[DrVjy]

Hi

Just thought I would give an update on my recent drive over Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka, done between 2-Oct-2010 and 16-Oct-2010

Car: Hyundai i10 (just done 16000 km to date)

Leg 1: Bangalore- Coimbatore
Did this in 7 and 1/2 hrs, including some 1 and 1/2 hrs lost over 6 toll plazas, and a lunch detour at Perundurai.
Road is great, could easily maintain upwards of 110 kmph
Route: NH7 and NH47

Leg 2: Coimbatore- Guruvayur
Did this in about 4 hrs, poor roads in Palakkad (deep but small potholes, springing up from nowhere, single lane NH)
Route: NH47
Good road from Trichur to Guruvayur

Leg 3: Guruvayur- Coimbatore- Pollachi
Surprisingly faster than the Coimbatore- Guruvayur one, though road was same. Potholes were fewer on this side of the road.

Did not go directly to Pollachi because that road was reported poor by people in Guruvayur.

Leg 4: Pollachi- Parambikulam
Did this in about 3 and 1/2 hrs. Excellent road upto Sethumadai, and hell after that thru Anamalai upto Parambikulam. Thought TN roads would be better than Kerala ones, but looks each state wants the other to set the road right. But then wait- the surroundings are lovely forests and somewhat cool on the angry driver.

Leg 5: Parambikulam- Valparai
Did this in about 3 hrs. Super road, one of the best ghat roads I have ever driven on. Excellently marked nearly all through. Some deterioration around Valparai, but not so much as to bother one.

Leg 6: Valparai- Coimbatore
Did this in about 3 hrs, via Pollachi. Some confusion around Pollachi as a new flyover was coming up and vehicles had to take a diversion thru interior roads.

Leg 7: Coimbatore- Ooty
Did this in 3 and 1/2 hrs. Road by and large excellent except for a few km after Coimbatore, where 6- laning is going on. Slow traffic on Ooty ghat road, partly because of the rain at that time.

Leg 8: Ooty- Bandipur
Did this in about 2 hrs. Road is good, but Masinagudi to Mudumalai is very narrow, and drivers have to be exceedingly careful about veering off the tarred part, else they would lose control.

Leg 9: Bandipur- Bangalore
Surprisingly fast, did this in 4 hrs. 2 hrs to Mysore and another 2 hrs to Bangalore, including a halt for fuel at Mysore. Poor roads around Nanjangud (crazed surface)


Total: 1400 km.
Bye
DrVjy

[hvkumar]

Thanks for the update.
Am surprised that you did not go to Guruvayur from Palakkqd via Ottapalam and Shoranur, which is a better road and shorter too.

Did you get any subsequent confirmation that the direct Palakkad-Pollachi road was bad? Going via Coimbatore doubles the distance.

[DrVjy]

hvkumar

Thanks . I was somewhat unsure of the Ottapalam- Shoranur route condition at that time so I chose the known devil (NH-47) rather than the unknown angel (SH). The Palakkad- Pollachi road however was reported bad (nearly 30 km of it!) by the hotel guy at Pollachi when I called him up before leaving Guruvayur. So that spurred me back to Coimbatore, from where I knew Pollachi was a breeze on NH-209.

Bye
DrVjy

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

The Palakkad - Ottapalam - (Shornur) - Pattambi - Kunnamkulam (not sure of route after Ottapalam - IIRC, no need to go to Shornur) state highway is excellent condition. May be a few culverts here and there pending completion, but far better than so called NH 47.

Even Shornur - Trichur state high way is very good.

[ajithbr]

Guruvayur->Trichur->Wadakanchery->Kollengode->Pollachi->Palani is a good alternate route. Not sure of the latest road condition though.
Local drivers can guide you through some SH which can take you directly from Guruvayur, on a less traffic road, to Wadakanchery/Alathur on NH-47 from where you can proceed to Kollengode.

[DrVjy]

Hi

Just thought I would share some of the photos from my 1400 km drive.



Bye
DrVjy

[DrVjy]

Hi

A few more ones in continuation of my previous photo list.

Enjoy!


Bye
DrVjy

[BaCkSeAtDrIVeR]

Wow!! That was some drive!!

Btw I do wish people mention Wadakkancherry on NH 47 to avoid confusion with the other Wadakkancherry on Trichur - Shornur SH.

[binaiks]

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

The Palakkad - Ottapalam - (Shornur) - Pattambi - Kunnamkulam (not sure of route after Ottapalam - IIRC, no need to go to Shornur) state highway is excellent condition. May be a few culverts here and there pending completion, but far better than so called NH 47.

The stretch from Kulappully (Shoranur 'by-pass') to Pattambi is more or less inexistent. To be more specific, there is no road between Kulappully bus station to the first Railway Level Cross Gate (Forgot the name of this place). The roads around Pattambi too were in bad state some time back. Pattambi to Perumbilavu is average, Perumbilavu-Kunnamkulam is awesome, Kunnamkulam-Guruvayur is again average.



This is a pic from the Kulappully-Pattambi section. I scraped my car's bottom at many places here, and at some places the surface was too slippery to keep control. However, on the way back, my friend (who was with me) took me through an internal road, which directly lands outside Shoranur Railway station. That road was better.