[tharian]

Did Bangalore-Mysore- Calicut on 26th afternoon and returned on 28th.

Took 9 hrs on both ways with breaks and all added.
Traffic was not as bad as expected and since Kerala sleeps early, for the first time I could cross all towns in Wyanad quite fast.

I was in two minds whether to take the Malvalli route or Mysore route and decided on Mysore route for the eateries.
Mysore to Nanjangud had good amount of traffic on both directions and some parts of the road are rough.

Reached forest check post at 8 pm and then started the speed breakers. Ended up jumping one of it since I saw it too late in the dark. It was quite an impact and luckily no damages except for a broken mobile phone holder. After which I decided to follow a KSRTC till the end of the forest.

This was one of my few night drives and I enjoyed it quite a bit since unlike the day, you know if there is a vehicle approaching on a curve or crest and overtaking can be done more confidently.
There was a jam on the ghats since a bus had hit the rocks on the side while taking the hairpin curve which resulted in other vehicles having to reverse two or three times to take the same curve. We were stuck for almost half hour due to this.
Adivaram to Calicut was a breeze. This was always the best stretch of the full journey. Well paved road, lots of curves and crests and being late in the night made it even better due to lack of other smaller vehicles.

Return was on a Sunday due to which traffic was on the lower side. There is a good restaurant called White House just before Adivaram. Clean and lots of parking space and real good food.
Again lots of Sunday traffic between the forest and Mysore especially in the opposite direction . Mysore to Bangalore was better than I expected since traffic was low even while entering Bangalore . Took 3 hours from Kamat on Nanjangud road to Bangalore East.

[mpksuhas]

Calicut - Batthery is turning out to be big pain with each passing trip. First the traffic as such has increased over the years, add to that the hooligan tourist traffic.

Last time I was stuck near 6th haripin bend on way back to Bangalore after an afternoon start from Calicut. Though the pile up was due to a truck with a tyre burst the issue was compounded by people breaking the queue and driving up to the truck causing hindrance for oncoming vehicles.

This time on 28th Dec, decided to start early from Calicut to beat Mysore Bangalore weekend traffic. Had a relatively peaceful drive till ghats since it was Sunday morning (10.30 AM start). However there were bunch of suicidal bikers overtaking from left, stopping abruptly for capturing pics and all.

Then near Chundail junction, a bunch of bikers were taking right towards Suchipara road when one of them who was tailgating me overtakes me from left and stops suddenly in front of me cutting to right to join his co-riders. Luckily I was driving slow (~30) since it was a junction, still hit the bikers mud guard though I braked hard. Impact was less thankfully and all that I suffered is a dent on number plate.

However, while one biker was overtaking from left another of his co-rider decides to overtake from right between my vehicle and an oncoming bus. This guy was not able to brake on time and ended up hitting my rear bumper and ended up falling on to the bus after that. Again, bus was nearing bus stop, hence slow and braked on time.

Hope this incident has driven some sense to the non- helmeted heads of the bikers.

This incident apart, we were able to do Calicut Civil Station - Batthery KSRTC stand turn off in around 2.40 hours. Which is somewhat similar to what KSRTC buses used to take some 15 years back.

Compared to the time some of my friends took this looks very fast -

Batthery - Calicut -
26 Dec evening - 6 hours.
28 Dec evening - 4 hours.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by kala

Just outside the forest on the Kerala side ? If that is the one you are referring to, they are more or less a permanent fixture between Bathery and Muthanga (and sometimes between Bathery and Kalpetta).

But I don't think they are equipped with speed checking equipment - more into checking of papers.

No, this was just outside the forest on the Karnataka side. Next to the semi-permanent outpost with barricades that has been there for some time now. When I drove, saw a highway patrol parked there. As you mentioned, looked to be a paper check.

Also, cross posting an update on the Tirur Calicut stretch via Kadalundi here from the kerala thread as I assume it will help followers of this thread more.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post3612408

[binand]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Calicut - Batthery is turning out to be big pain with each passing trip. Calicut Civil Station - Batthery KSRTC stand turn off in around 2.40 hours.

I start very early from Calicut (between 4 and 5 AM) and reach Bathery in 2h - 2h15min. Just in time for the forest road to open and the overnight accumulated traffic to clear.

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

On a related note forgot to mention, there was a highway patrol just outside the forest when I drove on 24th. They had stopped a bunch of bikers ( I think most were the over speeding helmetless joy riders from bathery side) .

That should be the KILO 6, which is based at Meenangadi and may be covering the sector between Meenangadi and Muthanga (Kerala border). Kerala Highway Patrols do NOT have speed checking equipments. But they do have alco-meters to check drunken driving. Infact one of their main agenda is to book drunk drivers.

[singleton]

I am driving down to Calicut tomorrow, planning to do an early morning start ~4am from Rammurthy Nagar and hoping to reach Calicut ~12pm. Most probably will stick to the regular route (Mysore-Gundalpet) since I am not very familiar with the Kanakpura route.

Will be travelling back on Sunday. Anyone else going this weekend ?

[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by singleton

I am driving down to Calicut tomorrow, planning to do an early morning start ~4am from Rammurthy Nagar and hoping to reach Calicut ~12pm. Most probably will stick to the regular route (Mysore-Gundalpet) since I am not very familiar with the Kanakpura route.

Since there is a diversion in place due to bridge closure, it is good that you avoided Kanakpura route.

