[rajshenoy]

Originally Posted by _chikku

Are you sure . I traveled through ghats in last week of October on my old zen with 5 on board without scrapping. By the way turns are concrete laid.

I think he meant where the concrete curves end. Roads are typically bad at edges of the curves and near bridges.

I too felt like roads were more damaged when i came back last sunday. may be because of the heavy traffic(i did not have the freedom to use both sides of the road as per my will).

So the bad stretch is 15-20 kms(but not like entire stretch is bad) just the curves and bridges. overall, sakleshpur to gundya is still doable in 1 hr or so and 1.5 hrs if stuck with pretty bad traffic

[prasad14]

Hi,

Got bored of Charmadi and Shiradi. Want to try this route from Udupi to Bangalore:

Udupi-Agumbe-Koppa-Balehonnur-Gendehalli-Belur-Banglore.

It would be great if someone can update the road conditions upto Belur. This is a bullet ride, so reasonable roads would suffice.

I also want to reach Udupi from Sirsi. Which is the most scenic route? Is it the one via Kargal or the one via Sigandur.

Thanks,

Prasad

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by prasad14

Agumbe-Koppa-Balehonnur

I hope you mean Jayapura instead of Koppa. Via Koppa will double the distance between Sringeri and Balehonnur.

[rajshenoy]

Originally Posted by Samurai

I hope you mean Jayapura instead of Koppa. Via Koppa will double the distance between Sringeri and Balehonnur.

Yes it should be via sringeri jayapura. Road condition should be perfect for bullet. Good scenic winding roads.

[prasad14]

Originally Posted by Samurai

I hope you mean Jayapura instead of Koppa. Via Koppa will double the distance between Sringeri and Balehonnur.

Originally Posted by rajshenoy

Yes it should be via sringeri jayapura.

I indeed did mean Koppa, because that was the route shown by Google maps. I'll now go via Sringeri. Thanks for the inputs.

Prasad

[satshen]

Originally Posted by prasad14

I indeed did mean Koppa, because that was the route shown by Google maps. I'll now go via Sringeri. Thanks for the inputs.

Prasad

I had done Sringeri -Jayapura -Balehonnur - Aldur route short time back.

Sringeri - Balehonnur - Aldur road was in good condition. From Aldur took deviation to Chikmagalur to meet a relative, so not sure about condition of Aldur - Belur road.

[addyhemmige]

Originally Posted by satshen

so not sure about condition of Aldur - Belur road.

Originally Posted by prasad14

Hi,

Balehonnur-Gendehalli-Belur-Banglore.

It would be great if someone can update the road conditions upto Belur. This is a bullet ride, so reasonable roads would suffice.

I also want to reach Udupi from Sirsi. Which is the most scenic route? Is it the one via Kargal or the one via Sigandur.

Thanks,

Prasad

Aldur-Belur road is good upto Haandi on the Mudigere-Chikmagalur road (KM Road). But after that it is narrow and pothole ridden. The road has broken down at a few places it will join the Mudigere Belur road at Baskal just before Gendehalli. The Gendehalli road was the preferred alternative to reach Mudigere from Belur until a few months back when the regular Belur-Cheeknally-Mudigere road was bad.

Sirsi to Udupi, you can take either one as both are very nice trips. But I would suggest via Sigandur as you will need to take a ferry to reach Sigandur from Sagar. From there you can either go via Kollur or via Nagara-Hulikal ghat road.

The Kargal-Bhatkal route is forested and it will be somewhat similar to Bisle (minus the bad roads) which you have already traveled.

[prasad14]

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

Aldur-Belur road is good upto Haandi on the Mudigere-Chikmagalur road (KM Road). But after that it is narrow and pothole ridden. The road has broken down at a few places it will join the Mudigere Belur road at Baskal just before Gendehalli.

Should I then go to Chikmagalur from Aldur or go to Mudigere?

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

Sirsi to Udupi, you can take either one as both are very nice trips. But I would suggest via Sigandur as you will need to take a ferry to reach Sigandur from Sagar. From there you can either go via Kollur or via Nagara-Hulikal ghat road.

The Kargal-Bhatkal route is forested and it will be somewhat similar to Bisle (minus the bad roads) which you have already traveled.

Was about to PM you. Will take the Singandur and experience the ferry. Thanks a lot.

Prasad

[sushrutha]

Originally Posted by prasad14

Should I then go to Chikmagalur from Aldur or go to Mudigere?



