[dailydriver]

Originally Posted by Sri Vathsa

Looks like charmadi ghat is open, gmaps shows traffic on that route, not sure if we can trust Google on this, if someone has info please update.

It has indeed been, for light traffic, for a while now. The road opens at 6AM and closes at 6PM; not really sure how the timings are being enforced or what happens if you are struck midway in the ghats after the deadline.

Typical to the Government, the Highway officials in charge of the stretch say that road is stable and capable of handling traffic; the district administrations - Dakshina Kannada and Chikkamagaluru - refuse to believe this claim and are being extremely cautious. As per my information, the route is narrow and almost one wayish at many places. That's why my last two trips to Magaluru and back have been via Shiradi and Sringeri.

The latter route is good; passes through Kuduremukha National Park after Sringeri (till S K Border) and hence beautiful but slow.

[rajshenoy]

Originally Posted by Exhaust_Note

As per the last couple of pages, this looked to be the best. Shiradi was faster but broken roads post the ghat all the way to Mangalore put me off.

Overall 35 kms is short, but this route indeed feels much longer.

I too had a pleasant drive via same route and only bad roads I encountered on the route was in Manipal. 5am start and couple of 45 min break, still managed to reach udupi by 1ish. I still feel this is good only for a day journey.

Had to travel towards puttur next morning and honestly the journey is very frustrating from BC road onwards and heard it is same till gundya.

Even Google shows chikmaglur-agumbe road is almost 30 min faster than shiradi route.

[Exhaust_Note]

Driving to Gokarn tomorrow morning. Stopping at Jog falls in between.
It rained here at Kaup tonight.
Malpe beach and St. Matry's island are open FYI.

[speedmiester]

Planning a circuitous trip covering Bangalore, Mysore, Mangalore, Murudeshwara, Shimoga and back.
I will be in Mysore on 5th Oct and will leave for Mangalore on 8th Oct. Planning to take the Mysore Madikeri Mangalore route through Sampaje.
There were reports of landslides during monsoon.
Any recent news on the road condition between Madikeri and Mangalore?

[Sri Vathsa]

Left Bangalore @ 5 am yesterday and reached belman at around 1230 pm with 1 break for about 30 odd minutes, took shiradi ghat, I travelled in Ciaz and road condition is bad(doable on a hatch with full load but have to be real slow) you have to be careful at multiple places and should be at crawling speed so that you don't damage your car.

Blr to Hassan is good, road about 3-4 KM's before ossoor restaurant is in bad shape, concrete section is good, took a deviation at Dharmasthala cross and road afterwards is good. Planning to take different route while coming back.

[RGK]

Originally Posted by speedmiester

Planning to take the Mysore Madikeri Mangalore route through Sampaje. There were reports of landslides during monsoon. Any recent news on the road condition between Madikeri and Mangalore?

Did this route on 29th Sept - Sunday. Did Coimbatore - Mysore - Madikeri - Sampaje - Sulliya - Puttur - Mangalore - Udupi.

All landslides were cleared with two vehicles to pass easily. The roads are good till Puttur and after that, it is worse till Mangalore.

Also covered Udupi - Bhatkal (took a right 4 km before Bhatkal itself )- Jog falls - Murdeshwar and back to Udupi. (I think NH 66 widening will easily take 2 more years)

On the return, covered Udupi - Agumbe - Sringeri - Aldur - CKM - Belur - Halebeed - Hassan - BLR - Chennai.

Apart from Dhimbam - Chamrajnagar & Puttur - Mangalore, all other roads are good. I covered 1800 kms in 4 days and enjoyed every bit of KA roads except for the speed breakers.

Thanks to Parag and NPV for the guidance.

[speedmiester]

Originally Posted by RGK

Did this route on 29th Sept - Sunday. Did Coimbatore - Mysore - Madikeri - Sampaje - Sulliya - Puttur - Mangalore - Udupi.

All landslides were cleared with two vehicles to pass easily. The roads are good till Puttur and after that, it is worse till Mangalore.

Also covered Udupi - Bhatkal (took a right 4 km before Bhatkal itself )- Jog falls - Murdeshwar and back to Udupi. (I think NH 66 widening will easily take 2 more years)

On the return, covered Udupi - Agumbe - Sringeri - Aldur - CKM - Belur - Halebeed - Hassan - BLR - Chennai.

Apart from Puttur - Mangalore, all other roads are good. I covered 1800 kms in 4 days and enjoyed every bit of KA roads except for the speed breakers.

Thanks to Parag and NPV for the guidance.

Thanks RGK. I knew about Puttur to Mangalore road conditions, but wanted to ensure if the Sampaje ghat was better since I will be starting from Mysore.
Since I have a wedding to attend in Shimoga on 10th Oct, I will be taking the NH66 to Murudeshwara, then onto Jog and Shimoga.

