[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by sbraj

True, Shankara was a great traveler. A traveler with a purpose I suppose.

What a traveller! Central Kerala (Kalady) to Sringeri (Karnataka), Dwaraka, Srinagar and Badrinath, all before he was 32 years old. A feat which most even today can only aspire for.

A Sankara mission would be a great theme for a drive across India!

[advaitlele]

Nice log there Mx6.

And the baby - she is going to grow to be a good traveller. Thanks to you and the care you have taken. Blessings for her.

Two things that you said so true they are
1. "We Indians dont deserve this" - Actually, its what we deserve sans basic civic sense. We reap what we sow. And about civic authorities waking up only for VVIP visits - it happens everywhere. Whole year of vacation and 2 days of work.
2. "It's faith that takes you there". - very true. We all believe in somethings or other and its faith that keeps the hope alive. Only problems start when we try to impose our faith on someone else. There wont be any tensions and hatred if we stop doing this.

Now going back to your log - fantastic. Hope you have moved on from Shringeri now. Waiting for next destination and log en route.

[MX6]

Thanks Advaitlele.
We woke up on 5th Jan at 6:30 AM. I need to go to Tirunelveli at any cost.
We'd already suffered a set back as in lost 4 days of our planned trip. I listed the issues as below.
1. My leave gets over on 10th Jan. I have to be back in office on 11th.
2. I've covered just around 25% of my trip with another 75% pending. My plans went in to disarray in the first 25% itself. Never thought about health issues.
3. I have to be in Chennai by 8th Jan. If I go to Tirunelveli, coming back to chennai on 8th is a distant possibility.
4. I will have to drive loooooong distances from chennai to reach pune on 10th, which would be torturous to our baby.

I logged in to my netbook and opened up a few travelogues to draw inspiration.
Prime inspiration was High Vay King. I'm used to super long distances.
I've driven from Orlando to New orleans non-stop. I've driven from Orlando to Keywest and back non-stop. I've driven Boston - NY - Boston nonstop when a category level 3 hurricane blew over Halifax. I've driven Libertyville, IL to Gatlinburg ,TN non-stop.
Will have to revert to that mode.

I listed down the activities I thought of doing to save time.
1. Leave before breakfast, after a glass of milk. I can head out earlier and have a quick stop for a quick bite enroute. I can save precious minutes.
2. Have a 1 hour lunch during which I can plan out rest of trip, arrange baby food.
3. Skip out intermediate places like Belur, Halebid, Brindavan etc. Drive like HVK.
4. Have a late lunch. Baby can be fed when the car is in motion. Baby stays in car seat though during her lunch. Late lunch means extra miles clocked, and lesser crowd and quicker service at hotels.
5. Drive extra hours and move in to hotels by 7:30 or 8 pm. I will have time only to plan for next day and prepare (the sterilisation and washing is a heck of a thing). So I decided to stop documenting the trip.
6. Have lesser stops for photography. As such I've not touched my DSLR. So stopping lesser means, travelling more.
7. Kept out Thiruvaiyaru from the plan. It was a dream. But we'll be back next year.

With this my new plan became this.
5th Jan - Sringeri - Chikkamagalur - Hassan - Mysore - Chamarajanagar
6th Jan - Chamarajanagar - Sathy - Erode - Karur - Tirunelveli
7th Jan - Tirunelveli - Aruppukottai - Madurai - Chennai
9th Jan - Chennai - Hosur - Chitradurga
10th Jan - Chitradurga - Pune.

It was crazy. But I was determined.

We left from Sringeri at 8 am, after loading 2 suitcases, 2 bags, 4 polythene covers, a pram and my tripod in the boot and the carseat, food items, my laptop bag and the baby's bed in the car. It was fully loaded. Every speed breaker was a nightmare. It scraped the bottom of my car.
Coming up next - Sringeri - Chamarajanagara leg.

[MX6]

Sringeri to Chikkamagaluru - Distance is 85 kms. Here's the catch. It's difficult to find 50 ft of straight stretch in that road I guess. The road keeps meandering like a river. My wife can't sit in the car on ghat sections. She has this involuntary impulse to throw up. So I can't do higher speeds. Faster I go, quicker she'll throw up.
The plan was to have breakfast at 10 am at Chikkamagalur.

We got off like a breeze from Sringeri and was soon off.
The route taken was through Balehonnur and Aldur. 20 kms off Sringeri, I stopped to ask for directions to Balehonnur. The eager autodrivers asked me whether I wanted to go to Horanadu. When I asked for Balehonnur they were surprised. You don't see outstation registered vehicle drivers talking in Kannada asking for a non-tourist location during holidays I guess.
The road was good. We kept doing good and reached Chikkamagalur around 10:15 am.

Inviting roads of Chikkamagalur.


Pitstop for 10 mins.


The area is covered with foliage. Known for estates.


