Team-BHP - All Roads to Kerala

Quote:

Originally Posted by arjithin (Post 3379159)

Planning for BGLR - Chalakudy trip on March 6th

Start : 4:30 PM from HSR Layout
Passengers - me/wife/5 yr old kid/5 month old kid on his first long drive
Vehicle - Ritz vxi

CBE till Mannuthy will have Highbeam morons (thanks Silversteed for this nice term) and I hate them. Alternative option is the Palladam -pollachi - Nemmara route; but will be almost deserted with not much stop options if there is a need (I am travelling with a new born, so had to consider that)

Not able to decide which one to choose, I am inclined towards the CBE route due to better stop options. Need your help

Coolclouds, did you do any special planning for your recent COK - BGLR trip with your 6 month old?

Did anyone drive the Omallur- Sankari (SH86) recently? How is the road condition?

Stick to the highway like the rest have advised.

Another option (Budget permitting) why dont you do it with a night stopover considering that you are leaving Blore only at 5pm.You could stay the night at Travellers Inn(Saravana Bhavan)at Vaikuntam Toll Gate.or else stay the night at Salem and go further rather than drive through the night

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Originally Posted by arjithin (Post 3379347)

Chose night driving primarily to avoid the harsh sun and with the hope that the baby will sleep most of the time.

Normally I used to start at around 5 AM for the Bangalore-Tvm runs, but for the latest journey, I started at 1 AM. Started at ~1 AM from Tvm, and reached by around noon.
The main advantage I felt was, could cover more than half of the journey, even before we get the first glimpse of sun, so that much less tiring, and the baby will happily sleep till 10 AM or so, since its a moving car.
To compensate for the early morning start, took extra rest the night before as well, so the journey was not at all tiring.

Couple of other things noticed with respect to a 1 AM start instead of a 10 PM start is, (1) most of the incoming traffic would have gotten over by past midnight and (2) you will be driving towards a day, and not towards a night - this would be wrto deserted stretches in the road.

Wayanad Wild Life Sanctuary will be closed from 10th March to 20th April

Following news from today's Malayala Manorama (Translation):

"Kalpatta: Wild Life Warden informs that due to severe Summer season, for Safety reasons, from March 10th to April 20th Wayanad Wild life Sanctuary will remain closed. Visiting of Eco Tourism Centers in Muthanga and Tholpetty ranges is prohibited"

Hope, this info will benefit our members.

I Plan to drive down from Bangalore to Kottayam during the next weekend, plan to start early to beat the city traffic and also drive when the weather is cooler. Checking the possible routes, I found a route suggested in google , this is via Dindigul using NH7 and Kollam Theni Hwy, while this is a relatively longer route, I'm Ok with this as long as I can minimise travel on the congested roads and heavy traffic in Kerala.

Could someone advice on this route? I usually take the NH7, NH 47 via Palakkad and Thrisur, however, the single lanes and heavy traffic once one enters Kerala is really tiresome. Wondering if the alternate route could make the drive quicker and less stressful.

On return, I need to come via Thrisur, is there a better route than via Palakkad and CBE from Thrisur back to Bangalore? Suggestions please:

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Originally Posted by gops2009 (Post 3381048)

On return, I need to come via Thrisur, is there a better route than via Palakkad and CBE from Thrisur back to Bangalore? Suggestions please:

Yes. Thrissur-Mannuthy-Vadakkenchery-Nenmara-Kollengode-Pollachi-Palladam-Kangeyam-Perundurai and then NH47 & NH7. Mannuthy-Vadakkenchery takes about 30-45min. The turn off into the Vadakkenchery-Nenmara route is after Hotel Diana (which is on the left side).

Quote:

Originally Posted by gops2009 (Post 3381048)

For the onward journey, may be you should stick to NH7 till Dindigul and then divert towards Bathlagundu, Theni, Cumbum and Kumily. You can expect traffic at these towns otherwise the road is an extended 2 lane one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gops2009 (Post 3381247)

Thanks for the inputs Silversteed, Suresh and cool clouds, much appreciated...

For the onward journey, may be you should stick to NH7 till Dindigul and then divert towards Bathlagundu, Theni, Cumbum and Kumily.

Suresh is this the same route when I take the Kollam Theni Highway or is this a different route that you are suggesting?

