[bullinb]

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

Is Belur BP to Agumbe doable as of now ? Has anyone travelled this road before ?

Yes very much. In fact I think it is the best route for anybody going towards Udupi/Kundapur. Roads are very good from Aldur to Agumbe. Go via Balehonnur, Jayapura, Sringeri. Broken surface from Agumbe to Hebri, but quite manageable. Drove a week back, check my post a few pages behind for details.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/1446781-post820.html

[lohithrao]

So from nov 1 year say good bye to the shiradi route? though they might let one way it would be better not to use it till its done..

had lil scary experience last year...

Originally Posted by prabhusati

13 critical curves in the Shiradi Ghat have been concretised. Among these a few have a layer of bitumen with particles added for increasing road grip.

Regarding concretising the entire stretch of Shiradi Ghat, it was announced recently in the newspapers that the 115 crore project has been approved by the Central government and work will start from Nov 09.

[sushrutha]

Originally Posted by bullinb

Are these roads marked? am I likely to get lost if it is late at night with nobody on the road to ask for directions? Or is it safer to stick to the main road and go via CM after all?

Marked, but not to a good extent. You'll not find anyone to ask directions, So better avoid during night.

Originally Posted by mohan41

I think apart from the 10km saved, avoiding the CKM town saves some time too.

Addy has answered to your query in detail.

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

It will be better to take the Belur-Ckm-Aldur road instead of Belur-Gendehally-Haandi-Aldur road. Even though it is shorter, the road is pretty rough and it is a single lane road and you will consume more time. The Belur-Ckm-Aldur road is wide and pretty straight forward and you can do good speeds in your car which will save time. Entering CKM town is not at all an issue and you won't lose any time here. I'm sure Sushrutha will agree here
Bull, if you have not been on that route earlier, I suggest not to try it at night.

Originally Posted by Samurai

Udupi-Manipal-Karkala-Moodubidri-Bantwal-join NH48-Mani-Puttur-Sullia-Sampaje-Madikeri.

Yeah I remember this route, If you are coming from Uppinagady, Before entering Bantawala, Just at BC Road , take right the road towards Ujire/Mudigere, (Kadur - Mangalore Rd)... little further you need to take a left.
Samurai, correct me if I'm wrong here.

[StarVegabond]

Originally Posted by bullinb

Yes very much. In fact I think it is the best route for anybody going towards Udupi/Kundapur. Roads are very good from Aldur to Agumbe. Go via Balehonnur, Jayapura, Sringeri. Broken surface from Agumbe to Hebri, but quite manageable. Drove a week back, check my post a few pages behind for details.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/1446781-post820.html

Thanks, will drive on this route, plan to leave at 4:30 AM and reach destination by 13:30. Hope this is doable.

i actually posted this question in route related questions section, but no responses, thought of posting here again

I plan to be at my parents place for about 10 daysfrom 18th till 27th Sept. We have seen most of the regular stuff near Udupi viz Krishna Temple, Malpe Bunder, St Mary's Island, Dharmasthala, Kukke Subramanya, Karkala/Venur Gomateshwara, most fo the other temples arround, Maravante Beach, etc.

I wanted to know what are the other/newer attractions in this region.
may be the regulars (samurai, lohit rao, satish prabhu, rajesh shenoy BVR Rao, etc) in this region can answer me.

i could remember following

1. Dr. Shivaram Karanth's home in Saligrama
2. I want to show my daughter Mangalore port if possible
3. I have not visited Kaup Beach, would plan a visit
4. There used to be a small fisherman boat ride from Kundapura to Gangolli. Is it still available ?, if yes, i would like to make a to and fro trip
5. There used to be a Heritage home near Manipal, i forgot the name, it used to be covered in the magazine "Taranga" several time some 10 years ago.
6. Where i can meet Ganjifa artist Mr. Raghupati Bhat ?
7. I would like to show my daughter a Kaju factory (i know now it is not the season, but still)
8. Is there any clean beach between Udupi and Kundapur ?

any more suggetions inputs welcome

[sushrutha]

@starvegabond,
Some more additions are, Kasargod - Bekal fort, for clean beach resort I would suggest you Sai Vishram resort at Byndoor, Superb location.
AFAIK, for boat ride you can try Malpe beach to St. Mary's Island.

