Team-BHP - The art of travelling between Bangalore

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Originally Posted by MCR (Post 2140383)

Just came back after an unexpected trip to Mangalore. Took NH48 to and fro. Hassan - Sakaleshpur stretch is damaged in some places. The damage is big and bad. Shiradi ghat is rough and bad, but easily drivable if you drive in the middle of the road. Shiradi - Uppinangadi is good to drive with some bad stretches. Uppinangadi - BC road is bad. BC road - Mangalore is good but too many diversions.

Tell me bout it , it was a complete work out .
That road was Bad .!!

Madikeri route a lot better .

Last week my cousin drove down to Mangalore in his alto via Shiradi ghat in spite of my warnings to take an alternate route via Charmadi. He damaged his car suspension and now repenting for his decision! Just a suggestion again from my end, please avoid Shiradi unless you own a SUV or jeep which can easily take the abuse from bad roads!!

I already learnt the lesson hard way and from last 4 trips, i am opting for Charmadi and i am extremely happy with my choice (though the distance is little more than Shiradi route).

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Originally Posted by lazybrain (Post 2144040)

Amazingly, most regular people (non-BHPians) take Shiradi route no matter what. When I suggest alternative route, their only response is "but it is far".:uncontrol

Quote:

Originally Posted by lazybrain (Post 2144040)

Just a suggestion again from my end, please avoid Shiradi unless you own a SUV or jeep which can easily take the abuse from bad roads!!

Next week I am driving my doorless Jeep to Bangalore. Yet I won't take the Shiradi, it is way too dusty for the open Jeep. Besides, Jeep may take the abuse, but I can't take it.:eek:

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Originally Posted by Samurai (Post 2144053)

Next week I am driving my doorless Jeep to Bangalore. Yet I won't take Shiradi..Jeep may take the abuse, but I can't take it.:eek:

lol:

For a moment I thought you had lost the doors while negotiating Shiradi !

Yes, while my SUV coolly took the abuse last year, my family found it just too much to handle, going by the sickly look on their faces :)

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Originally Posted by mooza (Post 2144210)

Yes, while my SUV coolly took the abuse last year, my family found it just too much to handle, going by the sickly look on their faces :)

Since April, I have travelled 20-25 times up and down in various ghats, including Bisle ghat. Yes, mostly in Vitata, but few times in Jeep too. I can take any of the ghats in their current state in the Vitara, but in the Jeep I get selective, I tend to avoid dusty roads.

When I took my parents (78 & 74) on Shiradi in Sept, I was quite concerned. I even had to keep the windows down thanks my brother's MIL, so we ate dust all the way. But all of them took the experience quite stoically, didn't really complain. I guess living around NH-17 has made them immune to bad roads.

This Saturday I travelled the Manipal-Hebri-Agumbe-Sringeri-Balehonnur-Chikmagalur-Belur-Hassan-Kunigal-Nelamangala-Bangalore route in my doorless Jeep. This route is only 10kms longer than Shiradi route.

Even though my Jeep has excellent ride comfort for a SWB Jeep, the road until Chikmagalur was harsh on me. I picked this route for its low traffic and low dust nature. The road has canopy of trees most of the way. But road is frequently potholed between Hiriyadka-Hebri and Balehonnur to Aldur. Enough to hurt your back, but not the car. Shiradi can damage the car, but this route won't since the potholes are smaller. Being in a Jeep, I didn't slow down for every pothole like other cars, so I kept passing everybody until Chikmagalur. After that everybody kept passing me until Bangalore since I couldn't exceed 60kmph as I was running-in the recently overhauled engine.

It was dark by the time I acrossed Kunigal, still I decided to risk Nelamanagala instead of Magadi/Tavarekere debacle. And I was pleasantly surprised this time. Despite the construction work, I could maintain good speed all the way to Nelamangala and then the flyover was a breeze. Unlike last time, it was not raining this time. I guess it was rain that made it difficult last time.

Veterans of this route might remember the tree canopy all along the road from Nelamangala to BC road. It has however vanished wherever roads have been widened. This time as I was driving through the canopy between chennarayapattana and bellur cross, I saw lots of laborers working on clearing both sides. I guess it is time we bid goodbye to tree canopy in this stretch too.

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Originally Posted by Samurai (Post 2149508)

Veterans of this route might remember the tree canopy all along the road from Nelamangala to BC road. It has however vanished wherever roads have been widened. This time as I was driving through the canopy between chennarayapattana and bellur cross, I saw lots of laborers working on clearing both sides. I guess it is time we bid goodbye to tree canopy in this stretch too.

Sharath, same state between Surathkal to Kundapura. its a very painful sight to see the huge trees down....

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Originally Posted by sushrutha (Post 2132575)

Ampere, pls don't spread rumours.
The above said area is not even affected by 1% of Naxalites.
Day / Night You can find hell lots of vehicles travelling between these two places.
The Naxal affected area is near Agumbe, Sringeri, Kudremukha, though they don't usually harm travellers travelling in these region roads.

Gents,
Sorry for my late response ! There was no such (Naxalites) problem encountered as mentioned above.

We did a long trip and I would say a good trip except for 'The NH Roads'.
Journey from Bangalore to Tumkur was smooth and after that we found bad stretches for about 3-5 kms whenever approaching a village. These pot holed roads were very much difficult for short wheeled cars (i10).

The road from Shimoga to Chikmagalur was quiet good and enjoyable.
however when we drove from Kalasa to Sringeri there was a junction after kudremukh which was very bad for about 30kms or so.
On our return journey from Mangalore to Bangalore we took the shirdi ghat, probably a big mistake. it rained heaviest and the roads we so horrible, the worst i have seen so far. The entire ghat stretch is not at all motorable. Probably good for an SUV for a test/offroad ride.
We started from Mangalore around 4PM and we reached home (Vidyaranyapura) at 02;00Am and thanks to the roads in the Ghat.

:deadhorse

@sushrutha,

I remember HVK mentioning about the folks being stopped on Kadur road and the CKM-Lingadahalli road. Later he clarified they dont harm any travellers and its more of a local problem. Hence I was suggesting not to travel at night.

But I think I have heard folks saying there are naxal elements around Kadur. Please correct me if I am wrong.

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Originally Posted by ampere (Post 2152411)

No trace of Naxals around Kadur AFAIK.
Probably those folks might have stopped for some "Chanda Vassoli", during festival seasonm but I might be wrong.

Having been warned by everyone in this forum regarding the non-existent roads from Mangalore to Hassan, we debated long and hard whether to drive through Sakleshpur or via Charmadi/Belur. Since we were told that both routes were equally bad, we decided to take the shorter route via Sakleshpur. Road is fine for 80 kms out of Manglaore. then the bad road starts all the way to Saklespur. A few bits of good road in between but not long enough to picj up any speed. After Sakleshpur, the road is fine again. So, I think we made the right decision.

Back from Native....
Had been To Kukke Subramanya, Took Chamradi while going & Shiradi while returning.
Charmadi is fantastic all the way till CKM district border. From thereon it's mixed with potholes at some places , particularly at the Hairpin bends and curves. 90% is in V good condition.
Road from Dharmasthala - Kukke Via Gundya, some part of the road is in Pathetic condition, but managable by any sedan.
From Gunda - Kukke is pure bliss, fantastic road.

Gundya - Sakleshpura & Hanbal-Mudigere ... Just to experience the WARZONE, I took this road... Forget the Shiradi ghats... Everyknows abt this Moon's surface..

Hanbal - Mudigere is like as if somebody has thrown a Nuclear bomb on the road.

The only saving grace of Shiradi ghats is that JCB has dug the road and made the road atleast worth driving, meant to say that humps, potholes have been scraped and made to road level in some parts.

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Originally Posted by sushrutha (Post 2156317)

IIRC, Hanbal - Mudigere stretch has been bad / worse for quite some time. I think Addy had mentioned about this about 7-8 months back.
How did you manage with your OHC ?

Coming to shiradi, you have mentioned the roads have been levelled using a JCB. can the smaller hatches cover the stretch more easily now ?