[kala]

Originally Posted by sbraj

I am not that familiar with the towns, hence the following question.

Google maps show two Wadakkancherry towns - one between Shoranur and Thrissur and other between Alathur and Pattikad.

Is it a mistake or are there really two towns with the same name? Which one is on the route to GVR?

I know that there is a railway station named Wadakkanchery before Thrissur station.

Originally Posted by ampere

I also know only one and that is the one which you mentioned about (where we have the railway station on the mainline. Not sure of the other.

Yes there are indeed two towns with the same name, and that too not too far from each other. Both of them are spelt in English as "Wadakkancherry" (or sometimes "Vadakkancherry"), so it is very easy to get confused between the two places.

But in Malayalam these are spelt and pronounced differently, the one on the Shoranur - Trichur route is pronounced Wadakkaancherry (with a longer "aa") whereas the second one on NH47 between Trichur and Palghat is pronounced Wadakkancherry (shorter syllable "kka").

[sbraj]

Originally Posted by kala

Yes there are indeed two towns with the same name, and that too not too far from each other. Both of them are spelt in English as "Wadakkancherry" (or sometimes "Vadakkancherry"), so it is very easy to get confused between the two places.

But in Malayalam these are spelt and pronounced differently, the one on the Shoranur - Trichur route is pronounced Wadakkaancherry (with a longer "aa") whereas the second one on NH47 between Trichur and Palghat is pronounced Wadakkancherry (shorter syllable "kka").

Thanks for clarifying.

Any idea on the road condition between Shoranur-Wadakkaancherry-Kunnamkulam stretch?

[kala]

Originally Posted by sbraj

Any idea on the road condition between Shoranur-Wadakkaancherry-Kunnamkulam stretch?

Sorry, I haven't travelled through that road in a very very long time, so no first hand information about the road conditions (Though I recall reading messages here which indicate that the road is in pretty decent shape)

[srinath34]

Hey guys,

Planning a Sankaranthi weekend trip to Guruvayoor. was contemplating on using the Mysore-Najangud-Wayanad-Calicut route to Guruvayoor this time because I feel its shorter in distance compared to the usual Salem-Coimbatore-Palakkad route.

Any idea on how is the road condition in the Wayanad side after the recent rains that lashed Kerala?

Tentatively planned to leave on Thursday/Friday morning at around 0430 hrs and hope to be in Guruvayoor around afternoon. Return to Blore on Monday night after a weekend stay at Nemmare, Palakkad for a 'CAR' festival.

Anyone who has done a trip there this month can drop in their views.

Thanks

[kala]

Originally Posted by srinath34

Hey guys,

Planning a Sankaranthi weekend trip to Guruvayoor. was contemplating on using the Mysore-Najangud-Wayanad-Calicut route to Guruvayoor this time because I feel its shorter in distance compared to the usual Salem-Coimbatore-Palakkad route.

Any idea on how is the road condition in the Wayanad side after the recent rains that lashed Kerala?

Tentatively planned to leave on Thursday/Friday morning at around 0430 hrs and hope to be in Guruvayoor around afternoon. Return to Blore on Monday night after a weekend stay at Nemmare, Palakkad for a 'CAR' festival.

Anyone who has done a trip there this month can drop in their views

Yes, going via Salem would certainly be much longer (Around 500 kms), but I don't think going via Calicut is the shortest either - the best would be to go via Nilambur.

The shortest option would be Mysore-Gudalur-Nilambur-Perinthalmanna-Pattambi-Perumbilavu-Kunnamkulam-Guruvayoor ( < 400 kms ), but I'm not very sure about the road conditions between Nilambur and Perumbilavu via Perinthalmanna. An alternate route that is known to have good roads is Nilambur-Manjeri-Malappuram-Edappal-Perumbilavu-Kunnamkulam-Guruvayur (or even NH17 from Edappal onwards : Edappal-Ponnani-Chavakkad-Guruvayoor). Either of these routes would be about 15 to 25 kms longer than going via Perinthalmanna, but still much shorter than the Salem or the Calicut route.

[ampere]

What I heard last was that roads from Pattambi to Perinthalmanna were in very bad state. So if there is a workaround on that sector beyond Nilambur, it would be a good option.

[Rajesh K R]

Originally Posted by srinath34

Hey guys,

Planning a Sankaranthi weekend trip to Guruvayoor. was contemplating on using the Mysore-Najangud-Wayanad-Calicut route to Guruvayoor this time because I feel its shorter in distance compared to the usual Salem-Coimbatore-Palakkad route.

Any idea on how is the road condition in the Wayanad side after the recent rains that lashed Kerala?

Tentatively planned to leave on Thursday/Friday morning at around 0430 hrs and hope to be in Guruvayoor around afternoon. Return to Blore on Monday night after a weekend stay at Nemmare, Palakkad for a 'CAR' festival.

Anyone who has done a trip there this month can drop in their views.

Thanks

You can plan to go via BLR-Mys-Nilambur-Manjeri-Malappuram-Kottakkal-Edappal-Guruvayur.

I drove from GVR to BLR on this route on 1st Jan and the roads are pretty decent.

