[abhi_krao]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Hmm, Shirady ghat is 37kms and Charmady ghat is 24kms. Unless you are adding everything between Mudigere to Kottigehara as Charmady Ghat.

No, if they hated Charmady, they will hate Shirady more. There is simply too much construction and bad roads in the Shirady route.

Sorry, I missed to mention exactly. I meant interms of time taken. Also the Charmady is very narrow and lot of tight turns whereas the shirady is open and flowing.
How is Maranahalli to Sakleshpur ? Patched up or completely gone.

[naveen_v1974]

I traveled to Mangaluru on May 7th weekend. Started by 3:30 pm and reached my destination Hotel BMS(Kuntikana Junction, next to DMart) by 11:30 PM with 2 stops for light snacks at Mayura and Dinner at Annapoorneshwari(not that good). The section till Hassan is good and the Problem starts from Hassan Bypass as there is construction all the way till the Concrete road of Shirai Ghat. The concrete road of Shiradi is just fine and was a smooth ride but there is construction all the way till BC road which will take out the energy

While returning back on May 8th i visited Kukke subrahmanya and wanted to try an alternate road to Bengaluru as i wanted to avoid the construction work. We started from Kukke at 11:30 AM and took the KUkke - Bisile - Shanivarasante- Arkalagud - Holenarasipur - Channarayapatna - Bengaluru Road. To my surprise the road was excellent but a bit narrow, 2 big cars can easily pass and there was very less traffic and the scenery was just amazing and it was a bliss driving through unspoilt forests. The only problem is there are no good restaurants and u need to wait till u reach Bellur cross(My preferred Restaurant Mayura). We had late lunch at Mayura at 4 pm and reached Home in Sahakaranagar by 7 pm. One tip google saved an hour for me as it showed me a detour before Nelamangala junction that connects to Sondekoppa road and connects to the toll road just before the Nelamangala Toll

[GeeTee TSI]

I travelled from Bangalore towards Mangalore (not exactly, rather Uppala gate) via Sakleshpur

Since I wanted to experience Shirady ghats early in the morning, started from Bangalore around 2 pm (Yelahanka on Friday the 13th!) headed towards Sakleshpur for the night

As luck would have it, a mega congregation of some sort brought even the excellent Nelamangala Kunigal route to its knees - standstill to crawling for almost an hour, with people and (contracted) KSRTC buses all over the place - talk about poor traffic management!



The roads opened up only beyond Kunigal (some moronic wrong side driving was encountered till then), coffee break was at Dhruvathare

Kunigal-Hassan stretch is excellent but beyond Hassan there is roadworks in progress. Lanes are done up on one side but it's a dangerous dual carriage way without markings, signages or reflectors - avoid this section after dark, from hindsight
One such clip of a near miss due to an unlit tractor on the opposite lane.


Some sections are slushy, broken with poor visibility after dark. Finally checked into Hotel Durga International at Sakleshpur - decent place with adequate parking (it's also right on the highway) and clean rooms; just don't expect anything more. Food was very good though

Started from Sakleshpur at 05:50 on Saturday eager to soak in Shirady ghats with light traffic, but it wasn't meant to be!

Right after Sakleshpur town limits there was a massive line of trucks. The opposite lane was empty which signaled something seriously wrong, although I did not give into taking the opposite lane and waited in my lane.


One hour and and a few km later, I finally reached the cause of the pile up. A tractor carrying an excavator gone off the road (shoulder caved in probably) precariously perched and blocking all but one lane of traffic around the turn. This site with the bottle neck was not managed by any authorities but by the drivers (desperate to get a move on as once one lane starts moving there's no stopping it) and was haphazard and unsafe to say the least


Thankfully the feeling of gloom lifted with the real sights of Shirady ghats. Some poor sections notwithstanding, the concrete sections more than made up for it all the way till Kalladka junction


I headed towards Uppala (I was taking a long route to Calicut) crossing into Kerala at Vorkady, a lovely stretch and a driver's delight till NH66 at Uppala.


