[Venkat]

Hello,

As some of you probably know, I, and my family, plan to drive down this summer to Kerala for our summer vacation. I have been doing this in the past and have been maintaining a log for each such long drive I take.

I thought I will kick off this as a seperate thread and also begin by sharing my earlier log. Who knows, it could be useful to others too.

Some back ground of the trip. The car was a Maruti 800 AC/TG. I and a fellow Ham R made this trip for the purpose of attending an AGM at Cochin.

Venkat

Dec 16th 1997
Kms. 43792
43832
43871
43969
44055
44105
44139
44201
44259
44273
44292
44306
44314
44326
44396



0430

0525
0610
0755 to 0850
1025
1130
1210 to 1230
1345 to 1445
1540
1555
1622
1635
1642
1722
1900



Left Kalina with Murli, John and R in the car. K, Mona and Rishab in the other car.
Reached Panvel
Wadkal Naka
Reached Mahad and stopped for breakfast at hotel Visawa
Reached Chiplun
Reached Sangameshwar
Reached Hatkamba and had a tea break
Lunch at Hotel Bansuri, Rajapur
Reached Kankauli
Reached

Reached Kudal
Reached Akeri
Reached Sawantwadi
Reached Banda
Reached Mahindra gest house at Near Bamboo Motel Betim, Goa. Dinner at Bamboo Motel and slept

Dec 17th
44396
44428
44468
44504
44541
44567
44577
44598
44674
44690
44701
44723

44755
44781
44788
44825
44911



0600
0630
0735
0845 to 1000
1044
1105
1115
1135
1305 to 1315
1335
1345
1420 to 1530

1600
1630
1645
1740
1925


Started from Mahindras guest house
Reached Margao
Reached Chaudi / Canacona
Reached Karwar. Breakfast at hotel Poornima. Car of K checked up
Reached Ankola
Reached Mirjan
Reached Kumta
Reached Honavar / 15 min break for cocunut water
Location road along beach and river on other side
Reached Kundapur
Reached Kote
Reached Udipi. Darshan of Sri Krishna and lunch at Hotel Kediyoor QSO with 2SBJ Sri at Manipal
Reached Pudbidri
Reached Kulur QSO with 2RCT Chandra of Mangalore
Reached Mangalore 2RCT gave directions and guided us thru Mangalore
Reached Kasargod
Reached Cannanore stayed at Hotel Savoy and dinner at Omars Inn


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Dec 18th
44952
44985
45022
45037
45049








45259


0730
0830
0915
0935
1005 - 1050








1945


Left Cannanore
Reached Mahe
Reached Kovilkandi
Reached Elattur
Reached Calicut Breakfast at KTDC Malabar Mansion
After Kunchipuram bridge left WIAA route map to go to Guruvayoor.
Took straight road to Eddapal and then to Kunnamkulam
1400 hours reached Guruvayoor and had snacks at India Coffee House. Then waited for temple to open at 1630 and had Darshan. Left from Guruvayoor at 1700 and took road to Chavvakad. Then NH 17 to Kodangallur and Peravoor. Then diversion to Aluva to join NH 47. Proceeded on NH 47 to Cochin. Got JOS guiding us on VHF into Cochin. Heavy rains after Peravoor and hence slow speeds
Reached Hotel Cochin Towers and checked into R No 405. Dinner at the Hotel Restaurant

Dec 19th
Arsi meet in Cochin

Dec 20th

Arsi meet in Cochin

Dec 21st

Arsi meet in Cochin

Dec 22nd

Started from Cochin towers at 7.15 a.m.. Fight with Roy of housekeeping and Johnson of reception regarding faded Tshirt. Also previous night fight with Joshi of Housekeeping and Dennis of Reception regarding same matter. Drove with R and KKO. Breakfast at small hotel enroute. Reached Aranya Niwas at Thekkady and checked in 2 p.m. Checked into RNO 115 then lunch and then went for boat trip from 4 to 6 p.m. Came back and had a small walk. Came to room and then slept early.
45365
45399
45443
45480
45521
45538
45558
0745
0840
0950

