[ashkamath]

Originally Posted by ampere

Maybe what you can do is:

Drive to Yellapur on day 1. Stay for a couple of days. Visit Magod/Sathodi/Jenukallugudda etc.

On the way back drive via this route.

Some snaps :
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ml#post2118032

Thanks for the suggestion. I have ridden to Magodu / Sathodi /Jenukallagudda with friends long back. But guess it is time to revisit them and take the Dandeli-Anshi route back.

[procrj]

Originally Posted by guyfrmblr

There is a 30 km stretch between Jigani and Harohalli which passes through Bannerghatta national park. One hardly finds any vehicle in that stretch. The roads were good around 5 years back but now the condition has deteriorated.

Beautiful stretch of road. I had cycled from harohalli - thally - anekal - jigani in 2011 and some of the roads were eerie especially in the monsoon. Some stretches had rolling hills and the view was simply superb.

[swiftnfurious]

I once drove from Mysore to Kannur thru Kabini, way back in 2008. That was definitely one of the scariest stretches thru a reserve forest (?) with truly bad roads and with almost no humans in sight for a long time. It took me 2.5 hours to cover 40 kms IIRC. One of the most tiring & frustrating affair during my car's ownership time. Unfortunately, this also was my first solo drive and 2nd long journey in my Swift just into 2 months of ownership. Managed to see an Elephant at a distance during the drive.

Was a funny drive as the forest guard who I gave lift could talk ONLY Kannada which I did NOT understand and I spoke English / Hindi / Tamil which he never understood - but we were smiling all thru!

[fast_elegance]

The creepiest road that I attempted was driving back from Munnar towards Udumalpettai after sunset. This was in October 2012. There was drizzle, fog and darkness. Few kms in this stretch and my wife insists that we go back to Munnar, stay back and start next day morning. After driving another couple of kms, I felt really stressed from the creepy feeling and drove back to Munnar and started next day early morning.

Many places around Munnar has so much silence and after living in the urban areas, it feels really creepy.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by fast_elegance

Many places around Munnar has so much silence and after living in the urban areas, it feels really creepy.

More than creepy do allow traffic on that stretch ? There is a wild life sanctuary there right ?

I thought they allow on Theni-Munnar-Adimali. But was not sure on the Udumalper side.

[PVS]

Speaking of creepy lonely roads, I could never forget the ride we had on the NH 16 between Gidam and Bhopalapatnam, in Chhattisgarh, way back in 2007(http://goo.gl/maps/7LSYK). We were happily headed down this road thinking that we are on our way to Hyderabad, only to realize, quite late, that the bridge across the Indravati river was missing, and there was no way we could get to Hyderabad, unless we back track all the way to Gidam. It was late afternoon, and the road was in shambles - not too much traffic in sight, and heavy rain too! and the fact that we were in the Madded - Bijapur area, known to be core Naxal area - added to the creepiness!! We reversed, and drove back to Gidam, before night fall, and were a relieved lot!!
Again, in 2012, when coming back from a trip to Guntakal, I took the Kona road, starting from Yadiki, in Anantapur District of AP, to Dhone, via Hussaipuram.(http://goo.gl/maps/xH9p6). Very sparse traffic, scenic locales, a curvy, twisty road.

[fast_elegance]

Originally Posted by ampere

More than creepy do allow traffic on that stretch ? There is a wild life sanctuary there right ?

I thought they allow on Theni-Munnar-Adimali. But was not sure on the Udumalper side.

Yes, there is a forest area. I was not sure if they allowed traffic but wanted to reach Blore next day morning. The decision to go back was for sure a wiser decision.

[speedsatya]

Somewhere in 2007. Sakleshpur to mudigere at 2 am in the heaviest rains I have ever seen,no GPS and no headlights. Both my headlights blew off when I hit water filled pothole . Just a road map print out with me and my hella Micro DE fog lamps to show me the way. I had no option , but to drive on in the heavy rain as I couldn't risk stopping in heavy rains to replace my headlight bulbs. Also it was dense jungles, so didn't want to run into trouble with elephants. Reached Mudigere and then slept in the car till morning.

Same way , had driven the entire Sampaje Ghat from Madikeri to Sullia with both headlights conked off ( again a pothole in the night , but this time was blinded by oncoming headlights ) and the Hellas. This time though I had a friendly Scorpio ahead of me , who ensured that he acted as my pilot till sullia. This again was done at around 2-3 am in the night and almost zero traffic

[philgrac]

My experiences on this topic follows:

1. Kothamangalam to Boothathankettu, some time in 1993, thick reserve forest, no human beings for miles (kilometers), Maruti 800 with wifey and daughters. Destination, Boothathankettu Dam site was also deserted except for one single watchman. Enroute, we spotted monkeys, Mangoose, snakes crossing the road etc and the good company was crickets and beetles. Well it was a "day time picnic" with all snacks & water packed in advance. Absense of "Rest Rooms" did not matter as the nature took care of it! Remember, we didn't have any Mobile phones those days.

2. Another one was a trip from Cochin to Valparai via Chalakkudy, Athirappally, Vazhachal etc., in 2010 on Honda City. The famous 40 odd Kms without anything (No human beings, Mobile phone range etc). At the Forest check post, they note down the name and address of the car and its occupants, count the no.of plastic bottles, confirms the car has enough fuel and advises not to stop the vehicle anywhere. Spotted few deers and some old and fresh elephant dungs on the mostly untarred sections of the road. BTW fresh steaming elephant dung indicates the presence of elephant herd in the vicinity (Good old Jungle wisdom!)During this entire 40 Kms stretch, we came across only two or three vehicles. Return trip was via Pollachi and Palakkad.

