[snaronikar]

BANGALORE-THANDAMPALYAM (ERODE)-BANGALORE

Date Travelled: 29.04.2008 (Tuesday)
Vehicle: Ford Endeavour XLT (Intercooler Turbo)
Members : Me and my colleague.
Fuel: BPCL normal.
Comfort: Good.
Photographs: Yes, below. But very few.
Route taken: Bangalore-Hosur-Krishnagiri-Dharampuri-Thoppur-Mettur-Bhavani-Erode-Thandampalyam & return same in same route.
The total kms travelled : 670 (To & Fro)
Ac: 100%.
Driven by: Chauffer.
Mileage: Around 8.5 kmpl
Total travel time including breakfast and dinner time: 16 hrs & 15 mins.

Travelogue: This was the official trip as I was visiting the vendor in Thandampalyam which is towards Karur going from Erode. Booked the Taxi Qualis the previous day. But to my astonishment, we got a Ford Endeavour as the Qualis was not available. Had asked the driver to come to my home at 5.00 am in morning. He came at 5.30 am. Anyways, we started and headed to BTM Layout for picking up my colleague. Picked him up at 6.00 am. We started our journey towards our destination. We had earlier visited this place twice before finalizing on the vendor. The driver was good and he knew Tamil, Kannada, Hindi and English. The last 3 were not fluent though. I thought it will be very helpful to us as I and my friend do not know how to speak Tamil and we were going interior Tamil Nadu.
We passed Hosur and then Krishnigiri. Now, the real problem started with the 4 lining of NH7, there were many diversions. All the vehicles had to necessarily pass through one road with two lanes Could not even achieve 90 kmph on these roads. This roads continued upto Dharampuri. The time was 8.45 am. Had breakfast at Saravana Inn. A decent hotel. Then again started our onward journey towards Thoppur. Again the problem with road widening. This ended at Thoppur. From Thoppur, you need to take the right turn to go towards Mettur/Bhavani & Erode. This is the SH and the roads are very well laid. Passed Mettur and Bhavani and reached Erode. On the way to Erode from Mettur, the scenery is good as there is greenery along both the sides of road. Ultimately reached Erode at 11.45 am. Then the problem started. To find the way to Thandampalyam from Erode dist which is around 47 kms was a big problem. As we did not know the route, we had to ask many people. None of them knew languages other than Tamil. Fortunately, our driver could speak Tamil and he asked the way and by the time we reached our destination, Thandampalyam it was 1.15 pm. We had taken straight 7.45 hours to reach this place including a stop at Dharampuri for breakfast for 45 mins. The total distance was around 330 kms.

We finished our work at the vendor's end and started to head back home at 5.45 pm. We reached Erode at around 6.30 pm. Our driver lost his way as he following a TNRTC bus which was going to Bhavani via Perundurai. He followed this bus blindly and by the time he realized it, we were nearing Perundurai. Again we had to take many diversions and reached Mettur at around 8.30 pm. The rains stated pouring in. The rains was too heavy and our speed slowed down and we were doing only 50 kmph for about an hour. We reached Thoppur around 9.15 pm. Then we decided to have our dinner in the same place we had breakfast in morning. We reached Dharampuri at around 10.15 pm and went to hotel where we wanted to have dinner (rice). But to our dismay, the dinner time closes at 10.00 pm and we had to eat out what ever was available. Hence ordered Chapattis. After dinner we again started back to Bangalore. By the time we reached Hosur it was 1.00 am. We asked Driver why he was driving slow. He informed that if he drives fast, the mileage will reduce and his office had informed him to get the mileage of 10kmpl (with 100% ac) otherwise they will cut the balance amount from his salary. We banged our head (to car) and we could not do anything on this part. We had to just keep quite and he drove the vehicle at 90~100 kmph (a FORD ENDEAVOUR going at 90 kmph to save Diesel). Never heard of this though. Back to the story, we reached Silk Board junction around 1.30 am and headed towards BTM layour where in we saw many trees were uprooted and the electric poles were toppled. Fortunately, the power had been cut off. Dropped my friend at his residence in BTM layout. And headed towards my house and I reached my house at around 2.15 am. We had taken the travel time of about 8.30 hrs for a drive of around 370 kms.

Thanks for your patience and reading guys.

Here are some of the pics taken on my way (randomnly). It is taken from my mobile camera which has 64K colours. Pls bear with this. The attachment contains (1) Pics of Mettur Dam (2) The car we travelled (3) SH in which we travelled (4) Sunset across the field.

[HappyWheels]

Good travelogue, Snaronikar!

Seems like you had a interesting 'adventure'! Good that your driver knew atleast how to talk in Tamil (if not to read). Bad that you ended up in Erode - you took exactly the opposite route.

And very unfortunate on doing 90kmph on a vehicle like this. Really ruins the fun.

Is the per Km fare the same for Qualis and Endeavour or what?

[snaronikar]

Originally Posted by HappyWheels

Good travelogue, Snaronikar!

Seems like you had a interesting 'adventure'! Good that your driver knew atleast how to talk in Tamil (if not to read). Bad that you ended up in Erode - you took exactly the opposite route.

And very unfortunate on doing 90kmph on a vehicle like this. Really ruins the fun.

Is the per Km fare the same for Qualis and Endeavour or what?

Thanks Happywheels. Ya, it was a good adventure.

Nope the rate/km of Qualis and Endeavour are different. But since they did not have Qualis, they sent the Endeavour. But unfortunate that we could not enjoy the driving of this.

And one more thing is it was a 2 year vehicle and had done around 92,000+ kms on odo. There were some rattles on Back RR RH door.

[HappyWheels]

Originally Posted by snaronikar

T...Nope the rate/km of Qualis and Endeavour are different. But since they did not have Qualis, they sent the Endeavour. But unfortunate that we could not enjoy the driving of this. ...

It is great that they 'upgraded' the ride, instead of 'downgrading' it.

[BomBatt]

Thats quite an adventure snaronikar.

Only 2 of you were travelling in such a big vehicle. A continuous journey of 16 hours ! That too in the midnight. Moreover, since you yourself are a driver, how was it to travel such a long journey as a passanger? Was it somewhat boring?

How was the breakfast at Saravana Inn? I am asking this because, last time when we went to Hogenakkal, we had breakfast at Hotel Uthyaiah near Krishnagiri. I did not like the food there.

Anyway, nice travelogue.

[snaronikar]

Originally Posted by BomBatt

Anyway, nice travelogue.

Thanks.

Originally Posted by BomBatt

Only 2 of you were travelling in such a big vehicle. A continuous journey of 16 hours ! That too in the midnight. Moreover, since you yourself are a driver, how was it to travel such a long journey as a passanger? Was it somewhat boring?

We had one small machine to be carried along with us which was supposed to be installed at vendor's place. Hence we had booked Qualis. But in came Endeavour and I was very happy. But the driver sc***** the journey. The journey itself was quite boring especially while coming back.

Originally Posted by BomBatt

How was the breakfast at Saravana Inn? I am sking this because, last time when we went to Hogenakkal, we had breakfast at Hotel Uthyaiah near Krishnagiri. I did not like the food there.
Anyway, nice travelogue.

The food is OK. Anytime, I go thorugh Dharampuri, I make it a point to eat the Dosa in Saravana Inn. the food is decent and not costly also. May be you can try this next time.(say 25 mtrs)