1240
1315
1405
Left Cochin Towers
Vaikum
Kottayam
Kanjirampalli
Peermade
Vandiperiyar
Aranya Nivas Hotel Thekkady

Dec 23rd

Morning got up at 6 a.m. KKO checked out and left for Guruvayoor etc. We got ready and went for a mountain trek with Ravi of the forest department. Started at 7.45 and came back at 11 a.m. Met U and A there. Beautiful walk in thick tropical forests. Then went to Kumily and had oil massage. Also got watch repaired. Back to room and had lunch. Slept till 5 p.m. Thenhad swim at the hotel. After swim got dressed and went for walk. Met A and U again and had walk upto Periyar and had long talk with them. Came back to room and dinner and slept.

Dec 24th

Morning got up late. Breakfast of kakras etc. Then for swim but found that the swimming pool was under cleaning. Read book at poolside. Bath and then packed. Went to Spice village and got 1 Tshirt for Vivek and 1 bag for house. Also got another T Shirt for vivek from outside shop. Then filled petrol and lunch at hotel in kumily. Kerala thali. Then started for Munnar. Bad roads in initial section bu then good roads with spectalur and breathtaking views. Checked into R No 204 of Edassarry Eastend. Met Tojo manager of hotel and george’s relative. Went for walk in the market and then dinner at the hotel restaurant.
45581
45603
45625
45683
45690
1255
1350
1430
1655
1705
Left Kumily
Vandanmettu
Nedumkandum
Devikulam
Munnar


Dec 25th

Morning got up a 7 am and breakfast at hotel. Then went to rajamalai goat sanctuary and saw the rare Nilgiri Thar goats. Photos and also QSO with iddukki, quilon hams. Then to Maravoor and lunch at Hotel Chandana. Then proceeded to Amravathi dam in Tamil Nadu. Also saw the Amravathi crocodile farm there. Back to the Chinnar national forest. Saw deers crossing on the road. About 20 of them. Then went to the watch tower and saw elephants and deers again. Also saw monkeys on the road. Back to hotel by 7 pm. Bath and dinner in lawns. Made phone calls to Bombay. Talking to tojo and then slept.
45691
45700
45734
45741
45743
45773
45780
45788
45803
45852
45861
0935
1030 to 1145
1300
1315
1330 to 1400
1505
1515 to 1530
1600
1655 to 1720
1830
1855
Left Munnar
At Rajamali forest sanctuary
Pullnad village
Maravoor forest dept info centre
Lunch at hotel chandana
Right turn for Amravaathi dam after forest check post
Crocodile farm at Amravathi dam
Kerala / Tamil Nadu border checkpost
Watch tower at Chinnar
Rajamalai
Eastend hotel

Dec 26th
Morning got up and had khakras for breakfast. Then for drive to Matupetty dam, Indo swiss project (did not enter due to being closed between 11 am and 2 pm) then further on towards Top station. Fog bound and roads extremely bad. Turned back since there was no point in proceeding since views would have been fog bound. Had QSO with 2XMN (Ranjit) who was at top station and also had eyeball with him on way back. Bought Tea and strawberry jam at Tata Tea official outlet. Lunch at hotel lower room. Then packed and checked out. Drove on to Calicut and checked into Kalpaka Hotel.

45861
45870
45874
45894
45928
1100
1125
1135
1230 to 1305
1400
Eadassary Eastend
Mattupetty Dam
Indo Swiss project Timings 8 to 11 and 14 to 17
2 kms before top station. Roads very bad and fog bound
Back to hotel


45928
45959
42991
46008
46024
46028
46036
46042
46053
46058
46088
46108
46133
46152
46205
46220
1532
1630
1720
1735
1755
1800
1807
1822
1840
1849
1930
2007
2040
2122
2230
2315
Left hotel for Calicut
Adimali
QSO with 2 APU (Appu) in Kochi
Kothamangalam
Kunnamkulam??
Perambavoor
Kalady
Angamaly
Kavatty
Chalakuddy
Trichur QSO with 2 CLP (Manoj) at Ollur
Kunamkulam
Edapal
Valancherry
Feroke
Calicut Room No 116 Kalpaka Hotel


