[rjstyles69]

Originally Posted by ampere

The other point is you are starting at 12 noon. Be sure about forest entry times. Not sure if night restrictions are still on. I know you should be able to cover by that time, but still worth keeping tabs on.

Muthanga is closed between 9pm and 6am. Am sure he's not gonna be crawling all the way to take 9 hours to reach the muthanga check-post .

[bijuks]

@rjstyles69, @jeeva and @ampere - Thank you all for the tips/suggestions.

Hoping to cover the distance in some 5hrs. Will update after the trip.

[jeevmenon]

Bangalore-Calicut - 5 hrs? Wow!

[kala]

Originally Posted by jeevmenon

Bangalore-Calicut - 5 hrs? Wow!

I'm sure he meant 5 hours for the stretch to the forest It'll probably take him an hour to get to Kengeri from Marathahalli at noon !

From there to Gundlupet is easily doable in less than 3 hours..

[bijuks]

Did this trip last thursday (9th Sep).

Updates on timing:
1. Started at 11:30am from marathahalli.
2. Took 30 mins break at McDonalds in Mysore road - Service quality is poor - food quality also was bad compared to other outlets in BLR.
3. Crossed Mysore by 2:45pm
4. As informed by BHPians, next 20Km was in bad shape. Could do 60km/hr.
5. After Gundalpet, around 5kms - there were potholes.
6. Just in to the forest also, potholes - but, they are filling it right now - work is going on.
7. Got traffic block in Sulthan Bathery town.
8. Got traffic block in Kalpetta town too (this was unexpected).
9. Reached Calicut (Med.College Jn.) at 7:15pm.

Over-all 7:45Hrs from Bangalore to Calicut. Roads in kerala also has occassional potholes and some bad stretches. Thamarassery hair-pin bends are in very very bad shape. All stones visible on the road.

(5Hrs plan was till Kalpetta)

[vinay.pillai]

Hi Biju,
How much distance you traveled from Marathalli, Bangalore till Calicut (as per your speedometer).

[bijuks]

Originally Posted by vinay.pillai

Hi Biju,
How much distance you traveled from Marathalli, Bangalore till Calicut (as per your speedometer).

Didn't note the distance. I travelled again from Calicult next day and when I reached Vatanappilly on NH17 (Thrissur), it was 503Kms. I guess, Calicult - Guruvayoor - Vatanappilly would be around 145Kms. That means - Marathahalli-Calicut is 358Kms.

[kalsu]

folks- quick update on route conditions from Calicut to Bangalore,
Route Calicut-Vythiri-Manathavady-Gonikoppa-Hunsur-Srirangapatana-Nice Road-BTM Silk board
Start time 515pm
Vythiri ghats are in horrendous condition...virtually no roads in all hair pin bends got stuck for about an hour
Had to stop for dinner at Hotel Woodlands at Kalpetta, with one year old infant, @0815pm
Restart at 9pm took a detour to Mananthavady since the cut off line to cross Bandipur was not acheivable.
Take the Kutta route, follow the route towards Tirunelli from Mananthavady at the junction towards the temple take right turn, roads in excellent condition, got to see some wild boards and deers lurking on the roads.
Enter sector Kutta- Gonikoppal this is as good as no roads even with a tata dicor my driver found it difficult to manage. Gonikoppal- Hunsur road there is a coffee day pit stop @ 0030hours
Another 10Km diversion to Bangalore which leads to exit at Srirangapatana
Bangalore arrival 4am, total distance covered 422Km.

Warning: Unless or Until its very much required AVOID this route.

I would certainly recommend Bangalore- Mysore- Gundulpet- Gudalur- Nilambur- Manjeri- Calicut even though you have to drive 40Km additional.

[ajithbr]

But you can't do the night driving between Gudalur and Gundlupet in this route. Maybe, for people north of Calicut, coming through Iritty->Virajpet is a better option during night in terms of predictability and road conditions. This will avoid ghat section in NH-212 as well as forest section in the border. I believe this will be around 400 Kms in all but can be covered in about 10 hours overall with sedate driving. Less bad sections as reported by people who travel frequently towards Kannur through this route.

[ampere]

To be on the same safe side, its better to avoid the ghats at night. Iritty route is better for North Calicut region.

Also an OT, I find the Gudlupet CCD to be perfect for a break!

[ajithbr]

Anyone, except googlemaps , knows the shortest route from Iritty to Calicut? Or Badagara/Quilandy? Standard route would be the route to Thalassery and take right on hitting NH-17. And updates about the conditions of all this routes, standard one and any alternate ones?

[sarinkumar]

Originally Posted by ajithbr

Anyone, except googlemaps , knows the shortest route from Iritty to Calicut? Or Badagara/Quilandy? Standard route would be the route to Thalassery and take right on hitting NH-17. And updates about the conditions of all this routes, standard one and any alternate ones?

The route via Thalassery is the shortest and best option to go to Calicut from Iritty. You could also go via Panur, Peringathur, Nadapuram, Kallachi, Kuttiadi, Perambra, Calicut route. But my gut feeling is that, this will take more time.
Regards,
Sarin

[kala]

Originally Posted by kalsu

I would certainly recommend Bangalore- Mysore- Gundulpet- Gudalur- Nilambur- Manjeri- Calicut even though you have to drive 40Km additional.

As a matter of fact this route (or rather a variant - you don't have to touch Manjeri - when coming from Calicut you can go on Mavoor Road, turn right at Cherooppa and go via Edavannappara-Areekode-Edavanna-Nilambur) is not really 40 kms longer. I travelled from Calicut to Bangalore on this route yesterday, and my trip odometer read 158 kms when I reached Gundlupet. Even if you travel via Bathery, Gundlupet would be about 155 kms, so the extra distance is not more than 5 kms certainly.

[santhosh_kumard]

The next weekend I am going to a place called Balusseri/Calicut(Dt).

The road I intend to do is Bangalore-> Mysore-> Gundulpet-> S.Bathery -> Thamarassery -> Balusseri.

Is the road to Balusseri ( koyilandi route ) marked ( in the town of Thamarassery ) properly in the road to calicut?

Any new developments / road condition updates would be great to get.

I am planning to start around 3 PM from Sarjapur Road/Bangalore. [ Planning for a dinner at S-Bathery ]. Would that be an ambitious plan?

[kala]

Originally Posted by santhosh_kumard

The next weekend I am going to a place called Balusseri/Calicut(Dt).

The road I intend to do is Bangalore-> Mysore-> Gundulpet-> S.Bathery -> Thamarassery -> Balusseri.

Is the road to Balusseri ( koyilandi route ) marked ( in the town of Thamarassery ) properly in the road to calicut?

Any new developments / road condition updates would be great to get.

I am planning to start around 3 PM from Sarjapur Road/Bangalore. [ Planning for a dinner at S-Bathery ]. Would that be an ambitious plan?

Not cent percent sure if there is a signboard at that junction, but you need to take a right turn at the first main junction at the beginning of Thamarassery town when coming from Bangalore (about half a km after you pass the Thamarassery Sales Tax checkpost). Shouldn't be very difficult to find.

Road conditions as last heard are good upto Thamarassery. Not sure about the road to Balusseri since it's ages since I travelled that way, but then it's only a distance of about 10-15 kms so shouldn't be much of an issue.

Reaching Bathery for dinner is very much feasible, would depend more on how long you take to Mysore road from Sarjapur road. From NICE road/Mysore road junction you should be able to reach Bathery in about 4 hours pretty comfortably assuming not too heavy traffic between Bangalore and Nanjangud.