[ampere]

Originally Posted by androdev

On return trip, I took Sagara > Shiralakoppa > Ranebennur and I very much regretted my decision. Some 30 mins of very badly patched up road just before reaching Shiralakoppa. This route has few rumble strips and unexpected digging up across the road and animal (cows etc.) traffic. The roads are generally narrower compared to Shimoga option. In Shiralakoppa, police are stationed with a speed camera - no idea what they were trying to do. The traffic is very sparse and more scenic route but still doesn't make it a better route IMHO.

Another option can be: Sagar-Anandpura-Shikaripur-Honnali-Malebennur- Mumbai Highway (on the Harihar-Davangere bypass)

Route link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/9CzV5KyYqZFJvCwz9


I drove two years back. Most sections are awesome. Some bad patches around Malebennur. I hope they have fixed it. But by and large near zero traffic. You cross Tungabhadra at Honnali.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by androdev

On return trip, I took Sagara > Shiralakoppa > Ranebennur and I very much regretted my decision.

One problem with such roads is that the conditions change every few months. It is impossible to decide based on information that is more than a few months old. I have often seen that the road conditions throw new surprises every few months.

For example, another road that changes its conditions time to time is the Hubli-Yellapur-Ankola road. It was notoriously bad till last year. Then this year in February, I took a few friends there, gave them many warnings and scared them, and to our surprise, this road was all fixed and was butter smooth with no potholes in February. With that experience, we took that road again, just a month ago in July, and saw plenty of potholes and bad sections back to their glory.

Just recently (a week ago) we did another drive to Goa and Maharashtra through all interiors roads, and all the known notions of good road and bad road were proven wrong and we faced all kinds of surprises. The Radhanagari forest road in Maharashtra turned out to be fantastic against the previous reports, and the Chandgad-Belgavi road - which was totally fine just 4 months ago when I drove there last - turned out to be absolutely horrendous and painful.

So every 3-4 months, the road conditions are a new game and in every drive, even on known roads, we face new surprises!

I often console myself by telling me that this is what makes driving in India so exciting, as against say the monotonous and extremely predictable driving on the US highways.

On the same note, that Chitradurga-Shimoga road is fantastic now. But I would not be surprised if 4 months later, it becomes bad again. We just never know.

The falls are very nice. I saw the falls early morning yesterday (Thursday). I heard they opened the dam gates later and the view must be even better. However the view depends on the weather as clouds/fog can completely cover the view with nothing to see.

Nice pictures! Thanks for sharing!

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

Just recently (a week ago) we did another drive to Goa and Maharashtra through all interiors roads, and all the known notions of good road and bad road were proven wrong and we faced all kinds of surprises. The Radhanagari forest road in Maharashtra turned out to be fantastic against the previous reports, and the Chandgad-Belgavi road - which was totally fine just 4 months ago when I drove there last - turned out to be absolutely horrendous and painful.

Off topic:
I assume you were referring to Nippani- Radhanagari-Kankavali section? Great to note it's good. I remember reading about this years back and also the parallel ghat road north of it via Gangan Bawda.

[Dr.AD]

Originally Posted by ampere

Off topic:
I assume you were referring to Nippani- Radhanagari-Kankavali section? Great to note it's good. I remember reading about this years back and also the parallel ghat road north of it via Gangan Bawda.

Yes the same road, but we did not take it from Nippani. We were coming from Kolhapur. The main Kolhapur-Radhanagari road was closed due to flooding (we did not know this; we drove till a point and had to turn back after seeing a flooded section of the road that was totally closed). Then we took some village roads and joined Nippani-Radhanagari road half way.

At Radhanagari, based on previous reports, I was expecting bad roads. But this Nippani-Radhanagari road is all excellent all the way via Phondaghat and till it joins NH66. Smooth and scenic roads, even in the peak of the monsoon under torrential rains, wide enough for two large trucks to pass each other without worry. And then once we joined NH66 and drove further South, it was all 4-lane highway anyways.

So yes, that Nippani-Radhanagari road turned out to be a pleasant surprise - all good roads!

I remember reading about this years back and also the parallel ghat road north of it via Gangan Bawda.

Gaganbawda ghat was closed due to flooding when we were driving through that area. So that was ruled out for us.

[procrj]

Originally Posted by androdev

The falls are very nice. I saw the falls early morning yesterday (Thursday). I heard they opened the dam gates later and the view must be even better.

A day late and you would have got to see this view. Right now is the best time to visit Jog falls but i'm guessing this weekend will be a jatre at Jog
https://x.com/navin_ankampali/status...97299752714407

[androdev]

Originally Posted by procrj

A day late and you would have got to see this view. Right now is the best time to visit Jog falls but i'm guessing this weekend will be a jatre at Jog
https://x.com/navin_ankampali/status...97299752714407

JLR manager told me to go to Bangalore via
Jog falls as the dam gates were opened but I know it will be very crowded. The best way to visit jog falls is by gaining access to the govt guesthouse campus. Similar to Brindavan gardens. If you have access to Royal orchid, Mayura hotel or Govt guesthouse, then you get a very nice experience of visiting Brindavan gardens. Public access is not meant for the well travelled IMO.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

So yes, that Nippani-Radhanagari road turned out to be a pleasant surprise - all good roads!
..

Gaganbawda ghat was closed due to flooding when we were driving through that area. So that was ruled out for us.

Yes these areas usually get flooded.

Originally Posted by procrj

A day late and you would have got to see this view. Right now is the best time to visit Jog falls but i'm guessing this weekend will be a jatre at Jog
https://x.com/navin_ankampali/status...97299752714407

Originally Posted by androdev

JLR manager told me to go to Bangalore via
Jog falls as the dam gates were opened but I know it will be very crowded.

The best way to figure out the status is to follow KSNDC (KA State Natural Disaster Monitoring Center) esp their daily report on water levels of all reservoirs on Krisha, Cavery, Tungabhadra and the Hydel basins.

If you see from a water capacity point of view Linganamakki (the dam on Sharavathi prior to Jog) is 3 times of KRS in Mysore (49 to 151 TMS). While KRS fills based on Cauvery, Linganamakki takes time as it accumulates mostly water in that region. I see finally filling up up slowly.

Here is today's status:




This daily summary really helps people understand the perspective of rivers in South India (apart from info Jog).