We had amazing views all around. It's a pity I didn't stop for photos.
Once we entered Chikkamagaluru, we were damn hungry and were hunting around for a pure veg restaurant. My wife just spotted one and I took a quick turn in to a no-entry.
The Auto drivers who'd stationed their vehicles came running and told me it's a no-entry.
Karnataka police comes and taps my car. I told him in Hindi politely.
Sorry, bhook lagi hai aur dekha nahin.
He let us go and also suggested a restaurant in the main road enroute to Hassan.
10:30 to 11:15 was an extended break for breakfast. Because we decided to have lunch at Mysore, no matter how much time it takes.


We left Chikkamagaluru around 11:30 am. Distance to Hassan was around 60kms.
Reached Hassan for another pitstop - this time filled the tank completely. After crossing Hassan I was tempted to check out Gorur. I decided against and proceeded towards Holenarsipur.
Traffic was building up and temperature moving upwards, I trundled along.
The roads after Holenarsipur was too inviting. However, I didn't want to overdo things. I kept to my 100 - 110 kmph upper limit.

[MX6]

Views of the great road from Hassan to Mysore.



Hello Mysore. Here we come.


It was nearing 2 and we were damn hungry. The next big question was where do we have lunch.
I was getting irritated with all the speed breakers. They were scraping the bottom of my car all the time.
We decided to proceed inside the city as there's no clear marking for by-passing mysore to get on to the road to Nanjangud.
I saw a board that said The Green hotel and I drove right in.
Lunch time.
Incidentally, the green hotel was an erstwhile Chittaranjan Palace, refurbished now. Will post some photos next.

[hvkumar]

The road from Hassan to Mysore via Holenarsipur - great to know that the roads are so good. Does it go via Arkalgud? And are the signages in Hassan bypass (NH48) good to indicate the turn off?

[MX6]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

The road from Hassan to Mysore via Holenarsipur - great to know that the roads are so good. Does it go via Arkalgud? And are the signages in Hassan bypass (NH48) good to indicate the turn off?

I had a party on that route! literal drive party. Once again, the signages are not that great. I had to stop for directions. Especially the Hassan to Holenarsipur has a bit of confusing turns. I had to ask atleast 7 - 8 people for directions as I ended up on the Hassan Bangalore route due to a wrong turn. Eventually found it after a 20 min detour. But it's worth taking this route.
The road to holenarsipur is still being done in parts, with work happening on a fast clip. But over all, chikkamagalur to mysore had 80% terrific roads. It was a belter once you cross Belur.
I've NEVER EVER seen such a good road in Karnataka till then.

[sbraj]

Originally Posted by MX6

I logged in to my netbook and opened up a few travelogues to draw inspiration.
Prime inspiration was High Vay King.

Of course, the legend. My salutes.
(Let us not bother about Ws and Vs).

Originally Posted by MX6

Baby can be fed when the car is in motion. Baby stays in car seat though during her lunch.

So I decided to stop documenting the trip.

Have lesser stops for photography. As such I've not touched my DSLR. So stopping lesser means, travelling more.

It was crazy. But I was determined.

Yes, all these are causalities when there are targets to be met.

Originally Posted by MX6

It's difficult to find 50 ft of straight stretch in that road I guess. The road keeps meandering like a river.

We had amazing views all around. It's a pity I didn't stop for photos.

Curvy roads are a problem while travelling with a baby. My son tends to throw up when I take curves at higher speeds. I had these experience in Mysore-Nilambur stretch and Tenkasi-TVM stretch. Due to my eagerness, I will take the turn at higher speeds and after 10 such turns, there he goes. Stoppage of 20 minutes becomes inevitable. For this reason, these days I prefer straight highways more than twisty/curvy ones. Highly entertaining to the driver, but horror for the passenger.

Originally Posted by MX6

Karnataka police comes and taps my car. I told him in Hindi politely.
Sorry, bhook lagi hai aur dekha nahin.
He let us go and also suggested a restaurant in the main road enroute to Hassan.

That is surprising. Usually KA police is very keen to fine outstation registered vehicles. Maybe, that phenomenon is prominent in BLR, not in sleepy towns like Chikmagalur.

Originally Posted by MX6

The road to holenarsipur is still being done in parts, with work happening on a fast clip. But over all, chikkamagalur to mysore had 80% terrific roads. It was a belter once you cross Belur.
I've NEVER EVER seen such a good road in Karnataka till then.

When I drove on this stretch first time, I too was pleasantly surprised. The stretch is so good that many get enthusiastic and speed up. There are unmarked humps erected by villagers which need to be watched out for.

Yes, Hassan, Holenarsipur belongs to the Deva Gowda clan, hence all the nourishment. But why should we complain when we get good roads?

[ampere]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

The road from Hassan to Mysore via Holenarsipur - great to know that the roads are so good. Does it go via Arkalgud? And are the signages in Hassan bypass (NH48) good to indicate the turn off?

Once while going to Coorg we got lost on this stretch. This was 6-7 years back. At the start of our journey net search provided two routes. One via NH48 till Channarayapatana and through Holenarsipur, Ramnathpura to Kushalanagar. Other was through Mysore. We thought NH48 would be better and less crowded.

