[Rajesh K R]

Originally Posted by sumeet007

Sad to know that, hope you recover fast.

@ Sumeet. Thank you for your wishes. I am feeling better now.
My Co brother also did the same places on the weekend. They stayed in Sigandur and returned yesterday night.

[Rajesh K R]

Good evening, probably will need to travel to Sagar this weekend. Was thinking to go via Ranibennur - Shiralkoppa - Soraba / Dugguru - Sagar route.


Any inputs on the above route? Upto Ranibennur is good as it is a NH, but after it deviates towards Hirekerur and onwards, want to know the road condition upto Sagar.


Request inputs / recommendations from anyone who drove /travelled in the above stretch recently.



Main intention is to avoid the pain of driving /travelling in NH206 .


Thanks in advance !!

[Santoshbhat]

Travelled up and down to Shimoga last week. For onward journey we took the Chanraypatna - Arasikere road since we left early morning and we did not want to miss the opportunity of having snacks and coffee at Mayura near Adichunchungiri . Chanrayapatna to Arasikere is in great condition, but there are quite a few speed breakers that have been installed near the villages. Some come up quite unexpectedly and you need to watch out for that. One problem right now is that the road that passes through Arasikere Police station and joins the BH road is being concretised. One side is fully dug up and only side is open for the traffic from this side towards BH road. Two and three wheelers do sneak in from the opposite and cause problems. This may take atleast a couple of months to normalise.

For the return leg we took the Hosadurga - Hiryur option. From Tarikere to Hiryur the road changes character quite often. It alternates between great (70%) to good (20%) to average (10%). One plus point is that there is very little traffic here and no speed bumps. Since you turn off at Tarikere itself, you don't have to suffer the crowded BH road from Tarikere to Arasikere. Progress is faster and once you hit Hiryur too you since you have the excellent 6 lane upto Tumkur. But you have no eateries and toilet break options here. One left turn in Hosadurga is quite east to miss. Luckily I had G maps on. This route is my most preferred option as of now.

[Thilak29]

I will be travelling to Siddapura this weekend (from Bangalore), en route I would like to visit Elephant camp at Sakrebail; I will be taking CR Patna route based on recent posts in this thread - I need advice on route to take from Elephant camp to Siddapur

• Camp - Shimoga - Sagara - Talaguppua - Siddapura (NH?)
• Camp - Shimoga - Shikaripura - Shiralakoppa - Soraba - Siddapura (SH?,10 km longer)

Appreciate your inputs.

[aithalsandy]

First option should be fine.

Shimoga-Sagar-Talaguppa is in great shape, I don't see any issues till Siddappa. I did cover this, but last year from Dandeli to Shimoga via Sirsi.

[paragsachania]

Drove to Shivamogga and back last week for a family wedding. The onward journey had to pass via Chikkamagaluru owing to a convoy of cars from our family driving together from here to Shivamogga. So, I won't talk much about Bengaluru - Chikkamagaluru and dilute the essence of this thread.

However, I would like to refer to the route conditions between Chikkamagaluru and Shivamogga and here are the details:

• We opted for Kaimara - Lingadahalli - Tarikere route to do Shivamogga from Chikmagaluru that would help us avoid bad sections between Chikkamagaluru and Kadur, also help us avoid passing Kadur and Birur towns when you are driving in a convoy of 6 cars
  
  
• Lingadahalli route is in excellent condition end to end all the way till Tarikere. I don't recollect trying to avoid any pothole or bad sections and of course the ghat is scenic as well
  
  
• Traffic on this route is thin with only Timber lorries and occasional buses as against the busy Chikkamagaluru - Kadur - Birur section. Overtaking here is EASY when compared to typical ghats
  
  
• You hit the usual BH road at Tarikere (before the town) and that means you will have to cross Tarikere town end to end and from here you join the usual flow of traffic as it is the main highway
  
  
• It took us around 2H20M to reach a wedding Hall near Shivamogga Railway Station area from the heart of Chikkamagluru town, distance of nearly 99 Kms

On return leg, I had decided to take the Ajjampura - Hosadurga - Hiriyur road as my uncle recently drove back to Chikkamagalur from Aurangabad and was raving about the good parts of this route. Also thanks to Santoshbhat's latest update that made me decide.Here are the updates:

• Shivamogga - Bhadravati - Tarikere : Usual road that everyone knows. Thick traffic most of the times during the day. Shivamogga - Bhadravati has the usual rumblers placed quite regularly to slow you down!
  
