Team-BHP - All Roads to Kerala

Did a Bangalore - Muvatupuza trip last weekend through Valparai.
While going took Hosur-Salem- Perundurai route before taking deviation to Pollachi. Travel was on 1st Nov early morning (~4AM). Speed was reduced due to heavy rains, however traffic was very thin, mostly limited to trucks only. Was able to reach Perundurai by 8:15 AM. Road condition is bad between Attibelle and Krishnagiri. One worrying thing was there was water logging on road even on right lane. A potential hazard if travelling in high speeds. Also surface of road was very rough with potholes appearing. Now that rains has stopped will have to see how it will hold up.

Valparai-Chalakudi road is a pleasure to drive. However once you cross on to KL from TN about 10 Kms or so after Malakapara is in bad shape. You will have to shift to 2nd or 1st gear for the whole part. After that its freshly laid road till Athirapally.

For return from Muvatupuza took Thrissur - Palakkad - Coimbatore- Annur- Sathyamangalam- Kollegal- Kanakpura road. Road from Muvatupuza till Thrissur is great. Since travel was at Sunday morning around 7, was able to cross Pattikad in 1.5 hrs. However Pattikad - Coimbatore is another story, trying this route in night will be real tough. Coimbatore byepass is the only saving grace. NH209 is in superb condition till Bangalore. However was stuck at Dhimbham ghats for over an hour due to a block casued due to a broken down truck. Once crossing that it was smooth drive till Bangalore.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mpksuhas (Post 2953828)

Valparai-Chalakudi road is a pleasure to drive. However once you cross on to KL from TN about 10 Kms or so after Malakapara is in bad shape. You will have to shift to 2nd or 1st gear for the whole part. After that its freshly laid road till Athirapally.

How many hours did you take to cover Pollachi - Chalakudi ? And is that 10 kms stretch after the KL-TN border the only bad one from Perundurai to Athirappally ? Or are there more ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by mpksuhas (Post 2953828)

For return from Muvatupuza took Thrissur - Palakkad - Coimbatore- Annur- Sathyamangalam- Kollegal- Kanakpura road. Road from Muvatupuza till Thrissur is great. Since travel was at Sunday morning around 7, was able to cross Pattikad in 1.5 hrs. However Pattikad - Coimbatore is another story, trying this route in night will be real tou

How was Kuthiran? Has it been patched up?

Quote:

Originally Posted by kala (Post 2953894)

How many hours did you take to cover Pollachi - Chalakudi ? And is that 10 kms stretch after the KL-TN border the only bad one from Perundurai to Athirappally ? Or are there more ?

Pollachi Chalakudi was not done in one strech. I was in Valparai for 2 days and then did Valparai- Chalakudi. However rough timings, are as below.
Pollachi - Valparai - 2.5 Hrs. There was very less traffic and roads are in superb condition. However it was raining heavily once I crossed 20th hairpin.
Valparai - Athirapally took around 4.5 hrs with couple of stops. So guess around 4 hrs driving time. Apart from bad roads KL - TN border roads are in great condition.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pramodpk (Post 2953902)

How was Kuthiran? Has it been patched up?

No, its as bad as it can get. Also saw some 3 trailer trucks which had turned turtle between Kuthiran and Palakkad. Dont know how that happened in roads this bad.

Guys
its time for my next Chennai - Palakkad trip. 2 months back when I did this trip, Comibatore - Palakkad ( through Walayar and L&T by pass ) was extremely bad. Hows this stretch now ? Similarly hows the stretch 20 kms into Coimbatore and the stretch post Ulundurpettai by pass ?

any pointers to avoid bad stretches ( like Kangeyam / Palladam routes ? ) please advise

Quote:

Originally Posted by narayan (Post 2955285)

Simply put-Avinashi onwards its a struggle!If you are ok with trying a different route then suggest take Perundurai-Kangeyam-Palladam-Pollachi-Palakkad

https://maps.google.co.in/maps?saddr...via=1&t=m&z=10

Quote:

Originally Posted by narayan (Post 2955285)

I have recently heard that the road is re-laid and is in good condition. I think you will be good with the route you have chosen.

