[pariwar]

Planning my first drive on BLR - BOM route and as per suggestions above, will be leaving @ 0400 hrs from BLR University.
Re: breakfast options - Ranebennur Kamat Upachar should be @ about 0830 hrs and Hubli Kamat Upachar @ about 0930 hrs.

1. Are the above timings correct if I were to achieve 100-120kmph wherever possible?
2. With reference to Ranebennur town, is the Kamat Upachar before or after? Approx. how many kms before/after?
3. Hubli Kamat Upachar I understand is before the town, how many kms before? As per earlier posts this seems to be on the BOM-BLR side, is there a right/u-turn available?

Re: Late Lunch options - Kolhapur should be covered by about 1300 hrs, which will be a bit early for lunch, what/where can I target for a clean bio-break facility (ladies) at around 1500 - 1600 hrs? Not worried about missing out on lunch as it can be substitued with some heavy tiffin/snacks at that time.

[humyum]

I did Mumbai-Bangalore a week plus some days back. Let me give you my timings for your reference

Left Mumbai Late at 7, reached Belgaum at 2 - Bangalore at 10. Stopped only once at Belgaum for lunch and fuel

While coming back, left at 6 from Banshankari 1st stage and took the nice road towards Tumkur Road. Reached Belgaum at 1, Pune at 7 and Ghatkopar at 9.

Traffic as you reach Pune is a bummer, takes one hour to cover that stretch.

Oh the car was Swift Diesel and Bangalore to Belgaum saw me maintaining 130 and 140 which was mellowed down to 110 and 120 in the second half. Hope this helps

[pariwar]

Originally Posted by humyum

Traffic as you reach Pune is a bummer, takes one hour to cover that stretch.

Does this have anything to do with office return time w.r.t. Pune @ approx. 1900 hrs?

Thanks for the other details, that's really helpful.

[abhijitvp]

Did Mumbai - Ooty last week. Started at 3AM from Pune and reached Tumkur Kamat's at 12:15. Took only one fuel/bio break in between. Between Kolhapur and Banglore you can easily maintain 90KMPH average speed. During day time it’s not possible to maintain that speed between Kolhapur and Pune.

NICE road to Pune is about 850 KMS. So if you take fewer breaks you could reach Pune before 4. So you should be ok as traffic builds up after 5PM. Most of the petrol pumps have clean toilets. If you skip the lunch you would be on Mumbai-Pune express way by 4PM. Just after the ghat there is a food mall where you can stop for snacks and bio break.

[nileshch]

Originally Posted by pariwar

Planning my first drive on BLR - BOM route and as per suggestions above, will be leaving @ 0400 hrs from BLR University.
Re: breakfast options - Ranebennur Kamat Upachar should be @ about 0830 hrs and Hubli Kamat Upachar @ about 0930 hrs.

1. Are the above timings correct if I were to achieve 100-120kmph wherever possible?
2. With reference to Ranebennur town, is the Kamat Upachar before or after? Approx. how many kms before/after?
3. Hubli Kamat Upachar I understand is before the town, how many kms before? As per earlier posts this seems to be on the BOM-BLR side, is there a right/u-turn available?

Re: Late Lunch options - Kolhapur should be covered by about 1300 hrs, which will be a bit early for lunch, what/where can I target for a clean bio-break facility (ladies) at around 1500 - 1600 hrs? Not worried about missing out on lunch as it can be substitued with some heavy tiffin/snacks at that time.

Yes, the timings are correct. When you leave Bangalore at 4 AM, you should be at Ranebennur by about 8-8:30 AM. Here is the location of Kamat Upchar, just before the Ranebennur bypass --



Hubli Kamat Upchar is on the right side when you go towards Bombay. Again, here is the location --



There should be a u-turn if you go a little ahead (not sure where).

If you cross Ranebennur by 8:30am, you will touch Hubli by about 10-10:30am. If you keep the speed constant between 100 and 120, you should be in Kolhapur by 12:30pm. If you find Kolhapur too early for lunch, as suggested by Abhijit, you can stop on the Mumbai Pune Expressway at about 3-3:30pm. I have done this a few times. Do it only if you are ok with fewer breaks. The advantage is you bypass the heavy evening office traffic of Pune.

