Bangalore - Munnar - Guruvayoor - Bangalore trip My sincere thanks to Abhi, hvk and other BHPians. I did a trip to Munnar and Guruvayoor from 30th Aug to 3rd Sept. Here are the details:
5:00 am - Bangalore (Uttarahalli Road) start
6:15 am - Adayar Anand Bhavan - Stop for coffee 68.9kms
9:30 am - Bhavani (Hotel Saravana Bhavan for Breakfast) - 239 kms (Stop for 30 mins)
1:00 pm - Udumalaipet (Stop for fuel and lunch at Hotel Nalarams) - 360 kms (Stop for one hour)
4:40pm - Munnar Town (444 kms)
Though I started a 5 am, the lorry traffic was heavy till around 20 kms after Hosur. Got a good free stretch of road after Adayar Anand Bhavan. The hotel did not have breakfast ready at 6:30am. So if you are targetting breakfast here, plan to be there around 7:00 am. The road from Krishnagiri till Palladam is a bit of a pain. The road surface is fine but there is 4 laning going on and there is lot of lorry traffic. It is not very easy to pass.
The route I took was Bangalore - Hosur - Krishnagiri - Dharmapuri - Bhavani - Perundurai - Tirupur - Palladam - Udumalaipet - Chinnar - Maraiyoor - Munnar
I initially intended to go via Dharapuram as was suggested here. A driver in Bhavani told me that it was better to take the Tirupur route as the road was good. The road was no doubt very good but you need to pass thru Tirupur which is a bit of a pain.
The road from Palladam to Udumalaipet was great with lot of windmills around. After Udumalaipet the Chinnar sanctuary starts and therein starts a lovely journey. The weather was good and it drizzled a bit adding to the overall ambiance. The roads are good. Reached Munnar town at 4:40pm.
Next couple of days, visited the Eravikulam National Park and saw the famous Nilgiri Tahr. Also visited the Mattupetty and Kundale dams and the Top Point, from where you get to see a couple of Tamil Nadu towns. Lovely view. You need to walk down for some time to get to this point but it is worth it. You need to take the Kodaikanal road from Munnar town to get to these points. The roads are uniformly good and it is a pleasure to drive here.
After staying in Munnar for two more days I went to Guruvayoor. The route I took was:
Munnar - Perumbavoor - Angamali - Kaladi - Trichur - Guruvayoor
It took me more than 5 hours to do this more than 179 kms stretch. Till Kaladi the traffic is fine. From Kaladi, it is typical Kerala traffic and you can't do much but follow the lorries in front of you. It is a big pain and tests your patience.
Contrary to what I was told, there was no crowd at the Guruvayoor Temple. Had a nice darshan. Also visited the Elephant camp of the Guruvayoor temple.
Given the experience with traffic I decided to do the drive back to Bangalore via the route which will probably be less crowded. The routes suggested to me were via Coimbatore or via Kozhikode. I didn't take either of them but decided to come via Nilambur. Here are the details:
6:30 am - Start from Guruvayoor (Meter Reading : 786.8 kms)
10:10 am - Reach Gudaloor (Meter Reading: 931.4 kms)
12:30 pm - Reach Hotel Dasprakash in Mysore (Meter Reading: 1041.3 kms)
Break till 13:40pm
15:55 pm - Reach Residence at Uttarahalli (1175 kms) (After a short break for coffee at Kamat Yatri Niwas)
The route taken was Guruvayoor - Kunnamkulam - Perinthalmana - Nilambur - Gudalur - Mudumalai - Bandipur - Gundlupet - Mysore - Bangalore
Good roads and a lovely drive. You get to cover the curvy ghats between Nilambur and Gudalur. You also get to pass through Mudumalai and Bandipur. What more can you ask for !! The only pain is the road between Bandipur and Gundlupet. In some places there is no road at all !!
The roads on the Kerala side of the ghat between Nilambur and Gudalur is excellent. It deteriorates once you enter the Tamil Nadu side but it is not too bad.
Saw some deers and a peacock in the Bandipur forests. Also a couple of trained elephants, which we initially mistook for wild ones.
My car is an Innova Diesel G3. The initial mileage I got was around 11 kms per hour. I haven't computed the final mileage yet
Will post some photos soon.
S.Suresh |