[Hammer & Anvil]

Just returned to Mumbai with my group of about 17 Harleys-
here are my two bits to make your trip that much more interesting.
1. The dreaded Nipani-Tavandi Ghat-Azra road is fully done. Not a pothole.
2. About 10 Km of the Amboli Ghats suck- and everytime we see one or two bikes crash due to poor roads or scree-
3. Once you finish the top 10Km of ghats, its smooth sailing again.

On the way back- we turned off the Mapusa by-pass towards Tivim Rly station.
About 2-3Km before the station is a nice BP fuel pump- that doesnt open till 0700- and none on that road open before that too- so refuel before leaving your house/hotel.

1. About 17km after this fuel pump (about 15 after Tivim Rly Statio) is Sanquelim (Sankhalin). As soon as the bridge ends, turn right, followed by another imemdiate right to come under the bridge and follow the dim signs for 'CHORLA'
2. You pass a sleepy town called Keri and then the border area roads are pathetic for about 10-12Km- so really not much gained till this point over the Amboli route-
AND THEN
3. The sign board hits you- Welcome to Karnataka and possibly the most brilliant 60+ of road in all of south-western India.
4. This takes you into Belgaum and then onto the Pune Hwy. Time and distance gained or lost is immaterial when you see this road.















And here are a few taken from a friends car of the bad portion of Amboli Ghats.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by udiboy

Kumar sir - I happened to come across 2 pumps at Amboli (HP and IOC; the HP one looks well maintained and state of the art). I filled up at IOC and checked if they are open 24x7 - they guy responded in affirmative; he also said "sir hum card bhi lete hain" - much to my delight

Most so-called 24x7 pumps close quietly after midnight, and even rampaging elephants won;t be able to rouse the attendants from their sleep. That is why the only reliable petrol pump is Konduskar's after Kolhapur.

Further, petrol pumps are notorious for turning down credit card swipe requests in the night under the pretext of "line not working", "room locked" "don;t know how to operate", etc excuses by lazy attendants who want to take the easy cash route.

[udiboy]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Most so-called 24x7 pumps close quietly after midnight, and even rampaging elephants won;t be able to rouse the attendants from their sleep. That is why the only reliable petrol pump is Konduskar's after Kolhapur.

Further, petrol pumps are notorious for turning down credit card swipe requests in the night under the pretext of "line not working", "room locked" "don;t know how to operate", etc excuses by lazy attendants who want to take the easy cash route.

noted sir - will keep this stuff in mind - not only for this stretch but on other highways as well.

[misguidedmisile]

Hello Folks,
I'm driving down Pune-Candolim this Friday(6th) at about 4.00AM. Anyone else planning on doing the same? I came by this route 3 weeks back. Like Hammer & Anvil mentioned above, except for the bad patch at the start of Amboli ghat, the rest of the road is in good condition.

Thanks,
Varun

[Musaafir]

Varun,

I too am going to South Goa from Pune this Friday. Planing to leave around 5.30 AM and take Belgaum - Chorla route. It would be good to have your contacts. Can you PM them to me please. Thanks.

[misguidedmisile]

Originally Posted by Musaafir

Varun, I too am going to South Goa from Pune this Friday. Planing to leave around 5.30 AM and take Belgaum - Chorla route. It would be good to have your contacts. Can you PM them to me please. Thanks.

I tried sending you a PM but its not letting me. I'm not sure why. Can you send me one; i'll reply to it.

[CANPUSH]

Good to know that Tavandi Ghat - Uttur - Ajra road is done. I have not seen that road in good condition since last 40 years. Sometimes, I have things or two to attend in Sawantwadi area. Routinely I take Gadhinglaj - Ajra road. I will surely try this road again next time.

[diogo]

Need feedback on below routes, which is better in terms on the latest road condition

1. Mumbai - Tavandi ghat - Uttur - Ajra - Ambolim - Goa

2. Mumbai - Belgaum - Chorla - Goa

GMaps show route 2 is slightly longer, but will plan based on the latest feedback on road condition.

Previous posts mention that start of Ambolim ghat and few sections of Chorla ghat are potholed, nothing damaging.


thanks

[AvonA7]

Originally Posted by CANPUSH

Good to know that Tavandi Ghat - Uttur - Ajra road is done. I have not seen that road in good condition since last 40 years. Sometimes, I have things or two to attend in Sawantwadi area. Routinely I take Gadhinglaj - Ajra road. I will surely try this road again next time.

Reading all the latest updates, decided to take the pune-belgaum-chorla-mapusa-candolim route. Spent sometime studying GMaps + this post by SuzukiSan http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post3218116... then read Hammer&Anvil's update on Nipani-Uttur-Ajra-Amboli-S'wadi-Mapusa update... almost took the rt turn for Nipani route... and then your old posts regarding this route came to my mind (always bad in past many years ...) and took the usual Gadhinglaj-Ajra-Amboli route. Turned out to be a good decision.

============

Update as on today -

Sawantwadi - Amboli - Ajra - Gadhinglaj : Good roads except 3-4 kms of broken roads at top of Amboli ghat. Rest of the roads are smooth. S'wadi bus stand to NH4 turn - 100kms took me 02 hrs 05mins with a 10min stop at Amboli. All potholes are repaired but expect lots of sugarcane traffic. Temp. was throughout 14.5 - 18C in this entire stretch in the morning.

