[sun_king]

Went to Calicut on Saturday and came back on Sunday. Took the Kanakapura-Kollegal-Chamarajnagar-S Bathery route both times. Drives were uneventful. TN registered vehicles were conspicuous by their absence in the Karnataka side of the border.

To Calicut: Joined Kanakapura Road from NICE exit at around 5:30 AM and reached Gundlupet by 8:30, wife took over the wheels and cruised through Bandipur and Muthanga at a very sedate pace. Was in Sultan Bathery by just before 12, stopped at a friend's place for about an hour and reached Calicut by 3:00 PM. The ghat section had no blocks, the only crawl was just before the Pookote lake turnoffs where police were in control.

To Bangalore: Left Calicut at 2:00 PM, stopped for lunch after Koduvalli and cleared the ghat section by 4:15. Despite drizzles and heavy fog, the much dreaded ghat nightmare were not there. Reached Gundlupet by 7:30, the Chamarajnagar-Kollegal route was practically deserted. Traffic picked up only after Kanakapura and we were at NICE road entry by 10:15 PM.

Road conditions are fairly good all the way except for a few patches near Terakanambi where work is still in progress. Lots of police chicanes on the way for speed control near towns and villages but nothing scary. If the road conditions are the same, would prefer this route any day over Mysore-Mandya-Ramanagaram to reach Bangalore.

[MinivanDriver]

Due to the Cauvery issue, I might be forced to take the Mysore, Sulthan Bathery route from Bangalore for my drive to central Kerala (Cochin / Kottayam TBD). I would be driving this route for the first time. Could fellow bhpians share some recommendations for family friendly restaurants serving good Kerala food at reasonable prices at a few en route towns like Sulthan Bathery, Kunnamangalam etc? Also google is routing via Parappanangadi, Tanur, Tirur, Ponnani, Chavakkad, Kodungalloor and Paravur. Are the road conditions good? Appreciate suggestions for restaurants along this route as well.

[binand]

Originally Posted by MinivanDriver

Could fellow bhpians share some recommendations for family friendly restaurants serving good Kerala food at reasonable prices at a few en route towns like Sulthan Bathery, Kunnamangalam etc?

Bathery town has Mint Flower. I have seen a few new restaurants that I have not tried yet, on Kalpetta bypass - these have interesting names and frontages at least. Once you are near Thamarassery there is one called Whitehorse or Whitefield or some such (large parking area with generally a white motif; can't miss it) which the one time I tried, served pretty good food.

In general on NH 212 once you enter Kerala has a reasonable restaurant every half a dozen kilometres or so.

Once you are in Calicut of course, you are in the culinary capital of Malabar.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by MinivanDriver

Due to the Cauvery issue, I might be forced to take the Mysore, Sulthan Bathery route from Bangalore for my drive to central Kerala (Cochin / Kottayam TBD). I would be driving this route for the first time. Could fellow bhpians share some recommendations for family friendly restaurants serving good Kerala food at reasonable prices at a few en route towns like Sulthan Bathery, Kunnamangalam etc? Also google is routing via Parappanangadi, Tanur, Tirur, Ponnani, Chavakkad, Kodungalloor and Paravur. Are the road conditions good? Appreciate suggestions for restaurants along this route as well.

Some recommendations

• No good stop for Kerala food before Sultan Bathery. Gundlepet has a coffee day and couple of other half decent places to mitigate hunger
  
• Bathery: Hotel Jubilee in the town itself, Hotel Wilton as you exit Bathery.
  
• Few smaller places between Bathery and Kalpetta
  
• Woodlands in Kalpetta.
  
• Whitehouse 2-3 km after you get down the Wayanad Churam.
  
• Calicut of course has tons of places. Typically you would go via the Calicut bypass, which in itself is a long food court. If you get into the City many more options like Paragon.
  
• No specific place to recommend Calicut-Parappanangadi-Tirur-Ponnani-Chavakkad. I would recommend taking Calicut-Kottakkal-Kuttipuram-Kunnamkulam-Chavakkad - Kodungalloor-Paravoor or bypass Kunamkulam and join back to NH 47 or even Kuttipuram-Ponnani-Chavakkad and then on. All routes in general will take the same time.

Road conditions should be very good for most part (at least till Kunnamkulam/Chavakkad I know for sure), but expect heavy traffic from Bathery onwards all the way to your destination. So going to be a tiring drive.

Since there has been a verdict to release water today, keep a tab on the news. If water is actually released, expect blockages in the Bangalore Mysore Highway.

[arjithin]

Planning to go to Kozhikode on next weekend after a long gap of 6 months !! Starting around 330 pm on Oct 7th from Whitefield and return on Tuesday afternoon.

Which route is better?
1. Malavalli - Bannur - Mysore - Gundlupet
2. Malavalli - bannur - T narasipura - nanjangudu - Gundlupet
3. Malavalli - ch. Nagar - Gundlupet

Planning to carry dinner, so that's not an issue.

[arjithin]

Bump !! A long silence is not normal in this thread !!

Originally Posted by arjithin

Planning to go to Kozhikode on next weekend after a long gap of 6 months !! Starting around 330 pm on Oct 7th from Whitefield and return on Tuesday afternoon.