[fast_elegance]

Returned from MLR yesterday via Shiradi. The condition of the road has deteriorated further from my trip towards MLR a week back. Shiradi can now be termed as non-motorable for the sedans. I was in my Honda city with a full load. I had to literally stop and move at some of the sections just to ensure that i was not scraping the bottom. I still saw a few etios, dzire zipping past in these sections.

It was very frustrating and probably my last trip in this route for this season until it is fixed.

My cousin who did this route on his Crysta a couple of days back ended up with 2 damaged tyres and 1 damaged alloy.

[Sri Vathsa]

Travelled via charmadi ghat yesterday evening, they close the ghat at around 600 -615 pm (I reached at around 645 pm) luckily the guard at checkpost asked us to hurry up and allowed us to pass(there are 2 check posts while coming from ujire side towards Bangalore). Roads are in very good condition (compared to shiradi), at some places the roads are narrow because of land slide.

And after the ghats from kottigehara towards Belur they have recently laid water channels or drain pipes at multiple places, similar to the humps what we have in Bangalore you would have to slow down.

[theredliner]

I am planning to drive from Sagara to Dharmasthala. Route considered is: Sagara - Anandapura - Ripponpete - Thirthahalli - Agumbe - Seethanadi - Karkala - Bajagoli - Bethangady - Ujire - Dharmasthala.

Any idea how this route is? Is it safe to drive now?

The alternate road is Sagara - Hosanagara - Nagara - Hulikal - Hebri.

Charmadi is ruled out as I would reach Kottigehara post 6PM.

Which one should I prefer for a low GC sedan? Which one is more scenic?

Also, for return from Dharmasthala to Bengaluru, I am planning to avoid Shiradi.

[prsnck]

Folks,

Plans to cover Sringeri, Agumbe, Thirthahalli. Want to cover the greenest circuit road more for drive pleasure and see the scenaries, stick to less than 350km one side drive so that family is not exhausted.

1. Bangalore Hiriyur - Hosadurga - Ajjampur - Tarikere - Thirthahalli - Agumbe
2. Bangalore - Hassan - Chikmagalur - Aldur - Balehonnur - Sringeri - Agumbe

Of the 2 above, I hear the prominent routes, which is the best considering :

a. Good road condition (no construction and slow moving, blah blah)
b. Low GC of Sedan -
c. Scenic
d. Stay will be more or less at Thirthahalli and plan to visit, Agumbe, Sringeri etc during the day and return to Thirthahalli. Is that the better option.
e. Based on that I can change the stay option to Agumbe or Sringeri etc, please suggest.



Regards
Prsn

[rahulb22]

Finally, it looks like some patchwork on the Uppinangady - BC Road stretch has started.


http://www.daijiworld.com/news/newsD...?newsID=633097

[hallik9]

Originally Posted by prsnck

Folks,

Plans to cover Sringeri, Agumbe, Thirthahalli. Want to cover the greenest circuit road more for drive pleasure and see the scenaries, stick to less than 350km one side drive so that family is not exhausted.

1. Bangalore Hiriyur - Hosadurga - Ajjampur - Tarikere - Thirthahalli - Agumbe
2. Bangalore - Hassan - Chikmagalur - Aldur - Balehonnur - Sringeri - Agumbe

Of the 2 above, I hear the prominent routes, which is the best considering :

a. Good road condition (no construction and slow moving, blah blah)
b. Low GC of Sedan -
c. Scenic
d. Stay will be more or less at Thirthahalli and plan to visit, Agumbe, Sringeri etc during the day and return to Thirthahalli. Is that the better option.
e. Based on that I can change the stay option to Agumbe or Sringeri etc, please suggest.



Regards
Prsn

If I were you, I would go with option 1. Roads are in excellent shape. A bit of rough roads once you enter The Bhadra dam road from Tarikere but these are very small stretches.

[prsnck]

Originally Posted by hallik9

If I were you, I would go with option 1. Roads are in excellent shape. A bit of rough roads once you enter The Bhadra dam road from Tarikere but these are very small stretches.

Thanks hallik9. Small change in plan but dakshina kannada only. Better half (and me) wants to visit Kukke and get blessings. Anyone recently travelled to Kukke from bangalore. How is road condition Bnglr-Kukke-D'sthala.

Plan is stay in kukke day 1 and visit D'sthala day 2 and then stay in Streams of Joy for a bit of relaxation. Day 3 start back to Bangalore.

Please suggest best route at present for a low GC sedan.

rergards
prsn

[Shamegz]

Originally Posted by rahulb22

Finally, it looks like some patchwork on the Uppinangady - BC Road stretch has started.


http://www.daijiworld.com/news/newsD...?newsID=633097

Not sure whether it was repair works or bad roads,my up and down bus journey to Mangalore was delayed by 3 to 4 hours. I saw vehicle queue up and slow movement in ghat section not sure on location as it was dark.
With more vehicle to add on holidays next week, situation could get bad.

TOI report:
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/71655583.cms