Team-BHP - All Roads to Kerala

Quote:

Originally Posted by hvkumar (Post 2620267)

Yesterday, Ajmat took over 12 hours to drive from Bangalore to Kochi via KOzhikode, reported early-morning jams at KA-KL check post, bad ghat roads down to Thamaraserry and the usual high traffic & twisties of NH17 south of Kozhikode. So budget a full day's drive from Bangalore to Kochi.

Reached Bangalore this evening from Kodungallur. It took exactly 13 hours to cover about 530kms (0540 dep, 1840 arrival). It took two hours from Kodungallur to Kottakkal itself. Kozhikode Bypass (Ramanattukara) to Bathery took a good 3.5 hrs (heavy traffic on the ghats).

Traffic was restricted at all the hairpin bends - they block traffic on either ends, and allow only one direction at a time. The end result, vehicles would jump the queue, and traffic was very very heavy.

Bathery to Mysore was bliss - very very sparse traffic, decent roads. Left Bathery around 1245, and I was in Mysore by 1445. Took a 15 mins break at Mysore (just some strolling around). Stopped for yet another break at Maddur (Maddur Tiffanys). Traffic after Ramnagara was heavy - it got worse after Bidadi. I took the NICE road straight to Bannerghatta road.

Bumper-to-Bumper traffic from Gottigere to Arekere - it took almost an hour for this distance.

(I'll post exact timings and odo later)

The roads on Thamarassery Ghats are being patched up. They are re-laying the entire section. Adivaram to the actual begining of the ghats have been relaid completely. Works on Hairpin bends are yet to begin.

Me and my office colleague traveled in two KA registration cars on Saturday (24/Dec/2011) from Bangalore to Vaikom via Hosur -> Krishnagiri -> Salem -> Kangeyam -> Palladam -> Pollachi -> Nenmara -> Thrissur -> Eranakulam route.

Started at 5:30 am from Bangalore. We lost more than an hour between Bangalore and Hosur because of 2 major accidents which had happened in that road. There was a long pile up of vehicles in both the spots. Again some goof up at Salem while trying to enter the highway costed us another half and hour.

We deviated at Perundurai from highway to Kangeyam. From Bangalore, I set Kangeyam as destination in my GPS. Around 10 km before Kangeyam, I reset my destination as Pollachi. Again 7 kms before Pollachi, I reset the destination to Eranakulam. Thanks to Joe Cherian to this advice -- it will help to use the town by-pass, if available. However, we decided to enter Pollachi town as we had to have our lunch. Roads in Pollachi town are not that wide.

You can use any Android phone with a GPS and mobile internet data connection (there are packages available like 1 GB for 100 Rupees etc) and use the free Brut Google maps. I noted that this route is completely covered by Airtel so that downloading the maps while driving was never an issue.

The drive through the roads of Kangeyam -> Palladam -> Pollchi -> Nenmara were absolutely hassle free. The roads except for a couple of half a km streches are absolutely good -- throughout they are 2 laned not four. Not many vehicles either.

We took 4 breaks in total -- each close to 45 mins to 1 hr (3 inside Tamil Nadu) as we had some elderly people in the car. Spent close to 3 hrs that way.

I recommend anybody coming from Bangalore to try and use this route. I saw lot of scare being spread, quoting sources like newspaper URLs in this thread. Subsequently many people are driving through roundabout Mysore -> Nilambur route unnecessarily.

I don't know anything about Theni - Kumili route, but my experience in Pollachi route is absolutely positive. Initially, my father-in-law was very reluctant to drive this route but after entering Kerala, he changed the whole opinion. Except for the initial time loss at Hosur, it was an absolutely hassle free drive.

Looking forward for my week of vacation in Kerala -- far away from the busy schedules of Bangalore. Signing off, wishing everyone a wonderful Christmas and a prosperous 2012 ahead. Thank you all for reading.

Took the normal route through Salem to Kerala (Cochin) yesterday (24 Dec 2011) from Bangalore. Noticed no problems in Coimbatore byepass and remaining stretch to Valayar. Traffic was very light. Kerala transport buses were waiting in the kerala side of the bridge and a bunch of police people also found around. It seems these buses are going with police convoy to kovai. Route seems to be safe. My colleague also passed the same route few hours before us and they too seemed to face no issues.

Reached home from Bangalore, this is the route I took and my feedback on the same.

Bangalore -> Mysore -> Muthanga -> Sultan Bathery -> Manjeri -> Perinthalmanna -> Shornur -> Thrissur -> Ernakulam

The road from Bangalore to Muthanga is fine, except for the odd unmarked speed breaker.

Thamarashery churam is undergoing repairs and vehicles are send only in 1 direction, so expect the to spend quite a lot of time here

I strongly recommend taking the Calicut NH for reaching Ernakulam from Bathery; the Manjeri route, though shown by Google Maps is non-existent we crawled all the way till Shornur.

After a total travel time of 12 hours, having started at 2 AM in the morning we were all sorely missing the Salem Coimbatore route :Frustrati

Regards
Orto

I started out yesterday morning (24th) from Bangalore to Munnar at 5:45am. I escaped the big pileup near Hosur by taking the service road on the opposite side. It was a total hassle free experience, reached Salem at 8:20. W stopped at aSree Saravana Bhavan before Bhavani, he had just opened. W reached Udumalpettai at 12:30. The last 120 km was very slow due to average roads and a very scenic route that made us take many stops. We finally reached the club Mahindra resort at 4:30. It was along but trouble-free journey.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ortopilot (Post 2621668)

I strongly recommend taking the Calicut NH for reaching Ernakulam from Bathery; the Manjeri route, though shown by Google Maps is non-existent we crawled all the way till Shornur.

Where did you turn off from NH212 to go to Manjeri ? I thought the road from Thamarassery via Mukkam-Areekod was pretty decent the last time I travelled (which was probably 6 months ago or so). There's another road that takes off from some place very close to Adivaram (Puduppady ? I don't quite recall the name), and those are mostly village roads, so not a very recommended route.

Quote:

Originally Posted by enygma (Post 2622306)

Need to do a Bangalore - Kotakkal - Bangalore run later this week. Since it is a very short trip and given that Wayalar route seems fine now, I was planning to do Blr - Salem - Palakkad. What is the best route from Palakkad to Kotakkal? Am relatively new beyond Palakkad, hence the question.

The easiest way from Palakkad should be Palakkad-Mannarkad-Perinthalmanna-Malappuram-Kottakkal.

Alternatively, Palakkad-Ottapalam-Pattambi-Koppam-Valanchery-Kottakkal.

I think the former would be easier, and a no-nonsense route. The roads in both routes would be decent.

Reached Kottayam through Walayar, Shornur Thrissur route. Noticed that our usual road side restuarants, Rajabhojanam, at both side of L&T bye-pass were closed for for the reason of road work!. There is no road work happening at least in the Avanashi side and everything looked fine there. The one at Kerala side looked somewhat blocked due to work, though. Are there any other alternate places there for food? Saw a new Saravanabhavan opened somewhere on the route. Dont remember the exact location. Not sure if it is the official HSB or another fake version.

Quote:

Originally Posted by vasoo (Post 2622434)

Are there any other alternate places there for food? Saw a new Saravanabhavan opened somewhere on the route. Dont remember the exact location. Not sure if it is the official HSB or another fake version.

No it is not the official HSB,however the food is excellent here and the service is quick.The place is on the Trichy road turning from L&T.

There is one more restaurant open onto the right side when you travel towards Avinashi,before the HSB turning.That place too is excellent.We stop there quite often,though cant remember the name of the place.