Hello All
This is a travelogue on my latest road trip to
Kodaikanal,
Madurai and
Kanyakumari.
Initially, i wondered if the idea of travelling in this hot weather would pay off. And thought Kodai would be the main hightlight of the trip.
And then on finishing the trip yesterday night, i realised that the trip was all about
NH7! Its a marvel. Its something which south isnt used to.
I am overwelmed by the finness with which the NH7 infrastructure project has been executed. Hats off to NHAI.
NH7 has now suddenly become the lifeline of SouthIndia. From Bangalore, South.. Any location can be accessed with ease with NH7 as the prime route. Makes a lot of sense.
All the planning, route queries, hotel bookings are done. Our fellow Tbhpians helped me in fine tuning my plan, schedules and routes.
Me, my wife, and my parents are all set at 5.30 AM on 5th morning (friday). We start off my J.P.Nagar 1st Phase bangalore , heading towards our first destination, Kodaikanal. We are not packing any warm clothes expecting 30s even at Kodai.
Since i am on a Electronic city worker, i am not aware of where to join NICE road on Bannerghatta road. Finally i figured it out in the darkness, with all the TN registered trucks entering the main road on that single lane.
I take Bannerghatta road, NICE road and finally i am on NH7 on Hosur road at 6 AM.
The route i take from Bangalore to Kodai is as below:
Also check the times for all important junctions/towns.
Bangalore -- Nice road -- Hosur road (NH7) - Hosur - Krishnagiri - Dharmapuri - Salem - Namakkal - Karur - Dindugal - OffNH7 to NH45 - Bathalagundu - SH156 - Kodaikanal (480 Kms from JP Nagar).
I reached Kodai by 1:30 PM for lunch. So i was able to cover the distance in 8 hours sharp. This included a 25 min breakfast break at A2B, 15 min break for tea at Dindugal/Palani road crossing, and another 20 min at
Silver cascade/Rattail falls...
The road condition is superlative. That has made me do one of my most consistent drives on this stretch. There are 2 diversions near Karur. If you ignore that part, it is a flawless piece of infrastructure.
Sense this.. We were at Dindigal(380 Kms) in 5 Hr 20 min. And we had another 250 Kms to Kanyakumari. So practically, Bangalore-KK CAN be done in 9 Hrs flat!
On the way, we have covered RatTail falls (without a drop of water), Silver Cascade falls (enough to recognize that as a waterfall)
We checked in into
Hotel Bala, infront of the Kodai busstand at Kodaikanal. This is a very decent hotel with clean rooms and toilets for 1125 per night inclusive of taxes.
This place is very near to all the hotels, restaurants and ofcourse the lake!
We have our Lunch at Astoria Veg. Rest for a while. And head to
Coaker's walk which is 200m from the Busstand and our hotel.
This is half a Km of walking path on the edge of a cliff, so that one can enjoy the glimpse of the vast valley and the plains below.
At 5.15PM, we head to the Kodai lake. I found this lake to be pretty clean, in contrast to all the talks about how dirty it is.
Lots of shops lined around the lake. And surprisingly we found that it take 5 Kms to complete 1 circle around the lake!
Here are some of the snaps from Day1 travel.
Shade on NH45 (take right after Dindugal towards kodai)
Some snaps from the Day1 in Kodai town:
Kodai Church
Cycle stand at Kodai lake
Kodai Lake
Kodai International School
Tea break at Dindugal
Will follow up with Day 2 and 3 at Kodai soon.