[paragsachania]

Did Bangalore - Hubli over the long weekend that passed.

Bangalore - Nelemangala - Bad as the upper surface of the road has come off at many places.
Nelamangala - Tumkur - In Good condition, watch out for those reckless private buses and trucks.
Tumkur Bypass - Still the same story as no work is in progress.
Tumkur-Sira-Chitradurga - In Good shape, same as before. Wonderful stretch to drive
Chitradurga - Haveri - I personally felt that the state has improved a bit now with work in full swing (at least to make it motorable), though one still has to pass Ranibennur town which is a pain.
Haveri - Hubli - Good enough as before and you start paying toll from here again.

I wished I continued driving all the way till Pune and enjoy the roads like I did before on many occasions but my destination this time was Hubli.

[luky_13]

Did Mumbai-Bangalore yesterday.
The small patch after kohlapur has been patched and the road is silky smooth all the way upto belgaum.
The bad road starts near to Rannibennaur, and continues all the way beyond Chitradurga and then after Tumkur nearing Bangalore, high time they made these roads.
I had last been on the Blr - Mumbai stretch in 2002 and these roads were in the same state.

[prince_pervez]

Good to hear, or rather bad to hear about the state of roads mentioned. Seems like no one is interested in Karnataka to patch up these roads. You should have seen davangere in 2007 october. There were no roads. Check up the thread where an Octavia and 2 modded swifts did this stretch. You will see the state of roads near Davangere. Trecherous and scary at night.
By the way did you enjoy the rest of it? What are the timings you made? What were you riding? Will be interesting to hear.

[luky_13]

Originally Posted by prince_pervez

Good to hear, or rather bad to hear about the state of roads mentioned. Seems like no one is interested in Karnataka to patch up these roads. You should have seen davangere in 2007 october. There were no roads. Check up the thread where an Octavia and 2 modded swifts did this stretch. You will see the state of roads near Davangere. Trecherous and scary at night.
By the way did you enjoy the rest of it? What are the timings you made? What were you riding? Will be interesting to hear.

I did Blr-Dharwad in Jan 2008, driving a Wagon R. There was a small stretch after Davangere (had a median), where the road looked quite good and I quickly touched 100, suddenly the road disappeared from underneath the car and i was air borne for about 3 seconds and landed with a thud ! There was this big crater (on NH4 ) which was about 40 feet wide and because it was up hill it was not visible. So to speak of National Highways.

While doing Blr-Mum i started at 0330 hrs and hit Malad at 1700 hrs, just a couple of small stops. After belgaum the road was a dream except for a small patch of 4 kms. Never crossed 110 kmph. Coming back i did this stretch in 2 days (was with family) Mum:Belgaum - 8 hrs, Belgaum:Blr - 8 hrs. Driving a Linea MJD.

Contrary to the general perception being underpowered, Linea was quite agile and frugal and returned an amazing FE of 22.8 for the overall trip of 2500 Kms, with AC on 70% of the time and being completely loaded (boot and passangers) on my way back to Bangalore.

[prince_pervez]

Good timings and the ride you've got is quite a looker.
I got the thread and the pics of the roads near davangere.
They were quite scary at nights and to top that, merciless truckers.

[viveklk]

I'm going to driver Bangalore-Belgaum next weekend. Last time I drove was in December08-January09. Looks like the stretch near Chitradurga is slowly improving with roads at Tumkur bypass & Ranibennur are still hopeless.

[MudMover]

Hi,

I did Blore-Mumbai last Saturday - 9th. Was travelling alone, started at 3 a.m. and reached Sanpada (Mumbai) by 6.20 p.m. I maintained a respectable 80-90 Kmph throughout the journey. Of course, the Mumbai-Pune expressway was tempting and that was an exception. I feel this route is do-able non-stop in 15-ish hours without trying to rip your tyres off from the word 'GO'.

[prince_pervez]

Originally Posted by MudMover

I feel this route is do-able non-stop in 15-ish hours without trying to rip your tyres off from the word 'GO'.

Nice! The timing really depends on the vehicles and tyre profiles you ride on.
If you have puny tyres say 12 inchers and 18 inchers on the other hand then the timing will differ.

[StarVegabond]

Originally Posted by MudMover

Hi,

I did Blore-Mumbai last Saturday - 9th. Was travelling alone, started at 3 a.m. and reached Sanpada (Mumbai) by 6.20 p.m. I maintained a respectable 80-90 Kmph throughout the journey. Of course, the Mumbai-Pune expressway was tempting and that was an exception. I feel this route is do-able non-stop in 15-ish hours without trying to rip your tyres off from the word 'GO'.

Great timing,

I have done BLR Mumbai trip 3 times since last year april.
If you leave at 3AM/4AM typically it takes 3.5 to 4 hours to reach Chitradurga depending on which part of bangalore you start. then it would take 4 hours to reach Belgaum. 4 more hours to pune bypass and another 2-3 hours to Mumbai depending on which part of mumbai one wants to reach.. in all 14-15 hours, if your car is in great condition, then you can knock some 60-90 minutes off .

Apart from condition of the cars and tyres, driving non stop needs great physical stamina and concetration. Must have had good sleep previous day. Organizing / positioning all the necessary stuff (money for toll, food, water, drinks, music CDs etc) within the vehicle is also important

[anainar]

Originally Posted by prince_pervez

Good timings and the ride you've got is quite a looker.
I got the thread and the pics of the roads near davangere.
They were quite scary at nights and to top that, merciless truckers.

