[motomaverick]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Going by the present situation at Charmadi you may want to skip this altogether and take Mysore-Madikeri-Sampaje-Sullya option to reach Mangalore.

If you want to do Charmadi, best is to start super early in the morning (Say 3 or 4am) and take Hassan-Belur-Mudigere-Charmadi rather than Sakleshpur Mudigere.

The Sakleshpur Mudigere is not in best of its shape and a very narrow stretch, specially between Hanbal & Jannapura.

You cannot take this anyway as Shiradi is closed for repair works and there is no sign of when it will be thrown open to Public.

Originally Posted by ampere

None of the above. Go with what Parag says. With the closure of Shiradi, its Mysore-Sullia-Sampage-Puttur option for Mangalore and Agumbe for Udupi/Manipal.

Thanks for your inputs Parag & Ampere, unfortunately that trip has been cancelled and now the family wants to travel to Ooty

[Samurai]

The road looks rather narrow, are they turning it into a charmadi?

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by JMaruru

Aren't there many forks/deviations from kottigehara > kalasa? Are they clearly marked these days? I remember once, traveling in the dark, getting confused and lost coz there weren't proper road signs/boards.

Not really. Except for the left turn at Baalur, it is more or less a straight road to Kalasa with no deviations. As Parag has mentioned, there were Kannada boards at Baalur showing direction towards Kalasa. After that it is a straightforward route all the way to Kalasa. Since gpa is planning to leave early morning from Bangalore, he will be at Kottigehara in broad daylight, so no worries of losing his way in the dark.

Originally Posted by gpa

I start all my long highway drives early. Since I've never driven on this route I'm hoping this early start will help this time too.

6-7 hours (for both routes) sounds okay and since I'm not familiar with this route I hence will stick to the earlier one which ampere has also mentioned about.

Since you are planning to leave early, there is absolutely no problem at all. You cannot miss boards (which you may if driving in the dark). The only thing you should keep in mind is that this route has more winding roads than Charmadi route.

Charmadi ghat itself is a wonderful route to drive, however, given the amount of traffic the plies through it nowadays, traffic jams have become common and very frequent.

Originally Posted by paragsachania

If I were you - I would pick Kottigehara-Kalasa-Kuduremukha-SK Border-Bajagoli-Karkala option simply because this route will have less traffic.

Budget anything between 6-7 hours max for this entire circuit irrespective of whichever option you take.

True. There will be very little traffic and that should give you some peace of mind.

Recent update in Charmadi says the road has been reduced to single lane in many places and the flowing rainwater has created ditches along the road shoulders.

Originally Posted by fast_elegance

Familiar scenery but unfamiliar road.

Shiradi ghats are set to open on Aug 1st as per the latest news report in Daijiworld.

Any idea how they plan to create the shoulders for this road? If they just fill it with mud, that is going to be another problem in the monsoon. The mud will simply be washed away and will leave the road exactly like this.

[speedsatya]

Originally Posted by fast_elegance

Familiar scenery but unfamiliar road.

Shiradi ghats are set to open on Aug 1st as per the latest news report in Daijiworld.

Wow ! So this is what they did in more than 6 months ! and just one lane available . This looks very dangerous now .
There is no way that 2 HCVs can pass each other here without one of them or both of them toppling . Imagine driving in rain / fog with idiots on high beams coming ahead of you .

[ilbkrishna]

Drive update:
Onward to Mangalore - Started at 3 AM sharp on Saturday and made it to Mangalore at 10AM.
En-route, stopped for a short breakfast at the famous KT hotel at Kalladka. I chose to take the Mysore city ring road and the SH-88 from there on. Brilliant roads all through out. The absence of traffic early morning makes it a breeze to reach Madikeri. The famous Mys road barricades are manageable as well.

Return from Mangalore - Started at 3PM on Monday. Chose the same route. Village traffic and cattle ensured i never crossed 80kmph. Made the mistake of choosing to come via Mysore again. The traffic and people on the roads make driving a tiring affair. I feel, if we are driving during the day/evenings, it may be a good idea to take the Arkalgud, Chennarayapatna route after Kushalnagar. Next blunder was to choose the Ilvala - KRS bypass. In the darkness, missed a pothole and damaged my tyre side wall. Avoid this stretch and choose the ring road, i would advise.
Oh, the trip also had my beloved Figo complete 50,000 Kms.
Attaching a couple of pics from the trip. The beach shots are from the Surathkal Lighthouse. And the other river pictures are from the Neelavara temple area. (River Sita)

[paragsachania]

And here's what Deccan Herald had to say today:

So you "may" take Shiradi after August or as well wait till November.

Shiradi Ghat repair by Nov, but road may open in Aug: PWD minister
The ongoing repair of the Shiradi Ghat road will be completed before November but the work sufficient to reopen the stretch for traffic will get over by August 1, Public Works Department (PWD) Minister H C Mahadevappa told the Legislative Council on Tuesday.

In a written answer to a question asked by Congress MLC Ivan D’Souza, the minister stated that if the repair could not be completed by the end of July because of heavy rainfall, the road would be thrown open for traffic only after all the repair and curing works were over.

Mahadevappa acknowledged that following the ban on vehicular movement on the Shiradi Ghat road (which is part of National Highway 48), the six alternative roads are seeing traffic congestion. Traffic has also been affected on Charmadi Ghat as heavy vehicles ply on it and because the road is two-way. He said the government had taken steps to repair the alternative roads too.