Dec 27th
46220
46246
46270
46284
46293
46314
46334
46355

46384
46422
46434
46440
46472
46489
46505
46511
46528
46538
46567
46583
46598
46607
46620


46645
46659
46668
46678
46716
46751
0605
0645
0710
0725
0738
0805
0820 to 0835
0914
0925 to 0945
1005
1045
1058
1105
1135
1205 to 1220
1235
1240
1255
1305
1330
1400 to 1410
1425
1435
1450 to 1505


1525
1545
1550
1600
1635
1710
Left Kalpaka Hotel at Calicut
Kulandy
Vadakara
Mahe
Tallassery
Kannur
Tea Break at Highway Inn
Payyanur
Breakfast at roadside hotel
Kanhangad
Kasargod
Kumbla Bridge
Purmade
Mangalore
Eyeball QSO with VU2VLR at Suratkal
Pudbidri
Uchila
Udipi
Uppoor
Kundapoor
Maravante Beach. Photos and coconut water
Bojoor
Shiroor
Bhatkal Had Gadbad (2 each) a concotion of fruit salad, jelly, dry fruits, and icecream all layered into a delicious tall glass. Taj Mahal sweets and cream parlour, Shamsuddin Circle, NH 17, Bhatkal, Owner Vijay Kumar
Manki
Honavar
Haldipur
Kumta
Ankola
23 ltrs petro filled at Arvind Motors. Checked into RNO 103 of Hotel Bhadra

46761
46771
46780
46796
46821

46868
46891
46913
46927
46948
47021
47042
47073
47091
47103
47134
47184
47217
47256
47273
47306
47316
47328
47343
47369
47374
47394
47403
47456
0605
0620
0630
0650
0715
0730 to 0800
0845
0916
0930
0950
1015
1115
1140
1205
1225
1245
1320
1410
1445
1530
1545 to 1620
1650
1700
1710
1730
1755
1805
1830
1840 to 1910
2055
Hotel Bhadra at Karwar
Goa Karnataka state border
Maxem
Canacona
Canculi
Breakfast at Hotel Kamat, Madgoan
Panjim
RTO Checkpost on NH 17
Goa Maharashtra State border
Sawantwadi
Kudal
Kharapatan
Rajapur
Lanja
Pali
Hatkamba
Sangameshwar
Chiplun
Khed Rly Station
Poladpur Mahableshwar Junction
Snacks at Hotel Visawa Mahad
Mangoan
Indapur
Kolad
Wakan Naka
Wadkal Naka
Pen
Karnala Bird Sanctuary
Phone call and snacks
Back to Balaji, Kalina after dropping R at Sion

[Venkat]

Just wanted to let you all know, before the sceaming starts, that the formatting in the post got screwed up.

It is supposed to be in 3 columns, Kms reading, Time and remarks. It appeared all correct when I 'cut pasted' it in the editor. But when saw the post on the web, it now appears as one straight column with all of them one below the other.

Wondering if there was a better way to do this.

Venkat

[karthik247]

Its difficult to post in tht manner...unless something can be done by the Mods

[jkdas]

! you TYPED all those numbers? WHere's the award for accuracy! Phew!

[major]

It would be great, if you could upload snaps of your travel , also can you suggest any good maps for a first time traveller like myself for (Mumbai - Kerala route), I am thinking of doing this trip (Mumbai - Kerala, If my Boss gives me leave)
Good write-up , very much in detail.

Cheers.....Major

[veyron1]

holy cow! that's neat! i've done Mumbai-Kerala-Mumbai thrice, and all i can remember, apart from the scenic roads, is this-

start: Vasai, Mumbai-8:00 a.m
stop: Trichur, Kerala- next day 4:00 p.m (including 7 hrs halt, and some roaming around in Goa)

perhaps i was too crazy in my spirit for driving....

