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-   -   The art of travelling between Bangalore - Mangalore/Udupi (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-travel-queries/91125-art-travelling-between-bangalore-mangalore-udupi-243.html)

Unfortunately, Shiradi is still the best road towards the coast from Bangalore. Recently, within the span of 10 days, I traveled via Shiradi (GV), Bisle(Jeep), Shiradi (Jeep) and Agumbe/CKM (GV). And I have read reports from people who took Sampaje and Charmadi. I also did Kudremukh ghat between Bajgoli and Kalasa (Jeep) a month ago.

The Kudremukh ghat itself is in great condition, but the roads to leading to from coast are bad. Don't know about the status of roads after Kalasa to Hassan. This is also a slow route, keep that in mind.

My last trip (Thursday) was via Agumbe/CKM. The Manipal-Hiriadka-Hebri-Agumbe-Sringeri-Balehonnur-CKM is full of patches. In case of Shiradi, you have 30kms of continuous bad roads, but it is manageable. But in the Agumbe/CKM route, you get bad patches every 1-2kms, so you have to be continuously alert.

That is 160kms of road inundated with such patches.





Since it also rained for the first 6 hours of driving, I couldn't take more photos. But the above shots make the point.

Congrats, you just drove through the best route to Mangalore/Udupi available right now.:D You narrowly missed the worst route too, the Bisle trail (ghat). That connects Subramanya to north Coorg. Last week when I drove through it in the Jeep, I remember thinking that I wouldn't want to get my Grand Vitara on this road, it can shake up the suspension of any tough SUV. I had to drive most of the stretch in 2nd gear, which is similar to the 1st gear of normal cars. Any faster, it will be very difficult control the vehicle in that very narrow trail like road. The road edges end abruptly and fall away steeply most of the way. I fell into it last year, so I know the danger first hand.

Now you know why this thread was renamed as "Art of travelling.."

Shiradi is rebuilt every year, still this is the status. Bisle is never rebuilt, so imagine the status.


Yeah, that is the only entertainment in an Jeep with no doors or ICE.:)

^^
Yesterday I came via Agumbe -> Sringeri -> CKM -> Hasan -> Bangalore.

Roads only bad between Balehonnur & aldur. Few patches near Agumbe, otherwise it was good. Advantage/disadvantage (for poor souls) is there least traffic in this route. We are in Agumbe at 7am, and reached CKM at 9:15am with two stops for toddler.

Kalasa-Kottigehara-Mudigere-Gendehalli-Belur-Hassan route is in good condition. Watch out for potholes while entering and exiting Mudigere town and at one place after Gendehalli. Apart from these stretches, the route is good.

Do not take the regular route from Mudigere to Belur vis Cheeknally-Gonibeedu. It is in pathetic condition.

That's a very different experience than mine within the same week.:eek: What car were you driving? I can usually do Manipal-CKM in 3 hours in GV, this time it took 45minutes more.

The road between Manipal-Agumbe is in terrible condition, the photo I have posted is from that stretch. How did you reach Agumbe?:confused:

I was coming from Kundapur, reached Aumbe via Halady , Bidkal katte Someshwar (didn't take via Hebri route though).

So, you missed the worst part. Still, Agumbe ghat is bad enough.

I found top of Agumbe is very bad, though one or two turns are bad, but not so bad for fiesta. There were rough patches near halady, bidkal katte, and some part of near Someshwar, but not like what you have there in Manipal route.

Jayant, i can say shiradi is in much better shape then it was few years back, last 5-6years we have been going through this torture:)

the ritual of repairs is carried out every year, which lasts only for few months!

I know i may be called a freak here, but i think many of us are feeling the frustration of driving the gundya section of the ghat a little too much because of the nature of the pot holeswithstupid!!

All these years we saw a pattern: The ghats are repaired, the mining lorries and oil tankers abuse the ghats, rain catalyzes this and we see all the curves getting totally screwed! So it would generally be the curves which get potholed. One would find a foot wide road and rest being craters nearly a foot deep as well.

But this time, its the straight sections which have bore the brunt of the rains. What adds to the frustration is that the potholes are scattered one after the other continously so all you get is a vehicle which keeps bobbing up and down along with our heads. No respite. Our body starts aching after a while. Earlier we were so mentally used to the bad curves. Now, the never ending craters for a considerable stretch. Please note that the bad curves where not as long as the bad straight sections here.

I am going mad here:Frustrati But then, can we all arrive upon one fairly decent route? I am seeing varied opinions on the shimoga route.

(Off topic: Do the better suspension vehicles like the puntos and polos fare better here?)

Just came back from Mangalore yesterday.

Mangalore -> Sakleshpur -> Hasan -> Bangalore

Mangalore to Sakleshpur: Roads have gone from bad to worse especially in the ghats section. It nearly took 2.15 hours to cross the ghat section. Too many potholes and it was a torture. We stopped on all the little waterfalls on the way and it made us forget the torture.

Sakleshpur to Hasan: Roads are in good condition except for a 15km bad stretch

Hasan to Bangalore: Roads are in good condition.

Fact of the matter is, there is no one fairly decent route. Every route to the coast is ridden with potholes and craters to varying degree. Sometime back had heard about concreting the entire stretch of shiradi, don't know what happened to that.

Its the best solution but I don't think it will ever happen. The officials idea is to asphalt the road again and again so that they can pinch in some money each time the Government releases money for repair work. They won't get this opportunity if the road is concreted as the road quality will never deteriorate. :)

Oh very much, too well :)

Hmmm, so I should try Shiradi route next time? We are going again in the 1st week of Oct...

having seen all the posts till now, I have arrived at the conclusion that its either Charmadi or Shiradi that I will have to take on September 8th to reach Udupi. Could someone please confirm which of the two is the best. I drive a (darling) VW Vento.

It was raining cats, dogs and all things domestic on saturday 3rd Sept when we just came out of Mangalore on return journey with rain following us till dharmasthala cross on NH48.

Then started the game of chess on moon surface, moving each wheel over different variations of water filled potholes and trying to outmaneuver vehicle from opposite direction on their turf. Each vehicle was a player in itself. I saw six vehicles maneuvering different variations in may be within 10/15 meter stretch.
This I guess is part of the folklore of traveling to Mangalore and back, without which discussion there are incomplete. Some distraught images taken from my cell.

I was driving ANHV and she handled herself well throughout the stretch except for few thuds for reckless speeding and overtaking.

off topic: Prashant shenoi are you from Hubli?