Team-BHP - All Roads to Kerala

Quote:

Originally Posted by NPV (Post 4136367)

Surprisingly, traffic was actually quite less on Saturday and we reached Punkunnam from Kavasseri (Alathur) in about 1.5 hours. See my update above in earlier post.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ranjitp1 (Post 4136396)

IMHO it is just not worth taking the Kuthiran route till the entire Mannuthy-Vadakkencheri stretch is completed.

Now this trickles down to the time of the day you travel. Last Saturday evening at 5 it took 55 minutes for me to reach Swaraj Round from my home in Ottupara (Wadakkencheri)
Similarly the same day morning Kallada covered Chandranagar (Palakkad) ~ Mannuthy (Thrissur) under 50 minutes on NH 544 but then this was at 5 in the morning.

On my return to Bangalore I spent more than 30 minutes at both Thoppur and Krishangiri toll :Frustrati

Cheers!

Quote:

Originally Posted by binand (Post 4139895)

Does anyone have an opinion on taking Mannarkad > Kottathara > Karamadai > Annur to reach NH 209 and the Dhimbam ghat route to Bangalore? Road conditions and other gotchas?

https://goo.gl/maps/K15wMCYWbkT2

I travelled on this route via Anaikatti sometime late 2015, and the road conditions were just about average between Mannarkkad and Karamadai with rough sections off and on. The road from Anaikatti till Dhayanur (about 10-12 kms before Karamadai) in particular was quite narrow and pot-holed. Nothing really threatening enough to the underbelly of a low slung sedan, but rough enough to demand driving slowly and carefully.

To get on to NH209 from Karamadai, the shorter option would be to go via Sirumugai, Bhavanisagar and join the NH at Bannari, no need to go through via Annur/Puliampatty/Sathy. That road was quite good except for a short stretch of about 2 or 3 kms close to the Bhavanisagar reservoir (Even that bad stretch could probably have been bypassed - Google Maps had suggested a slightly different route, but I wanted to try the route by the side of the reservoir instead since the beginning of that road looked excellent, but it got worse as I went on further).

Please note that the road conditions correspond to my experience of more than a year ago, so things could have changed for better or worse.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kala (Post 4139954)

The road from Anaikatti till Dhayanur (about 10-12 kms before Karamadai) in particular was quite narrow and pot-holed. Nothing really threatening enough to the underbelly of a low slung sedan, but rough enough to demand driving slowly and carefully.

Thanks. Mine's an I10 so shouldn't be a problem. Dhayanur is the place where the road from Mulli merges, is it not?

No night closures etc.? I will be starting from Calicut at around 4 AM so expect to hit Mannarkad soon after 6. I would want to take this route after daybreak (mainly to enjoy the drive) so shouldn't be a problem, right?

Quote:

Originally Posted by kala (Post 4139954)

To get on to NH209 from Karamadai, the shorter option would be to go via Sirumugai, Bhavanisagar and join the NH at Bannari, no need to go through via Annur/Puliampatty/Sathy.

Seeing your update on road works in NH 209 (in the Bangalore-Mysore thread), I'm right now planning to save Dhimbam for another day; instead hit the usual NH 47 route from Avinashi. Plus I need to use my Fastag for the first time. :-)

Edit: How long do you expect it to take between Mannarkad and Karamadai and Karamadai-Annur-Avinashi?

Quote:

Originally Posted by kala (Post 4139954)

I did drive through this route today, so here is a 2017 update.

The route from Mannarkkad till Anakatty is in generally in bad shape; with occasional stretches of sanity. The churam section is particularly tiresome, but once one is in the plains one can travel at a decent clip (say 40-45 kmph) - any more and the bumps will start affecting you.

Anakatty seems to be a town split between two states - the TN side is spelt Anaikatti; both sides have their own bus stands and government installations and such but the CBD is contiguous.

The thing is, the TN side has a superb road leading to Coimbatore. But I was going to Karamadai so I turned off the main road soon after the interstate border, and that road is quite bad - similar to the bad above - till a village called Tholampalayam. From there TN's MDR project takes over; so we have excellent road all the way till Karamadai.

Bad here just means a bumpy road with occasional potholes. Not undercarriage-scraping bad or axle-breaking bad. I'll upload dashcam grabs of the particularly vile sections later.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ranjitp1 (Post 4140087)

Below is an amateur schematic that I received with the numbers

Is that schematic off by 90 degrees ? Asking since I think MG Road is on the western side of the swaraj round and St Thomas college road on the east (in this schematic St Thomas is in North and MG road South).

Quote:

Originally Posted by NPV (Post 4140323)

Looks correct to me-the numbering.15-St.Thomas and 6-MG Road.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NPV (Post 4140323)

It is not a map view. It's the top view and in that aspect it is correct.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NPV (Post 4140323)

Quote:

Originally Posted by ranjitp1 (Post 4140351)

Looks correct to me-the numbering.15-St.Thomas and 6-MG Road.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sree73 (Post 4140361)

It is not a map view. It's the top view and in that aspect it is correct.

The schematic perhaps is drawn keeping in mind the main entrance to the Vadakkumnathan temple, which is from the West facing side. The artist who made the sketch is like facing the the temple entrance at Naduvil aal and used that to plot the roads. But for the Municipal corporation their numbering starts from the MO (Municipal Office) Road.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ontheroad (Post 4140018)

Planning a Kollam-Thanjavur-Chidambaram- Mahabalipuram-Pondy-Thyrichi- Kollam trip in Feb end. Can someone please suggest best routes? We have 3 days and 2 nights. Plan to start early from Kollam and do only day driving.

3 days 2 nights is a tough call. Will not be able to do justice. See if you can increase days or cut short places.

My suggestion is Kollam - Trichy - Thanjavur - Tharagambadi - Velankanni - Karaikudi - Kollam.

Check out my travelogue on Karakkudi and Chettinad

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

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fauji (Post 4140923)

Thanks Fauji for the feedback. Amazing travelogue!

Quote:

Originally Posted by enfield_500 (Post 4144199)

Hi, Can anyone help me with the best route from Goa to Kochi. We have stops at Mangalore and Calicut. So, Goa - Mangalore - Calicut - Kochi. Also, what are the approximate travel times that I will be looking at?

Thanks!

The route is straight forward. Take the NH 66 ( Old NH17) all the way. But the drive inside Kerala will be very slow during day time.

https://goo.gl/maps/mQYMybYRUkF2