[praful]

Any more pictures?

If your timing is right you actually get fog all the way from Sriperumbudur till Ambur.

I used to be a frequent flier on the Chennai-Bangalore stretch about 2 years back, when I used to travel over the weekends to meet my gf in Bangalore.

Until finally I got bored of the GQ and started taking the more scenic and interesting route via NH4 i.e. Chittoor. You should try this route sometime, beautiful early in the morning. But they have actually sort of screwed by making it a 4 lane (partly).

[DWind]

Or are you talking of one in Pachakuppam with the river and the railway line to complete the melange.

[ikoneer]

Originally Posted by DWind

Or are you talking of one in Pachakuppam with the river and the railway line to complete the melange.

The entire stretch right from natrampalli until ambur has the most scenic routes in the chennai-blr highways, this is mainly due to the coconut trees and the mountains that run parallely.

[quadra]

Here is that pic - hope you like it

[quadra]

The drive..continued...
since it was going to be a long drive, i didnt want to push the vehicle initially, so went around the city @ 50kmph. Once outside the city, i pushed it to 100+ but till 120max. The reason being that the car tires are already out & satya advised not to exceed 100 on such tires but i sometimes i forgot about the tires...lolz

There were around 5 toll booths till chennai so paid around 150 in total.

I was enjoying the drive when A2B came & i was like, naah, its too early to eat. I decided to carry on and eat only when my stomach cries for food.

Sad part is, there was nothing open in the morning at that time & the first break i took was at CCD - a good 300km from bangalore . Drove non-stop till CCD and crashed there.

Ordered for a cold coffee & veg sandwich, ate it like crazy. There was no other customer in CCD so i really forgot about etiquettes
Paid some 300rs, did some nice stretching as i was very tired & started to go to chennai.

It was my first time in chennai by road so with the help of sign boards & passersby, was able to track my way towards the airport. I found this taxi service there..lolzz

Had a nice weekend stay in chennai & now it was time to come back on monday morning.

Home coming:
Started at 6am there and saw a huge traffic already waiting for me (guindy flyover) & i was thinking - "where are all these folks going" in buses, taxis, cars, scooters and that too at 6am. Go take some sleep folks.

Took the poonammalie road (just before guindy flyover) and reached staright on the highway road (near shell - on the right hand side). Once there it was one single road towards Bangalore. Apart from all those Nokia buses (what the heck are so many Nokia buses doing in Chennai)

I was getting bored so this is what i did,
> moved my seat back
> further reclined the backrest (not fully)
> Put on some music
> switched ON the a/c
> cruised at 80kmph & boy what a ride.

I drove non-stop to bangalore with only few picture breaks. Once i reached blore, i straight away went to car wash guy. stepped out of the car & my left knee was hurting pretty bad, i was not able to straighten my leg.

Lesson learnt - never do a non-stop journey.

all the way i ate - an apple, real active apple juice, a cadbury chocolate.

summary - a very nice solo trip. Need to do some mods on my car before i think of other trips
1. Michelin XM1+
2. Bosch wiper (stock ones are not good)
3. K&N filter maybe.

[mjothi]

Originally Posted by praful

Until finally I got bored of the GQ and started taking the more scenic and interesting route via NH4 i.e. Chittoor. You should try this route sometime, beautiful early in the morning. But they have actually sort of screwed by making it a 4 lane (partly).

I loved those curvy roads, scenic nature and all along the NH4. Stopped taking it ever since they started the 4 lanes. Hope they complete it soon.

[MX6]

Originally Posted by quadra

Once i reached blore, i straight away went to car wash guy. stepped out of the car & my left knee was hurting pretty bad, i was not able to straighten my leg.

Lesson learnt - never do a non-stop journey.

That's a wrong lesson you have learnt.
The correct lesson is that do more of non-stop journeys so that your left knee and left shoulder gets more strength!