[swapnilup]

Originally Posted by pariwar

Does this have anything to do with office return time w.r.t. Pune @ approx. 1900 hrs?

Thanks for the other details, that's really helpful.

Yes. It is best to avoid that stretch in Pune. Office buses along with cars and bikes result in slow moving traffic or a traffic jam. Best is to pass wakad before 5pm

[ampere]

Originally Posted by abhijitvp

Did Mumbai - Ooty last week. Started at 3AM from Pune and reached Tumkur Kamat's at 12:15. Took only one fuel/bio break in between.
Between Kolhapur and Banglore you can easily maintain 90KMPH average speed. During day time it’s not possible to maintain that speed between Kolhapur and Pune.

Originally Posted by nileshch

Yes, the timings are correct. When you leave Bangalore at 4 AM, you should be at Ranebennur by about 8-8:30 AM.

+1. Break Ranebennur Kamat is perfect timing. If you start at 4, as Nilesh mentioned, you should be there by 8:30 after having driven about 320-350km.
Makes a perfect break.

The next break should be some where around Kolhapur for lunch. You would have done another 320km or so.

[pariwar]

abhijitvp, nileshch, swapnilup, ampere,

Thanks for the apt & quick response. Unfortunately, the better half decided to become the worse half, the son joined her and poured hot water over my plans. They don't want to sit for 15+ hours in the car. The usual carrot of stopping at a couple of temples enroute also didn't work this time.
More

My horoscope says that money is going to leak through my hands this month and the beneficiary is an airline!!

[mooza]

Originally Posted by pariwar

My horoscope says that money is going to leak through my hands this month and the beneficiary is an airline!!

My analysis on flight versus driving:

Time to travel from my home to Bangalore airport : 2 hours
Time at airport (waiting, check in etc) : 2 hours
Flight time : 1.5 hours
Time at Mumbai airport (baggage etc) : 0.5 hours
Time to travel from Mumbai airport to my in-laws house : 2 hours
Total time = 8 hours
+ Mental tension as an additional package (Lack of flexibility in travel dates, anxiety about reaching the airport on time etc etc)

So the difference between driving and flying is just 15 - 8 = 7 hours !

That's why I always drive nowadays, makes a lot of sense to me, if one enjoys driving, that is.

Please show your family this post, if we win, we could share the savings

[pariwar]

Originally Posted by mooza

My analysis on flight versus driving:........

Please show your family this post, if we win, we could share the savings

Thanks for the suggestion, did try this angle too without success, however pat comes the reply..."will have to get up @ 2.30 a.m. to leave @ 4.00". The shutters have been pulled down on this, absolutely no appeal. Another day, another time.

[kshivaa]

sorry for the repeat question here...had posted this in Mumbai-Goa threads..but probably this is the right place.

I am planning my return drive from Mumbai to Chennai via Bangalore this weekend. Was thinking of taking NH 17 (new no 66) from Mumbai (mumbai - goa - cochin highway), and cross the ghats just before reaching Goa to reach Belgaum. If I start from Mumbai at around 4 AM, approx what time would I be able to reach Belgaum ? Has anyone tried this route before for doing Mumbai - Bangalore?

thanks
Siva

[JMaruru]

Originally Posted by kshivaa

I am planning my return drive from Mumbai to Chennai via Bangalore this weekend. Was thinking of taking NH 17 (new no 66) from Mumbai (mumbai - goa - cochin highway), and cross the ghats just before reaching Goa to reach Belgaum.

I had done M'lore to Mumbai in 2009 on NH-17. Roads are narrow i.e. single carriageway, but scenic all the way. Plan sufficient hours for this stretch. I would prefer the drive in the daylight. Plenty of places to stop and enjoy the nature!

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by kshivaa

sorry for the repeat question here...had posted this in Mumbai-Goa threads..but probably this is the right place.

