[sai_ace]

Originally Posted by RedOne

Any information on the Germalam deviation?
Planing to do the Coimbatore - Sathyamangalam - Germalam - Kollegal - Malavalli - Kanakpura - Bangalore?

Gears,
Red-One.

I have done this route twice in the same direction (from Sathy to Blore) Oct and Nov 14. I have been specifically told by folks who live in Hasanur and Sathy that this route is better than the Dhimbam route as the chance of animals are way lesser. I realised this too because though there are high hedges on both sides, they are actually farms.

The roads are ordinary but the views are spectacular. Yes it is quite deserted, so take this route if you can trust your cars reliability. As simple as that. But that said the lonely stretch is for a shortish distance and really actually not that lonely considering there is an atm at the beginning of the stretch and even a holiday resort on that route before germalam.

Oh and the icing is to actually see the temperature drop. When I entered this route my temp reading showed 27C. As we progressed i could actually see it drop - 27 ...26..25...and finally settled down at 21. This was in the month of October at around 12:30 PM. So yeah. Enjoy the route

cheers!
sai

PS : Attaching photos from my Nov trip. The first pic is at the entrance to Karnataka.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by sai_ace

I have done this route twice in the same direction (from Sathy to Blore) Oct and Nov 14. I have been specifically told by folks who live in Hasanur and Sathy that this route is better than the Dhimbam route as the chance of animals are way lesser. I realised this too because though there are high hedges on both sides, they are actually farms.

Its a good scenic route no doubt. But the biggest issue is zero support. In the event you need help, there is not much. Hence if you are with family, a bit risky I would say esp Germalem-Hassanur. Add to it no break-point as well for the family. And I am surprised on the lesser wild-life point. Germalem-Hassanur I thought has very high wild life crossing.

[RedOne]

Originally Posted by mpksuhas

Hope you are aware of the bridge closure between Kollegal and Malavalli.

No really. Any constructin happening there?

Gears,
Red-One.

Originally Posted by ampere

Its a good scenic route no doubt. But the biggest issue is zero support.

Thanks for all the responses, I might give it a miss then. The road on google maps and in the pics looked very promising.

Gears,
Red-One.

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[mpksuhas]

Originally Posted by RedOne

No really. Any constructin happening there?
.

The road is closed for repair. Hence the current route is via T-Narasipura.

[anuradhac]

Hi

Is this route better :http://*******.com/kfq2ddd ?

I drove down to coonoor last month and had to take diversion via Narsipur.. While going I asked the locals and the road was pretty good and bad patch was for just 2-3kms but while coming back I tried using google maps and for quite awhile there was no road and big craters..

Thanks
Anu

[rshanker]

I've always travelled on this route on my return journey & can confirm that the bridge has been closed since December 2014. You wouldn't need to go upto T-Narsipura though. There is also a route from Belakavadi which I was told last time is only suitable for 2-wheelers.
The alternate route I use is

1) Take the right before the bridge to Talakadu & then onto Madapura.
2) A few kms after Madhapura, there's a right with unpaved roads (for about 10-15 kms) which leads onto a T-junction (T-Narsipura-Kollegal Road). Take a left here & you should head straight into Kollegal.

This is an additional ~50km detour. It will also add anywhere between 45 mins - 1 hour depending on the time you reach Kollegal.

Leaving Bangalore by 3:00PM, through Kanakpura, I usually reach the bridge by 5:45PM, take the detour & reach Kollegal by 6:30PM, continue to take the MM Hills road & then the right to Germalam/Dhimbam.

EDIT: Google Maps link

[kala]

Originally Posted by anuradhac

Hi

Is this route better :http://*******.com/kfq2ddd ?

I drove down to coonoor last month and had to take diversion via Narsipur.. While going I asked the locals and the road was pretty good and bad patch was for just 2-3kms but while coming back I tried using google maps and for quite awhile there was no road and big craters..

The URL you have posted seems garbled - so unable to see answer the first part of the question.

The google maps recommended route that you tried must be the one that goes from T.Narsipur to Kirugavalu - Even I tried that once and found it to be atrocious. For a better route, see below.

Originally Posted by rshanker

I've always travelled on this route on my return journey & can confirm that the bridge has been closed since December 2014. You wouldn't need to go upto T-Narsipura though. There is also a route from Belakavadi which I was told last time is only suitable for 2-wheelers.
The alternate route I use is

1) Take the right before the bridge to Talakadu & then onto Madapura.
2) A few kms after Madhapura, there's a right with unpaved roads (for about 10-15 kms) which leads onto a T-junction (T-Narsipura-Kollegal Road). Take a left here & you should head straight into Kollegal.

This is an additional ~50km detour. It will also add anywhere between 45 mins - 1 hour depending on the time you reach Kollegal.

Leaving Bangalore by 3:00PM, through Kanakpura, I usually reach the bridge by 5:45PM, take the detour & reach Kollegal by 6:30PM, continue to take the MM Hills road & then the right to Germalam/Dhimbam.

EDIT: Google Maps link

If your destination is Dhimbham, there is no reason to go to Kollegal - it would definitely be longer (unless of course you're very particular of going via Germalam). The more straightforward route is to continue till T.Narsipur from Madapura and taking a left turn there and going straight to Chamarajanagar and proceeding to Dhimbham.

Also the straight road that you have shown in the map from Belakavadi to Talakad has about 7-8 kms which is untarred (at least it was that way till about 15-20 days back). Taking a left at Belakavadi (There's a board there marked as Talakad) and taking the road going parallel to the Cauvery river (Marked on GM as Banave) is much better even though there is a bad patch of about 200 metres or so en route.