  
• Tarikere - Ajjampura : Excellent single carriageway road. Quite wide and no speedbreakers anywhere
  
  
• Ajjampura Town : The day I crossed this, there was a fair in a nearby village and too many tractors and 2 wheelers passing from this town. We also got stuck at the railway gate for nearly 10 minutes owing to few tractors already waiting at the gate
  
  
• Ajjampura Town - Hosadurga : Good to excellent roads all the way. No bad sections or speedbreakers to slow you down
  
  
• After Hosadurga town, around 5-7 Kms of road is patchy and uneven due to this but no potholes. It is only that your ride that was smooth till gets disturbed
  
  
• Hosadurga Town - Hiriyur: When you are around 25 Km before Hiriyur, at few sections, the road becomes very narrow that you may have to get off the road to allow even a Tempo to pass. I also noticed that this was an MDR (Major District Road) that was getting expanded. So hopefully, things should get better in months to come once it is fully expanded.
  
  
• Crossing Hiriyur and merging onto NH4 : Not much of a pain and you merge quite easily onto NH4 by driving on service road for a Km after turning right underneath a bridge

We left Shivamoga at 1445, stopped for a longish break at Kamat Upachar, Sira for nearly 40 minutes and managed to reach our Yelahanka Home by 2010. That is around 5H40M. Also note that we forked out towards Dabaspete to take Doddaballapura Yelahanka route as I expected good traffic at Goreguntepalya Junction around 1930 and more traffic to negotiate via HMT and Jalahalli thereafter too! It made immense sense to opt for Doddaballapura option as I didn't have to struggle in even 3rd gear anywhere for that matter.

Adding an update that my uncle gave me after he took Chitradurga route next day to return to his JP Nagar home. You get to know how this route fairs against Hosadurga option too. I am just quoting below what he messaged me over Whatsapp after he reached.

Via Chitradurga:

Reached safely at 3.10 pm. Left at 9.50 am. 5 hr 20.min with 2 shops 10 min to 15 min each. Kanakapura Road was bad. Traffic within Chitradurga was very bad. You need to cut through the Town to get to highway. Road is excellent/ good 80km of 105km. Rest is not good but not very bad. 4/5 km may be very bad. It took 2 hours for 105 km & 3 hrs for 220 km. Running on NH4 around 110 kmph.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by paragsachania

On return leg, I had decided to take the Ajjampura - Hosadurga - Hiriyur road as my uncle recently drove back to Chikkamagalur from Aurangabad and was raving about the good parts of this route. Also thanks to Santoshbhat's latest update that made me decide.Here are the updates:

We had tried this in November last year. Like you mentioned, apart from the narrow sections around Vani Vilas Sagar, this is very good option to take. Also this whole section does not see any major traffic too. So that way its an easy option all the way till Tarikere. But one needs to make sure to have food break at Sira Kamat, in case heading to Tarikere. Because there are no other options.

[theredliner]

Have been meaning to post this since the last 3 months. There is a new restaurant named 'Aramane Vaibhava' on the outskirts of Tarikere on the right side, in the direction of Shivamogga, about a km before the Lakkavalli turn. It appears family friendly from outside. I haven't been able to try it out as I have taken only buses or trains for my last few visits to Shivamogga. Has anyone here tried it out? If good, it adds an option to the 2 restaurants at Kadur. This will be the only option before NH48 if one wants to take the Hosadurga route.

[aithalsandy]

All - Did Bangalore-Shimoga run yesterday via Channarayapatna.

Arsikere-Shimoga has no potholes now but felt uneasy. Also witnessed early signs of 2+2 WIP with trees being cut and mud being dumped on both sides at some places. Vinayaka cafe at Kadur town is a good stop for quick breakfast and coffee/Tea.