^^ There were some patch work done around Walayar when I travelled last weekend. Road condition is better than what it was around 5 months back. However deviations are many and patch work is not smooth.
Did Perundurai-Kangeyam-Palladam-Pollachi also on 1st Nov. Roads are in superb condition, however try keeping speed in control since you find suicidal moped riders on way.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rameshnanda (Post 2955460)

I have recently heard that the road is re-laid and is in good condition. I think you will be good with the route you have chosen.

AFAIK,there has been no progress in work on this stretch.Some potholes have been filled which would have opened up again!The company who won the tender for this stretch has put the tender up for sale as they are in dire straits,so I dont see anything happening between Avinashi and Walayar for a long time to come,even though NHAI GM-CBE claims on the NHAI fb page that it would be complete by Mar 2013(not sure how or what is their plan of action)

Quote:

Originally Posted by ranjitp1 (Post 2955662)

@Ranjith - Maybe the Walayar-L&T bye pass stretch is now in a manageable condition ? An earlier post on this page by @pariwar says this stretch just has few potholes (he travelled during last week of October).

Quote:

Originally Posted by pariwar (Post 2949147)

On another point, I was surprised to see decent patchwork done on a good length of the segment between Walayar to L & T Bye-Pass. Referring to the area where you see the flyover/bridge structures. Expected craters but other than for some potholes around one or two of these, the rest were reasonably smooth sailing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NPV (Post 2953337)

#1 seems to be fine now, what with all the rains doing their part - only thing to be kept in mind is that KA has been directed to release additional 4tmc ft water to TN between now and Nov 15 so just be alert. Also, I don't think this should be a problem if you drive a KA or KL registered vehicle.

#2 needs some thought. Most regular weekends see huge crowds at Mysore and this just increases exponentially with long weekends/festival holidays.

Any good Veg. hotels around Nilambur for breakfast? We are starting from Thrissur at 6AM tomorrow. I hope Nilambur will be a good place for having breakfast. Can we make it to mysore by around 1PM?
How is the road condition after Nilambur?

Quote:

Originally Posted by DieselLover (Post 2956557)

I have not tried the Nilambur route myself but from what I've read here on the forum there is a KTDC hotel (Vazhiyoram?) at Nilambur. This route is also used by several state board buses and is not very wide so I don't think it will be a fast drive.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DieselLover (Post 2956557)

Any good Veg. hotels around Nilambur for breakfast? We are starting from Thrissur at 6AM tomorrow.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NPV (Post 2956568)

Nilambur has a KTDC Tamrind hotel. But i dont know when they close for breakfast. Next hotel is at Bandipur. Its the JLR pugmarks.
But that would too late for breakfast and may just early for lunch!

Surge ahead and at Gundlupet you will find a Coffee day right the highway. This is about 1-2km beyond Gundlupet town towards Mysore.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DieselLover (Post 2956557)

If you start from Thrissur at 6:00 AM, you can reach Mysore by 12:30 PM. Road condition is OK but your average speed will be low because of speed breakers inside the Muthumalai and Bandipur forests. Better to have breakfast at Nilambur.

Hi folks

I'm doing Madras - CBE - Guruvayoor 3rd week of Nov, I stay in OMR Madras, will it make sense to go via Tambaram - Ulundurpet - Salem - Avinashi as I understand that the 6L work is happening in Vellore Krishnagiri stretch, I drove to BLR and back end Sep and it was quite slow.

Ulundurpet-Salem is a SH? How's the road quality, median? Salem - Vijaymangalam is again part of the GQ and guess this is okay, but need help to get from Vijaymangalam to Kovai Pudur - time and road quality perspective. And need advice on route from Kovai Pudur to Guruvayoor.

On the return leg, I'm heading to Ooty from Guruvayoor and Ooty to Madras directly. Kindly suggest on a fast route from Guruvayoor to Ooty, road quality takes precedence over "fast".

Look forward to the expert opinions, thanks a bunch.