[ampere]

Originally Posted by motorhead1981

Thanks HVK sir. I am a little skeptical about doing it in one day because the max I have done in a day till now is around 600 kilometres. I will try to do it in a day but will have stay in kolapur as an option. Do any of the eateries along the way have facilities for taking a short nap or is it best to do it by the road side ?

Its more than 1200 km total distance. So even I would say take a break one the way. There are three places depending on where you want to stop.

Hubli at about 650, Belgaum at about 760 and Kolhapur at about 880 km (as per what I see in Google maps). Even I would agree with Kolhapur as a stop. Because, you would want to push more the first day drive at leisure the next day. From that point of view, your decision to drive till Kolhapur is perfect.

[motorhead1981]

Hi all

At the outset many thanks to HVK sir & Ampere for helping me plan the route

The of the route that I took to Mumbai is as follows

Left Coimbatore at around 5 am on the 17th reached mysore at 8 am and had breakfast at Kamat.

Took the road to srirangapatna and had set my GPS to Hiriyur via Huliyar but somehow there seems to be more than one Hiriyur in Garmin and I ended up in Kadur!

After local consultation and resetting the GPS we decided the best way to hit NH4 was via Shimoga at Harihar. We stopped for lunch at Shimoga and joined NH4 at Harihar.

The quality of roads throughout were excellent. We reached Kamat Rannebannur at 4 for a quick snack and continued on schedule to reach Kolhapur at 8:30. But about 10 kms before Hubli bypass locals decided to stop the traffic at they have been wanting an over-bridge due to accidents. We were stuck on the road, with tyres burning right in the middle of the road from 5:45 pm to 9:00 pm. Finally the mob was dispersed after arrival of police. We finally reached Kolhapur at 11:30 pm covering a total of 865 km for the day.

Started late yesterday morning after darshan of Mahalakshmi temple at around 11 am and reached Mumbai by 4 pm.

It was an awesome experience and my beast behaved very well through out.The total distance covered was 1220 kilometers and it worked out to around 20 hours of driving after discounting the time spent on the road due to Bandh

[ampere]

Originally Posted by motorhead1981

Took the road to srirangapatna and had set my GPS to Hiriyur via Huliyar but somehow there seems to be more than one Hiriyur in Garmin and I ended up in Kadur!

Do you have Garmin maps or do you use MMI? If MMI I see that there is only Hiriyur town reported. But not sure about Garmin maps.

The other way to sanitise this once in a while you can also cross with Google maps if you are off ? That gives a good high level picture.

But about 10 kms before Hubli bypass locals decided to stop the traffic at they have been wanting an over-bridge due to accidents. We were stuck on the road, with tyres burning right in the middle of the road from 5:45 pm to 9:00 pm. Finally the mob was dispersed after arrival of police. We finally reached Kolhapur at 11:30 pm covering a total of 865 km for the day.

Sheer bad luck. That also speaks how easily national highways (in this case GQ!) can be brought down to stand still so easily. (Their demands would have been genuine).

Started late yesterday morning after darshan of Mahalakshmi temple at around 11 am and reached Mumbai by 4 pm.
It was an awesome experience and my beast behaved very well through out.The total distance covered was 1220 kilometers and it worked out to around 20 hours of driving after discounting the time spent on the road due to Bandh

Hope you were able to find the place easily in Kolhapur.

[motorhead1981]

Originally Posted by ampere

Do you have Garmin maps or do you use MMI? If MMI I see that there is only Hiriyur town reported. But not sure about Garmin maps.

I have garmin maps, on the way back asked someone from Mysore, we are supposed to ask for chitradurga hiriyur. Map worked out ok for a rough estimate most of the way.

The other way to sanitise this once in a while you can also cross with Google maps if you are off ? That gives a good high level picture.

I realised this on the way back and thanks for the tip, it helped in finding the diversion off hiriyur.

Sheer bad luck. That also speaks how easily national highways (in this case GQ!) can be brought down to stand still so easily. (Their demands would have been genuine).

I know, there were close to 200 kids mostly aged between 15-20 years, creating a lot of ruckus. When finally police decided to flex their muscles all vanished into thin air.

Hope you were able to find the place easily in Kolhapur.

Had no problems with finding the place though it was late in the night.

Thanks

[VikrantD]

Hi All,

Planning to do the Mum-Coim trip. Start on Sep 5th. Return on Sep 8th. It's been raining cats and dogs all across the country. Has anyone done this stretch recently? what is the road condition? I plan to take Mum-Pune-Bang-Salem-Erode-Coim. Kindly advice.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by VikrantD

Hi All,

Planning to do the Mum-Coim trip. Start on Sep 5th. Return on Sep 8th. It's been raining cats and dogs all across the country. Has anyone done this stretch recently? what is the road condition? I plan to take Mum-Pune-Bang-Salem-Erode-Coim. Kindly advice.

Mumbai-Pune-NH4-Kolhapur-Belgaum-Tumkur-NICE Road-Electronics City-Hosur-Salem-CBE.

Roads are bad between Pune and Satara(diversions and widening)otherwise all good.Again road widening between Hosur and Krishnagiri but mostly completed.Avinashi to CBE is also single laned,depending on where in CBE you are headed to you can take the Avinashi-Annur route into CBE.

The other option is to take the NH209 route.For this route, exit the NICE Road at the Kanakpura exit and go via Kanakpura-Kollegal-Chamarajnagar-Sathy-Pulliyampatti-Annur-CBE

Mumbai-NICE Road can be done in about 15hrs and another 6hrs-7hrs with breaks to CBE.

[VikrantD]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Mumbai-Pune-NH4-Kolhapur-Belgaum-Tumkur-NICE Road-Electronics City-Hosur-Salem-CBE.

Roads are bad between Pune and Satara(diversions and widening)otherwise all good.Again road widening between Hosur and Krishnagiri but mostly completed.Avinashi to CBE is also single laned,depending on where in CBE you are headed to you can take the Avinashi-Annur route into CBE.

The other option is to take the NH209 route.For this route, exit the NICE Road at the Kanakpura exit and go via Kanakpura-Kollegal-Chamarajnagar-Sathy-Pulliyampatti-Annur-CBE

Mumbai-NICE Road can be done in about 15hrs and another 6hrs-7hrs with breaks to CBE.

This is where I am heading to at Coimbatore: Parsn Antara, Nanjunda Puram Rd, Ramanathapuram, Coimbatore, TN. What route would you suggest? I am told it takes around 5.5 hrs from Bangalore.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by VikrantD

This is where I am heading to at Coimbatore: Parsn Antara, Nanjunda Puram Rd, Ramanathapuram, Coimbatore, TN. What route would you suggest? I am told it takes around 5.5 hrs from Bangalore.

You can take the NH47 and take the L&T Bypass till the Trichy Road Exit.At the Trichy Rd junction,take a right into CBE town and follow the map.Left at the junction would take you towards Trichy and away from CBE.

http://goo.gl/maps/vUvDb

[dean5545]

Hey guys
I am doing Mum-Coimbatore tommorow any real time updates on the road condition?
Also I wanted to know of a good halting place somewhere near Tumkur or NICE road. Really need an update about the halting place.
Thanks in advance.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by dean5545

Hey guys
I am doing Mum-Coimbatore tommorow any real time updates on the road condition?
Also I wanted to know of a good halting place somewhere near Tumkur or NICE road. Really need an update about the halting place.
Thanks in advance.

If you can make it to Bangalore on Day 1, then Keys on Hosur road close to NICE is good place to stay. (Location)

Good roads all the way.

Originally Posted by dean5545

I am looking at doing ~15 hours of driving, so do you think I reach Bangalore at Night? If not I will have to halt for dinner seperately. Any good place to eat on the highway?

Would be difficult then.

Why not then break at Chitradurga . Naveen Regency is the only decent place. Just about enough. If you can make it to Tumkur again Naveen Regency has a hotel in there. All on the highway.

[dean5545]

Originally Posted by ampere

If you can make it to Bangalore on Day 1, then Keys on Hosur road close to NICE is good place to stay. (Location)

Good roads all the way.

I am looking at doing ~15 hours of driving, so do you think I reach Bangalore at Night? If not I will have to halt for dinner seperately. Any good place to eat on the highway?

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by dean5545

I am looking at doing ~15 hours of driving, so do you think I reach Bangalore at Night? If not I will have to halt for dinner seperately. Any good place to eat on the highway?

In 15hrs,you can look at either staying at Naveen Regency at Tumkur
http://www.naveenregency.com/tum-overview.php

or

Keys on Hosur Road or Ekaa http://www.hotelekaa.com/ on Hosur Road

[dean5545]

Did Mum-Bangalore today. Excellent roads but lots of toll. Easily achievable in 15 hours. Am staying at Keys as suggested by ampere. Good hotel would advise you to book online as walk in rates are higher.

Thanks a lot guys will keep you guys updated.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by dean5545

Did Mum-Bangalore today. Excellent roads but lots of toll. Easily achievable in 15 hours. Am staying at Keys as suggested by ampere. Good hotel would advise you to book online as walk in rates are higher.

Thanks a lot guys will keep you guys updated.

Great to note that you had a good drive. In I also remembered this point about online booking as you mentioned. I was not sure if you would actually drive all the way to BLR. Else I would have surely mentioned to book online. But all in all a good hotel. Getting out is also easier. You are on the highway.

Tomorrow since you start after breakfast, I am sure you will encounter traffic till Hosur and there on some diversions till Krishnagiri. But beyond that its one awesome road all the way to Coimbattore. Exits to Coimbattore are well marked at Salem.

[dean5545]

Originally Posted by ampere

Tomorrow since you start after breakfast, I am sure you will encounter traffic till Hosur and there on some diversions till Krishnagiri. But beyond that its one awesome road all the way to Coimbattore. Exits to Coimbattore are well marked at Salem.

Saw this post now. I am still travelling we did encounter traffic but not that much reached Coimbatore by 6 pm. Excellent roads all the way till Avinashi after that the roads are good but the unwanted speed breakers in the middle of the highway kill all the fun.
We left Coimbatore the next day for Palakkad and Thrissur. Reached Thrissur at night 10.00 pm. Left for Pondicherry yesturday morning via Salem and then Via NH 47. Good roads there also. Reached Pondicherry by 6.30. There was lots of wind and rained heavily leading to trees being uprooted.
Will update the entire trip log after reaching home ie Sunday.