Hi Pervez,

Am not sure which part of Davangere roads you are talking about!! Atleast the pictures.. I do this stretch often and did this on 12th May also. Did not encounter even one road ( or lack of it ) that resembles the picture. Yes, there are bypasses under construction which is again well tarred and not even once you encounter such untarred roads in NH4. Possibly you were mislead to go into some interior roads or into some towns.

I started from warje Malwadi, Pune at 10:35 AM and reached Koramangala, Bangalore at 10:15 PM with four stops in between, one for lunch @30 minutes, three 10 minutes breaks for coffee, snacks. Pune -Belgaum covered in 4 hours, Belgaum-Chitradurga - 4.15 hours, Chitradurga-Blore 3.5 hours, via Dobbspet,Yelahanka. It took 1hour 45 minutes to reach Koramangala from the coffee day on NH4 near Dobbspet.
Nainar

[prince_pervez]

Originally Posted by anainar

Hi Pervez,

Am not sure which part of Davangere roads you are talking about!! Atleast the pictures.. I do this stretch often and did this on 12th May also. Did not encounter even one road ( or lack of it ) that resembles the picture. Yes, there are bypasses under construction which is again well tarred and not even once you encounter such untarred roads in NH4. Possibly you were mislead to go into some interior roads or into some towns.

I started from warje Malwadi, Pune at 10:35 AM and reached Koramangala, Bangalore at 10:15 PM with four stops in between, one for lunch @30 minutes, three 10 minutes breaks for coffee, snacks. Pune -Belgaum covered in 4 hours, Belgaum-Chitradurga - 4.15 hours, Chitradurga-Blore 3.5 hours, via Dobbspet,Yelahanka. It took 1hour 45 minutes to reach Koramangala from the coffee day on NH4 near Dobbspet.
Nainar

Oho! Sirji, Those snaps are 1.5 years old. Taken from here
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/collec...bangalore.html

I was mentioning the conditions that prevailed then.
Your timings too are impressive, that too with 4 breaks. Please mention your ride, specs, mods if any.
Seems to be a Ferrari

[anainar]

Aaah! Ok, was surprised to see those photos. Check out those roads now.

No, my timings are not impressive. It can be done in 10 hours. It took me 11.5 hours. And I drove 2005 Corolla, no modifications. Pune-Belgaum is fantastic four lane road, you can hover around 120-140 always, except for some average roads near Kholapur and local town traffic near big towns. Belgaum-Hubli roads are also excellent except for the bypass which is two laned. Only problem is Ranibennur-Davengere-Chitradurga stretch. Beyond that is is again a breeze till Tumkur.

But I am addicted to this drive now.

Nainar

[paragsachania]

While we talk about bigger/smaller, powered/powerless, Smaller/larger wheel-based tyres to do this beautiful (barring Haveri-C'Durga Stretch), I feel, it is good to have done an ample amount of Highway driving before attempting on the timelines.
My first Bangalore- Pune was all through the night (8PM - 10AM) and this was the time when the C'Durga-Haveri stretch resembled mars (2 years before). With 4 adults and full luggage I had to be extra cautious managing those potholes and diversions and I felt that 14 hours was a good timimg.

Later, I did this strech within the 3rd month of my initial stint starting Bangalore at 4PM and reaching Pune at 5AM. I realised that I could cover that bad stretch faster than the night during the dusky evening.

Then, I attempted a complete day time drive starting exactly at 4AM I was in Pune by 4PM with similar 3 stops in between for Lunch and coffee.

I realised that It was much safer to pass the town in KA early morning and get rid of C'Durga, Ranibennur and Davanagere. It was also good to pass Kolhapur, Satara, Karad post lunch with mimimal village traffic and those 3 wheeler ricks which otherwise irritate you.

Talking about the good stretches (Tumkur-Sira-C'Durga/ Haveri-Hubli-Belgaum-Pune), The drive through the night is definitely amazing but I felt that under the natural light, you don't really have to bother much about judgements and still maintain a decent speed of 110-130 (In my Wagon-R) without a fuss.

I dont intend to minimize this timing to less than what was best achieved last, but I feel that an early morning start would always help.

Happy driving on NH-4

[StarVegabond]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

but I feel that an early morning start would always help.

Happy driving on NH-4

I fully agree with you. if one starts early morning 3AM/4AM, by the time the SUN is up (11AM), you would have covered 7-8 hours drive
most importantly w/o any fatigue, sweat, frequent stopages.

afternoon drives are horible especially after a good meal.
the temperature is very high, roads are hot, driver would feel sleepy.
so the speed drops.

[prince_pervez]

Originally Posted by anainar

But I am addicted to this drive now.
Nainar

Tell me about that! Me too.

Originally Posted by paragsachania

While we talk about bigger/smaller, powered/powerless, Smaller/larger wheel-based tyres to do this beautiful (barring Haveri-C'Durga Stretch), I feel, it is good to have done an ample amount of Highway driving before attempting on the timelines.

Happy driving on NH-4

Well said, but when you head for hometown, you want to reach early and safely, specially when I can't have the luxury to have a full week off or something like that. I tend to spend max time at home and min time on highways. Having said that, and as you pointed out, safety cannot be compromised.

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

afternoon drives are horible especially after a good meal.
the temperature is very high, roads are hot, driver would feel sleepy.
so the speed drops.

Yes I have experienced this too. Normally these conditions are somewhere near Davangere or Chitradurga, the roads seem endless and boring.

Happy Motoring!