NH66 is a work in progress all the way from Kasaragode to Calicut and the highlight of this trip was primarily understanding Shirady (and it's hazards!) to come back again during the monsoons

[arun_josie]

I took the Shirady route yesterday, while returning from Kasaragod. It was all good till Uppinangady, the challenge is once you enter the Mangalore – Bangalore highway. Frequent diversions due to the construction work. And wherever there is a diversion, you will have to get on to the gravel roads or muddy roads. As it was raining as well, the terrain on which you are driving keeps changing. Nice smooth wet tarmac to gravel roads to muddy roads and this keeps repeating. It was fun.

The most irritating part is the bad roads after the cement road section on this Shirady ghat. It is really in a bad shape and with no rains here, the dust was flying all around. We got stuck behind a KSRTC Scania and at times the visibility was very low due to the dust kicked off by this bus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frDOnheD97o

And after this the Sakleshpur – Hassan also has frequent diversions with occasional bad stretches. This was manageable though.

Overall, for people looking for good roads, its better to take Madikeri, Charmady or Bisle route.

[alstonlobo]

Beltangady: Increase in illegal activities on Charmadi Ghat, police beef up security






https://www.daijiworld.com/news/news...?newsID=958926

[GeeTee TSI]

Originally Posted by arun_josie

The most irritating part is the bad roads after the cement road section on this Shirady ghat. It is really in a bad shape and with no rains here, the dust was flying all around. We got stuck behind a KSRTC Scania and at times the visibility was very low due to the dust kicked off by this bus.

Indeed! If the loose surface was bad, the downward pointing exhaust of these rear engined buses exhaling away makes it worse!

[PrideRed]

Below are the routes I stick to for sometime now. You get good roads throughout and probably takes same time as Shiradi(present condition) despite longer.

Option 1:Puttur-Subrahmanya-Gundya- Shiradi- Kadumane/Harle estate-Sakleshpur-Hassan- Bangalore.

Option 2: Puttur- Belthangady-Charmady-Belur-Hassan-Bangalore.

Note(May work out much longer for Mangalore but I would prefer these than abusing car)

Weekends any road is a mess with mad traffic and one really needs to start early like reach Nelamangala by 5AM or reach ghat section by 6AM(While travelling towards Bangalore).

20-25 years ago we used to reach Yeshwantpura in Omni in about 6 hours or lesser and 5 hours in a sedan like Esteem. Pity that despite advanced cars, 4 lane roads, we still take same time or more after 20 years.

[Repsol]

We are planning for a visit to Manipal this weekend. Plan is start from BLR (E-City) tomorrow morning @ 5AM. Based on the last couple of pages in this thread, I have understood that the best route to reach Manipal is as below:

BLR > Hassan > Belur > Mudigere > Charmady > Belthangady > Karkala > Manipal

But for some strange reason, GMaps is not even showing me this route, if I directly put the start and end points as BLR and Manipal. It's showing me the below route:

BLR > Nelamangala > Tumkur > Hiriyur > Tarikere > Thirthahalli > Agumbe > Manipal

Any suggestions on whether I should stick to the first route only, or follow what GMaps is showing?

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by Repsol

BLR > Nelamangala > Tumkur > Hiriyur > Tarikere > Thirthahalli > Agumbe > Manipal

Any suggestions on whether I should stick to the first route only, or follow what GMaps is showing?

I think that is because there is a major road construction near Kunigal, in the direction towards Hassan.

Can someone who drove towards Hassan in the last 10 days confirm this?

[arun_josie]

Originally Posted by Samurai

I think that is because there is a major road construction near Kunigal, in the direction towards Hassan.

That is just a diversion, no blockages there. Google maps acts weird at times.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by Repsol

BLR > Hassan > Belur > Mudigere > Charmady > Belthangady > Karkala > Manipal

BLR > Nelamangala > Tumkur > Hiriyur > Tarikere > Thirthahalli > Agumbe > Manipal

Any suggestions on whether I should stick to the first route only, or follow what GMaps is showing?

If you start at 5AM as you mentioned, both of these routes are fine. I have recently traveled on both of these routes and they are both fine. There is usually heavy traffic between Bangalore and Hassan section on weekends, and therefore, I prefer the second option. But even the first option is quite fine and apart from some traffic, there are no other issues to the best of my knowledge.