[rajshenoy]

If they block those mining truckers(or carry only recommended load), I would be most happy man. When i drove last time, the problem was with these trucks and not the road(it was ok sorts)

[rajshenoy]

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

Thanks, will drive on this route, plan to leave at 4:30 AM and reach destination by 13:30. Hope this is doable.

i actually posted this question in route related questions section, but no responses, thought of posting here again

I plan to be at my parents place for about 10 daysfrom 18th till 27th Sept. We have seen most of the regular stuff near Udupi viz Krishna Temple, Malpe Bunder, St Mary's Island, Dharmasthala, Kukke Subramanya, Karkala/Venur Gomateshwara, most fo the other temples arround, Maravante Beach, etc.

I wanted to know what are the other/newer attractions in this region.
may be the regulars (samurai, lohit rao, satish prabhu, rajesh shenoy BVR Rao, etc) in this region can answer me.

i could remember following

1. Dr. Shivaram Karanth's home in Saligrama
2. I want to show my daughter Mangalore port if possible
3. I have not visited Kaup Beach, would plan a visit
4. There used to be a small fisherman boat ride from Kundapura to Gangolli. Is it still available ?, if yes, i would like to make a to and fro trip
5. There used to be a Heritage home near Manipal, i forgot the name, it used to be covered in the magazine "Taranga" several time some 10 years ago.
6. Where i can meet Ganjifa artist Mr. Raghupati Bhat ?
7. I would like to show my daughter a Kaju factory (i know now it is not the season, but still)
8. Is there any clean beach between Udupi and Kundapur ?

any more suggetions inputs welcome

Samurai is the best person to tell about the local road conditions

If it is about directions from Bangalore-udupi, the best route is via hassan-belur-aldur-balehonnur-sringeri-agumbe-hebri

considering your plan i feel its better to stay in Udupi and cover all these places(udupi-Mangalore port should be good road) except padubidri town. problem is with BC Road-Mangalore-suratkal stretch)

Kaju factory ? I got couple of relatives who own these in Karkala and hebri... but not sure how i can guide you to the location as these factories are bit small..can get hard to detect

[zteg]

The last down i was driving to magalore, one half of the road on the ghats was concretised. The other half was tar road upto the level of the concrete. Over the period of time, the tar road disintegrated and the level came down and there was a step on the road

[sandeepkamath]

Folks,

I traveled b/w Bangalore and Mangalore on the 22nd (to) and 24th (fro) of August 2009.

Here are updates:

Bangalore - Mangalore: Blr - Hassan - Sakleshpur - Mani - BC Road - Mangalore

Blr - Hassan (approx 160 kms): Good. Expect to cover 60 kms every hour, once outside Bangalore (post Nelamangala).

Hassan - Sakleshpur (approx 40 kms): Ok. Small bad patches. Expect to cover 35 Kms every hour.

Sakleshpur - Mani (approx 100 kms): Bad. My initial expectations were that there would be about 20 kms of bad ghat stretch. But it is much more than that. I also feared the road would be a car breaker - but it was not. I drive a low ride car (Honda Civic) but managed to make the stretch without hitting the undercarriage. However, the road is very bad. I hit that part of the stretch at around 8:30 a.m. and at that time the traffic was close to non existent. Allowed me to go crisscross to avoid serious pot holes. Later during the day you could expect to face a lot more traffic and hence be forced to go through the big pot holes. But none are big enough to hurt a car. But progress will be very slow and frustrating.

Mani - Mangalore (BC road, etc.) (approx 40 kms): Bad. I had expected to be rid of the bad roads once I had passed the ghats. But the bad roads are all the way through to Mangalore. Extremely frustrating.

Mangalore - Bangalore: Blr - Mani - Puttur - Madikeri - Kushalnagar - Mysore - Bangalore.

Mangalore - Mani (approx 40 Kms): Bad (as mentioned above)

Mani - Madikeri (80 kms): Good roads, till about 20 kms before Madikeri. Can average 50 kms every hour. The 20 kms bad stretch is nowhere as bad as on the Sakehleshpur stretch.