Of course the best route I have found which has very few bad patches is the road to Talakad that takes off from Malavalli almost opposite the T junction when coming from Bangalore and going by the side of Marehalli lake to Purigaali, then to Talakad from there and then T.Narsipur - Chamarajanagar ( https://goo.gl/maps/q9Btn )

[NPV]

Originally Posted by rshanker

The alternate route I use is

1) Take the right before the bridge to Talakadu & then onto Madapura.
2) A few kms after Madhapura, there's a right with unpaved roads (for about 10-15 kms) which leads onto a T-junction (T-Narsipura-Kollegal Road). Take a left here & you should head straight into Kollegal.

This is an additional ~50km detour. It will also add anywhere between 45 mins - 1 hour depending on the time you reach Kollegal.

Originally Posted by kala

For a better route, see below.

If your destination is Dhimbham, there is no reason to go to Kollegal - it would definitely be longer (unless of course you're very particular of going via Germalam). The more straightforward route is to continue till T.Narsipur from Madapura and taking a left turn there and going straight to Chamarajanagar and proceeding to Dhimbham.

This one seems to be a more simpler/better route ? Route was taken by @FuelInjector recently - Here

Not sure if it's the same as the route(s) you are referring to.

[Rajeevraj]

Originally Posted by NPV

This one seems to be a more simpler/better route ? Route was taken by @FuelInjector recently - Here

Not sure if it's the same as the route(s) you are referring to.

This route if fine if you actually do not know about the bridge closure and end up reaching it (Like experienced by FuelInjector). If not it is an unnecessary round about to come to the bridge and detour as opposed to taking the Talakad route from Malavalli itself. There are 2 options when coming from Bangalore-One is to take a left to Talakad ~2KM after the T junction towards Kollegal, the other is to take a right at the T junction and then a left towards Talakad.

With these routes the time taken to Chamrajnagar remains the same as the route through Kollegal-Yelandur.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by sai_ace

I have done this route twice in the same direction (from Sathy to Blore) Oct and Nov 14. I have been specifically told by folks who live in Hasanur and Sathy that this route is better than the Dhimbam route as the chance of animals are way lesser. I realised this too because though there are high hedges on both sides, they are actually farms.

The roads are ordinary but the views are spectacular. Yes it is quite deserted, so take this route if you can trust your cars reliability. As simple as that. But that said the lonely stretch is for a shortish distance and really actually not that lonely considering there is an atm at the beginning of the stretch and even a holiday resort on that route before germalam.

Oh and the icing is to actually see the temperature drop. When I entered this route my temp reading showed 27C. As we progressed i could actually see it drop - 27 ...26..25...and finally settled down at 21. This was in the month of October at around 12:30 PM. So yeah. Enjoy the route

cheers!
sai

PS : Attaching photos from my Nov trip. The first pic is at the entrance to Karnataka.

Is the Kollegal route a better option than the germalem route to Sathy?? I know the latter is scenic but the chances of spotting wild life are pretty high unlike the dhimbham
One more tough route would be via Ramapura (Veerappan's hideout) that connects ( I think) to Mettur. This will be a real challenge.

[kala]

Originally Posted by NPV

This one seems to be a more simpler/better route ? Route was taken by @FuelInjector recently - Here

Not sure if it's the same as the route(s) you are referring to.

I have never tried the route from the bridge closure point till Belakavadi, but as I said in the previous message the road from Belakavadi to Sosale was being retarred when I travelled last and the first 7 or 8 kms from Belakavadi side was just gravel track. From @Fuelinjector's post it looks like the reetarring is probably complete now ?

However, as @Rajeevraj pointed out, going upto the bridge and then taking the Talakad road from there is quite roundabout. The distances between the T junction at Malavalli and Talakad (as per Google Maps) are :

1) The route I had suggested (via Marehalli lake- Purigaali) : 28 kms
2) The turn off from NH209 about 2 kms south of Malavalli : 25.7 kms
3) Turn off towards Belakavadi from about 10kms south of Malavalli : 33.4kms
4) Via the Bridge closure point : 41.9 kms

The shortest is (2), but it has a 3-4 kms stretch that is broken, that is the reason why I felt(1) was the best option. (4) is about 14 kms longer, so useful only for people who didn't know about the bridge closure and realize it only when they have reached that point.

[RedOne]

Originally Posted by kala

I have never tried the route from the bridge closure point till Belakavadi, ...

I finally decided to take this route:
Coimbatore - Satyamangalam - Chamarajanagar - Kollegal - Malavally - Kanakpura - Bangalore

After reaching Bangalore, I felt it was a mistake and should have stuck to the main NH route. There was nothing special about the road except for switchbacks in Dhimbam (but was negated by a continuous stream of trucks crawling up) and scenery in some parts. No wildlife, moderate to heavy traffic, slow average speeds, lots of bad roads including the diversion for the bridge. Left Coimbatore at 7 AM and reached Koramangala at 2:30 PM with usual breaks.

Gears,
Red-One.

[lancer_rit]

Driving to K. Gudi tomorrow. So, I guess the best route to take is:
Kanakpura -> Malavalli -> T.Narsipura (by Marehalli kere) -> Yellandur -> K.Gudi -> JLR ?

Are there any very bad stretches ? Detours to take ?

[rshanker]

Has anyone been on the route recently? I traveled during the last week of June (20th) & the bridge was ready but yet to be opened. When I enquired with the tea shop guy (located just before you turn left for the bridge) he said they're waiting for the local MP/MLA to come and open, which might happen in the 1st week of July.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by rshanker

Has anyone been on the route recently? I traveled during the last week of June (20th) & the bridge was ready but yet to be opened. When I enquired with the tea shop guy (located just before you turn left for the bridge) he said they're waiting for the local MP/MLA to come and open, which might happen in the 1st week of July.

The bridge is open for traffic. The other threads have been updated with this piece of news. Check Kerala and Bangalore-Wayanad route threads.