re: The art of travelling between Bangalore - Mangalore/Udupi Things happen really fast sometimes. Planned a trip to Mangalore on Thursday with a friend. He suggested that we take my car as it would be easier to roam around in Mangalore. This would be the second time I would be driving to Mangalore, I was skeptical as usual, but more so this time because my friend was not a good driver that means, I would have to do all the driving. Logged on to Tbhp to understand the route conditions. The recommendations was clear Bangalore-Hassan-Sakleshpura-Mangalore.
Friday: My only worry was I had stock headlamps in my Swift, there is no fog lamps either (Ldi, why did I listen to my dad... errr) My previous trip was very cautious due to poor lights and bad roads. This time I didn’t want that. Spoke to the service engineer from Mandovi and asked him about recommended bulbs. He suggested Hella/ Philips, said approx. cost would be INR 1200. So left from work early drove to a place near my house. Got Hella 130/100 bulbs fitted to my car, That along with relay worked out at INR 1100. Ensured that no wires were cut.
Then there was the downpour, soon enough I knew that this one is going to be a wet drive! Started a little late than planned, it was 7 ‘ish went we started, didn’t want to go through Bangalore traffic. I live in HSR, so took the Ecity flyover, did a small round of ecity and exited out of Phase 1 entrance, got on to NICE road and drove till Nelmangala. This added about 20kms to the trip and costed me additional INR 155 in toll fees. But saved me time and frustration of driving throught weekend traffic.
I had touch NH 48 at 9:30PM after dinner. It was drizzing all night and traffic was very less. Had the highway to myself! Roads are very good, need to watch out for the odd bumps in the road and diversions though. Saw the standard scenes of overturned lorry in Shiradi Ghat, along with tippers that have run off the road. One sad accident I saw early on was of a grey Swift which was hit by a truck( I guess) in the opposite direction. The swift had a broken axle on the right side with damages. Over all very pleasant drive, I guess the odd timing helped me as there was very less traffic. Reached Mangalore at 4’ ish including 2 hour break, around 7 hours drive time in the rain.
Return on the other hand was hectic, I took the same route but this time started at 4:30PM from Mangalore. There was too much traffic through out, the ghat was crowded with tippers and oil tankers. Lots of private vehicles too. Traffic eased up only when Bangalore was 80 – 90 kms away. I reach Bangalore at 10:30PM, only one break for dinner of half hour.
Recommed the route to all, enjoy it while it lasts! |