stop speed breakers, obstructions and potholes (near Masinagudi) through the route.

Well - I've been an avid advocate of NH209 for quite a while now. In fact on my frequent trips to Wayanad I have never taken SH17 for almost 2 years now. Same for trips to Cochin, I prefer to take the NH209 over the NH7-NH47 combo all the time. So I agree with you 100% on NH209 being a faster and less stressful option compared to Mysore road.

But I'm not too fond of the Mettupalayam-Coonoor highway. Too much of traffic for my liking. In fact the last couple of times that I travelled to Ooty from the CBE side, I took the Mettupalayam-Kotagiri-Ooty road instead, and found it to be easier in terms of traffic.

[KarthikK]

Originally Posted by kala

That is surprise news indeed.. I hadn't heard about the Masinagudi-Ooty road being in tatters. That was one road that has always been in excellent condition for the past 20+ years or so that I've been driving to Ooty. (Except perhaps for the narrow portions from Theppekkadu to Masinagudi which used to go bad off and on).

Well I did this stretch in late November 2012, and it was not Masinagudi - Ooty that I was referring to. That 40 hairpin stretch to Ooty has decent road quality, albeit narrow and steep at places.

I was actually referring to Theppekadu - Masinagudi where the shortcut begins. For a stretch of 20km or so, the road is in absolute ruins and we have to literally take the monstrous potholes at crawling speeds if we travel by a sedan. Its a treacherous road which I would never recommend or use after my own bad experience. Maybe they have re-tarred it now, need to check with someone who has travelled more recently.

[ankan.m.blr]

Any idea of the road conditions of Theppakadu - Gudalur - Ooty ? I was there in July-2012. The road from Theppakadu to Gudalur was in a bad shape; lots of potholes and in general broken road-surface. After Gudalur, it was still bad, but drivable. Would like to know the road condition now. Also, regarding the road from Theppakadu to Masinagudi, I found the stretch which lies inside Mudumalai forest to be very narrow. Hardly 2 small (read alto / santro) cars can cross each other. The road surface was much elevated from the ground making it more awkward for small cars to pass each other with serious probability of underbody scraping.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by newtonMeter

Thanks ampere! Hopefully this route has good roads. Have you tried this route?

The route via Bhavani sagar is good but narrow. You should be able go through it easily. All the best drive safe.

[raveesh_k]

Hi folks,

I just returned from a 3 day blissful trip to Nilgiris. We had booked a place called O'Land Estate (http://www.olandestate.com/Home.html - organic farm) which about 35 odd kms from Ooty in Kollacumby. A good hour and a half drive from Ooty especially when you go there first time.

Journey Stats:
==============

Onward:

Origin: HSR Layout
Start Time: 5:30 AM
Date: 12th Jan 2013
Route: BLR-Electonics City-Kanakpura-Malavalli-Kollegal-Gundlupet-Masinagudi-Ooty-Kollacumby
Stopover:
1. Khushi Resort, Gundlupet (40 minutes break). Arrival time here: 9 amIts a big resort which comes to your right hand side while going to Ooty after crossing Gundlupet town.
Arrival Time at Destination (O'Land Estate): 1:30 PM

Return:

Origin: O'Land Estate, Kollacumby
Start Time: 9:30 AM
Date: 14th Jan 2013
Route: Kollacumby-Ooty-Gudalur-Gundlupet-Kollegal-Malavalli-Kanakpura-Electonics City-HSR Layout
Stopover:
1. Ooty - Mordern Stores (40 minutes break, took some wonderful choclates and Chamraj tea). Arrival time in Ooty - 11:20 am.
2. Khushi Resort, Gundlupet(40 minutes break). Arival time in Khushi Resort: 2:40 pm. This time will come to your left hand side while going to BLR just before Gundlupet town.
Arrival Time at destination (HSR Layout): 7:30 PM

Car: Polo Highline Petrol (2013 Model)
People: 4
Luggage: Boot Full
Average To & Fro: 13kmpl

To Summarize:
============

Took us 6 hours to reach Ooty and same on return with whatever breaks mentioned above and a few others for a couple of minutes here and there to stretch our legs.

The route that I have mentioned through Kollegal bypasses Ooty and is an amazing drive with almost zero traffic. The roads are very good though two lane at most places. But virtually no traffic makes you push the pedal hard and you can easily maintain 100 kmph. Yes on this route you have three small towns but going through did not take any time. Yes in our onward journey we passed these towns around 8 am which was before the town woke up, but on our return we hit these towns around 4-5pm but hardly any halts. Highly recommend this route, if you want to avoid the Mysore madness on your way to the hills.

There is a rough patch before Gudlupet for about 15 kms but very manageable. Hardly slows you down.

After Gudlupet, the road is excellent with you hitting Bandipur and Madhumalai.

After crossing this check post, a little more drive and we reached Masinagudi. Here we took left which takes one through the 36 hair pin bends. If you go straight you get on the Gadulur road which most of the busses ply on. Climbing part on the 36 hair pin bends was fun. The other route through Gadulur takes double the time though, but its safer to come back on from Ooty. Equally scenic.

Ooty to Kollacumby is a little tricky and especially the 3 kms stretch before O'Land estate is rough and narrow with no tar and just loose gravel and sand. Maintain slow speed because the car can easily skid. It did for us, both when going there and returning back.

