[hvkumar]

How good or bad was NH17?
Good trip you had, congratulations on completing so much in so short a time
....and we want a total listing of all that you ate and bought!

[jeevmenon]

NH17 was amazing. I did not find any issues even beyond Chiplun. Just after Sangameshwar small sections of tar had gone but very manageable. After entering Kolhapur district from the Amba side it was a little worser than above. But I am not complaining. It was very much ok, well worth it.

Ate: Ussal, missal, vada pav. Kokum juice. Tandul bakri and pitla.
Bought: Wheat atta, jawri/bajri flour, shirdi prasad, Saibaba statue, Ganpatipule prasad, lots of MH masala packs.

Kumar: Where is the link on your TVM/Chennai/Hyd/Solapur/Bombay trip of last week? Guys, HVK was in Chennai when I was in Kolhapur, At Solapur when I was in Vanniyambadi, 200km from Bombay when I was in Chennai. Cat and mouse?!

[hvkumar]

Looks like NH17 is repaired super-quick. Good to know that the Bombay-Goa road is back to good state.

Sir ji, I returned just today morning, at 2 am, driving 50 hrs continuously from Trivandrum to Bombay via Madras (totally East Coast Road), Hyderabad (via NH5 and Miryalguda), which was around 2,450 kms in one sitting. My log books are hand-written and should take at least 1 week + to be finalised - after all, I am not CHITTI!

[ampere]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Looks like NH17 is repaired super-quick. Good to know that the Bombay-Goa road is back to good state.

Sir ji, I returned just today morning, at 2 am, driving 50 hrs continuously from Trivandrum to Bombay via Madras (totally East Coast Road), Hyderabad (via NH5 and Miryalguda), which was around 2,450 kms in one sitting. My log books are hand-written and should take at least 1 week + to be finalised - after all, I am not CHITTI!

Did you drive all the way to Chennai to watch the movie!
Sir this is too much!

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by ampere

Did you drive all the way to Chennai to watch the movie!
Sir this is too much!

The way I was going, even CHITTI would have found it difficult to catch up with me!

[jeevmenon]

Kumar: 50 hrs!!! Good Lord. Crazy Crazy Crazy. I had had enough after a day's drive of 1000km that too with 3 breaks of 10 min tea-break, 30 min lunch break, 45 min snack break.

Anyone, Whats the record for continuous driving by a single person? Is this the max non-stop you have done Kumar?

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Looks like NH17 is repaired super-quick. Good to know that the Bombay-Goa road is back to good state.

Sir ji, I returned just today morning, at 2 am, driving 50 hrs continuously from Trivandrum to Bombay via Madras (totally East Coast Road), Hyderabad (via NH5 and Miryalguda), which was around 2,450 kms in one sitting. My log books are hand-written and should take at least 1 week + to be finalised - after all, I am not CHITTI!

Calls for a massage!!!

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by jeevmenon

Kumar: 50 hrs!!! Good Lord. Crazy Crazy Crazy. I had had enough after a day's drive of 1000km that too with 3 breaks of 10 min tea-break, 30 min lunch break, 45 min snack break.

Anyone, Whats the record for continuous driving by a single person? Is this the max non-stop you have done Kumar?

Well, this was the longest distance I have driven in one sitting, but I have done 2300 kms in 36 hours and also 2200 kms in 42 hours before. This time, I did take a rest break of 2 hours in Madras, 30 minutes in transit near Ongole and 3 hours off in Hyderabad, all to nap.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

The way I was going, even CHITTI would have found it difficult to catch up with me!

Sirji, This has now gone beyond passion to addiction!
I guess now even at home and office, you need a Scorpio atmosphere!

(Talk of getting addicted to coffee, this is next level!)

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

Calls for a massage!!!

I got my massage in some non-existent roads between Chilakaluripet (NH5) and Miryalguda, where I covered something like 60 kms in 3 hours. And the NH9 also in Maharashtra gave me an additional massage.

[jeevmenon]

Originally Posted by ampere

Sirji, This has now gone beyond passion to addiction!
I guess now even at home and office, you need a Scorpio atmosphere!

(Talk of getting addicted to coffee, this is next level!)

Sirji is definitely an addict. No doubt. For me its 36 hrs since I landed, and I feel like hitting the road again. Damn! This bug can hit you badly and this forum is not helping either Need some help from Kumar to get the balance correct at work. A very expensive addiction too!!

