[ajithbr]

Originally Posted by ampere

That settles it Ajit! When I went last, that section of the road was fantastic. The way it was built and with no trucks, I thought it was built to last.

And in-spite of that most folks took the other route. That made me curious as to why no-one choose this option. The road being twisty is definitely not a reason.

Someone else already reported in this forum that this route is in good condition just last month which means monsoon & traffic has not deteriorated this route and it is going to last forever like this. Don't remember the exact post though. I too believe that twisty is simply an unbelievable reason after driving Gudalur->Nilambur stretch

BTW, I heard this is a road with special treatment (read financial aid) since it becomes part of the showcased "Malayora(Valley) Highway" and is supposed to connect to Mannarkkad on NH-213 if you dont take the right fork to Perinthalmanna just after Melattoor.

Originally Posted by ampere

In fact while driving from GVR, after Perinhalmanna, at every crossing I kept asking for road to Melatoor. But after some distance I could spot boards.

Here is how you can explain the route while coming from GVR. After crossing NH-213, keep going straight till you reach Pattikkad upto which you have some town-ish traffic. There, you get a Y-fork where left road goes to Pandikkad->Wandoor->Vadapuram->Nilambur and right road goes to Melattoor->Kalikavu->Nilambur. You will see majority of the traffic, including private buses, taking the left fork towards Wandoor here.

Originally Posted by ampere

Correct me if I am wrong. While coming from Melatoor, I remember crossing the railway line at the Nilambur station.
Later looking at the maps, it seems to me that one does not need to cross the line for Wandoor/Edvanna.
(In fact I think one wont even hit the Nilambur railway station).

If you are taking Melattoor route towards GVR, you will cross Nilambur Road railway station (on Nilambur->Shoranur line) first and then again cross the same Nilambur->Shoranur line some place between Perinthalmanna and Pattambi. Incidentally Angadippuram station is about 5 kms from Perinthalmanna and you have a railway crossing(same Nilambur->Shoranur line) on NH-213 here just before Thirumandamkunnu temple.

Logically, going towards Guruvayur, you have railway line on your left at Nilambur and then on your right at Perinthalmanna. So, there should be a crossing on Wandoor route as well. And on Edavanna route, you wont cross the Nilambur->Shoranur line since you move Edavanna->Manjeri->Malappuram->Kottakkal->Guruvayur direction and hence away from that line all the time.

You must have noticed that on Nilambur->Perinthalmanna->Guruvayur route, you cross the main Shoranur->Calicut/Mangalore line under the railway line just before Pattambi Railway station.

[ampere]

I meant crossing the line only at Nilambur and not other places. I wanted to use that as a pointer to ensure that one is using the Melattor route.

[ajithbr]

Originally Posted by ampere

I meant crossing the line only at Nilambur and not other places. I wanted to use that as a pointer to ensure that one is using the Melattor route.

Melattor and Pattikkad has railway stations. So, there should be a railway crossing near Pattikkad on Wandoor->Perinthalmanna route as well

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by ajithbr

Melattor and Pattikkad has railway stations. So, there should be a railway crossing near Pattikkad on Wandoor->Perinthalmanna route as well

There is a Level Crossing just before Pattikad while coming from Pandikkad

[ajithbr]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

There is a Level Crossing just before Pattikad while coming from Pandikkad

I knew about crossing but was not sure whether it was level crossing or ROB/RUB.

BTW, any idea which would be the Perinthalmanna hotel mentioned by pramodpk a few posts earlier? My guess is that it would be "Hotel Sabrina"

[pramodpk]

Originally Posted by ajithbr

I knew about crossing but was not sure whether it was level crossing or ROB/RUB.

BTW, any idea which would be the Perinthalmanna hotel mentioned by pramodpk a few posts earlier? My guess is that it would be "Hotel Sabrina"

I think it is Sabrina (90% sure).

[vsbabu]

Yesterday (Sep 17, 2011), I drove to Thrithala (between Pattambi and Guruvayoor) from Bangalore. Quick update on road conditions (I didn't take Hosur - Salem - Palakkad route intentionally).

