Team-BHP - All Roads to Kerala

Quote:

Originally Posted by bsdbsd (Post 3422620)

You have three routes.

1. NH47-Thrissur-Coimbatore-Blore.
2. Kottayam-Kumily-Theni-Dindigul-Blore.
3. Kottayam-Kollam-Punalur-Tenkasi-Rajapalayam-Madurai-Bangalore.

Regarding route #2, I found the drive through the Kumily Ghat a bit stressful and intimidating. Unending stretches of real ghat drive and I was a bit flustered. This was during 2012, while driving from Thekkady to Ashtamudi. If you want to minimize your ghat section driving, and a slightly better and longer route (660 Vs 580), can I suggest route #3? Minimum ghat driving and good condition roads all the way till Bangalore. Evaluate your options.

Let coolclouds have the final say.

Quote:

Originally Posted by coolclouds (Post 3422631)

Gops2009 did this route in March and in his words:

" Returned on Monday the 17th after a trip to kerala, left Bangalore at 4:00 AM on the 14th ( Friday) took a new route suggested by fellow BHpians, Suresh_Gs and Amphere- as I wanted to avoid the city like traffic across Kerala.
So took the Bangalore- Hosur- Krishnagiri- Salem- Dindigul- Bhatlagundu- Theni- Cumbum- Vandiperiyar- Mundakayam- Pampadi – Kottayam wonderful roads all the way , briiliant drive and would recommend this route to any team BHPian driving to Kottayam, reached Kottayam by 2:30 PM with 2 food breaks, 2 Bio breaks and one refuelling stop."

Quote:

Originally Posted by vasoo (Post 3422960)

Went to Palakkad and Kottayam on 19th and came back yesterday in the same route. Roads are in pretty good condition overall. Total driving time of 9:00 hours was quite good while returning till EC with a 5 AM start on Sunday from Kottayam through Muvattupuzha, Angamali, Kuthiran, NH47. Total distance was about 590 kms.

Thanks coolclouds and vasoo. So the general mood here is to take the Cumbum - Dindugal - Salem route. For me this would not only be a change from the boring Tcr - Walayar - Salem corridor, but would also be quite a feast to the eye in terms of the natural splendour that I will have to pass through.

Any suggestions on good food breaks if I leave Kottayam around 5 am?

Quote:

Originally Posted by anilagdr (Post 3423132)

For me this would not only be a change from the boring Tcr - Walayar - Salem corridor, but would also be quite a feast to the eye in terms of the natural splendour that I will have to pass through.
Any suggestions on good food breaks if I leave Kottayam around 5 am?

This route is quite scenic and mostly stress free, especially when done during early morning hours. The Punalur route is a long way even for me and the thing I hate with that route is more traffic, many narrow sections and passing through villages etc. These, coupled with the longer distance was a real stamina drainer for me.
I usually take breakfast from Kumily and by lunch time, I'm in Salem. There are many good options at both these places. Good luck :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by anilagdr (Post 3423126)

Thanks bsdbsd. I think 3 would be a real round about one. I am quite alright with ghat driving and I have done it quite comfortably even earlier (upto Thekkady). So your suggestion 2 is the one I would go for, unless road surfaces are are prohibitive.

Thanks coolclouds and vasoo. So the general mood here is to take the Cumbum - Dindugal - Salem route. For me this would not only be a change from the boring Tcr - Walayar - Salem corridor, but would also be quite a feast to the eye in terms of the natural splendour that I will have to pass through.

Any suggestions on good food breaks if I leave Kottayam around 5 am?

My previous trip back from Ktym was through this route. I suggest Aryabhavan at Theni for breakfast at about 9 am and A2B or Saravanabhavan near Dharmapuri for lunch.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anoopscv (Post 3423668)

Hello All, Tomorrow evening I am planning to travel to Palakkad(Sangamam Auditorium, Vettekkad Kollengode) from electronic city, Bangalore. I will be using GPS and can I just follow it to reach the destination or should take any deviation in between to stay on good roads? The return journey will be via Ooty and spend the weekend there. It will be very helpful if anyone who travelled recently can provide an update on the road conditions.