Was about to PM you. Will take the Singandur and experience the ferry. Thanks a lot.

Prasad

Originally Posted by addyhemmige

Aldur-Belur road is good upto Haandi on the Mudigere-Chikmagalur road (KM Road). But after that it is narrow and pothole ridden. The road has broken down at a few places it will join the Mudigere Belur road at Baskal just before Gendehalli. .

Originally Posted by prasad14

Balehonnur-Gendehalli-Belur-Banglore.

It would be great if someone can update the road conditions upto Belur. This is a bullet ride, so reasonable roads would suffice.

As of last week update (took my Civic in that route),
The road is very bad from Haandi - Baskal & also at someplaces after Gendehalli towards Belur. I would have almost scraped my Civic twice, but thanks to somewhat cautious driving by me, didn't scrape anywhere.
Prasad,
This route can be done easily on a bullet, but road is narrow and edgy at most of the places. But be careful about the potholes which pop up off a sudden.
Belur-Cheekanahally-Mudigere-Aldur is in good condition as of now.

[cool_dube]

Originally Posted by prasad14

Should I then go to Chikmagalur from Aldur or go to Mudigere?

I'd recommend going via Mudigere given that the Mudigere-Belur road has been done up recently and is in a good condition.

[nma83]

Hi,
I would be travelling from kundapura to Chikamagalur this weekend. Wanted to know how much time it would take for this strech (and any updated road conditions) :
Someshwara, Agumbe, Sringeri, Jayapura, Aldur, Chikamagalur.
Have an infant on board and hence important to time the stop at Chikamagalur. Will be proceeding to Bangalore from there. Vehicle is an innova.
Thanks in advance!
Nma

[floyd.bell]

Originally Posted by nma83

Hi,
I would be travelling from kundapura to Chikamagalur this weekend. Wanted to know how much time it would take for this strech (and any updated road conditions) :
Someshwara, Agumbe, Sringeri, Jayapura, Aldur, Chikamagalur.
Have an infant on board and hence important to time the stop at Chikamagalur. Will be proceeding to Bangalore from there. Vehicle is an innova.
Thanks in advance!
Nma

OK, so your final destination is Bangalore. Then I would suggest you to travel to Shimoga from Agumbe via Thirthahalli and halt at Shimoga. The road from Agumbe to Thirthahalli is bad in patches. Thirthahalli onwards till Shimoga and all the way till Bangalore, the road is good throughout.
Also, you might reach Shimoga faster than reaching Chikmagalur and then can even continue onto Bangalore by having just lunch at Shimoga. Staying options are also good at Shimoga. Hotel Jewel Rock is one good hotel there.

[Samurai]

Yesterday I drove through Shiradi - Dharmasthala - Manipal route. I was in a MM550 and was deeply thinking about some business matter, so barely noticed the condition of Shiradi. But I did notice that it took 1 hour to cover Sakleshpur-Gundya. That means the road is in pretty bad shape. The hatch/sedan drivers are better off looking at other options like Agumbe or Charmadi until Shiradi is fixed.

[nitzien123]

[Ford Fiesta Diesel, single person]
Did MLR-BLR via Shiradi, Hassan in 6hours on Fri, 30 Dec. Thought Shiradi was pretty ok - took about 45 min between Gundya-Sakleshpur.
This is still the fastest route.
Couple of weeks back, I went through Shimoga/Agumbe [BLR-Udupi]. Took 1.5 hours more, mainly due to 2 lane roads, even though they are good at most places.

[rajshenoy]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Yesterday I drove through Shiradi - Dharmasthala - Manipal route. I was in a MM550 and was deeply thinking about some business matter, so barely noticed the condition of Shiradi. But I did notice that it took 1 hour to cover Sakleshpur-Gundya. That means the road is in pretty bad shape. The hatch/sedan drivers are better off looking at other options like Agumbe or Charmadi until Shiradi is fixed.

Yes that was my observation too. it now takes 1 hour or more to cover this distance. BTW, you dont need to notice condition of Shiradi in a MM550. You can sing "Gandada gudi" Title track and drive it.

It is for hatch/sedan drivers to worry and cry

Now that the rains are over, just wondering when will they take up road repair work as this is the usual time they start relaying tar.

I guess i am mostly done for my self drive trips towards mangalore for this year(till next summer) so that is a big sigh of relief for me. Hope to drive on a fresh coat of tarmac next year.