Did a Bangalore-Coimbatore-Bangalore trip in last 2 days over the weekend.
Left Bangalore at 1.30 pm on Friday 26th May and too Bangalore-Krishnagiri-Thoppur-Mettur-Bhavani-Avinashi-Coimbatore route. It was mainly because, when i exited Thoppur ghats , it was around 4 pm and after a quick 15 mts tea break, i will be crossing Salem in peak hours. Didn't want to go through the painful peak hour 2W traffic all the way from Omalur to Salem and then to exit to Coimbatore route. So took right and went via Mettur and it was peaceful and scenic.
Thoppur to Mettur - road surface is good and in many places they are adding shoulders , so there are deep pits in one side. Its NOT recommended to drive in this stretch in dark/after sunset.
Mettur to Bhavani is more scenic and good roads and must be done only in daylight. But again there are few locations where small culvert/bridge repair work is happening, so traffic is allowed in one direction in those 3 to 4 construction areas and traffic piles up.
Those who want to do a relaxed and casual drive and bored of 4L roads, take this route. Those who are time conscious and want to cover the distance in shortest time, don't plan this route.
Took right from Bhavani and joined NH and it was raining all the way till Avinashi.
Return journey was yesterday Sunday 28th May. After lunch at Annapoorna near Race course/opposite to court, packed some snacks and left at 1 pm. Again drove very casually and didn't want to race against time just to enjoy the natural scenic drive, so took Coimbatore-Annur-Puliyampatti-Sathy-Bannari-Dhimbam-Kollegal-Kanakapura-Bangalore route.
After crossing Ganapathy and all the way till we cross Saravanampatti, there was good traffic and slowly traffic reduces. Road contidtions are good throughout. After Annur , the roads are simply amazing , literally zero pot holes and butter smooth roads towards, Sathy-Bannari-Dhimbam ghat roads, Dhimbam till we exit TN border. It was excellent and fantastic.
Once we enter KA, the road conditions drastically changes and deteriorates till Kollegal. Kollegal - Malavalli - Kanakapura was good as the road widening work is done and no issues.
Didn't want to go stratight from Malavalli towards Mandya-Mysore road to avoid Sunday evening return traffic. So took right towards Kanakapura , thanks to mpksuhas, for his advise when i spoke to him and his post after his trip on May 1st in Mysore road.
However post kanakapura , till Harohalli and till Nice road, its a mess as the construction work is aborted and its neither in old shape nor in new way. Its dangerous and best avoided post sunset due to crazy driving by many people. From kanakpura, it took 2 hours and i reached Bangalore at 9.30 pm which is obviously slowest timings if we take this route.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sraghavan Yes, I saw there is a bye-pass - thanks.
Have you driven through the route lately? Are the roads good enough without too many bad stretches (I will be having two seniors as pax along with my wife). I have asked an younger cousin to join me on the trip, and if he does, I may be well inclined to take this route. And thanks for the good wishes  |
Hi Raghavan,
Given that you have 2 senior citizens and wife in the car, i wanted to let you know about few things on this route.
1) After Kanakapura, there is only one decent stop for rest rooms and food which is Nijaguna Residency in Chamrajnagar. Post which the next one is only at Coimbatore, so really there are no good options and you can't stop in nearby place for any urgency or rest room break or food.
2) Indeed the route is scenic with many forest areas and agricultural lands and less in traffic, but beware of the driving pain till KA border. (except between Kanakapura to Kollegal).
3) Dhimbam ghats as 27 hair pin bends and its a gamble. Many times, in that ghat roads trucks break down and will pile up traffic for easily 4+ or more number of hours till it is cleared. Also, there is some risk/caution of elephants blocking the way (not always, but the risk exists). We can't drive in this route post sun set, so you have to time out the travel and plan accordingly.
4) Overall E2E travel time is atleast 1 to 2 hours more in this route than NH route.
Due to above reasons and mainly because you have senior citizen, i recommend you stick to standard NH route as the travel time is less for them (about 6 to 7 hours of driving time plus breaks) with good stop overs all the way.
You can try out this KA side route via Kollegal later alone without senior citizens, may be post monsoon when Kaveri flows in good flow. My 2 cents....
-Ravi