4:10am: Exit NICE road to Mysore road.
6:00am: Exit Mysore to Ooty road. Mysore road is ok, except that lot more new unmarked speedbreakers have come up since I last used this road in March.
7:00am: Gundlupet Cafe Coffee day. Mys-Nanjangud road is not bad now. Nanjangud to Gundlupet is fine as it was before.
7:25am: Exit Gundlupet, go straight at the junction. Right goes to Wayanad.
7:45am: Short break at the Hanuman temple at Bandipur.
7:55am: Theppakad. Good roads till then. Right turn to Gudalur.
8:15am: Exit Gudalur. Right turn at the signal.
9:00am: Good ghat roads, enter Vazhikkadavu. Many land slides on the ghats; cleared up though.
9:15am: Stop at KTDC Tamarind at Nilambur for breakfast. Only puttu-kadla available. Good relaxing ambience - takes time to get food. Exit at 10:00am.
Decided to go via Manjeri because the guy at Tamarind said road till Pandikkad is bad.
11:15am: Malappuram. Really bad traffic at Manjeri and in Malappuram. I've not been to both these towns since 1993, so it took time to find my way around.
11:30am: Exit Kottakkal. Good roads till now.
11:50am: Valanchery. Police diverted all traffic to a very narrow bypass. Inside the bypass, a board directed me to take a left to Trichur road. Terrible traffic jam inside for some 3 km and no end in sight. Then one bus guy told me that this goes inside Valanchery town and I shouldn't have taken the left turn. Did some circus to get my Innova reversed and came back. Went straight and it dropped me at NH at Moodaal.
12:25pm: Kuttippuram
12:50pm: Thrithala via Kumbidi. This last stretch has some uneven roads, but you can still do 70kmph.
Overall, 398km from my home in Koramangala.

After some personal work and a quick lunch, started back at 2pm. Took the usual Pattambi, Perinthalmanna, Pandikkad, Nilambur road.
2:30pm: Exit Pattambi.
3:10pm: Exit Perinthalmanna. Pattambi to Perinthalmanna road has about 200meters resembling a road. Rest is all broken up.
4:15pm: Exit Nilambur. Pandikkad to Nilambur road was not that bad. It had some real bad stretches for few meters, but it has good sections too.
5:15pm: Toll gate at Nadukani.
6:00pm: Theppakad
6:30pm: Gundlupet.
8:00pm: Exit Mysore
10:00pm: Enter NICE Road.
10:30pm: Home at Koramangala.
Totally 380km. With no breaks except for a 10min fuel stop at Gundlupet. Took much longer and funnily enough it was not due to the bad roads from Pattambi to Nilambur.

Hope it helps

[lancersfx]

Very detailed. vsbabu. Thanks for sharing.
I did half the stretch on 16th .. till via gudalur >>theppekadu >>ooty and the roads are certainly good except for unmarked multi-hump speedbreakers..!!! On the return journey I took the kanakpura road and it was lovely.. :-).

Originally Posted by vsbabu

Yesterday (Sep 17, 2011), I drove to Thrithala (between Pattambi and Guruvayoor) from Bangalore. Quick update on road conditions (I didn't take Hosur - Salem - Palakkad route intentionally).

4:10am: Exit NICE road to Mysore road.
6:00am: Exit Mysore to Ooty road. Mysore road is ok, except that lot more new unmarked speedbreakers have come up since I last used this road in March.
7:00am: Gundlupet Cafe Coffee day. Mys-Nanjangud road is not bad now. Nanjangud to Gundlupet is fine as it was before.
7:25am: Exit Gundlupet, go straight at the junction. Right goes to Wayanad.
7:45am: Short break at the Hanuman temple at Bandipur.
7:55am: Theppakad. Good roads till then. Right turn to Gudalur.
8:15am: Exit Gudalur. Right turn at the signal.
9:00am: Good ghat roads, enter Vazhikkadavu. Many land slides on the ghats; cleared up though.
9:15am: Stop at KTDC Tamarind at Nilambur for breakfast. Only puttu-kadla available. Good relaxing ambience - takes time to get food. Exit at 10:00am.
Decided to go via Manjeri because the guy at Tamarind said road till Pandikkad is bad.
11:15am: Malappuram. Really bad traffic at Manjeri and in Malappuram. I've not been to both these towns since 1993, so it took time to find my way around.
11:30am: Exit Kottakkal. Good roads till now.
11:50am: Valanchery. Police diverted all traffic to a very narrow bypass. Inside the bypass, a board directed me to take a left to Trichur road. Terrible traffic jam inside for some 3 km and no end in sight. Then one bus guy told me that this goes inside Valanchery town and I shouldn't have taken the left turn. Did some circus to get my Innova reversed and came back. Went straight and it dropped me at NH at Moodaal.
12:25pm: Kuttippuram
12:50pm: Thrithala via Kumbidi. This last stretch has some uneven roads, but you can still do 70kmph.
Overall, 398km from my home in Koramangala.