On our way back on the same stretch, we forgot how the road was and did a corner at a high speed. Its only once we turned we realized that we had landed in a no-road stretch but that was too late for us. Not wanting the unexpected terrain to throw us off track, my friend immediately put the brakes (soft braking though). But I think that was the mistake we did. Just because we were 4 people on board, and there was just loose gravel and mud beneath the car, pulling the car from a stand still was impossible. We tried doing it once, but the car slid sideways and backwards and finally one of the rear tire landed in a ridge next to the rocky side of the wall on the left hand side. There was a minor dent to the bumper but apart from that nothing else. The car finally stopped and was not sliding in any direction which was a respite of us. We almost had a feeling that the car cannot be controlled no matter what we do. Except for the driver all of us then then finally had to de-board the car, take out most of our luggage from the trunk put some stones beneath the rear tires and press hard on the gas pedal on first gear before the car crossed that dusty, muddy stretch of the road. Lesson learnt with this. With minimal damage to the car, this lesson was fairly enriching in terms of mechanics, physics and dynamics of car and did not cost as much.

With that behind, the drive was equally enjoyable as our onward journey. Stopped and had a wholesome lunch at Khushi Resort and then started the engine to come back to the madness of Bangalore city from the bliss of the mountains. Sigh!

Cheers!

[kala]

Originally Posted by raveesh_k

We also were 2 families (couples) with a KA registration number. What we came to know from locals there is that they do stop most of the KA cars unless you are a 'full-fledged' family which was not our case. TN cars they do not stop but yes if they get their hands on a KL car, they rip it apart even if there are old people/children traveling in that car.

Interesting - I have never ever been checked even though I must have driven through that checkpost at least 100 to 200 times over the past 25-30 years in KA registered cars..

May be I don't "look" the partying type !!

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by kala

100 to 200 times over the past 25-30 years in KA registered cars..
May be I don't "look" the partying type !!

May be they got used to seeing you . Remember around 20 years ago taxi drivers used to refuse going through this check post complaining of harassment. In past two instances I went through this route once I was stopped in name of checking and the police guy was demanding 10 rs as 'checking charge', however this was night time just before the route closes. Have not heard any harassment in day time apart from those of group of guys in name of checking drunk driving.

[nilanjanray]

Having family travel with you helps. They also don't check too closely if there is a single person traveling. As folks have said, a group of guys traveling or KL vehicles get the full treatment.

I would also request people to drive slowly through Bandipur, Mudumalai and the ghats to prevent accidents with animals. Nowadays one can't drive fast in Bandipur because of the bumps. But I have seen people ripping in Mudumalai, and in the Theppakadu - Masinagudi - Kalahatty stretch. Do keep in mind that animals - elephants, leopards, tigers, deers - cross the road at all sorts of hours.

[ampere]

How is the state of ORR in Mysore today? Is the work towards KRS/Hunsur road/HD Kote Road complete or still its on going?

Can any one update?

[kala]

Originally Posted by ampere

How is the state of ORR in Mysore today? Is the work towards KRS/Hunsur road/HD Kote Road complete or still its on going?

Can any one update?

I did travel on the stretch between SH17 (Columbia Asia junction) and the Hunsur road (SH88) junction a couple of weeks ago. The road is quite decent in most parts with occasional deviations at places where construction is still in progress.

When coming from Hunsur Road towards SH17, need to be very slow when crossing the junction where the ring road crosses the KRS road. There's a huge speedbreaker just before the signal, and a big ditch as soon as you've crossed the KRS road. (I scraped the bottom of my Figo at the speedbreaker, and fell right into the ditch after crossing the road because I was travelling that stretch at night and had no idea they were coming :()

If going towards SH33 towards HD Kote, I'm not sure if taking the ring road is worth it because you need to travel at least 10 kms extra and the time taken to cover the stretch through the Ring road may actually be more than what you take if you travel through the City.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by kala

If going towards SH33 towards HD Kote, I'm not sure if taking the ring road is worth it because you need to travel at least 10 kms extra and the time taken to cover the stretch through the Ring road may actually be more than what you take if you travel through the City.

Thanks. Did you not try the bypass via Ranganthittu, but chose ORR?
Any specific reasons?

[kala]

Originally Posted by ampere

Thanks. Did you not try the bypass via Ranganthittu, but chose ORR?
Any specific reasons?

The Srirangapatna-Yeliwala shortcut (I suppose that's the road you were referring to ?) is reportedly in shambles as per reports seen here, so didn't want to risk it. Even the last time I went that way (about 6 months back) it wasn't in great shape, and from what I hear it has only become worse. So no point in taking all that trouble to save maybe 4 or 5 kms..

[ampere]

Originally Posted by kala

The Srirangapatna-Yeliwala shortcut (I suppose that's the road you were referring to ?) is reportedly in shambles as per reports seen here, so didn't want to risk it. Even the last time I went that way (about 6 months back) it wasn't in great shape, and from what I hear it has only become worse. So no point in taking all that trouble to save maybe 4 or 5 kms..

Thanks for that. I was not sure, if it was bad. Hence was thinking if ORR is bad, why not take that itself !