[himavanth_m]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

I got my massage in some non-existent roads between Chilakaluripet (NH5) and Miryalguda, where I covered something like 60 kms in 3 hours. And the NH9 also in Maharashtra gave me an additional massage.

Did you take the diversion after Ongole? i.e through Addanki - Piduguralla - Miryalaguda route? That used to be very nice 6 years back. People used to use this route because of lesser traffic. But now you can find craters on this route. And a Civic can easily scratch the underbelly.

There is one more route through Ongole - Addanki - Macherla - Nagarjun Sagar Dam - Ibrahimpatnam - Hyderabad. In this case, the route is much better after Macherla and is not as pathetic as the previous one. Atleast there are no craters.

Yes, the NH9 is under construction. As we move closer to Pune, the road becomes worse and the worst part is, there is not alternative route From Hyderabad to Pune. How is the Hyderabad to Solapur stretch? It is in decent shape I guess

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by himavanth_m

Did you take the diversion after Ongole? i.e through Addanki - Piduguralla - Miryalaguda route? That used to be very nice 6 years back. People used to use this route because of lesser traffic. But now you can find craters on this route. And a Civic can easily scratch the underbelly.

There is one more route through Ongole - Addanki - Macherla - Nagarjun Sagar Dam - Ibrahimpatnam - Hyderabad. In this case, the route is much better after Macherla and is not as pathetic as the previous one. Atleast there are no craters.

Yes, the NH9 is under construction. As we move closer to Pune, the road becomes worse and the worst part is, there is not alternative route From Hyderabad to Pune. How is the Hyderabad to Solapur stretch? It is in decent shape I guess

I was told that the Ongole-Adanki route was not good, so took the Chikaluripet-Narasaropet route! Heavy traffic, mainly of buses since I was travelling at 4 am in that road. My plan was to go from Narasarpet via Macherla, but we were misguided on the road (no proper signages, and all in Telugu only, being State highways)and by the time we found out we were on the Piduguralla road, it was too difficult for us to return on the same potholes back to Narasaropet, so we decided to continue onto Miryalguda.

The surprise was NH9 between Solapur and Pune. Hearing how bad it was, I wanted to take alternative routes via Pandharpur-Jath to Satara, or via Baramati, but based on Ashish Pallod's advice (thanks, Ashish), I decided to continue on NH(. NH9 is freshly tarred, all the deviations are well-marked and ra,ps tarred too. Luckily, since it was late night (and Dussehra), truck and bus traffic was minimal. However, I was not able to drive beyond 80 kmph - its was drizzling all the way from Indapur), and also because of uncertainties in the road - and I ultimately took 5 hours to drive from Solapur to Pune.

[ranjitp1]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

I was told that the Ongole-Adanki route was not good, so took the Chikaluripet-Narasaropet route! Heavy traffic, mainly of buses since I was travelling at 4 am in that road. My plan was to go from Narasarpet via Macherla, but we were misguided on the road (no proper signages, and all in Telugu only, being State highways)and by the time we found out we were on the Piduguralla road, it was too difficult for us to return on the same potholes back to Narasaropet, so we decided to continue onto Miryalguda.

The surprise was NH9 between Solapur and Pune. Hearing how bad it was, I wanted to take alternative routes via Pandharpur-Jath to Satara, or via Baramati, but based on Ashish Pallod's advice (thanks, Ashish), I decided to continue on NH(. NH9 is freshly tarred, all the deviations are well-marked and ra,ps tarred too. Luckily, since it was late night (and Dussehra), truck and bus traffic was minimal. However, I was not able to drive beyond 80 kmph - its was drizzling all the way from Indapur), and also because of uncertainties in the road - and I ultimately took 5 hours to drive from Solapur to Pune.

Yes the Addanki route is bad.The best route at the moment is Chilakaluripet-Narasraopet-Karempudi-Macherla-Sagar-Hyd.Its very easy to lose your way on this stretch as you tend to cross atleast two big road cuttings and I assume you took one of those and ended up in Miryalguda.

Good news on NH9,finally some good news trickling in!

[Munish.Thapar]

I am planning to drive from Mumbai to Chennai and on the way back will go to Coorg and then back to Mumbai . Please advice the best route and driving time . Many thanks .