Madikeri - Kushalnagar (30 Kms): Poor. Lots of small potholes, but manageable. Progress slow. Plan about 40 Kms/hour.

Kushalnagar - Mysore (80 kms): Very good. You can fly on these roads. I was easily hitting 140 to 150 km/hr. As good as the Mysore - Blr road, but without traffic. You'll enjoy this stretch.

Mysore - Bangalore (160 kms): Good. Road condition is good, but lotsa traffic.

Verdict: B/w traveling via Sakleshpur or via Mysore-Madikeri, I'll chose the latter. Difference of 20 additional kms. Faster by 2 hours.

Hope this helped.

cheers
Sandeep

[zteg]

Well written Sandeep. I thought the Kushalnagar madikeri road was horrible and not drivable. Looks like this is a more convenient route. Do you have any idea about the charmadi route.?
How good is the road at BC road strech when compared to Sakleshpur mani route?

[sushrutha]

Originally Posted by sandeepkamath

Blr - Hassan (approx 160 kms)
Sakleshpur - Mani (approx 100 kms
Mysore - Bangalore (160 kms):

Sandeep,
Some distance mentioned here are wrong.
It's as mentioned below

Blr - Hassan - 184Kms
Sakleshpur - Mani (approx 80 kms)
Mysore - Bangalore -140 kms

[lohithrao]

Guys have almost made up my mind on travelling via charmadi, now that BC road is too bad, i either take deviation to NH48 via dharmasthala to take Melkar route or go along ujre to connect near BC road and head back on the bridge to take the Melkar route?

[zteg]

Lohith, Now that shiradi is closed, where do I take diversion towards charmadi ghats. Once on Charmadi, then what? My last destination is Mangalore
Lot of routes mentioned had made me confused

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by sushrutha

Yeah I remember this route, If you are coming from Uppinagady, Before entering Bantawala, Just at BC Road , take right the road towards Ujire/Mudigere, (Kadur - Mangalore Rd)... little further you need to take a left.
Samurai, correct me if I'm wrong here.

Yes, that is correct. Do watch out for the second turn. Last time I missed it as I was busy talking to my wife.

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

I plan to be at my parents place for about 10 daysfrom 18th till 27th Sept. We have seen most of the regular stuff near Udupi viz Krishna Temple, Malpe Bunder, St Mary's Island, Dharmasthala, Kukke Subramanya, Karkala/Venur Gomateshwara, most fo the other temples arround, Maravante Beach, etc.

Which SUV you drive? Because this is a tall order to do in a car in this season with the current state of roads. Many of my relatives who love their cars, don't take it out, instead they use taxi.

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

1. Dr. Shivaram Karanth's home in Saligrama

I haven't seen this myself.

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

2. I want to show my daughter Mangalore port if possible

Gulp, this is where you can find the maximum concentration of mine trucks.

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

3. I have not visited Kaup Beach, would plan a visit

This is a dangerous beach, not safe to get down.

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

4. There used to be a small fisherman boat ride from Kundapura to Gangolli. Is it still available ?, if yes, i would like to make a to and fro trip

No idea about this one.

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

5. There used to be a Heritage home near Manipal, i forgot the name, it used to be covered in the magazine "Taranga" several time some 10 years ago.

It is very much there, practically hidden away in the heart of the town. But closed for public, open only for V.I.Ps.

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

6. Where i can meet Ganjifa artist Mr. Raghupati Bhat ?

No idea.

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

7. I would like to show my daughter a Kaju factory (i know now it is not the season, but still)

Hmm, not idea.

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

8. Is there any clean beach between Udupi and Kundapur ?

Many. Contact me when you are here.

[sushrutha]

Originally Posted by zteg

where do I take diversion towards charmadi ghats. Once on Charmadi, then what? My last destination is Mangalore

BLR-HASSAN-BELUR-MUDIGERE-KOTTIGEHARA-CHARMADI-UJIRE-MADYANTHAR-B C ROAD-MLR.
A total of apprx 365kms from Mangalore

Originally Posted by StarVegabond

1. Dr. Shivaram Karanth's home in Saligrama

But AFAIK, isn't Shivram Karanth's house is at KOTA ? Between Bramhavara - Sasthan ??