Which route is better?
1. Malavalli - Bannur - Mysore - Gundlupet
2. Malavalli - bannur - T narasipura - nanjangudu - Gundlupet
3. Malavalli - ch. Nagar - Gundlupet

Planning to carry dinner, so that's not an issue.

[SunnyBoi]

Originally Posted by arjithin

Bump !! A long silence is not normal in this thread !!

The safest route is Blore - CR Patna - Hunsur - Gonikoppa -Kutta - Manathavady - Calicut. THis way you avoid all dams, rivers and potential block points.

The road at Nanjangud was blocked yesterday because of the agitation and I have strong reason to believe it will be blocked for few more days to come.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by arjithin

Planning to go to Kozhikode on next weekend after a long gap of 6 months !! Starting around 330 pm on Oct 7th from Whitefield and return on Tuesday afternoon.

Which route is better?
1. Malavalli - Bannur - Mysore - Gundlupet
2. Malavalli - bannur - T narasipura - nanjangudu - Gundlupet
3. Malavalli - ch. Nagar - Gundlupet

Planning to carry dinner, so that's not an issue.

Had seen the post, planned to reply a little later and then forgot. . Among the three, the chamrajnagar gundlepet is probably the safest although there are bad patches between chnagar and Gundlepet. I would suggest leaving earlier than 3.30 to comfortably beat the forest closure. On a normal day it is ok. But with the holiday crowd and the fact that a lot of people headed to central and south Kerala are taking these routes to avoid TN, expect driving time to be more.

The suggestion from SunnyBoi is also a good one. If you take gonikoppal kutta manathavady, you don't need to worry about forest closure also.

[binand]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

I would suggest leaving earlier than 3.30 to comfortably beat the forest closure.

Indeed. One time I left at around that time and then it was a mad dash to cross the forest in time (reached border at around 8:45 PM, I think). In the afternoon of a working day, the road will be full of traffic that your movement will be quite restricted. All sorts of bikes, tractors, autos, buses, headload bearers etc. would hog the available space.

If you can't start earlier, I suggest you also have a plan B - maybe a list of places where you could put up overnight.

[tharian]

Does it make sense to use the Kanakapura - Kollegal - Gundlepet route compared to the Mysore - Nanjangud one on Saturday morning leaving around 6? Being Dasara and long weekend, I am expecting the worst.

I normally avoid long weekend trips just to avoid the highway traffic, but this time I am stuck.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by tharian

Does it make sense to use the Kanakapura - Kollegal - Gundlepet route compared to the Mysore - Nanjangud one on Saturday morning leaving around 6? Being Dasara and long weekend, I am expecting the worst.

I normally avoid long weekend trips just to avoid the highway traffic, but this time I am stuck.

Yes, your expectations are spot on. Will be a nightmare to take Mysore road with a 6am start. Take the Kanakpura route. Would recommend to try to start earlier. Even Kanakpura road may get busy after 6 since now a lot of people use this route.

[arjithin]

Originally Posted by tharian

Does it make sense to use the Kanakapura - Kollegal - Gundlepet route compared to the Mysore - Nanjangud one on Saturday morning leaving around 6? Being Dasara and long weekend, I am expecting the worst.

I normally avoid long weekend trips just to avoid the highway traffic, but this time I am stuck.

Ofcourse yes !!.
A colleague of mine took this route yesterday to CLT and he didnt report any road blocks. I am driving same route starting around 3 PM today, will update if any issues are there.

By the way, many cabs take the Kollegal - Bannur road now instead of SH17.

[A350XWB]

Originally Posted by tharian

Does it make sense to use the Kanakapura - Kollegal - Gundlepet route compared to the Mysore - Nanjangud one on Saturday morning leaving around 6? Being Dasara and long weekend, I am expecting the worst.

If you are planning to start at 6am, you'll have to face maddening crowd on Mysore road. There will be lot of jolly-riders also and you will have a tough time negotiating around them.

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Would recommend to try to start earlier. Even Kanakpura road may get busy after 6 since now a lot of people use this route.

Bingo. Long back, when I started to use this road, there was hardly any traffic, other than the local ones. But now a days, this road has also become crowded. Especially on a long weekend, I would recommend to start at least by 5am. I will be driving down to Kozhikkode tomorrow morning and I usually start at 4am.

[tharian]

Originally Posted by arjithin

Ofcourse yes !!.
A colleague of mine took this route yesterday to CLT and he didnt report any road blocks. I am driving same route starting around 3 PM today, will update if any issues are there.

Please update the road conditions too , so I am mentally prepared

Originally Posted by A350XWB

If you are planning to start at 6am, you'll have to face maddening crowd on Mysore road. There will be lot of jolly-riders also and you will have a tough time negotiating around them.

Especially on a long weekend, I would recommend to start at least by 5am. I will be driving down to Kozhikkode tomorrow morning and I usually start at 4am.

I would have started earlier around the same time as you if I was alone, but I am travelling with parents, so cannot push them for an earlier departure.

[arjithin]

Originally Posted by tharian

Please update the road conditions too , so I am mentally prepared

According to my colleague who travelled yesterday, every road is good except 2-3 km between Ch. Nagara and Gundlupet where road work is going on.

Looks like a team bhp meet can be organized tomorrow en route to CLT