The Channarayapatana to Holenarasipur stretch was so bad, that once we hit Holenarasipur, we saw decent stretch of road to Hunsur and packed off on that and then through Hunsur, we drove to Coorg.

Finally we realized we should have gone to Hunsur directly through Mysore. Tanveer will remember, as he was on the wheels.

Glad to note that this road is all the better!

[aargee]

Originally Posted by MX6

Views of the great road from Hassan to Mysore.
Attachment 284810

This pic is awesome, reminds me the title of the poem "Road Not Taken"

[MX6]

Thanks a lot sbraj, ampere and aargee!

The green hotel welcomed us with open arms.
It was the erstwhile Chittaranjan palace built for the Princessess of Mysore, now refurbished as a hotel. It's run by a UK charity, who distributes the profits to charitable and environmental initiatives in India!

The hotel was picturesque and we had lunch there. Rooms are pretty economical and add to the old world charm. There's a library as well for the guests. Food was sumptuous and great. The hotel itself was built on eco-friendly lines.
We had the mosquito eating fishes reared in the pond, which prevented mosquitoes from breeding!

Morning and Evenings are fun in the open air restaurant. The building behind is the palace refurbished


Newer rooms to accomodate more. Have a wonderful view facing the garden.


Mom and Wife. Wife busy preparing Orange juice for our baby! That's our restaurant.


Patience my child. Your juice is getting ready. Till then enjoy the garden!


Mysore is warmer than Sringeri. I love juice!


Nice landscaping on the premises.


Another view of the open restaurant with the surrounding foliage.


The main palace, now houses the suites and the foyer, apart from antiques and a giant grandfather piano and the travel desk.


As we freshened up there, I boiled milk for my baby (did I mention about the electric milk boiler I bought specifically for this?) and packed everything. Family was tired that we decided to rest till 4:30 (an extra hour than planned). We finally left Mysore around 4:45 pm, with my hopes of making it to chamarajanagar before sunset being intact. Getting out of mysore was easier. I just had to follow signatures for Ooty. At 4:45 we just passed by the entrance of Mysore palace. Every landmark I passed, I felt bad for missing out from my itinerary.
Random views of mysore as we proceed.



We crossed Nanjangud and I made the biggest mistake by not staying there and proceeding to Chamarajanagara.
The nagara part is a misnomer. It's supposed to be Chamarajahalli.
Mysore to Chamarajanagara was around 62 kms. Roads were good till nanjangud. We lost our way searching for the turn to CRNagara, and continued straight on the route to bandipur.
I backtracked and finally found that I should have crossed the level crossing before Nanjangud station and that's the road(?) that takes one to CR nagara. The road was bad. We reached Chamarajanagara by 7 pm.
I hunted around for a decent hotel and we were weary. The most decent hotel as per people we enquired was near Chamarajeshwara temple (very good looking temple indeeed). We paid 550 bucks for 2 double rooms (deluxe), so you can gauge how good it was. I really rued not staying in Nanjangud. I could have atleast had a darshan of Nanjundeshwara.

I did the second biggest blunder. Should have stuck to Mallige idly. But I had chinese noodles. Being the sole driver, that's the worst anyone can do I guess in an unknown place.
the night was spent with frequent visits to the rest room.

Distance travelled: Around 340 kms.

Coming up - 6th Jan - Chamarajanagara to Tirunelveli - close to 500 kms.

[pypkmsrikanth]

Lovely photos of the hotel in mysore, its almost 2 years since I last went on a vacation trip. May time for me to be little more accommodating to my family.

[MX6]

HVK sir, I missed on the Arkalgud part of the question. Arkalgud comes when you take the gorur route. This is direct from Hassan to Holenarsipur. Not through Arkalgud. This is through SH57.

[roamingrao]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

The road from Hassan to Mysore via Holenarsipur - great to know that the roads are so good. Does it go via Arkalgud? And are the signages in Hassan bypass (NH48) good to indicate the turn off?

Originally Posted by MX6

HVK sir, I missed on the Arkalgud part of the question. Arkalgud comes when you take the gorur route. This is direct from Hassan to Holenarsipur. Not through Arkalgud. This is through SH57.

SH57 is one of the longest SH in karnataka ( bagalkot to BR hills - approx - 650 kms ).

The mysore to Belur stretch ( only ! ) ( via holenarasipura, hassan ) was relaid by KRDA ( karnataka road development authority ) to facilitate foreign tourists to visit Mysore, Shravanabelagola, Belur and Halebidu. Before Bilikere (Jnct. with SH88 - on hunsur road - 25 kms from Mysore ) and beyond belur - you have the results !

another excellent road relaid by KRDA - Bijapur - Sindgi - Gulbarga - Homnabad .

[deepanonline]

Thats Really Great..

Soon Post Tirunelveli Pictures.. Afterall I Am Very Eager To See My Home Town Through Your Camera Eyes..