Re: The art of travelling between Bangalore - Mangalore/Udupi Updates on Charmadi and Shiradi from my Bangalore-Mangalore-Bangalore drive on 31st Oct 2016:
On day before (31st October), Myself and my dad headed for an impromptu drive with Belur on our mind. We left Bangalore at 0200 PM and around 0500 PM we were in Belur and on seeing the crowd at the temple (With cars parked all over), decided to continue our journey towards Mangalore - Yes, that's when you call it impromptu . Charmadi Ghats & the road to Mudipu: - Encountered traffic till Kottigehara - This was because there was a lot of crowd from Bangalore returning from Kalasa-Horanadu. After Kottigehara it was business as usual, very less cars and super light traffic.
- Charmadi Ghat is holding good except very few bad patches as reported earlier from my drive only few weeks ago. The progress is fast due to absence of traffic here.
- Ujire - Belthangady - BC Road is holding good and there are no bad patches
- Our Destination in Mangalore was Mudipu (University campus) to meet a friend soon after I confirmed his presence when in Belur and hence as soon as we hit NH48 (Bangalore - Mangalore highway), we started driving back 3.5 Kms towards Hassan to turn right at Melkar onto a road that directly connects to Mudipu
- Anyone wanting to use this road as shortcut to reach Ullal (Many resorts here as you know) must be cautioned that the initial 9 kms after the turn off from NH48 is in bad shape with frequent and consistent potholes - Hence, depending on the time of the day and traffic pattern, you are as well better off driving all the way to Pumpwell and then take left towards Kasargod to reach your destination - Should be faster and roads are also good
- With a 0200 PM start, a short break for mandatory neer dose at Kottigehara for 20 minutes, we reach Mangalore (Mudipu) at 0830 PM - 385 kms, 6.5 Hours and via Charmadi
Shiradi Ghats: - Spent 2 hours at his place and started back at 10:30 PM for Bangalore again taking the same route to hit NH48 at Melkar
- NH48 till Gundya remains in good shape with one or two places that has some surprising elements - Potholes, what else
- As we hit NH48 around 1100 PM, I had expected a lot of Bangalore bound Bus traffic and since the oncoming traffic towards Mangalore was less at that time, I was quick to overtake a lot of buses till roads started deteriorating further ahead
- Post Gundya, all the way till the point where the 13 kms concrete road starts, a distance of almost 15 kms is in very bad shape - So bad that even buses were seen struggling
- At many places there are just no roads as the surface is totally washed away - My only saving grace was that the oncoming bus traffic was still far away to face me and hence I was able to easily overtake buses quickly while they negotiated potholes and I took the extreme right lane to manage that at many places, something that you will not be able to do during day time or even when there is good traffic in both directions
- We encountered some heavy to very heavy rains all the way from Donigal to Hassan that further slowed our pace
- There was fog (at times moderate to dense) nearing Sakleshpur as well
With a quick refueling break at IOCL, Udyapura at 0145 AM we were home at 0330 AM yesterday
With an instant comparison of driving onward through Charmadi and return via Shiradi, It was no brainer that I was repenting my decision to have taken Shiradi - Trust me, Shiradi is indeed bad for now. If you are not convinced, this video of the entire bad stretch should give you that idea and how bad things can really get if its a weekend and you are driving during the day time where overtaking is even difficult. (Excuse the not so great quality only because I joined the usual successive dashcam clips and then compressed this video)
Drag the progress bar to the following "Points of Interests"! 3:23s, 5:15s, 6:57s, 13:08s, 13:34s, 16:30s (Super long stretch that's really bad), 18:35s (Gundya Junction), 19:28s, 20:26s (All the way till the end from here)
And this is exactly how Charmadi fares in terms of road conditions, video from my drive only 3 weeks before. The long(er) weekend, festive times and the traffic: - There were enough private cars heading back to Bangalore one day before the mayhem - Hotels, toll booths and visible hints from the opposite lane were good enough to say this
- Even at night after 0100 AM, there was heavy density of private cars - All Bangalore bound
- Surprisingly, the hoteliers around this road are aware of the traffic pattern that many of them were open even post 2AM
- Unusual rush at all toll booths between 0100 AM 0300 AM - At least 3 gates open and minimum of 4-5 private cars
- Each of the tea shop or toll booth had a cluster of Bangalore cars either taking a nap or stopping by for a cuppa at this odd hour
- Donigal, a popular point for truckers to stop by before (and after) Ghats, was surrounded by dozens and dozens of Tempo Travellers - Again, all heading to Bangalore
- There was also equal rush towards Mangalore - Mainly because today (Nov 1) is a holiday and post festival there were many headed to popular pilgrimage circuit of Kukke - Dharmasthala
Bottom-line:
In its present condition till the roads get repaired, ignore Shiradi as of now. It is simply not worth it unless you are driving odd day and odd hours where there is a lease for gaining some better momentum.
With passengers inside the car, often kids and elders, you don't want them to feel heavy & shaky lateral movements inside your car no matter what you drive when other options are relatively less stressful.
Last edited by paragsachania : 2nd November 2016 at 07:57.
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