The route i am suggesting is the diversion one takes from Dindigul towards theni. Till Dindigul from Bangalore is 4 lane NH. From Dindigul one has to turn right towards Theni via Bathlagundu which is a extended 2 lane road.
Not sure if route is same as the Kollam Theni highway

Quote:

Originally Posted by gops2009 (Post 3381048)

Could someone advice on this route? I usually take the NH7, NH 47 via Palakkad and Thrisur, however, the single lanes and heavy traffic once one enters Kerala is really tiresome. Wondering if the alternate route could make the drive quicker and less stressful.

Yes the route till Theni is smooth sailing. 4-lane till Dindigul and a nice wide 2-lane till Theni. Its the last 150-160km which would be troublesome. It is bad in patches. Account for about 3-4 hours for this stretch.

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Originally Posted by racer_ash (Post 3374072)

Guys..am planning for a HYD-PALAKKAD trip next weekend. Most of my concern is about the last couple of 100kms of the journey
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Guys, I have succesfully completed this trip and would like to thank everyone for their inputs. As it turned out, one of my relative was to join from Coimbatore and I had no other choice but to go through CBE both ways. It took roughly 7.5 hrs with ample breaks to cover the distance from Hosur road (just after BETL toll) to Hotel Indraprastha in Palakkad.

Hyd to Bang was a bliss. Between Bang and Palakkad, roads were quite good most of the way but it was the truck traffic upto Salem that was most worrisome. Two trucks running parallelly at 20 and 21 kmph and taking all day to overtake. Encountered many such along the way. Also cars drive haphazardly on the 6 way lane between Bangalore to Krishnagiri and also on the Thoppur ghat. Really need to watch out especially if you are trying to merge into the middle lane and you find some moron merging into in from the left most lane. Roads until and upto exiting Hosur are a mess not because of the surface but because of people merging and exiting from all directions. You are spoilt for choice for food options on both sides of this stretch.

As others have mentioned, there are some speedbreakers at the joints of the flyovers on the Avinashi road. But they are well marked and not very worrisome. Between Avinashi and L&T bypass there are some very rough patches especially near the flyovers. L&T bypass is quite good and you can maintain good speeds. Madukkarai to Walayar is rough but it is possible to maintain 60kmph without much fuss except at the places where bridges are being constructed. The most troublesome part was at the RTO check post where trucks are parked all along the widht of the carrigeway leaving little or no space for cars to pass through. Some very good stretches once you enter Kerala where traffic passes through one side of the newly laid 4 way highway.

All in all, it was a good and memorable trip to Gods own country. :thumbs up

Just back from a Bangalore-Tirur-Calicut-Bangalore trip. Some key updates.

Onward journey was via Nilambur, Road conditions already updated in an earlier post.
- http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post3378873
One additional observation was that there was lot of tree cutting happening on the Nanjangud-Gundlepet stretch. Assume this is in preparation for widening/4 laning. It was sad to see the road starting to lose its tree cover.
Did a Tirur-Guruvayoor trip via Chamravattom. Took this route instead of the regular Chamravattom-Chavakkad- Guruvayoor highway. This route is shorter and has minimal traffic and roads are great. Tirur Guruvayoor took me only 55 minutes. Tiirur-Chamravattom-Ponnani has been relaid and slightly widened also. So it is a very smooth drive.
As per my dad the work on the NH17 alternate road starting after Kuttipuram Bridge and reaching Chamravattom Junction is progressing well. Could see work on this road happening near Chamravattom Junction. Still looks a long way from completion.
The railway over-bridge at Devdhar Railway gate is finally open. This reduces one key bottleneck on the route to Calicut via Tanur-Parappanangadi. But there is a Rs 5 Toll on the bridge. First time seeing a toll on a railway over-bridge. Now there is only one railway gate at Chettipadi on this route
Return to Bangalore was via the usual Bathery-Gundlepet-Chamrajnagar-Kanakpura route. Felt that Gundlepet-Chnagar has become more patchy with sharp edges. Huge amount of 2 wheeler traffic between Chnagar and Kollegala. Otherwise a smooth drive.
Went through the Kalpetta Byepass for the first time. Since it was early, there was no time gain, but the bye-pass looks good.
Stopped at Nijaguna Residency. Daughter enjoyed the opens space and play area. Stuck to safe food items like eggs and idlis. So was manageable. Frightfully expensive though.

What is the best route for Bangalore-Munnar trip? Read several threads on the forum but still confused. Can someone who's done this recently advise on the best option? I'll be travelling with my wife for a 4-5 days vacation, so open for night halt in between and if there is an option to cover a good place. This will be the first time I'll be travelling to Kerala, and bit apprehensive about food options for pure vegetarians, so any pointers for food along the route as well as in Munnar will also be much appreciated.