[trrk]

Hi Santosh,

> Leaving 4th night, reaching 5th morning

Ok. I hope this does not sound very rude, but here it is: if you get a 'phone' switched off message, assume that I would not be in a position to meet you.

I sincerely hope that I could! If we meet, I'll tell you the reason for this. But please do call.

> i know, got burnt in kovalam last month

Yesterday night and early morning did have rains, but now it is sun in all its glory.

> Driving down from Allepy to Kollam - just before Neendakara Jn (bridge)
> there is a Vettuthara Jn, take a left - then reach DhalavaPuram - cross it

Well, the directions are more or less same regarding the turn off. Even my friend there has not gone there. There is supposed to be a 'not easily missed' resort board at the turnoff.

Sorry for not able to give better directions.

All the best for your journey. Last time you managed to reach Alleppey very early. The roads could throw some surprises this time. Look out for them!

[svsantosh]

>Ok. I hope this does not sound very rude
np, as said last month, i wish i could do the same

>Sorry for not able to give better directions.
np... as some1 said, the best way to travel is "lets get lost..."

>Look out for them
Yep, i will... i dont intend to drive like a $#$#$# this time around, check in ONLY @ 2PM and its nearly 70Kms (or a hour and a half) before TVM, last time I reached varkala @ 9AM, so this time i will pace it and hope to be in allepy by 9-10AM.

[trrk]

Hi Santosh,

>Ok. I hope this does not sound very rude
> np, as said last month, i wish i could do the same

Thanks for understanding!

> Yep, i will... i dont intend to drive like a $#$#$# this time around, check in

Thanks. It is definitely not worth it.

> hope to be in allepy by 9-10AM.

Ok.

Having limited myself to driving in mostly two laned single carriage highways (Kerala and Tamil Nadu) these days, I rarely go above 80kph and in our state I try and stick to the legal 70kph.

With all these restrictions on speed, it is really fun to do all the driving without touching the horns.

[trrk]

Hi Santosh,

Yesterday night and early morning saw heavy rains here.

Right now it is bright and sunny here.

You could have some showers in the night when you travel. Fill your washer fluid tank.

All the best for your drive. There is a lot of checking for speeding etc. So try to follow the speed limit. wear seat belts and no mobile while driving.

Hope to see you tomorrow morning.

[svsantosh]

not late - what other work @ office before a drive..

thx for this... i am keeping this thread open all day long till 7PM.

It POURED in blore testrday, dont want to see it today. It flooded my office basement and most of the roads around my area

[raghuinc]

Originally Posted by binoyb22

There is another route .guess no one has put it across

here it goes

Tvm-Alleppy-Ekm-Edapally-chavakkad-Kunnamkullam-Perunthalmanna-Nilambur-Gudallur-bandhipur -Gundalpettu-Mysore- Bangalore.


And this is the shortest.Its less than 500kms from edapally to bangalore.iam not sure about the distance between Edapally and Tvm.Traffic is very less when compared to salem route

Bad road only between gundalpettu and Bandhipur.(10 km stretch).

Based on inputs from Binoy and others on this and the kerala road threads, I had planned a trip to Chengannur from Bangalore. As I did not find Bglr-coimbature-Ekm a great challenge, I just did the following one last saturday.

My route was as follows:

Bangalore- Mysore- Gundalpettu- bandhipur- Gudallur- Nilambur- Perunthalmanna- Kunnamkullam- chavakkad- Edapally- Ekm- Alleppy- Changanassery- Chengannur


This route is the shortest distance-wise, 600kms from Indiranagar to Chengannur. A single fuel top-up was enough for Maruti Alto. But, it is really long time-wise: 15 hours (2:30am to 5pm). This was even as my stops were short as I was driving alone.


There are some bad stretches in addition to the gundalpettu-bandipur one (which is really bad!) Ongoing road work at Kunnamkulam-Guruvayoor will add about 15mins to 1/2 hour.


--

There is a slightly different route which will be shorter. I took this on my way back by the KSRTC bus. This took around 12 hours. The route is Ernakulam- Thrissur- Kozhikode- Sultan Bathery- Gudalur- Mysore- Bangalore.

I am guessing here now (someone with local knowledge can say more). From Gudalur go to Kozhikode instead of using the perunthalmanna shortcut. Dont take the Nilambur-perunthalmanna turn. Do nilambur- mallapuram- valakulam. Use the NH17 from there.

--

As I am not a Malayali, and this is the first time I am driving on Kerala roads, some general comments: I have driven in Maharashtra/Karnataka/TN a lot before. The roads in kerala, while built well and scenic, have a lot of room for improvement. Two lanes, even for National Highways, are just too low (considering the work done elsewhere in the country). And none of them have any shoulders, leaving no margin for error. Actually, driving in Kerala would give one a good feeling of F1 at Monaco :-)

Other than the EKM-Alleppey-Changannassery section, which was a breeze, no other stretch is a pleasurable drive. One has to constantly "work" at it. This is not fun after the first couple of hours. The view, ofcourse, is another matter altogether.

Finally, thanks Binoy! Among others, I saw your post first. This was really a fun route.

Raghu