This route was done twice again during this year in April. Road condition was much better and there were several cars, jeeps and a few buses enroute. But we did see few fresh dungs. However the old thrill was not there this time. Return was also thru the same route.

[ak916]

Athirapally - Valparai is definitely nice. I love that road to bits. Scary but thats part of the fun of being in nature's lap.

Kudremukh - One winter night, drove into Kudremukh by mistake. We were on our way back to bangalore from the coast. Realized the mistake when the ghat section started but thought it would be fun anyway. Continued and was blinded by fog, zero traffic. Then saw some men at a bar, I think it was, on top. Just hung around for a couple of minutes to breathe. Carried on. This was 2006 or something. I cannot recall. I was in my Zen.

Gerusoppe - Jain basadi (2013) This is a short 4-5 km road which doesnt exist on google maps. We dint see a single vehicle on our journey to this place. We saw one bike (local guy) when we were returning. It was dusk already. There is the sharavati flowing below and the crickets and streams flowing from the top of the mountain. Very nice place but can be scary for someone not used to these type of roads. We went there cos we saw a board that said "ancient jain temple" or something to that effect and decided it would be cool to see. It was.

Kadiri - Hindupur (2013) It was night and we had heavy rains plus lightening and cloud bursts. It causes trees and electric poles to fall on the road. We took some detours which i cannot recall now. It was well into the night. The roads dint show on google maps. Fun. Doesnt really qualify for scary as there was traffic. An odd vehicle, now n then.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by praful

In first post in this thread I mentioned Yana-Gokarna. But equally lonely was the Sirsi-Yana stretch where I did not see a single soul for perhaps last 30Kms before Yana. Here's a short video I had taken of my return journey from Yana back to the main road, this is the part where the forest gets really dense. Also, there was not a single soul at Yana when I went there which was had already freaked me out more

I think we did the exact route, remember seeing the same bridge on the way. We planned to see Yana when going from Kumta to Sirsi. The whole 15 km stretch, we saw hardly 4 people, one bus. The walk from the parking lot was even more scary, after about 5 min walk in heavy rains with a 2.5 year old, we gave up and returned.
----
Other lonely stretches:

Kadapa - Tadipatri - Gooty - Hardly any vehicles the entire stretch. We saw a few vehicles till Tadipatri. Tadipatri to Gooty was virtually empty, this was about 9-11am in the morning.

Adoni - Alur - Bellary - Part of this road has been done. So you can actually do 100 kmph and you'd hardly have anyone coming from the opposite side the entire stretch Ofcourse 15 km later, near the KA-AP border its horrid to say the least.

Lower Camp - Suruliyar (circa 1988-89) - Forest road! Only one bus each way goes per day, apart from TNEB jeeps of those who work in Suruliyar Dam.

Kollur - Sulse - Vandse - Shankaranarayana - Agumbe - Not a soul on the road! Not to forget snake crossings across the road.

[praful]

Originally Posted by narayans80

I think we did the exact route, remember seeing the same bridge on the way. We planned to see Yana when going from Kumta to Sirsi. The whole 15 km stretch, we saw hardly 4 people, one bus. The walk from the parking lot was even more scary, after about 5 min walk in heavy rains with a 2.5 year old, we gave up and returned.

I think you took a different route, AFAIK there is another route to Yana when coming from Kumta vs. the other route is just outside Sirsi which heads in towards Yana.

I second you on the walking part, there is a link my post to the video I took while walking. Not a single soul anywhere during my entire Yana walk and ride.

[CrankShaft05]

My experience below:

From Araku valley to Tyda Resort (Andhra Pradesh) - 30km

Driving along with wifey and 1 year old son. The light was fading very fast and we have to reach our resort 30km away! Driving a little fast, although in control. Approximately after 5km, we hit a police checkpost with around 10 to 12 armed police personnel checking each and every car passing by. After enquiry, got to know that this is because of the presence of naxal in that area.

Took around 15min to cross the checkpost after thorough checking, and there we are on a ghat section in deep forest area with little fog and light alomost faded. Had no sign of a human for quite sometime. Had to hold on to my nerve for the next 25km and drove to the resort without any hassles but with a heavy heart.

Was to see the next day morning that i had a flat tyre. Thankfully it did not happen during my drive the previous night. Was relieved and changed the tyre to zoom off to Vizag.

[narayans80]

Originally Posted by praful

I think you took a different route, AFAIK there is another route to Yana when coming from Kumta vs. the other route is just outside Sirsi which heads in towards Yana.

Yes the turn i took is about 20 odd km from Sirsi towards Kumta. How long was the walk from the parking lot to the rocks BTW, we had heavy rains when we went (Aug 2012), had to give up after 5-10 min walk (were walking without an umbrella). I did remember reading it was just a 5 min walk from laluks' Travelogue, but we saw nothing in 5 min .

[praful]

Originally Posted by narayans80

Yes the turn i took is about 20 odd km from Sirsi towards Kumta. How long was the walk from the parking lot to the rocks BTW, we had heavy rains when we went (Aug 2012), had to give up after 5-10 min walk (were walking without an umbrella). I did remember reading it was just a 5 min walk from laluks' Travelogue, but we saw nothing in 5 min .

The video I took of my walk was 4:48, so yep the walk is around 5-7 minutes at the most. But might have taken you longer in rains. When I went, the rains had stopped for few hours before in the morning after raining the whole night in Sirsi.



You can see my solitary bike parked, my biggest worry was monkeys trying to play with the luggage on my bike