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PUC paper is just one thing (which most people don't keep updated) they check. K.P has a routine that every station mobile has to be on the roads to check violations at certain times during the day. Traffic violations are not left to be detected by the Traffic Police or the Highway Police squads alone; but they also add to the fun. Being X'Mas etc. the police may be more worried about smuggled liquor or the more common occurences in Kerala - violating Sec 185 MV Act or 118(a) K.P Act :). From my own experiences. K.P have started ignorning KA registered cars etc., just for the reason of them being registered in KA. To be frank each and every police man would now at least have one friend working in Bangalore. If KA registered cars etc. get stopped it most probably would be for other reasons (probability of carrying liquor, pen vanibham etc.).

After X'Mas hols I had returned via the Dimbam Ghat, Chamrajnagar route. Did not notice any such boards other than the one at Kanakapura reminding people that this is a CCTV monitored town. I returned when some local elections were happening across Karnataka, which meant lesser police mobiles on patrol.

Returned to Bangalore from Calicut today via Gundlpet-Ch.Nagar-Kanakpura. Roadwork not completed in the ghat (No work happening during the day). But all the hairpins have got a thick layer of tar. So the drive is smooth. Just the final finishing touches pending.

Apart from that, uneventful. Started at 5.30am, hence was able to beat the Sunday rush. The local traffic between Ch.Nagar and Kollegala seems to have increased quite a bit. In addition some potholes/rough patches here and there. Got delayed due to traffic in Harohalli town and lost ~20 min in Kaggalipura (Between Kanakpura and Bangalore) as there was some rally/function happening.

Overall, felt this route is not as relaxing/stress free as it was before.

Anyone recently travelled to Calicut or Bangalore using the night route.

Bangalore-Mysore-Hunsur-Anechoukoor-Gonikoppal-Kutta-Kattikulam-Mananthavady-Panamaram-Kainatty-Kalpetta bypass-Lakkidi-Tamarassery-Kozhikode

I need to travel back to Bangalore from Calicut on Friday night. Is it ok to use this route or should i consider driving to Palakkad and then use the route via Salem. I plan to start by around 7 PM from Calicut. Thanks.

See this


Kalpetta- kutta was patchy in Dec.

I think the post that @arjithin has quoted is regarding the Kutta-Nagarahole-Hunsur route which is out of bounds between 6PM to 6AM.

The Gonikoppl-Hunsur section was done up about year back and should be in good condition. The questionable stretch would be Kutta-Gonikoppal which has never been all that great as far as road surfaces go. Kalpetta-Kutta is generally better maintained, and was in good shape till last October-November when I travelled that way last (Might have perhaps degraded after that since @arjithin reports it as being patchy)

There were some reports about some safety issues / robberies in the forest stretches in the Gonikoppal-Hunsur sector a few months back. Not sure if it is all sorted out now. For details / updates on current conditions you can check out the Kannur Route thread. (That sector is generally used by travellers from Bangalore to Kannur via Virajpet)

Gonikoppal-Kutta was completely relaid a year ago and is now in good condition

That gang was caught soon. News link here:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...w/48422415.cms
Have not seen anymore reports about theft/attacks since then.

Drove to Calicut this morning - 3:15 AM start, 12 noon arrival with about 1 hour of breaks. Drove via BM Road > Mysore-Mananthavady-Kalpetta > NH 212.

* The fuel retailers' strike made this trip a near disaster as I thought I'd be stranded here in KL. :-) Fortunately, COCOs and private sector weren't participating in the strike; found an open Reliance outlet near Kunnamangalam which was open.

* Has anyone heard about plans to widen KA SH 33 (Mysore-Bavali)? The sides of the road are being cleared of shrubs and trees and flattened; I also see construction equipment all the way till Handpost.

* Further, the road through forest had clear spaces on both sides; but this looked more like controlled incineration of dried leaves/branches etc. in preparation for the summer and not really a road widening effort.

* Quality of the road through Kattikulam-Mananthavady-Koyileri-Panamaram-Kambalakkadu is deteriorating; it is now bad enough for me to consider returning via Bathery.

* On the other hand, the churam is now in top-notch condition. In fact, the road from Kalpetta till Calicut is one smooth stretch with no blemishes.

* Lastly, pretty much all the speed breakers on the RGNP bypass between Antharasanthe-N. Belathur-Gundatur have been removed (2-3 still remain). Much easier to drive through now.

...and back. Returned (on a whim) via Mavoor-Arekkode-Nilambur-Gudalur-Gundlupet and then Nanjangud-Mysore-Bangalore. The overall route length is similar, but you are out of Kerala quicker if that matters to you (about 90 km to the KL-TN border from Calicut). The road condition is good, but I imagine daytime driving would be horrible due to innumerable small towns and narrow stretches.

Gundlupet-Nanjangud is arrow-straight, extremely wide, zero-speedbreakers road of near-runway quality, which is too much of a good thing to the average Indian driver, in my opinion. Nanjangud-Mysore is still work-in-progress, so driving progress was also very slow and irritating.