After some personal work and a quick lunch, started back at 2pm. Took the usual Pattambi, Perinthalmanna, Pandikkad, Nilambur road.
2:30pm: Exit Pattambi.
3:10pm: Exit Perinthalmanna. Pattambi to Perinthalmanna road has about 200meters resembling a road. Rest is all broken up.
4:15pm: Exit Nilambur. Pandikkad to Nilambur road was not that bad. It had some real bad stretches for few meters, but it has good sections too.
5:15pm: Toll gate at Nadukani.
6:00pm: Theppakad
6:30pm: Gundlupet.
8:00pm: Exit Mysore
10:00pm: Enter NICE Road.
10:30pm: Home at Koramangala.
Totally 380km. With no breaks except for a 10min fuel stop at Gundlupet. Took much longer and funnily enough it was not due to the bad roads from Pattambi to Nilambur.

Hope it helps

[vsbabu]

Google maps directions

[cyberwhizs]

Friends,

I require a little help in planning my itinerary and route. Will be starting from Mumbai with the prime objective of visiting the temple at Guruvayur. Since am going deep south, would like to take a recreation break at Bangalore and somewhere in Wayand if possible.

Day 1: Mumbai - Hubli (or Davengere) - NH4 - budgeted - 10 hours
Day 2: Hubli (Davengere) - Bangalore - NH4 budgeted - 5 hours
Day 3: Bangalore - Salem - CBE - Trissur - Guruvayur - NH7, NH47 - budgeted 10 hours
Day 4: Guruvayur - Somewhere in Wayanad - budgeted - 4 hours
Day 5: Wayanad - Bangalore budgeted - 7 hours
Day 6: Bangalore
Day 7: Bangalore Mumbai - NH4 - budgeted - 15-16 hours

I drive sedately 90/100 kmph, have previously driven long distances i.e. 700+km/day but frankly havent ever attempted a 7 day driveathon. So am a bit apprehensive.

Few questions
1. What would be the best way to cover this route with minimal stress, does it make sense to drive directly from hubli(davengere) to guruvayur or dump wayand all together and settle for something enroute.
2. Since this drive is likely to cover four states, is there anything specific i need to be aware of esp related checkposts and associated nuisance if any. It is a private vehicle so i guess there aren't any specific taxes/permits in TN & Kerala
3. Have access to an indica-diesal and a fiesta-petrol, considering the road conditions wondering which one should i should take along this time.

Appreciate your inputs.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by cyberwhizs

Day 1: Mumbai - Hubli (or Davengere) - NH4 - budgeted - 10 hours
Day 2: Hubli (Davengere) - Bangalore - NH4 budgeted - 5 hours
Day 3: Bangalore - Salem - CBE - Trissur - Guruvayur - NH7, NH47 - budgeted 10 hours
Day 4: Guruvayur - Somewhere in Wayanad - budgeted - 4 hours
Day 5: Wayanad - Bangalore budgeted - 7 hours
Day 6: Bangalore
Day 7: Bangalore Mumbai - NH4 - budgeted - 15-16 hours


Few questions
1. What would be the best way to cover this route with minimal stress, does it make sense to drive directly from hubli(davengere) to guruvayur or dump wayand all together and settle for something enroute.
2. Since this drive is likely to cover four states, is there anything specific i need to be aware of esp related checkposts and associated nuisance if any. It is a private vehicle so i guess there aren't any specific taxes/permits in TN & Kerala
3. Have access to an indica-diesal and a fiesta-petrol, considering the road conditions wondering which one should i should take along this time.

Appreciate your inputs.

I can suggest two things:

One place to visit while going and one place while coming back.
While on the way to GVR, instead of salem, go via Mysore and visit Ooty.
From Ooty:

Ooty-Gudalur-Nilambur-Edavanna-Malapuram-Kottakal-Kutipuram-Kecheri/Kunnamkulam-Guruvayur.

Ooty, Tamil Nadu to Guruvayoor, Kerala - Google Maps

On the way back, you can visit Valparai or Kodai and latch on the GQ peacefully and travel back.

GVR-Kecheri-Wadakkancherri-Pazhannur-Alathur-Kolllengode-Pollachi-Valparai.

Guruvayoor, Kerala to Valparai, Tamil Nadu - Google Maps

On the way back its GQ and beautiful 2L.

Valparai-Pollachi-Palladam-Kangeyam-Perunudari-Salem-Bangalore-Hubli-Pune-Mumbai.

Valparai, Tamil Nadu to Salem, Tamil Nadu - Google Maps

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by cyberwhizs

Day 1: Mumbai - Hubli (or Davengere) - NH4 - budgeted - 10 hours
Day 2: Hubli (Davengere) - Bangalore - NH4 budgeted - 5 hours
Day 3: Bangalore - Salem - CBE - Trissur - Guruvayur - NH7, NH47 - budgeted 10 hours
Day 4: Guruvayur - Somewhere in Wayanad - budgeted - 4 hours
Day 5: Wayanad - Bangalore budgeted - 7 hours
Day 6: Bangalore
Day 7: Bangalore Mumbai - NH4 - budgeted - 15-16 hours

I drive sedately 90/100 kmph, have previously driven long distances i.e. 700+km/day but frankly havent ever attempted a 7 day driveathon. So am a bit apprehensive.