Some related ghat drives:
1. Shimoga-Ripponpet
Shimoga to Safari is complete with 2+2 but for markings; Safari to Aynur is very good 1.5+1.5; Aynur to Ripponpet is good 1+1 via Arasalu / Malgudi, but strict 1.5 at some places.

2. Sagara-Thirthahalli
Sagara to Anadapura is very good 1.5+1.5; Anadapura to Thirthahalli via Ripponpet and Konandur is good 1+1

Most of the roads in these areas have been transformed dramatically in the last 10-15yrs. These used to be a pain even in a bus.

Will update lovely Shimoga-Thirthahalli drive next week with status of widening.

[aithalsandy]

All - An update on Shimoga-Thirthahalli section.

Road upgrade is almost complete between Mandagadde and Thirthahalli. Paint and reflectors are not found on all places. I suspect which will be done once the entire section is complete.

Mandagadde to Shimoga upgrade is progressing slowly with marginal widening WIP at some places and a couple of bridges getting widened. I suspect the reserve forest issue may be delaying things here. Similar issue has delayed Agumbe ghat upgrade now.

The credit for Shimoga-Agumbe section goes to one of the Thirthahalli based road contractors called National, who has been keeping this section well for sometime.

[aithalsandy]

All - I tried pushkar veg near Arsikere this time.

It was 6.30am and they were yet to open, but gave me idlis and tea. It has good shaded parking, food was just ok but people were friendly. This is made for highway traffic unlike Vinayaka which is preferred by locals as well.

I would still pick Vinayaka for killer price, good food and friendly staff over Suruchi. Suruchi has good parking, clean rest rooms, friendly staff but loses marginally on food quality and price to Vinayaka.

[GrammarNazi]

A small bridge was demolished without building an alternative road at a spot between Hosadurga & Ajjampura.

Location

It'd just started raining for a short while then, so I guess the surface of the mud pathway alongside was firm enough for small vehicles to pass thru (but not trucks/buses - notice a KSRTC bus was stuck). I guess it would've probably rained heavily last night so I don't think the authorities would've been able to harden the surface.

https://youtu.be/a5NuzPrJMmI

Anyone travelling to/from Shimoga to Bangalore could avoid that section of the route for a few days.

[kayvwar]

I am planning to undertake a trip from Bangalore to Shimoga on August 9th.
Could you please suggest which one of the following routes is better:

Bangalore (BTM) -> Tumkuru -> Sira -> Chitradurga -> Ajjampur -> Tarikere -> Shimoga

Bangalore (BTM) -> Tumkuru -> Tiptur -> Arsikere -> Kadur -> Shimoga

Route priority: Eateries, clean washrooms, good road, I am open to take a little longer route.
I see that there are two Kamat Upchars between Bangalore and Shimoga if I were to take the first route. Any suggestions on current road conditions would help.

[procrj]

Originally Posted by kayvwar

Bangalore (BTM) -> Tumkuru -> Sira -> Chitradurga -> Ajjampur -> Tarikere -> Shimoga

If you plan to drive via chitradurga, then you don't need to touch Ajjampura. Can take Channagiri route. No decent pit stop options after chitradurga.

Else BLR - Hiriyur - Hosadurga - Ajjampura - Tarikere - Shimoga the alternative. Again no pit stops between Hiriyur - Tarikere. Not sure if the sections refered in the above post have been fixed now but I would guess there is a working solution in place.

Bangalore (BTM) -> Tumkuru -> Tiptur -> Arsikere -> Kadur -> Shimoga

Personally, I don't like this route because of higher volume.of traffic but it does have a lot of options for bio breaks and food. A better alternative to this would be BLR - Nelamangala - CR Patna - Arsikere - Kadur - Shimoga.

[NPV]

Based on current conditions what are the recommended routes for Bangalore-Shimoga ? Start will be early morning say 4am, will recommended route vary based on weekday/Saturday ?

*Would prefer to avoid Tumkur-Arsikere and CR Patna-Arsikere and onwards to Shimoga, have tried these before