[nithinnarayanan]

Originally Posted by pramodpk

Hi,

I am planning to drive to Kannur (near parassinikkadavu) on September 10th with my wife and 8 month okd daughter. Is Bangalore~Srirangapattana~Yelawala~Hunsur~Tithimat ti~Gonikoppa~Perumpady~Maakuta~Kootupuzha~Iritty~M attanur~Chalode~Kannur the best route (read fastest)?

Are there any decent hotels on the way?

Thanks,

Pramod

Please take

Maakuta~Iritty~Irikkur~Srikantapuram~Taliparamba~D haramashala route as the Iritty~Mattanur road is in bad shape and will be faster.

Originally Posted by RajeshK

Regarding the route, it will be little long if you are going via Mattanur - Kannur. There is a short cut from Irikkoor (Take left just before Irikkor town), but I hv never travelled this route, and don't know the direction. If you want to take a try, you can.

Otherwise, try, Iritty - Srikantapuram - Thalipparamba - Dharmasala - Parassinikkadavu.

Rajesh

The best route from Iritty to Parassinikkadavu is :

Iritty~Mattanur~Chalode~Kololam~Mayyil~Karinkalkuz hi~Parissnikadavu.

[RajeshK]

All,

I hv done the Makkutta road yesterday. Started from Bangalore at 2pm and reached Makutta 8.30pm (including more than 2hrs of stopage time for Tea and rest for kids)

BLR - Srirangapattna -> Very good road
Srirangapatna - Yelwala Bypass -> Average
Yelwala - Hunsur -> Very good
Hunsur - Gonikkuppa -> Narrow and big patholes at many places.
Gonikuppa - Perumpadi Checkpost -> Narrow and below average road. Please be careful on the first 'hairpin turn'. THe right side is almost damaged.
Perumpadi - Makutta Checkpost -> Very good road, but please be careful, the sidewall is too steep.
Makkutta - Koottupuzha checkpost -> (V) Bad road
Koottupuzha - Iritty -> Average, patholes started coming up
Iritty - Thalipparamba - Payyanur -> Very good

I faced a very bad climate in all the bad sections, specially in the ghats where thick fog and heavy rain almost made me blind.

The odo showed 346kms from BLR - PNR

Thanks
Rajesh

[pramodpk]

I travelled to Kannur on Sep 10th and returned on Sep 12th. Here are the details. Thanks for all your inputs on the route and road conditions.

Bangalore - Kannur

Home (Brooke fields, Kundalahalli) 6:27 AM 0
Break - 20 mins for Fuel and Food for Daugther - 20 mins
Sreerangapattanam - Turn right to KRS route 9:28 AM 142.4
Yelawal 9:56 AM 160.2
Break - 35 mins for feeding daughter
Hunsur - Left fork towards Gonikoppal, Virajpet 11:10 AM 196
Tittimatti 11:55 AM 225
Gonikoppal 12:05 PM 234.3
Fork towards Makkutta, Koottupuzha 12:29 PM 246
Koottupuzha 1:15 PM 271
Break - 10 mins for Feeding daughter
Iritti 1:41 PM 284
Mattannur 2:12 PM 299.5
Pranav Beach Resort - Payyambalam beach, Kannur 3:00 PM 331

Kannur - Bangalore

RubCo Kalyanamandapam, Caltex Jn, Kannur 12:51 PM 0
Mattannur 1:23 PM 25.2
Iritti 1:52 PM 40
Break 15 mins for petrol, snacks and feeding daughter
Koottupuzha 2:34 PM 53.2
Y fork to Gonikoppal 3:25 PM 78.8
Gonikoppal 3:45 PM 90.2
Thitttimatti 4:03 PM 101.2
Break 20 mins for feeding daughter
Enter Madikkeri Road - Near Hunsur 5:06 PM 129
Yelawala 5:42 PM 164
Srirangapattanam - Enter Mysore Road 6:20 PM 184
Break 30 mins for dinner at Maddur
Home

Adding to what Rajesh said in the above post, my update on road conditions.

Iritty Mattannur- very bad with deep potholes (note the timings)

I had to drive from Kannur to Parassinikkadavu. The condition of NH 17 from Kannur (Around 10 kms) is pathetic. You have to crawl in 1st Gear for 10 kms. This is not an exaggeration. It took more than an hour to cover 20 kms.