Trust me. My first non-stop long drive was 160 odd kms. It was just the beginning. I went on to do Boston to Keywest non-stop, stopping only to refuel both me and the vehicle. Ofcourse the vehicle of auto transmission with cruise control. Last weekend it was 1481 kms of non-stop drive with 5 temples (3 of them jyotirlinga, 1 famous shani temple and 1 kali temple where Kalidasa was blessed by the goddess) packed in!
I came with a sore left shoulder (constant gear change especially on the ghat roads) and sore right foot (on the gas pedal)! I don't know how people like HVK do tvm - mumbai non stop in Indian conditions with just 20 mins sleep break!
Wish you many more such trips!

[ampere]

Its all relative!
I dont know how folks like MX do 1481 non-stop!

[quadra]

Originally Posted by mjothi

I loved those curvy roads, scenic nature and all along the NH4. Stopped taking it ever since they started the 4 lanes. Hope they complete it soon.

If thats the krishnagiri- vellore route you are talking about, its great to drive but only 2 lanes

Originally Posted by MX6

That's a wrong lesson you have learnt.
The correct lesson is that do more of non-stop journeys so that your left knee and left shoulder gets more strength!

Trust me. My first non-stop long drive was 160 odd kms. It was just the beginning. I went on to do Boston to Keywest non-stop, stopping only to refuel both me and the vehicle. Ofcourse the vehicle of auto transmission with cruise control. Last weekend it was 1481 kms of non-stop drive with 5 temples (3 of them jyotirlinga, 1 famous shani temple and 1 kali temple where Kalidasa was blessed by the goddess) packed in!
I came with a sore left shoulder (constant gear change especially on the ghat roads) and sore right foot (on the gas pedal)! I don't know how people like HVK do tvm - mumbai non stop in Indian conditions with just 20 mins sleep break!
Wish you many more such trips!

MX, for cars with AT + cruise control - its really easy to eat kms for breakfast. with MT, i think that should be avoided.

Originally Posted by ampere

Its all relative!
I dont know how folks like MX do 1481 non-stop!

Red bull maybe

[MX6]

No red-bull for me. And yes, my car is MT here. Miss the MX6 I had in US which was AT.
But one thing here. my 1481 kms also included 4 hours of sleep every night most of the day time was spent in temples.
Off late I'm unable to do long drives like before. Nothing to boast here. I get tired earlier and as a strict rule, I pull over and take a nap / break. If it gets too bleary, then I check in to a hotel. Guess I'm ageing quicker than I thought.

[mjothi]

Originally Posted by quadra

If thats the krishnagiri- vellore route you are talking about, its great to drive but only 2 lanes

No, that is NH46. I am talking about the Bangy-kolar-chittor-chennai route.

[quadra]

Originally Posted by MX6

No red-bull for me. And yes, my car is MT here. Miss the MX6 I had in US which was AT.
But one thing here. my 1481 kms also included 4 hours of sleep every night most of the day time was spent in temples.
Off late I'm unable to do long drives like before. Nothing to boast here. I get tired earlier and as a strict rule, I pull over and take a nap / break. If it gets too bleary, then I check in to a hotel. Guess I'm ageing quicker than I thought.

Makes sense now buddy.
I guess, we all age, sooner or later unless you are superman / baa (saas bahu fame)

Originally Posted by mjothi

No, that is NH46. I am talking about the Bangy-kolar-chittor-chennai route.

Oh yeah, i read about that route being very scary and bad. Where does it lead to in chennai ??

[praful]

Originally Posted by quadra

Oh yeah, i read about that route being very scary and bad. Where does it lead to in chennai ??

Scary and Bad? Noway. The surface is bad at places and it was just a single lane highway and did not have much facilities either. But definitely a much more of a "traveler's" route than a "commuter's" route!

I actually joins the GQ/NH46 @ Ranipet. So the final 100 odd kays are still done on the GQ.

[quadra]

Originally Posted by praful

Scary and Bad? Noway. The surface is bad at places and it was just a single lane highway and did not have much facilities either. But definitely a much more of a "traveler's" route than a "commuter's" route!

I actually joins the GQ/NH46 @ Ranipet. So the final 100 odd kays are still done on the GQ.

Thanks for the reassurance. Will try it once my tires are replaced with new ones.