I am planning my return drive from Mumbai to Chennai via Bangalore this weekend. Was thinking of taking NH 17 (new no 66) from Mumbai (mumbai - goa - cochin highway), and cross the ghats just before reaching Goa to reach Belgaum. If I start from Mumbai at around 4 AM, approx what time would I be able to reach Belgaum ? Has anyone tried this route before for doing Mumbai - Bangalore?

thanks
Siva

I am just back this weekend after doing Bangalore-Mumbai by NH4 and Mumbai-Bangalore via NH17 and NH206.

Excellent roads all the way and not even a single pothole.

We started Panvel around 4:30pm and entered Goa Border by 5:00am. Due to Sunday evening tourist traffic returning to Mumbai, we were held up at Vadkal Naka for almost 2 hours.

Apart from that, we had an excellent drive over NH17 which at night was brilliant with so much of marking at every curve.

From Karwar, we deviated towards Ankola and Yellapura and via Sirsi-Sagar-Shimoga-Tumkur we reached Bangalore.

We did this track (via NH17) only for fun and it was definitely worth it.

It may not be possible to do this in single shot (we 3 drivers did that in around 30 hours) with so many breaks in between.

[goandude]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

From Karwar, we deviated towards Ankola and Yellapura and via Sirsi-Sagar-Shimoga-Tumkur we reached Bangalore.

Hi, Informative post. and first time seeing someone take this route to b'lore from goa.
How was the roads on the Yellapur sirsi sagar shimoga part?
What was the distance between Goa and Bangalore with this route?
Any info on Yellapur Bunkapur road?

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by goandude

Hi, Informative post. and first time seeing someone take this route to b'lore from goa.
How was the roads on the Yellapur sirsi sagar shimoga part?
What was the distance between Goa and Bangalore with this route?
Any info on Yellapur Bunkapur road?

We were just 3 guys out there in Mumbai and somehow decided to take a different route just for fun as we had no time constraints in terms of reaching back to Bangalore.

The exact route that we took was as below:

Thane-Mumbai-Panvel-Vadkal Naka-Khed-Chiplun-Sawantwadi-Panaji-Margaon-Karwar-Ankola-Yellapura-Sirsi-Sagara-Shimoga-Tumkur-Bangalore

Toll Paid:
10+5 near Panvel and somewhere near Vadkal Naka.
31+20 at Nelemangala and NTBL In Bangalore.

Journey statistics is as below:

We hit NH17 at Panvel exactly at 04:23 PM on Sunday
We reached Bangalore (NTBL end) at 09:15 PM Monday

Total Distance: 1167 Kms
Total Journey time: 28h51m
Following were the breaks we took:
Snacks Break near Mangaon - 45 minutes
Dinner Break at Khed: 90 minutes
Breakfast after Karwar : 45 minutes
Lunch at Sagar: 45 minutes
In between, we took breaks lasting 10-15 minutes for photography as well.

I am attaching the logs for reference. They are in 2 parts as in between I clicked on stop recording button while trying to see how badly we had crawled due to major jams at Vadkal Naka.

Log 1: Panvel till the Jams lasted near Vadkal Naka



Log 2: Vadkal Naka till NTBL end at Bangalore



Traffic Pattern:
Traffic was very dense at least till Mangaon due to Sunday evening in both directions and we had no choice but follow the traffic and hardly got any chance to overtake.

Post 8pm, the traffic situation started to get better and we could then manage to gain some speeds and after dinner the roads were deserted with hardly a few trucks in both directions. It was an amazing experience to drive through the ghats on NH17 at night mostly because the road conditions were fantastic all through and the road had very well marked warning and caution signs all over.

Karwar-Ankola-Yellapura-Sirsi: The route is in good shape with no complaints that I have.

Sirsi-Siddapura-Talaguppa-Sagara-Shimoga-Tumkur-Bangalore: Good roads all through.

EDIT: One of my friends recently took the Bankapura-Yellapura road on his way to Goa just a week before and was telling me that the road conditions were good. During the same trip to Goa a week before, I took Belgaum-Chorla to reach Goa.