The last missing arc of the Mysore Ring Road (south-east, connecting NH 212 and Bannur Road) is now fully open to traffic. I didn't explicitly measure it, but I think the distance from NH 212 to NH 275 is about 16 km via the MRR which took me about 25 minutes, including waiting time at the Columbia Asia signal (which is the only signal on this route).

And the bit of news we have all been waiting for: the Gudalur-Theppakkadu section - in fact, all the way from Gudalur till the TN-KA border - has been completely relaid. Well, except for a short (about 500m) stretch about 5 km before Theppakkadu, where the surface will be of interlocking tiles and the work of laying them is in progress and is about 30% complete. There are a bunch of unmarked speedbreakers, but that is definitely preferable over the previous road!

Thats indeed a real good news. Thanks for sharing

Are the barricade kind speed barriers still there? Found many of them a couple of months ago.

This will be my preferred route henceforth. But the usual breakfast stop at Kamat Madhuvan will have to be reworked.
Be careful with speeds in the ORR. The limit is 60 kmph between Bannur road junction and columbia asia signal. I was caught once there and was fined. I was doing 85kmph when I saw the interceptor. The challan was mailed to my home in Bangalore a couple of months later. Had to rely on a friend in Mysore to pay the fine.

That's indeed great news. clap: . My drives to Tirur will be through this route now onwards. Also, the Gudalur route to Ooty also becomes totally smooth. The naduvattom ghat section also was asphalted recently I heard. I am going to ooty this weekend and will be taking this route on the return journey. Will see how far that 500 metre stretch is completed by then.

Too few and far between. The number of people doing 120+ speeds and overtaking dangerously was quite shocking.

Yep, I did the 16 km MRR stretch in 25 mins (~40 kmph) staying within the posted limit. One reason is that Google Maps is still not updated, so it asked me to turn off the MRR at the junction with NH 212. I could see the road fine going ahead, but I have also had some bad experiences in the past with the MRR (the western half) so spent a few minutes thinking it through. Then I saw a Sumo going ahead and followed him. :-).

Note that the TN section from Nadugani junction till the TN-KL border has some bad spots; but once you cross into Kerala it is great road throughout.

There is a Rs. 20 toll for the Nadugani-Vazhikkadavu road.

Guys, need to a do a Bangalore - calicut drive coming week. This is my very first time in this route. Cos being from TVM, never had to drive via calicut. Would love to experience the very famous thamarasseri churam :D. So after reading the posts, this is route I planned to take

Electronic city> Nice road> kanakapura> Nanjanagudu> gundlupete> bathery> kalpetta> thamarasseri> calicut

So guys pls suggest if this is a good route considering the following
1. fairly good roads
2. Traffic
3. fooding options
4. safety (day time with family)
5. scenic
6. and finally driving pleasure

The plan is to start at 5am from bangalore and reach calicut by afternoon. Travelling time is not much of an issue, except for my 6yr old getting cranky with time, which means would like to do it in 7-8hrs with the food break.

FundaG

Slight error in the route. If you go via Kanakpura, you do not go to Nanjangud. Your route should be

Electronic city> Nice road> Mysore> Nanjanagudu> gundlupete> bathery> kalpetta> thamarasseri> calicut

Roads are good apart from some roadwork between Mysore and Nanjangud. But completely 2 lane from Mysore and expect fair amount of traffic once you cross Bathery. The drive through the Bandipur Forest is always good. But with summer starting, it will be very dry and don't expect it to be very scenic.

With a 5am start, Mysore will be a good place to stop for Breakfast. Plenty of options.

Gundlepet has a Cafe Coffee day and a couple of places opposite to that. Very average food, but decent enough for a rest room break. Nothing once you leave Gundlepet almost till Bathery. Post that plenty of places at frequent intervals. Mintflower in Bathery, Woodlands in Kalpetta are couple that I frequent.

Since it's your first time, I suggest to take the Mysore route. With 5 am start, you can skip most of Mysore traffic and plan to have your breakfast around Mysore.

The Kanakapura route don't have much food options until you reach Gundlupet (which is 3.5 -4 hrs away from Ecity) and chances you loosing your way is high (Google maps will certainly help).

With all your constraints, I suggest you should stick to the "normal" route of Bangalore-Ramanagara-Mandya-Mysore-Nanjangud-Gundlupet-Sulthan Bathery-Kalpetta-Thamarassery-Calicut. The roads are great except for some stretches between Mysore and Nanjangud where widening is happening, and there are food options galore except when you are inside the WLS.

7 hours with food break could be a challenge, but please drive safely. This is an extremely high traffic density route through some important towns both in KA and KL; the distance from E-city to Calicut (bypass junction) would be about 350 km. You'll need to budget an hour for food stops. I start from Marathahalli (370 km) and my usual time is 9 hours with breaks.