Kolhapur-Satara - v.good
Satara - Khed Shivapur Toll : no potholes, smooth drive with lots of sugarcane traffic and 11-12 diversions. Surprisingly, spent < 02 mins at Khed Shivapur toll which is unbelievable.

PS : While going towards S'wadi, near the Amboli landslide zone, extension of the concrete wall is going on it seems and they were throwing the loose stones/boulders from top of the hill. A Xylo noticed it late and braked suddenly, me too braked hard just to avoid touching the Xylo and luckily the State bus too stopped without touching my car. Had to wait for ~10mins before traffic was allowed to pass this stretch. So, be cautious.

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by diogo

Need feedback on below routes, which is better in terms on the latest road condition

1. Mumbai - Tavandi ghat - Uttur - Ajra - Ambolim - Goa

2. Mumbai - Belgaum - Chorla - Goa

GMaps show route 2 is slightly longer, but will plan based on the latest feedback on road condition.

Previous posts mention that start of Ambolim ghat and few sections of Chorla ghat are potholed, nothing damaging.


thanks

I recently did Goa to Belgaum via Chorla. Barring some some rough roads near Sanquelim (about 15 kms) the drive was one of the most enjoyable drives I did in recent times. Very sparse traffic, brilliant road surface, good road markings and those curves..... what can I say? simply an awesome drive. I just did not want to reach my destination, I wished the road just went on and on and on . Belgaum to Mumbai is of course NH4 and should not be a problem.

[Musaafir]

I visited south Goa last week. Traveled from Pune via Belgaum - Chorla ghat. Roads in Karnataka are beautiful. Roads upto Chorla ghat are great. Road quality deteriorates once you cross Goa state border before the Chorla ghat. No traffic in the ghat section. Roads are bad for about 15 kms before the Goa Entry Tax Booth, but manageable at a slow speed.

Overall, Chorla ghat is the best route if you want to go to South Goa.

[Sawyer]

Just back from Goa, and the Uttur Ajra road is a quicker drive to North Goa than via Chorla. Leaving at the same time, 5 am, I saved over an hour on the return journey over the Chorla alternative, where time is lost crawling through Belgaum for about 12 kms. Going out via Chorla, I was at Baga by about 2.30 pm, back in Pune at 1 pm. Both drives included 45 minutes rest stops. High average speeds, but never a top speed higher than 115.

The other reason for more time via Chorla is that it takes more time to travel east west in Goa on the narrower roads, than it does using the highway in the north south direction to/from Sawantwadi.

The Amboli-Ajra-Uttur stretch is in very decent shape now. The Chorla route is decent, but more of the road on that route is in poor condition.

[cediafan]

I am planning to go to south Goa (Cavelossim) from Pune next week. Google maps suggests taking NH 4A till Collem and then the state highways. Any suggestions? I am travelling with 2 small kids and will try to leave Pune by 6 AM.

[ashkamath]

Originally Posted by cediafan

I am planning to go to south Goa (Cavelossim) from Pune next week. Google maps suggests taking NH 4A till Collem and then the state highways. Any suggestions? I am travelling with 2 small kids and will try to leave Pune by 6 AM.

Hi Cediafan, The route suggested by you via-NH4A-Via Darbandora-Mollem-Collem (Kulem)-Sanvordem-Chandor-Chinchinnim is better avaoided as you mentioned that you are travelling with family- 2 kids. The reason is simple. The roads are interior roads, narrow ( some section falls in mining belt though mining is banned since last 1 year, the roads are pretty bad) without much sign boards and you could easily get lost / confused. and at the end of a 500+ drive that is not a welcome that you would want at Goa and not many take that route to arrive at Cavelossim ( in contrast to what google map says)

The other option is to use the usual Amboli ghat-Sawantwadi and drive down to Goa else try the Chorla ghat from Belgaum. These 2 routes are better, but with heavy traffic as your trip is in year end.

And please dont get worked up about the place being in South Goa. Cavelossim is about under 15 Kms south east of Madgao city and not deeper south like Palolem / Galgibagh etc at Canacona.

Should you choose to take Amboli or Chorla route, please expect heavy traffic once you enter Goa as you will pass Mapusa-Panjim-Margao ( again not to break sweat bcoz all the 3 cities you can bypass without entering the city) but I reckon compared to Pune / Mumbai traffic this will look like a walk in the park. and finally as you would be entering Goa in the noon / late noon time, so traffic should be slack at that time.

[Sawyer]

Originally Posted by ashkamath

Should you choose to take Amboli or Chorla route, please expect heavy traffic once you enter Goa as you will pass Mapusa-Panjim-Margao ( again not to break sweat bcoz all the 3 cities you can bypass without entering the city)

My experience of a week ago suggests that by far the quickest way to Panjim from Pune is the Amboli route. Chorla route takes about an hour longer since one has to pass through Belgaum traffic, and negotiate narrower roads in Goa to get to Mapusa/Panjim.