Few questions
1. What would be the best way to cover this route with minimal stress, does it make sense to drive directly from hubli(davengere) to guruvayur or dump wayand all together and settle for something enroute.
2. Since this drive is likely to cover four states, is there anything specific i need to be aware of esp related checkposts and associated nuisance if any. It is a private vehicle so i guess there aren't any specific taxes/permits in TN & Kerala
3. Have access to an indica-diesal and a fiesta-petrol, considering the road conditions wondering which one should i should take along this time.

Appreciate your inputs.

IMO,Hubli is too early for you to take your 1st day's break.If you leave early around 5am from Mumbai,you could easily make it to Bangalore on Day1 by 7pm.This would save 2 days for you(no stay on day 2 and no stay in hubli in day1)Hubli-GVR in one stretch is going to be tiring.

Day 2,you could do Blore-GVR via Salem-Coimbatore-Palakkad-Ottapalam-Shornur-Pattambi-Guruvayur.(10hr drive).Do not take nh47 between vadakkenchery & thrissur-bad condition of roads.

Like Ampere,says,you could drive back to Bangalore via Wayanad.GVR-Wayanad is a 6hour drive given the road conditions.Stay in vythiri plenty of good hotels and resorts and the place is green after all the rains.

You could do Wayanad-Hubli in one day either via Bangalore-Tumkur-Davangere or via Hassan depending on what time you leave wayanad.If you leave around 7am,you would be in bangalore by 12-1 in the afternoon and from thereon to hubli is a breeze on the 4laned nh4.This way it would reduce your drive time on day 2,

[cyberwhizs]

@ampere, @ranjithp1. Thanks. Appreciate your inputs.


Just want to reconfirm, doing a early start from mumbai i.e. 5am, can get to bangalore in around 14 - 15 hours i.e. 7pm. The roads upto kolhapur have a lot of traffic esp two wheeler and higher speeds are simply not possible, during my last few attempts driving through pune, satara stretch consumed quite a bit of time, could barely average 55kmph in that section. My indica takes a while to accelerate and that slows down progress esp when driving uphill or weaving through a line of trucks.

As suggested will take blr - salem - cbe - pallakad - ottapalam-shornur-pattambi route.

I think i will head to ooty this time from guruvayur and leave wayand for some other time.



Thanks!

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by cyberwhizs

@ampere, @ranjithp1. Thanks. Appreciate your inputs.


Just want to reconfirm, doing a early start from mumbai i.e. 5am, can get to bangalore in around 14 - 15 hours i.e. 7pm. The roads upto kolhapur have a lot of traffic esp two wheeler and higher speeds are simply not possible, during my last few attempts driving through pune, satara stretch consumed quite a bit of time, could barely average 55kmph in that section. My indica takes a while to accelerate and that slows down progress esp when driving uphill or weaving through a line of trucks.

As suggested will take blr - salem - cbe - pallakad - ottapalam-shornur-pattambi route.

I think i will head to ooty this time from guruvayur and leave wayand for some other time.



Thanks!

That is precisely the reason why you need to leave mumbai as early as possible to beat the local mh12/13 traffic between pune & kolhapur,with a 5am start you should be easily able to reach bangalore by sundown.once you cross kolhapur,the traffic reduces drastically.

If you are intending to do ooty,,take guruvayur-kecheri-parlikad-kumblangad-wadakancheri-shoranur-ottapalam-palakkad-coimbatore(do not take the L&T bypass after walayar)-ukkadam-mettupalayam road-mettupalayam-coonoor-ooty.Would be a 5-6hour drive depending on the time of your drive.

Guruvayoor, Kerala to Ooty, Tamil Nadu - Google Maps

[ampere]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

That is precisely the reason why you need to leave mumbai as early as possible to beat the local mh12/13 traffic between pune & kolhapur,with a 5am start you should be easily able to reach bangalore by sundown.once you cross kolhapur,the traffic reduces drastically.

If you are intending to do ooty,,take guruvayur-kecheri-parlikad-kumblangad-wadakancheri-shoranur-ottapalam-palakkad-coimbatore(do not take the L&T bypass after walayar)-ukkadam-mettupalayam road-mettupalayam-coonoor-ooty.Would be a 5-6hour drive depending on the time of your drive.

How about:
Kecheri-Kuttipuram-Kottakkal-Malapuram-Edavanna-Nilambur-Gudalur-Ooty?
How is the status of Nadugani ghats? If good, traffic would be easier.