Though a longer route, it is best to take Silk board - NICE road - Mysore road (Kengeri) exit and continue on SH 17. This will help you in saving time. With a 04.00 AM start you can expect to reach Calicut around 11.00 AM.

Do keep an eye for speed breakers converted in to potholes between Gundulpet and Bandipur forest, they are present almost at all village start and end sections. Some of them are filled with mud, some not.

[anish5225]

I am also taking the same route tomorrow morning :-)

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by kala

During my trip this weekend, I tried the route that @redrage had discovered last week. On my way towards Wayanad, I went via Sosale-T.Narsipur, and during the return journey came back via Talakad. Observations :

1) Both routes (the one via Sosale and the one via Talakad) take more or less the same amount of time though the route via Sosale is about 7-8 kms shorter.

2) The road from Malavalli till Purigaali on the Belakavadi-T.Narsipur road via Marehalli lake is quite good with almost no bad stretches barring the occasional small crater. So definitely better than the one that I had taken earlier (the one that takes off from NH209 about 2 kms south of Malavalli) which has about 4 kms of broken roads. But it is slightly more curvy, so takes the same abount of time overall.

3) The bad stretches that @redrage had reported are all after you take the right turn at Purigaali towards Sosale. So if you take the Talakad option (my return route) you have hardly any bad road from Malavalli till Chamarajnagar.

Since the driving time is almost the same, I felt it is better to use the route via Talakad in spite of it being longer because of the better road conditions. Here is the Google maps link to this recommended route : https://goo.gl/maps/q9Btn . My driving time was approximately 1 hr 12 minutes for 76 kms from CR Nagar to Malavalli

Note : The stretch between Muguru and Santhamarahalli (The road connecting NH212 and NH209) is undergoing some re-laying / widening. Hope they don't dig up the road completely like what they have done on the Malavalli-Bannur-Mysore road. As of today they were working only on one half of the road, so the other half was perfectly usable.

Thank you for the detailed notes. Was extremely useful during my return trip from Calicut Yesterday. I had initially planned to go via Mysore, but while approaching Gundlepet, just thinking about crossing Mandya, Channapatna, Ramanagara made me feel tired and hence decided to try this route.

But I still made a small mistake. After taking the left from Talakkad, at the next T-Junction, instead of taking left towards Purigali and then the right to hit the road that ends up Malavalli via the lake, I took a right and then a left to land up at NH209 2 km before the T-Junction. I think this is the route you had initially written about with 3-4 km of bad roads. But as you said, apart from the 3-4 km of bad roads, this route was also pretty good.

Overall, was pretty impressed with the route, I was expecting good but narrow roads throughout but was surprised to see that the quality and road width was similar to the Yelandur-Kollegala-Malavalli route (apart from the stretch from NH 209 to Talakkad)

In fact felt this route was better than the regular one as it avoids Yelandur and Kollegala and also the narrow stretches through the villages and also the narrow bridge before Kollegala.


On the down side, was really worried about getting stuck due to some reason especially between Talakkad and Malavalli. Felt deep inside the countryside and mostly deserted.

Other updates- Tarring was happening in 3-4 stretches on the Gundlepet-CH Nagar route. Hopefully this stretch will be smooth soon. Also got delayed in Ch.Nagar for around 30 min due to a temple festival. Had to take a left from the signal after Bus Stand and struggled to get out of Ch Nagar via some narrow crowded roads.

[Napo]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Calicut - Batthery is turning out to be big pain with each passing trip. First the traffic as such has increased over the years, add to that the hooligan tourist traffic.

Passing Kalpetta is easy these days , thanks for the bye pass. But the one-way in Batthery is of no much help during peak hours.

[FuelInjector]

Travelled to calicut yesterday without reading this thread. Big mistake. So when I reached the bridge before kollegal, was in for a rude shock. Someone guided me to talakkad. Took reverse and drove straight to talakkad. From there reached the left just before narasipura. Took it straight to join nh209 before chamrajnagar.

On my return planning to take Mysore road.

Cheers

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by FuelInjector

Travelled to calicut yesterday without reading this thread. Big mistake. So when I reached the bridge before kollegal, was in for a rude shock. Someone guided me to talakkad. Took reverse and drove straight to talakkad. From there reached the left just before narasipura. Took it straight to join nh209 before chamrajnagar.

On my return planning to take Mysore road.

Cheers

Which route did you take to talakad? The right turn just before the blocked bridge? If so how is the road condition up to talakad?

[NPV]

Originally Posted by FuelInjector

On my return planning to take Mysore road.

Oops I thought you were aware of the bridge closure, it's being discussed in few threads since a month or so.
If you're returning with family suggest you start early and take Mysore Road.

[ortopilot]

Hi Team,

I have to drive down to Calicut on Feb 8th Sunday but unfortunately have quite a few constraints

1) Departure - Earliest Koramangala 6.00 PM
2) Arrival - Before 4.00 AM (preferably 3) at Calicut

This obviously throws the regular route out the window, which alternate route do I take and by when can I reach Calicut?

I drive a bolero and am very comfortable driving ghat's at night (from Kanjirapally, Kerala )

[ampere]

Originally Posted by ortopilot

Hi Team,

I have to drive down to Calicut on Feb 8th Sunday but unfortunately have quite a few constraints

1) Departure - Earliest Koramangala 6.00 PM
2) Arrival - Before 4.00 AM (preferably 3) at Calicut

The Waynad side of Ghat roads are closed for night. You will have to find an alternate (longer) route.