Originally Posted by ampere

What I heard last was that roads from Pattambi to Perinthalmanna were in very bad state. So if there is a workaround on that sector beyond Nilambur, it would be a good option.

I also heard the same and changed my route from GVR to BLR via Edappal-Kottakkal-Malappuram-Nilambur-MYS-BLR

[srinath34]

I am back after my trip to Guruvayoor and took the route suggested by fellow bhpians Rajesh K R and kala. Must say that its indeed shorter than the Salem-Palakkad and Calicut routes. The only sore stretch of road is the hairpin ghat section after Wayanad. Horrible condition. NH 17 is just a smooth run. While returning back to Blore took the Salem route as I stayed back in Coimbatore to avoid night driving. The fuel hike that took place during my trip played some spoilsport but saved close to Rs 4/lt (Rs 61.81/lt in Palakkad & 65.xx in Blore)

[kala]

Originally Posted by srinath34

I am back after my trip to Guruvayoor and took the route suggested by fellow bhpians Rajesh K R and kala. Must say that its indeed shorter than the Salem-Palakkad and Calicut routes. The only sore stretch of road is the hairpin ghat section after Wayanad. Horrible condition.

Which hairpin section are you talking about ? Naadugani-Nilambur ? Or did you take the Wayanad route and go via Thamarassery ? (The route me and Rajesh had suggested doesn't go through Wayanad)

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by kala

Yes there are indeed two towns with the same name, and that too not too far from each other. Both of them are spelt in English as "Wadakkancherry" (or sometimes "Vadakkancherry"), so it is very easy to get confused between the two places.

But in Malayalam these are spelt and pronounced differently, the one on the Shoranur - Trichur route is pronounced Wadakkaancherry (with a longer "aa") whereas the second one on NH47 between Trichur and Palghat is pronounced Wadakkancherry (shorter syllable "kka").

The one on the Thrissur-Shoranur route is called Wadakancherry

The one on NH47 between Alathur & Thrissur is Vadakkencheri.

A difference of A & E.

As for the route from Shoranur to Guruvayur via Wadakkanchery,the route is as follows:

Shoranur-Cheruthuruthy-Vazhakode(T Junction where left goes to Chelakara-Pazhyannur and Right goes to Thrissur)-Ottupara.

At Ottupara straight goes to Wadakancheri-Thrissur whereas the right goes to Kunnamkulam via Kanjirakode-Kundannur-Mangad-Nelluvai(place of the famous Dhanwanthari temple)-Kunnamkulam.

From Kunnamkulam,its a straight forward road to GVR.This route is a much better alternative to the Pattambi road which is perrennially bad.Plus one is the fact that this is a very scenic route to Kunnamkulam with sparse traffic.My house apparently falls on this route

[sbraj]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

This route is a much better alternative to the Pattambi road which is perrennially bad.Plus one is the fact that this is a very scenic route to Kunnamkulam with sparse traffic.

Ranjit, thanks for the detailed description. It helps a lot.

[ampere]

Ranjit,

The route you suggested, is the even I was aware of. But I noticed another option which takes though the highway on Trichur and then cuts across to meet the Trchur-GVR route at "Kecheri". And then via the famous Choondal route, one can reach GVR. How is this as an option? I remember and me and @Raj discussing about it, but I had no answer.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by ampere

Ranjit,

The route you suggested, is the even I was aware of. But I noticed another option which takes though the highway on Trichur and then cuts across to meet the Trchur-GVR route at "Kecheri". And then via the famous Choondal route, one can reach GVR. How is this as an option? I remember and me and @Raj discussing about it, but I had no answer.

Not a preferred route IMO for the following reasons:

Coming from Shoranur side,there are two railway gates that you need to negotiate(one at Wadakkancheri and the next one at a place called Parlikkad after WKI railway station) and chances are very high that you would get caught on any one of them if not both(this being the main rail-line connecting Kerala with the rest of the country).

Secondly the Veloor-Kechery route (the one that you are discussing)is in a state of neglect for most parts of the year primarily due to the reason that this is not a high traffic density route and even private buses do not ply much on this route as compared to other routes.

[ampere]

Thanks Ranjit. @raj, there is the answer we were looking for.
Looks like its not worth taking the connect to Choondal.
Better to go to Kunnankulam.

[srinath34]

Originally Posted by kala

Which hairpin section are you talking about ? Naadugani-Nilambur ? Or did you take the Wayanad route and go via Thamarassery ? (The route me and Rajesh had suggested doesn't go through Wayanad)

Oops....I did go to Sulthan Bathery and Wayanad which took up some time because of those hairpins. How could one avoid Wayanad stretch? Does one need to go to Gudalur and then to Nilambur?

I took this route: Blore-Mysore-Nanjangud-Sulthan Bathery-Wayanad-Kottakal-NH17 bypass to Ponnani-Edappal-Chavakkad-Guruvayur. Left at 0430 hours and reached Guruvayoor at 2000 hours. Stopped over at Kadampuzha and Ponnani for temple visit. So basically took 10 hours for Blore to Kerala.