[kpzen]

Neat report....with so many numbers....
All through the western Ghats must have been amazing....with lots of scenery around....

[Venkat]

Originally Posted by major

It would be great, if you could upload snaps of your travel , also can you suggest any good maps for a first time traveller like myself

Snaps are there someplace. There were no digital cameras back then. So I would have to locate them, scan them and then upload them. Big pain.

I had taken a series of photos of the Maravanthe stretch and it was my idea to make a collage of it. Somehow never got down to it.

As for maps, I always take the WIAA route maps. I also have TTK maps to know the general lay of the land so to speak.

If you are interested, I can photocopy and courier you the WIAA route maps for this trip of mine.

Venkat

[jango]

i Din't get any idea abt the numbers but for sure you have covered most parts of kerala !!

[Venkat]

Originally Posted by jango

i Din't get any idea abt the numbers but for sure you have covered most parts of kerala !!

If anyone of you want to make better sense of the numbers in one column, I will more than willing to send the original in word format.

PM me and ask for it.

Venkat

[Venkat]

Hello,

Preparations are underway for the forthcoming Kerala trip. Today being a holiday I decided to get ICE fitted in to the car. After much research, including browsing the posts in this columns, I settled for the following:

1. Super make 5" LCD Sun Visor screen
2. Sony MEX R1 player. Got aux in fitted for listening to Podcasts from my Treo 650.
3. Old Pioneer speakers were deemed good enough.

My kids are excited and I plan to drive on the Mumbai Nasik Highway upto Tarachand Bhagat for dinner and back. They want to do a short 'warm up' run :-)

[ramkya1]

Originally Posted by Venkat

Hello,

Preparations are underway for the forthcoming Kerala trip. Today being a holiday I decided to get ICE fitted in to the car. ..........

My kids are excited and I plan to drive on the Mumbai Nasik Highway upto Tarachand Bhagat for dinner and back. They want to do a short 'warm up' run :-)

Hai Venkat and other posters,

I have loaded my trip logs to Kerala on the following URL: You'd get very detailed info from it. My trip log from 31-10-05 onwards is from Thane to Kerala.
http://www.geocities.com/ramkya1/triplogramkyweb.htm

One more trip log that might interest you is here:

http://www.geocities.com/ramkya1/dwarakatrip.htm

==Ramky
========

[Venkat]

Ramky,

Excellent logs. Read them with considerable interest. Have been on the route before and will be doing it again. So I could relive it through your logs.

What car did you use? There are notes in the end of how the car performed, but nothing about the model/make.

I will try to see what I can do.

Thanks, once again, for sharing.

Venkat

[Venkat]

Hello,

Last night we saw 'Looney tunes - Back in Action' on the drive to Bhagat Tarachand and back and all of us really enjoyed it.

It was nice.

This set us thinking about what movies to take to the Kerala trip. We debated and finally concured that it should be movies keeping in theme with the trip. Movies that center around vacationing / travel by road.

Quickly a few names got rattled off as must haves for the trip.

1. If it's Tuesday, it must be Belguim.
2. Around the world in 80 days.
3. Bombay to Goa....how could one miss that.
4. An evening in Paris.
5. Roman Holiday
6.
7. ( This space left blank intentionally for your suggestions, dear readers )

Also I am now wondering where in Mumbai, can I lay my hands on these VCDs? Any ideas?

Venkat

[ramkya1]

Originally Posted by Venkat

Ramky,

Excellent logs. Read them with considerable interest. Have been on the route before and will be doing it again. So I could relive it through your logs.

What car did you use? There are notes in the end of how the car performed, but nothing about the model/make.

I will try to see what I can do.

Thanks, once again, for sharing.

Venkat

We used a Ford Fusion... an awesome car on most terrains.
Me and wife alternated driving....

Have a nice tirp.

==Ramky