[naveenroy]

Hello all!

I am planning a ride starting this saturday morning to Kanyakumari from Bangalore. I will be riding with a friend on his RE Electra and me on my RE Thunderbird. Though I have the basic ride plan in my mind, I would appreciate any help with route info, road conditions and most important of all - the monsoon situation. Though some people tell me that this is not the best time to ride down south, I am keen on starting off. I have actually planned to ride till Madurai the first day and have a pit stop at the Temple City and then start off again the next day.

Please advise on any road conditions, route information and also if anyone from down south reading this, please advise on how the weather is. Can't really trust weather.com for this!

Thankses in advance....

[hvkumar]

Bangalore on NH7 all the way via:
Hosur, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Toppur, Salem, Namakkal, Karur, Dindigul, Madurai, Tirumangalam, Virudhunagar, Tirunelveli, Nanguneri, Kanyakumari.

Road is lovely till Salem, 4 lane all the way.
Salem city is bypassed, no problems on that front.
From Salem to Dindigul, road widening is on.
From Madurai onwards, road widening is also going on, complete in many stretches, but an easy and hassle-free drive.
No serious problems with rains, not heavy rain zone anyway, except for Kanyakumari.

Distance is 680 kms - can you do it in 1 day?
Places to stop over are Madurai and some of the smaller towns like Virudhunagar.

[TomRider]

For the route info, follow what hvkumar mentioned. The best in the business.

If you have any plan to ride through Kerala, it's not right time. It's started raining in Kerala. They say the monsoon has arrived. Not a good time for touring on a Motorcycle.

[naveenroy]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Bangalore on NH7 all the way via:
Hosur, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Toppur, Salem, Namakkal, Karur, Dindigul, Madurai, Tirumangalam, Virudhunagar, Tirunelveli, Nanguneri, Kanyakumari.

Road is lovely till Salem, 4 lane all the way.
Salem city is bypassed, no problems on that front.
From Salem to Dindigul, road widening is on.
From Madurai onwards, road widening is also going on, complete in many stretches, but an easy and hassle-free drive.
No serious problems with rains, not heavy rain zone anyway, except for Kanyakumari.

Distance is 680 kms - can you do it in 1 day?
Places to stop over are Madurai and some of the smaller towns like Virudhunagar.

Thanks a lot for that, hvkumar!! Yeah, I wanted to know most about the road conditions and the monsoon situation.

Good to know that the roads are decent and that the monsoon situation is ok. Well, not an iron butt so planning to break the journey at Madurai....

[PatienceWins]

Naveen, you would get response easily if you post in Route Queries section.

I believe there is already a thread there for Bangalore - Trivandrun route info and current conditon of roads.

[anainar]

Originally Posted by naveenroy

Hello all!

I am planning a ride starting this saturday morning to Kanyakumari from Bangalore. I will be riding with a friend on his RE Electra and me on my RE Thunderbird.
Thankses in advance....

Are you planning to go in motorcycle??..

The roads are pretty good till Kanyakumari. There is road widening activity all through, but not bad. I did this stretch six months back to Nagercoil and it was a breeze. 680 kms I could do in 11 hours, starting from Nagercoil at 10:30 AM, reaching Bangalore by 9:30 PM.

Watch out for road after Salem-Namakkal. The road was in a very bad state by then six months back, dont know how it is now. There are many diversions and it could be really cruel for a biker, as bigger vehicles,especially state transport buses give a damn. It was bad for me in my car itself. Karur Dindigul is again mostly two laned but the roads are good. Dindigul Madurai is one of the worst trafficwise. Only two laned and crowded with private buses being driven by maniacs. Once you cross Madurai, it is very peaceful driving.

The only point where you have to watch out is after crossing Valliyoor look for a fork, near a place called Kavalkinaru. If your intention is to go to Kanyakumar, stick to the left, that is NH7 and it goes to Kanyakumari. Right one goes to Nagercoil and is a state higway. Then you have to enter into Nagercoil town to go to Kanyakumari.

Have a safe ride.

Nainar

[GSMINC]

Just follow the hosur road out of bangalore.
Bangalore-hosur-salem-namakkal-karur-dindugal-madurai-tirunelveli-kanyakumari.
If you are planing a break in madurai, then I suggest you stay at Hotel New College House near the railway station, one hotel that has rooms for all budgets
Rs.250-Rs.3000

PM me for any other details you may want.., good eating joints, lodges, what to see etc.

you see, this route is one of my regular routes

[naveenroy]

Thanks for the inputs Nainar and GSMINC!
Yes, I am actually from down south and the first time I am doing this route on a bike. Have done it in a friends Matiz before and actually did make it in 10 hours. Will be breaking the journey at Madurai since the wife is accompanying me too.

Have sent you a PM, GSMINC...

[Surprise]

Originally Posted by GSMINC

then I suggest you stay at Hotel New College House near the railway station, one hotel that has rooms for all budgets
Rs.250-Rs.3000

That is the problem if you decided to go for higher budget rooms. If your budget is in the range of Rs.1000/- there are lot better alternatives just two streets inside on the left. Even that street if full of nice hotels and mess ( fantastic couple of bars too at affordable prices )

Edit: I have couple of decent hotels contact numbers. PM me if required.

[Surprise]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

No serious problems with rains, not heavy rain zone anyway, except for Kanyakumari.

Couple of time have experienced heavy winds to an extent that your vehicle will be pushed to one side. It took me few minutes to realize its actually the wind that is affecting the stability of the car (afternoon time)

[naveenroy]

Originally Posted by Surprise

Couple of time have experienced heavy winds to an extent that your vehicle will be pushed to one side. It took me few minutes to realize its actually the wind that is affecting the stability of the car (afternoon time)

Cool, will watch out for those...

[hellstar]

Originally Posted by naveenroy

Cool, will watch out for those...

I belive that this route takes your through a place called mahindragiri, this place has the LPSC and the cryogenic test facility of ISRO , will notice by the marked density of white wind mills ( used for power generation). Of course this place is off limits to civilians , unless you have some contacts in ISRO. The wind at times gets so violent that they blow the tiles of the roof hence if you observe you may notice that in most cases the tiles are cemented down for safety.

if it rains its better you stop on this road as winds sometime bring down heavy trees in this sector.

[mjothi]

And if staying in Madurai, don't miss those "Jillunu Coola" jigirthanda.

If you are trying it for the first time, then have it near the Thirumalai Nayakar Mahal. The name of the shop is FAMOUS. They have just one more branch in 80ft Anna nagar. you ask anyone, and they will guide you.

[naveenroy]

For all the route advise and help.....had a wonderful ride down to Nagercoil...safe and incident free.....

[mjothi]

Originally Posted by naveenroy

For all the route advise and help.....had a wonderful ride down to Nagercoil...safe and incident free.....

Nice to hear. So, any recent updates? Please let us know.