On the way back, it took almost 10 hours to cover 325 KMs from Kannur to Bangalore. This was mainly due to heavy traffic on Mysore - Bangalore road. I have faced this before and was expecting it. But the time taken from Srirangapattana to Bangalore exceeded my expectations. This road has become a pain to drive with lot of speed breakers and barricades.

[RajeshK]

Originally Posted by pramodpk

Iritty Mattannur- very bad with deep potholes (note the timings)

I had to drive from Kannur to Parassinikkadavu. The condition of NH 17 from Kannur (Around 10 kms) is pathetic. You have to crawl in 1st Gear for 10 kms. This is not an exaggeration. It took more than an hour to cover 20 kms.

Pramod, you should have taken the Iritty - Srikantapuram - Thalipparamba - Parassinikkadavu road instead of Mattannur - Kannur. This road is in excellent condition. You can reach Parassinikkadavu in 1hrs30mts via this route.

Thanks
Rajesh

[pramodpk]

Originally Posted by RajeshK

Pramod, you should have taken the Iritty - Srikantapuram - Thalipparamba - Parassinikkadavu road instead of Mattannur - Kannur. This road is in excellent condition. You can reach Parassinikkadavu in 1hrs30mts via this route.

Thanks
Rajesh

My accommodation was arranged in Kannur and hence took the Mattannur route. I had seen this route suggestion by you in your earlier post.

[mmurthy]

Hi all,

Drove NON-STOP to Kannur on 14th morning and returned on 15th evening. Here's the route and time taken:

BANGALORE TO KANNUR

Indiranagar, Bangalore 5:05 Am/ 0 KM
Mysore bypass at srirangapatna - 6:55 am/ 135 km
Hunsur turn-off towards to Gonikoppal - 7:50 Am/ 188 km
Tittimatti - 8:20 Am/ 217 km
Gonikoppal - 8:31 AM/ 226 km
Left-fork to Makutta - 8:50 AM/ 239 km
Makutta police post - 9:25 AM/ 260 km
Enter Kerala - 9:31 Am/ 264 km
Koothupoozha commercial tax checkpost - 9:37 AM/ 267 km
Iritty check post - 9:51 am/ 277 km
Mattanur - 10:17 am/ 292 km
Chalode - 10:30 am/ 301 km
Kannur (Thottada) - 11:05 am/ 324 km

KANNUR TO BANGALORE

Kannur (Thottada) - 2:45 pm/ 0 km
Koothupuzha commercial tax checkpost - 4:20 pm/ 56 km
Gonikoppal - 5:15 pm/ 95 km
Hunsur turn-off towards mysore - 6:10 pm/ 135 km
Joined Mysore-Bangalore road at Srirangapatna - 7:05 pm/ 189 km
Bangalore (Rajarajeshwari nagar gate) - 8:50 pm
Bangalore (Indiranagar) - 9:35 pm/ 324 km

NOTE:

1) Following stretches are REALLY BAD:

Hunsur to Gonikoppal - constant medium to large sized pot-holes
Iritty to Mattanur - sudden and deep ditches in the road

2) Ghat section is very beautiful and not bad to drive at all - just excercise common sense and caution as always.

3) We drove non-stop and I am a fast driver (Swift ZXI). Safe to say that 6 hours of actual driving time PLUS any stopping time is the FASTEST that you can do under the current road conditions.

SUMMARY (Fast driver + non-stop driving):

BANGALORE to KANNUR - 6 hrs/ 324 km

KANNUR to BANGALORE - 6 hrs 50 minutes/ 324 km


Cheers and safe driving

[Latheesh]

I am planning to drive to Kalpetta (Wayanad) in another 2 weeks. Which is the shortest route with decent roads?

[RajeshK]

Originally Posted by Latheesh

I am planning to drive to Kalpetta (Wayanad) in another 2 weeks. Which is the shortest route with decent roads?

Latheesh, you can take Mysore - Gundalpet - S Bathery - Kalpetta. Please note that the road is closed by 9pm and open at 5am in the border areas.

Thanks
Rajesh

[Latheesh]

^^
Thanks Rajesh, I'll be starting early morning from Bangalore. From Kalpetta I am planning to start by 2-3PM so it should not be a problem.

[Beast-Rider]

Just completed a trip to kannur, in Kerala from Bangalore, by road. Vehicle details: Tata
Safari. Here are the details.

Departure from bangalore at 6:00 AM, and traveled by NICE road all the way to Mysore road. Being early morning, the usual rough taxi drivers and buses were not too many on the road. We zipped on to Mysore.Halted at Mandya to have breakfast at Adigas. 4 Idliis
later, we were back on the road, content and satisfied.

As we crossed Siragnapatnam, just before Mysore, you have to take a decision. You can go straight inside Mysore city and then catch state highway 88 (SH88), or take the detour around the city and reach SH88. I would recommend the detour, if you plan to save time, traffic and do not intent to do shopping at Mysore.

A little after the Sirangapatnam bridge (Tipu's fort junction) on your right side, you will see a board directing you towards the Ranganathpuram Bird sanctuary. Take this road. This is the detour which after 20KM will touch SH88.
After touching SH88 continue towards Virajpet. The road is very good, four lane and you can zip across.

You will pass Hunsur town. A few kms after hunsur, the SH88 forks into two, take the left turn and carry on straight. This road is narrow and not good for next 56 KM or so. Expect a bumpy ride. This road passes through forest land and then through coffee estates. The view is beautiful and enjoy the view as you ride past. If you are lucky you may be stopped in your tracks by elephants, but usually you will only have wild monkeys to wave you by.

After this you will arrive at checkpoint. From here on you will enter ghat roads.

Enjoy the beautiful lake on your right side. Looks fantastic with mountains, lake and misty air, low hanging clouds. This ghat road section has been recently repaired, and is a great ride. Beautiful forest and clouds to keep you company.
As the ghats finish, you will enter at the Iritti police chick point. The bridge is narrow and expect a police check. Carry on into Kerala Kannur district.

The road here onwards till Thalessery is ghat roads and not in good shape. expect medium to large pot holes on the road, and bad traffic. Speed will be reduced to 35-40 Kmph.

At one point, you will get a fork on the road, to go to Kannur directly or via Thalecherry. I suggest go directly to kannur as the road is very good and traffic is moderate. Road via thalecherry is very narrow and with buses, the traffic crawls at some points. Reached Kannur at 2PM, and covered around 350 Kms.
Enjoy Kannur as you reach.

[ad75]

update on this route :

mysore - srirangapatna - good
srirangapatna - yelwala - bad, potholes
yelwala - husur turnoff - good
hunsur turnoff - mattanur - terrible - lot of craters,potholes and bad roads,some places roads do not exist at all.excercise caution if it rains, as you will not know how bad the pothole/crater is. barring the makutta - koothupuzha ghat road which is excellent,few cracks have started appearing on this route too.
mattanur - kannur - good.

factor in 4-5 hrs of drive from srirangapatna to kannur.

[prince_alex]

I travelled to Nileswaram in Kasaragod 3 weeks back by my Innova. Total kms is around 350 from Banaswadi in Bangalore, covered it in 6.5 hrs. I left Bangalore at 5am, took the Mysore, Hunsur, Gonikoppal, Irrity, Taliparama, payyannur route, reached Nileswaram at 12 noon with a 30mins break.

85% of the road is in good shape, except for Hunsur to Gonikoppal section but it’s not that bad. Road from Irrity till Nileswaram is excellent, don’t remember seeing a single pothole in this section.

[Latheesh]

Did another Kannur, Wayanad trip last week in my Sparky

Thursday - 4th Nov
BLR-KANNUR : 7 hours 30 min (incl 45 min BF stop @ Coorg Cafe)

Sunday - 7th Nov
KANNUR-KALPETTA - 3 hours 15 min
next day
KALPETTA-BANGALORE - via Gundalpet - 6 hours 30 min

[RajeshK]

Originally Posted by Latheesh

Did another Kannur, Wayanad trip last week in my Sparky

Thursday - 4th Nov
BLR-KANNUR : 7 hours 30 min (incl 45 min BF stop @ Coorg Cafe)

Latheesh, How is the latest condition of the stretch between Hunsur - Perumbadi Checkpost and Makkutta Checkpost to Koottupuzha Bridge??

thanks
Rajesh

[Latheesh]

Condition of the road

Hunsur-Perumbadi : Average road with some deep/wide potholes in between. But managable.

Makkutta-Kootupuzha: Some damage already visible on newly asphalted road. But nothing to worry about.

Iritty - Mattanur : Its the worst stretch, but I could see some repair work under progress.