Just follow NH7/NH47 all the way. You have plenty of options to break for food near shoolagiri like A2B, McDonalds, kamat etc. You can expect traffic jam at toll plazas since most of them will be leaving to their destinations.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anoopscv (Post 3423668)

Since it's going to be a long weekend, I would suggest that you take a deviation from NH-47 at Perundurai bypass, and carry on to Kangeyam-Palladam-Pollachi-Gopalapuram-Kollengode route. The left turn to Perundurai is about 25km after the Saravana Bhavan at Vaikundam, after Salem (about 50km beyond the Salem circular flyover).

This is going to be shorter than the Walayar route, hence I assume the GPS would route you that way.

Roads are good all throughout this route. Beyond Perundurai, it's 2-laned but excellent surface.

And for Ooty-Bangalore, you can take the Gudallur route or the Sathyamangalam-Chamarajanagar route. Details can be found in the earlier pages.

Though not related to road condition, wanted to update an incident my friend faced traveling via NH 7 last week.

My friend, his brother and two friends were travelling via NH 7 towards Bangalore en-route to Hyderabad from Cochin. While nearing Hosur flyover rear left window glass was broken which they later made out was due to impact from a stone. Since the car was nearing a flyover (hence service road is bit low)and the damage was on left side they suspect it was due to someone throwing the stone at the car.
What was more worrying is that once they stopped the vehicle another car also stopped near by and few guys got out on pretext of checking out the incident. As per my friend one of them was scanning inside my friends car all the while, guessing something not right my friend and group gets in to car and start off.

Now, he doubts that the incident was staged as a attention diversion tactics to snatch valuables if any from the car. His brothers acquaintance has informed him that similar incidents were reported in Vellore -Pondi route (though I have not come across any related post in forum till now).

All those frequent this route please do keep note of the incident.

Anyways, my friend dropped the Hyderabd plan due to this and returned to Cochin. However they hit a pothole near Walayar where road construction is ongoing and broke his A4's alloy's.

Talk about lightning striking twice

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anoopscv (Post 3423801)

Thanks for the input. Just want to know two things, should I go via Krishnagiri or can deviate from Hosur via Rayakottai to reach Dharmapuri? Also should go via Selam or can go via Mettur?. I was just checking google maps and found these two short-cut roads. Is that single lane roads?

You have the option to drive Attibele-TVS-Rayakottai-Dharmapuri, but it's a 2-laned state highway and the surface isn't good enough to maintain an average speed of 70-80kmph. Same story for Mettur-Bhavani route as well.

If your priority is a smooth and fast travel, then stick to the NH7-NH47 route until Perundurai. If you want to explore alternate routes, you can take these SHs which also offer the benefit of savings on toll (~Rs.350).

Quote:

Originally Posted by mpksuhas (Post 3423771)

..While nearing Hosur flyover rear left window glass was broken which they later made out was due to impact from a stone. Since the car was nearing a flyover (hence service road is bit low)and the damage was on left side they suspect it was due to someone throwing the stone at the car.

Sorry to hear about your friend's incident. Could you tell us what time of the day it was? Such incidents cause a concern for those of us who frequent these highways. Wonder if the mugging gang in Bangalore has shifted base!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anoopscv (Post 3423801)

Go via Salem would be my reccomendation as well.Mettur dam roads are closed for 4 wheelers afaik.Stick to the 4 laned nh7-nh47 combo.Like someone earlier mentioned to go to kollengode,I suggest you take the perundurai-kangayam-palladam-pollachi-govindapuram-kollengode route.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anoopscv (Post 3423801)

Just last week i drove on the Rayakottai-hosur road. For more details kindly go through this link

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...-pleasure.html

I experimented with quite a number of new routes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by silversteed (Post 3423839)

Could you tell us what time of the day it was? Such incidents cause a concern for those of us who frequent these highways. Wonder if the mugging gang in Bangalore has shifted base!

Exactly what I thought. The mugging incidents around ORR Bangalore has come down a bit, hope it is not due to the criminals enjoying long drives to Hosur :)

The incident involving my friend happened in broad day light (~2.30 PM) on a weekday.