In the second option, between Tarikere and Thirthahalli, there is a section of a forest road that is very narrow with sharp edges on both sides. If you have a low GC vehicle, it does become a problem to move to the side of the road (and you have to drop down those sharp edges) to give way to oncoming vehicles (the section is that narrow). Please keep this in mind (and be careful there) if you are driving a low GC vehicle. But if you are driving a Duster (going by your signature), then this is not a problem at all.

The first option is fine even for a low GC vehicle. But for a Duster, both roads are totally fine.

Originally Posted by Samurai

I think that is because there is a major road construction near Kunigal, in the direction towards Hassan.

Can someone who drove towards Hassan in the last 10 days confirm this?

Yes, that is correct! I drove there the last weekend (and also a weekend before that) and yes, there is some road work near Kunigal.

The road is turned into a single lane road for about 5km (and the exact stretch varied in my previous two trips). That does cause a traffic delay. It also depends on the time when you start. In my trip two weekends ago, we started a bit late, at 7:30AM from Bangalore. That was a bad idea and we got stuck for a long time in slow traffic in that single-lane construction zone near Kunigal.

In fact, I have a Google Maps screenshots of that traffic jam when we started late from Bangalore:


However, last weekend we started at 6AM, and then we were able to pass through the construction zone relatively smoothly without much delay. If you start at 5AM, this should not be a problem.

But again, it is not a major blockage. It is a regular road repair work with one lane blocked and one lane open, and that causes delays depending on the traffic.

Originally Posted by arun_josie

That is just a diversion, no blockages there. Google maps acts weird at times.

I think you are talking about the diversions where they are building a flyover (I assume so), and those have been there since last 1 year. Those diversions are beyond Hotel Dhruvathare.

This road repair work near Kunigal is something more recent. This is more like some quick repair on the road rather than major work. This is before Dhruvathare. This is not a diversion but just a single lane block at time. The exact location changes as they keep on shifting the road work stretch.

[Repsol]

Thanks for your quick and wonderful feedback @Samurai, @arun_josie and @Dr.AD.

I will take the option 1 for onwards journey, and will try to take option 2 during return (though if option 1 turns out to be good during onwards journey, then most probably might use the same for return too).

Will update here post my return.

[Repsol]

Originally Posted by Repsol

Thanks for your quick and wonderful feedback @Samurai, @arun_josie and @Dr.AD.

I will take the option 1 for onwards journey, and will try to take option 2 during return (though if option 1 turns out to be good during onwards journey, then most probably might use the same for return too).

Will update here post my return.

Came back from a quick trip to Udupi. As mentioned, I took the below route for onward and return journey.

BLR > Hassan > Belur > Mudigere > Charmady > Belthangady > Karkala > Manipal

As already mentioned by fellow members, there is a roadwork going on at Kunigal. This was not a problem during the onwards journey, as I started early, and passed through this when there wasn't much traffic. But during return journey, there was a bit of traffic, so a slight delay of 15 mins or so.

Other than this, there are couple of diversions for flyover construction, but those weren't much of an issue as the service roads are well tarred.

One thing I wanted point out is, after crossing Hassan, there aren't many decent restaurants. So, it will be better to have food at Empire just before Hassan city entry.

[abhi_krao]

Originally Posted by Repsol

Came back from a quick trip to Udupi. As mentioned, I took the below route for onward and return journey.

BLR > Hassan > Belur > Mudigere > Charmady > Belthangady > Karkala > Manipal

As already mentioned by fellow members, there is a roadwork going on at Kunigal. This was not a problem during the onwards journey, as I started early, and passed through this when there wasn't much traffic. But during return journey, there was a bit of traffic, so a slight delay of 15 mins or so.

Other than this, there are couple of diversions for flyover construction, but those weren't much of an issue as the service roads are well tarred.

One thing I wanted point out is, after crossing Hassan, there aren't many decent restaurants. So, it will be better to have food at Empire just before Hassan city entry.

I was looking forward to your feedback on the Thirthahalli road as I am planning a trip in June 1st week to Udupi. Charmady route has that horrible traffic from Ujire to Guruvayankere. I was stuck for nearly 30 mins in that junction last time.

[Repsol]

Originally Posted by abhi_krao

Charmady route has that horrible traffic from Ujire to Guruvayankere. I was stuck for nearly 30 mins in that junction last time.

Surprisingly, I did not get any traffic in this stretch.