Impromptu report drive from last weekend Onward:23rd Oct, 2015 - Saturday
Return: 24th Oct, 2015 - Sunday
Circuit: Bangalore- Nelemangala - Kunigal - Hassan - Sakleshpur - Hanbal - Jannapura - Mudigere (Handpost) - Kottigehara - Charmadi - Ujire - Belthangady - BC Road - Mangalore - Padubidre - Belman - Karkala - Kuduremukha - Kalasa - Mudigere - Belur - Hassan - Kunigal - Magadi - Bangalore Approximate Kms - 830 (Door to Door) (Solo and none one else
)
Drive Report:
So on a Friday Funkykar who has driven to Guntur for a wedding pings me if we can meet somewhere on a Saturday and drive. The plan quickly changes from Hyderabad (via which he was returning) to Mangalore.
As he drives from Anantpur, we sync up at BEL Circle and start driving together around 2pm on the Saturday, solo in his Linea and my Ertiga.
The Traffic:
Extended festive weekend meat traffic was very thick in both directions even on a Saturday. We faced thick traffic towards Hassan but that did not slow us down till we reached Hassan.
Post Hassan till Sakleshpura, it easily took us at least 80 minutes, thanks to thick traffic again in both directions that made overtaking a huge task. Eventually, it was becoming very irritating whenever there was a capsule tanker and around 15 cars tailing behind at 30kmph wanting to overtake. This happened at least thrice in those 35 kms
.
Change in course:
Intended route to Mangalore was via Shiradi but we quickly decide to deviate towards Hanbal after Sakleshpur and that was indeed a brilliant decision.
Road from the location where we fork out for Hanbal till Hanbal is Bad to very Bad in some sections. Post Hanbal, they have relaid the entire stretch all the way to Jannapura where it meets Belur-Mudigere Road.
After savoring some
neer dosas at Kottigehara we started at 1945 from here and reached Mangalore (Balmatta) at 2200.
How was Charmadi:
Surprisingly, its holding up really well except all the 11 hair pin curves where road surface has given away. But deciding to drive at the last moment via Charmadi was the ultimate decision as the drive was 100% peaceful with almost zero traffic. Post Guruvayanakere till BC road, one or two very small patches are bad but indeed not in a manner that you should decide against this road altogether.
Hotels were all full but thanks to
Speedsatya, he helped us manage check-in into a hotel right in the city center. If not, we were planning to drive to Surathkal or return back to Belur!!
We start back again on a Sunday morning after brunch around 1130 and decide to take the Padubidre route to touch Karkala (we had planned to return via Kuduremukha anyway).
Mangalore-Udupi is holding up well barring 2 diversions till Padubidre where we turned right to drive on one of the most fantastic State highways till date (Yes). Padubidre-Belman-Nitte-Karkala is not just good, its BRILLIANT from all aspects!!
Karkala-Kuduremukha-Kalasa-Mudigere:
- Karkala-Kuduremukha is clean with hardly any bad patch that I can recall. Actually there was none.
- Kuduremukha-Kalasa has very few bad patches
- Kalasa- Kelagure - Javali - Balur is a mix of good (70%), bad (20%) and very bad (10%)
- Balur - Kottigehara - Mudigere is all good throughout
Traffic started to build up from Kalasa itself due to temple runs that folks did during the extended weekend. Post Belur, it increased substantially due to cars from Chikmagalur side and post Hassan it was simply havoc! (Pictures will do the talking in the end).
Each toll starting from Shantigrama, Hirisave, Nelligere was clogged very very badly between 1600-1900 and traffic was absolutely mad, irritating, impatient that we decided to return via Magadi after Kunigal and that was again a precise decision.
We deviated from Kunigal for Magadi exactly at 1933 and I was at Vidyaranyapura home exactly at 2107 by my watch. So that's around 1.5 hours and I am very sure looking at the traffic trend and the fact that Googlemaps also showed 3 big jams (Devihalli Toll, NH48-NH4 Junction, NBTL Toll) that may have again consumed 20 minutes each (Thats essentially an hour itself).
Perhaps we ended up doing something that we never do - Drive on a long/extended weekend but few strategies indeed worked in our favor on these 2 days:
- Charmadi Vs Shiradi on onward
- Kuduremukha-Kalasa Vs Shiradi during Return
- Magadi vs Nelamangala during the final leg
Pictorial updates:
The planned FastTag lane (You will wonder how it will be useless during peak hours in pictures later):
The famous Thatte Idly shop that was once inside Kunigal town has now moved to the main highway, before Kunigal bypass starts. For those who don't want to miss this, he still serves the same Idlies at the same price with a better set-up. Otherwise, for your better needs, Swati & CCD are just another 20 kms away.
The beautiful Padubidre-Belman-Nitte-Karkala stretch:
Posing somewhere before Kuduremukha:
Another coffee shop attached to IOCL, Banakal (A lot of Coffee Shops are doing business between Kottigehara - Mudigere - Cheeknahalli alone):
When you are mad about a brand that you want to park your car and cross the road to reach A2B (All this with Kamat and CCD very much on the left side). One word - Madness!! Now you don't really have to complain that Kamat/CCD were so bad that A2B was the ultimate option on a busy week-end!!
We Bangaloreans know how to make our own way - This is proof. We ensured to cover all the gates, even those meant for opposite traffic at every booth. Each one took at least 20 minutes to pass:
Traffic on this Sunday evening resembled outer ring road from Hassan till Kunigal where we deviated right: