[cool_dube]

Originally Posted by Samurai

What is your criteria here? If one is going to Kundapura, why take Shiradi Ghat? I wouldn't consider any of these. I would take this (just 420Kms)

Thanks Sharath - am aware of this route. Two reasons for not considering it:

# Have been taking the Sringeri route for the last couple of my drives to Kundapura and hence wanted to take a different one this time. It has been 3 years since I last drove on Shiradi

# The Sringeri route involves a lot of ghat driving and hence takes more time than the others IMO

# In all probability, will take this route on the way back

That said, the distance I gave (~ 470 km) was a point-to-point from my residence to my actual destination. Going by the Jayapura - Sringeri route, this distance comes to around 450 kms, so not much difference there.

[sushrutha]

Had been to Dharmasthala this weekend in my Civic.
Road from Mudigere - Kottigehara-Charmadi-Ujire-Dharmasthala is in good condition, except for the hairpin curves. Quite managable by any sedan without much of difficulty.
Belur-Cheekanally-Gonibeedu-Mudigere, is in very bad condition.

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by cool_dube

It has been 3 years since I last drove on Shiradi

If you are driving the Safari, I guess you'll survive. It is a nightmare for sedans and hatches. I drove through Shiradi just two weeks back.

[lohithrao]

Dubey in this route 15+kms of Shiradi is bad leaving that rest is great.
yesterday drove back in the evening and it was aboutaround 7 when i reached shiradi, can say it was easy to gauge the depth of the pot holes with the headlights, also the traffic was very low.

Chiku , Gundya till Mani the road has been relayed and its fun to drive...

[PraveenM]

Originally Posted by sushrutha

Belur-Cheekanally-Gonibeedu-Mudigere, is in very bad condition.

We did a trip to Costal KA last week and thanks to this tread we completely avoided NH48.

Here are some of the routes we did and its conditions:

• Mysore - Hassan : Good tarmac, but sharp bends with medians
• Hassan - Belur : Great
• Belur - Gendahalli - Mudigere: single lane but decent. Was advised by an omni driver at Belur to take this route. Tooks us into Mudigere town.
• Mudigere-Hornadu: Not bad , except from Kalasa - Hornadu
• Kalasa - Sringeri : A bus driver advised us to take the longer route via Balehonnur - Jayapura, but signboards led us to the shortcut to Jayapura. Scenic but bad in some sections till Jayapura. Good after that.
• Sringeri-Kundapura: Good till Agumbe, work is ongoing at Agumbe-Someshwara ghats. Ok till Kundapur via Haladi.

[Fauji]

Originally Posted by PraveenM

Belur - Gendahalli - Mudigere: single lane but decent. Was advised by an omni driver at Belur to take this route. Tooks us into Mudigere town.

Not only this is the best route between Belur and Mudigere, but also scenic as well.

[RaguHolla]

Originally Posted by cool_dube

# The Sringeri route involves a lot of ghat driving and hence takes more time than the others IMO

# In all probability, will take this route on the way back

Why not via Shimoga-> Thirthahalli-> Agumbe - Hebri -> Halady-> Kundapura route?
Road is good till Thirthahalli. And Someshwara onwards it is good to gr8, road being repaired in most parts after Someshwara.

[hallik9]

Originally Posted by RaguHolla

Why not via Shimoga-> Thirthahalli-> Agumbe - Hebri -> Halady-> Kundapura route?
Road is good till Thirthahalli. And Someshwara onwards it is good to gr8, road being repaired in most parts after Someshwara.

Absolutely! Was speaking to my Dad last evening and he had done the Kundapura - Shimoga route the day before.
According to him,

Kundapura to Agumbe - Good(Very small patches are being relaid)
He says in another 2-3 weeks,this will be pretty good.

Agumbe to Thirthahalli - Work is in progress at a decent pace.This stretch was bad in December when I drove.Dad mentioned that this will be a super stretch in another 1 month's time.

Thirthahalli - Shimoga - Excellent roads

[sushrutha]

Originally Posted by PraveenM

Belur - Gendahalli - Mudigere: single lane but decent.

Originally Posted by Fauji

Not only this is the best route between Belur and Mudigere, but also scenic as well.

Well to be frank, this road is now paying the price for being good :-).
Vehicles are driven very rashly in this narrow, single road, no space is given for oncoming vehicles.
Recently this is what has happend twice to me in a span of 1 month,
I was driving my friend's I20 & my brother's Ritz, both are Bangalore registered vehicles.
I had to stop the car when I saw an oncoming local Maxicab, I couldn't get the car off the road, coz of the rough n deep edge, though there was space for the maxicab to go off the road and move on, he didn't even budge by an inch. He too stopped the vehicle in-between the road. I requested him to go slightly towards his left, when he didn't get down. I had to get down off the car, and speak to him. He said " You Bangalore ppl drive so rashly and don't give way to others in this single narrow road, Then why should we give way to you ?"
Later I said, I'm from this place, then they recognised me & both the drivers gave way to me.
The same thing has never ever happened to me when I was driving my CITY & now CIVIC, which are locally registered.

I'm not generalising that all BLR registered vehicles are driven rashly in this road. But definetely some are being driven awkwardly.
Mostly KA-19/20 vehicles take this route, but they are definetely driven sedately.
So friends, who are driving in this road, pls be slow and give way to oncoming vehicles.

[Rajesh K R]

Originally Posted by sushrutha

Well to be frank, this road is now paying the price for being good :-).
Vehicles are driven very rashly in this narrow, single road, no space is given for oncoming vehicles.
Recently this is what has happend twice to me in a span of 1 month,
I was driving my friend's I20 & my brother's Ritz, both are Bangalore registered vehicles.
I had to stop the car when I saw an oncoming local Maxicab, I couldn't get the car off the road, coz of the rough n deep edge, though there was space for the maxicab to go off the road and move on, he didn't even budge by an inch. He too stopped the vehicle in-between the road. I requested him to go slightly towards his left, when he didn't get down. I had to get down off the car, and speak to him. He said " You Bangalore ppl drive so rashly and don't give way to others in this single narrow road, Then why should we give way to you ?"
Later I said, I'm from this place, then they recognised me & both the drivers gave way to me.
The same thing has never ever happened to me when I was driving my CITY & now CIVIC, which are locally registered.

I'm not generalising that all BLR registered vehicles are driven rashly in this road. But definetely some are being driven awkwardly.
Mostly KA-19/20 vehicles take this route, but they are definetely driven sedately.
So friends, who are driving in this road, pls be slow and give way to oncoming vehicles.

+1 to what you have said above :

It happened to me as well on the above stretch, i had to get off the road to give way to couple of trucks and i had to gingerly get off the road for the fear of scraping my car's underside. Thankfully, since my ride is a Wagon-R, didn't have so much trouble getting off the road..

[Samurai]

This local vs outsiders mentality is very strong in Mangalore/Udupi area too. The taxi/transport fellows will hardly yield on narrow roads if they see a non-local registration plate. I used to have that problem when I drove my Bangalore registered Baleno in Udupi/Mangalore area. Only when I yell back in Tulu, they used to yield. Hmm, now that Baleno is back in Mangalore.

[PraveenM]

Originally Posted by Samurai

This local vs outsiders mentality is very strong in Mangalore/Udupi area too. The taxi/transport fellows will hardly yield on narrow roads if they see a non-local registration plate

I kinda anticipated this throughout my trip and was extra cautious. My friends Xylo in which made this trip made it easy to get off the broken roads and give way to the locals!

[sagarpadaki]

Recently went to kukke.The road conditions are as follows

Bangalore-Kunigal

Goog roads.Broken at some places but managable.Someplaces 4 laned some places 2 laned and in other places of the 4 lanes,2 lanes and blocked and vehicles plying in either directions travel on the same two lanes.

Kunigal-Chanrayapatna

Has 4 lanes for a few kms later its a single carriageway.decent road.can do 100 easily

Chanrayapatna- Sakleshpur

Single carriageway.Roads bit deteriorated with rough patches at many places.can do 80 max

Shiradi ghat

The first 10 kms are too good and led me to believe the ghat has been repaired.I couldnt have been more wrong.After 10 kms the roads are pathetic.You will get body ache in no time because of the rocking motion of the vehicle.Road is being repaired at certain places.These are the pics of shiradi ghats

[ALSUDA]

thanks for the nice pics. is it motorable?

[Rajesh K R]

For how many kms the road is in this condition? It means that this road is a strict NO-NO for smaller hatches like M-800, Santro, Wagon-R, Alto etc.right ?