Amazing drive in western ghats Hi,
I came back yesterday from a trip to Kukke and Mangalore (Summer Sands). This was the route taken:
Bangalore-Shiradi-Kukke-Sulya-Kasargod-Mangalore-Charmadi-Bangalore. The drive thru this rather longer route was to enjoy country side roads, than the highways (and I figured out that country roads are much better than highways). Here are some details:
1. Bangalore(JPN)-NICE-Magadi-Hassan-Sakleshpur: Just under 4.5hrs (Honda City ZX). Road inside Magadi town is pretty bad. Otherwise the roads are pretty decent till NH48. Road doubling work till Yedyur, keeps one honest. Watch out for traffic on the wrong lane.
2. Shiradi Ghat: Well documented on this thread. Took about 75mins for this stretch of 38kms. Great road from Gundya to Kukke.
3. Kukke-Sulya-Kasargod: Excellent single road passing thru arecanut plantations, till Sulya (40kms). At several places, there is a huge gap b/w the road and the ground below. Had to back-off at a couple of places to make way for govt. buses, that look huge on this narrow road. Overtaking is pretty tough. But there isn't much traffic.
Sulya-Kasargod (58kms) is just excellent with wider and smooth roads. River Payaswini gives company for a while and the landscape keep changing from arecanut plantations, to forests and at places one gets to see a cluster of hills in all directions. Lost my way a bit here, thanks to factually incorrect map by TTK. This map shows that the road from Sulya touches NH17 and I need to take a right towards Kasargod. However, this road touches another SH going from Vitla to Cherkala. I took a right here and was proceeding towards Vitla happily on a beautiful tarmac, wondering what happened to the famous traffic and pathetic state of NH17. Finally, at Badiyadka asked someone and he directed me to go to Kumble and join NH17. It added about 16kms more.
4. Mangalore-Charmadi-Belur-Hassan: Took the inner road going via Derlakatte, Sajipa and reached Bantwal (30kms). Decent roads with occasional pot-holes all the way up to Ujire(45kms). Roads gone bad in a few bends in Charmadi, but generally drivable till Kottigehara (40kms). Roads very good from Kottigerehara to Mudigere (15kms) and very very bad from Mudigere to Belur(35kms) and very good roads again from Belur to Hassan (38kms).
5. Hassan-Bangalore: Left Hassan at 5:30PM and drive became very difficult once it became dark, due to incoming traffic with high beams. Overtaking oil tankers was a major pain and once the road widening portion starts, it becomes even more difficult due to frequent shifting of lanes. Luckily, spotted a fellow BHPian (Swift Dzire, KA ?? ? 1068) who was driving very well (excellent use of indicators) and shamelessly followed the same for more than 30mins, which made my drive easier. Branched-off from NH48 and the drive thru Magadi and NICE was extremely peaceful.
Want to thank all the BHPians who answered many queries on the nitty-gritty of the route. Didn't ask for any tips on Sulya-Kasargod route and paid the price.
Shall post some pics tomorrow,
Thanks,
Prasad
Last edited by prasad14 : 17th October 2010 at 22:30.
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