Full report here: Source

[DragonHawk]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

And here's what Deccan Herald had to say today:

So you "may" take Shiradi after August or as well wait till November.

November really?? To complete 13km of road they are taking almost 10 months and I won`t be surprised if they close at again post December for carrying out next batch of repair work for remaining 13km.

[sushrutha]

Hassan -Belur - Chikkamagalur or Vice versa, Earlier which was a pure bliss & fantastic road to drive, is no more the same. Lot many road humps being added without a reason & road condition between Belur-CKM is getting bad very fast, lot many potholes & rough patch.

[geet114]

Did the Sakleshpur - Hanbal - Mudigere road on the way to Moodabidri through Charmadi ghat... Should say the road not yet completed tarred and there are way too many bad patches for comfort... around last 15 Kms out of the 40km between Hanbal to Mudigere junction are tarred fully and is good for the vehicle.

Add to it the reasonably patched road from Hassan till Saklespur town.

Preferred to take the Belur route on the return back, which is by far better maintained than the above stretch, but of-course takes the bulk of the traffic as well. Would suggest stick to Hassan-Belur-Mudigere-Charmadi route for pretty drive.

Happy driving !!

[belvaisudheer]

Hi Folks, Has anybody tried the below route to reach Mudigere avoiding Belur strech. This goes via Alur.
https://www.google.co.in/maps/dir/Ne...m0!1m0!1m0!3e0
Please comment! thanks

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by belvaisudheer

Hi Folks, Has anybody tried the below route to reach Mudigere avoiding Belur strech. This goes via Alur.
https://www.google.co.in/maps/dir/Ne...m0!1m0!1m0!3e0
Please comment! thanks

I have driven on part of this route (Alur-Bikkodu) some time back (end of 2014 IIRC). There are 2 routes from Alur to Bikkodu, one of which is shown on your map. This route passes around the backwaters of the Watehole (pronounced as waa-tay ho-lay) reservoir and reaches Bikkodu. The other one circles the reservoir (right side of the reervoir on the map) and joins the Belur-Baage state highway after Bikkodu towards Belur.

The route which is shown in your map was under construction when I was last in that area, but it should be ready by now. The other route which passes along the Watehole dam was in good condition all the way to the SH. The SH too (Belur-Baage road) was in good condition.

No idea about the conditions from Bikkodu to Belur-Mudigere road

[paragsachania]

One can take Biccodu Kogilmane (Turn left before this) Tholalu and touch Mudigere road but the stretch between Kogilmane cross and Tholalu is not in good conditon and is an internal road.

Best is to drive till Belur from Biccodu (Good all the way)and then reach Mudigere road.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

I have driven on part of this route (Alur-Bikkodu) some time back (end of 2014 IIRC).

A nice newer option. If not for shortcut, should at least take it to visit the dam itself!

Originally Posted by paragsachania

Best is to drive till Belur from Biccodu (Good all the way)and then reach Mudigere road.

Doesnt it then defeat the purpose. One might as well then take the Belur road from Hassan?

More basic point: Is going past Belur that big a deal that one needs to look for a bypass option?

[paragsachania]

Originally Posted by ampere

Doesnt it then defeat the purpose. One might as well then take the Belur road from Hassan?

More basic point: Is going past Belur that big a deal that one needs to look for a bypass option?

It does defeat the purpose but the point here was if one has turned right at Bage on Hassan-Sakleshpur road and then thinks taking of this Short cut to reach Mudigere Road, its mainly due to the road conditions that heading straight to Belur makes sense from Biccodu than the short cut.

The road that Addy mentioned via Alur is in good shape as most of my classmates near Biccodu and Arehalli now take this instead of the Standard Bage route. However, you still save no good time as you will have to reach Belur for which Hassan Belur is a straightforward option. If that short cut near Kogilmane was good, you would reach Mudigere road beyond 8 kms after Belur and would save a lot of time.

On your basic point: Absolutely not. From the Belur Circle(where roads meet from Chikmagalur, Halebidu & Hassan) till Belur Bus Stand, it is exactly 1 km. In this 1 km, you need to pass over a Bridge. All buses have to get inside Belur Town for Bus Stand and almost every 3 to 4 minutes you have a Bus entering Belur from this Circle (Mysore , Bangalore bound then, and now Mangalore and Dharmasthala bound due to Shiradi Closure).

You get stuck behind a bus, this 1Km might take 5 to 8 minutes max but that's the end of it.

After the Bus Stand, Mudigere Road starts and its one road all the way. Belur is not a dense town to cross anyway and neither its time consuming.

It is mainly that bad 1km stretch fro. Belur Circle till Bus Stand that should be the primary factor to irritate drivers who would have driven on smooth tarmac till now.

[mpksuhas]

As Sushrutha mentioned few posts above, noticed quiet few speed breakers/ rumble strips on Hassan - Bangalore stretch. Especially at Channarayapattana bye-pass, they have increased the count of rumble strips from earlier 3/4 to 6.

Also saw another two sets near Adichunchunagiri medical college which I do not remember seeing in earlier trips, however from the looks of the same felt it is there since a while.

Another note, saw highway patrol Tata Sumo with speed gun parked somewhere around Kunigal, they were not checking speed when I crossed. Any idea if they are enforcing speed limit in this route. I guess most of this stretch has limit mentioned as 80KMPH.

These Sumo's seems to be donated by IT firm Mistral, saw similar ones on Bangalore - Mysore- Gundulpet route also.