Team-BHP - All Roads to Kerala

Road from Mysore via Sathy (Nanjangud, Chamarajnagar, Dimbam, Bannari, Sathyamangalam, Annur, Coimbatore) is very good, and no serious curves. Less curvy than the Gudalur-Nilambur road, which in so good condition as the Sathy road. Advantage of Sathy route is that you join NH47 at Coimbatore. To avoid Coimbatore city (and to take the super-smooth Coimbatore bypass), from Annur, you can go to Avinashi and join NH47 east of Coimbatore.

Road widening is on in NH47 between Avinashi and Coimbatore. NH4 from Coimbatore to Palakkad is in a bad shape. Road widening is on in NH47 in Chalakudy area.

Quote:

Originally Posted by menonrajesh (Post 788148)

I travalled Bangalore - Mysore - Gundlupet - Gudallur - Nilambur - Perinthalmanna - Pattambi - KunnamKulam - triprayar - Irinjalakuda on 4th April and returned via the same route yesterday. Apart from the 20 odd km stretch between Gundlupet and Bandipur, the road conditions were excellent.

how bad is this 20 km stretch? will the car scrape the bottom? whats the distance from blr to irinjalakuda? how much time did it take?

thanks in advance

Quote:

Originally Posted by hvkumar (Post 788005)

I find this interesting. I have gone to Kochi by Kerala SRTC via Sulthan Bathery and also by Karnataka SRTC via Sathyamangalam. In my memory, the Sathy route had massive potholes for a short stretch (about 1 hour), and fairly steep hairpin curves too. I do not recall any major hassles when I went via Sulthan Bathery. Of course, I may have been sleeping.

What I really wanted to know was about the Bandipur/Nilambur route in comparison to the other two in terms of the steepness of the hairpin curves. I am once again preparing to go to Kerala by car, having drive about 700+ km in Sparky. Due to the Hogenakkal issue, I am concerned about travelling via Salem . . . So I want to choose the route with the least steep/narrow hairpin curves.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ad75 (Post 788215)

how bad is this 20 km stretch? will the car scrape the bottom? whats the distance from blr to irinjalakuda? how much time did it take?

thanks in advance

This must be the stretch from Gundlupet upto Bandipur Park entrance. This stretch is indeed bad, if my memory serves correct it is certainly not 20 kms and should take you about half an hour from Gundlupet to the park entrance. The roads from the park entrance upto the Tamil Nadu border check post in Mudumalai is good with most of it laid last year. The stretch between Teppakadu and Gudalur used to have potholes am not sure whats the current scene on this stretch.

But this is nothing compared to the bad roads you would see between Coimbatore and Palakkad.

Would suggest this route as compared to the regular one on any day.

Cheers

Srikanth

Quote:

Originally Posted by ad75 (Post 788215)

how bad is this 20 km stretch? will the car scrape the bottom? whats the distance from blr to irinjalakuda? how much time did it take?

thanks in advance

I would say this 20 odd KM is very bad. You will have to crawl through this, unless you have a SUV.

There were no issues with my Swift for the ground clearance. Even if your car has a low GC, you just need to be watchful; thats all.

Distance from Bangalore (my home in Airport area) to Irinjalakuda measured 442 KMs. IIRC, the distance through both S battery - Calicut - TCR route and the Hosur - Mettur - Bhavani- CBE - TCR route measured at 500 odd KMs.

Driving time that I took through Nilambur route was 8 and Half hours ;maximum speed was 110.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pypkmsrikanth (Post 788917)

I could be wrong about the actual distance of this bad stretch. However bad roads start right after Gundlupet (the point where there is deviation towards Sultan Battery) and it lasts till you approach "M C Resorts" etc (which could be the entrance of Bandipur Park). From this point, roads are superb!

Quote:

Originally Posted by menonrajesh (Post 788999)

Distance from Bangalore (my home in Airport area) to Irinjalakuda measured 442 KMs. IIRC, the distance through both S battery - Calicut - TCR route and the Hosur - Mettur - Bhavani- CBE - TCR route measured at 500 odd KMs.

I remember when I travelled to Cochin it was lesser by almost 80 kms as compared to the regular Salem route from Bangalore

Quote:

Originally Posted by menonrajesh (Post 788999)

Its the same stretch I was referring it's about 15 kms and the stretch indeed is bad, and I fail to understand how they made such lovely roads inside the forest (when slower speeds would prevent animal kills) while they have not done anythiing for the stretch of the road which is outside the park limits. I remember this stretch to be in various stages of "Bad Stretch" for the last 3 years certainly and possibily even before that when I used to travel on this stretch occasionally. The stretch just before and after Hangala village and the stretch near Pugmark restaurant are two places which I remember off hand that are extremely bad.

Cheers

Srikanth

Quote:

You are right there are some 27 hairpin curves on this route. When going towards Sathy, these appear right after Dimbam. But all are well maintained and not as steep as Kalhatti ghat route.

@Gpsyfreak,

This longweek-end We did Coorg, Wayanad & Kannur . From Kannur to Mysore, We took the following route :

Kannur- Kuthuparamba-Periya-Mananthavady-Katrikulam-Tholpetty-Kutta-Nagahole NP-HD Kote-Mysore.

Road Conditions:-
Kannur-Kuthuparamba --> Good
Kuthuparamaba - Periya --> Scenic Drive with roads are good but with very very less traffic and No much human presence enroute until Periya
Periya-Manathavady ---> Roads are good with Tea Estates enroute.
Mananthavady- Katrikulam--> Roads are good with typical Kerala winding roads
Katrikulam - Tholpetty --> Ditto
Tholpetty - Kutta --> From tholpetty, KA border is just 1 km and once you enter KA ,2 kms road is Worst and you need to take a U turn just before Kutta for Gonikoppa/ Nagarhole NP/ H D Kote / Hunasur / Mysore
Kutta-Nagarhole NP Forest Dept gate --> Road is Average
Inside Nagarhole NP - Road is Good
Nagarhole NP Forest dept gate (the other end) - H D Kote --> road is good
HD Kote -Mysore --> Road is excellent

If you do not want to enter Nagarhole NP :

After taking the U turn just before Kutta, drive straight and after 7 kms, you would see a signboard :

Gonikoppal <------ 8 kms &

Nagarhole NP --------> 14 kms

You could reach gonikoppal and this road condition is average only (We took this route while going ). After reaching Gonikoppal , take right and roads are awesome until Coorg border (Until Anehosur) and after that it's SH but narrow and average only and this road will lead to Mysore-Mangalore Road. Take right and road is excellent all through and you would pass Hunasuru to Reach Mysore.

@Prithvi,

Kalpetta - Calicut road is in excellent condition. From Kalpetta, NH 212 is at it's best and you could stop @ Pookot lake (just on the way) (Boating / Small Garden) followed by Vythiri View point and the thamaraserry Ghat road is so so wide and neatly paved and the ghat road is around 15 kms or so only and then you need to drive straight and Kalpetta - Calicut is 72 kms !

Travelled from Palakkad to Bangalore this morning in Esteem. Route taken was

Palakkad- Coimbatore: Patch work has been done and is pretty bad. Couldn't go comfortably
Coimbatore - Avinashi - Bhavani: Pretty decent
Bhavani - Mettur- Thoppur: Very smooth
Thoppur - Krishnagiri: Good road, 4 laning going on
Krishnagiri - Bangalore: No need to say - GQ!

Overall, the roads have become really good, as compared to anytime in the last 3 years. Krishnagir-Dharmapuri used to be nightmarish.

BTW, how good is the stretch Bhavani - Salem - Thoppur?