Trivandrum-Munnar-Bombay
Leaving
Coimbatore (7 pm), we said goodbye to our friend, continued our journey and drove off into the night, and I was taking a road that I have not driven in for almost a decade - the
Dimbam Ghat, or popularly the "Veerappan jungle" route. For those new to Coimbatore, it is a simple route through the city - go via Gandhipuram/Tatabad and Ganapathy onto what is referred to as the
Sathy road or now the
NH209. Peak evening traffic is not as bad as you encounter in other Indian cities, but it was almost 20 kms after the city when road began to open up. We reached
Sathyamangalam at 815 pm (65 kms). Road was
excellent all the way, although there was a 1-way detour inside Sathy town. The jungle roads start at
Bannari (famous temple here), and you climb up 27 hairpin bends on what is surely one of the best
ghat roads in the country - wide, well aligned and in great condition. We saw some Chital deer as we crossed Bannari, but of tuskers and bison there was no sign - I have encountered both on previous drives in this road.
We were atop the Dimbam Ghat at 850 pm (100 kms, 1.50 hrs). A little after the road started descending from Dimbam, I espied the narrow road going off to the right to Kollegala, definitely one of the more exciting roads, but not for us this time. Immediately after Asanur, you know you have entered
Karnataka when the top of the road gets sheared off, simply vanishes and you are rumbling along on
rutted roads.Happily, the bad roads did not last much although they continued to be rough. The shoulders were wide and the dense jungles around must be teeming with wildlife. We hit some
terrible roads before
Chamarajnagar town - it was potholes, detours and rubble. I do not remember any occasion when this road has been any better, I don't think the KA Govt has any intention of surfacing it. This is typical of many roads in the KA border, whether it is Nippani-Ajra, Zalki-Pandharpur, Zahirabad-Homnabad, Virajpet-Iritti, Kutta-Kartikulam or several other roads.
At Chamarajnagar (945 pm, 147 kms), NH209 goes via Kollegala, Maddur and Kanakapura, but I am not trying that, that road is supposed to be a wreck. I went instead via Nanjangud and
Mysore. The road to Nanjangud was none too good, but once I reached the famous temple town, I was on the Ooty-Mysore road. I made the big mistake of not taking the Msyore bypass and went through the city (Mysore, 11 pm, 211 kms). Although I am familiar with the city, I missed a turn and found myself circling Mysore city - this city has some of the most insufficient signages, and could be a nightmare for any traveller.
I was now speeding on the
Mysore-Bangalore highway, having finally extricated myself from Mysore city 30 minutes later (1125 pm)......but the
speedbreakers on this highway are really nasty, never seen such accident-makers anywhere else - poor warning signs, high single breakers (instead of rumble strips) - and I will not be surprised if the number of accidents in this highway is high.
I had reached the
NICE Road intersection before
Kengeri - crossing Srirangapatna, Mandya, Maddur, Channapatna, Ramnagara and Bidadi without much issue - at exactly
100 am (
122 kms from Mysore Ring Road/bypass exit, 1.35 hrs), to find
Devdat waiting for us. Dev, that was a pleasure meeting you at this unearthly hour in a place so far from your home. It gave us a welcome break too, as we chatted about roads in MP and AP for the next 40 minutes, and Dev's travels in his Bullet. Thanks for coming,
Devdat.
When we left at
140 am from that spot, it was my first drive on the newly-built NICE Road. The interchange from Mysore Road to
NICE Road is incomplete, and I had to go a little further down the road, make a U-turn and get onto the NICE Road from the Bangalore-Mysore direction. What a road it was - although the toll of Rs 33 for a distance of 20 kms was a little too much, it saved me over 2 hours bypassing Bangalore, even at this late time of the day, given the messiness of the city roads (and possibly pesky cops looking to harass "terrorists" like us) and the Peenya-Nelamangala section which is seeing construction of the elevated roadway. Distance savings is also considerable. I had covered the 20 kms in under 15 minutes, and I was cruising on
Tumkur road (NH4), jostling with the trucks, at
2 am. The road is indeed in a bad shape, but happily at this hour traffic was light, and I reached
Nelamangala (12 kms) at 225 am (this after a refuelling break).
NH4 is one of my most-travelled roads and I can only see improvements day by day notwithstanding the long-standing widening exercise that is still underway in Tumkur/Chitradurga/Davangere/Ranebennur bypasses. For a change, the flyover before Tumkur town is open both ways. The Chitradurga bypass is looking much better. The
Davangere bypass retains its reputation as the worst road on NH4, and sedans be careful that you do not hit your undercarriage (you will if you do not reduce your speeds). I think now 1 of the level crossings before Ranebennur has been bridged, but the
Ranebennur bypass still eludes. Once you cross Haveri, you are on a speedway to Bombay.
My drive details are as follows:
Nelamangala, 225 am
Tumkur, 39 kms, 304 am
Chitradurga, 136 kms, 500 am
Nap, 6 kms,
22 mts, 530 am
Davangere, 54 kms, 615 am
Haveri, 76 kms, 746 am
Hubli, 76 kms, 836 am
Belgaum, 101 kms, 945 am
Kolhapur, 113 kms, 1100 am
Satara, 122 kms, 1223 pm
Pune, 102 kms, 137 pm
Bombay/Kalamboli, 126 kms, 305 pm
Bombay/Thane, 39 kms, 345 pm
The Bangalore-Bombay drive took longer than my normal 12-12.30 hrs, partly because of the short nap.
Thus, we completed our
6,001 km long trip, ending up with the non-stopper Trivandrum-Munnar-Bombay drive (1,962 kms, 36 hours including the 3-hour drive around Munnar, 2-hour meet at Coimbatore, 40-minute meet at NICE Road and 20-minute nap at Chitradurga)