My experience driving from Bangalore to Mangalore via Charmady

I have done this route 4 or 5 times before but at the end of this drive I realised something that I had not paid attention to before.

BHPian SafeandGreen recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

I did my Blr-Mlr drive yesterday (8 Jan). Started early at 6.15am from Blr. There was dense fog in the first hour but it cleared up by 7am. The drive was fantastic upto Hassan where there is some roadwork in progress but the service road was very decent.

Thanks to all the BHPians who responded to my request last week for an update on the road conditions from Hassan onwards. Weighing all the options I decided to take the Charmady route. My decision was based solely on ease of driving and comfort. The feedback about the road being poor +/- 25kms around Uppinangady was the clincher.

Charmady itself was a breeze thanks to bright sunshine, negligible traffic and very smooth roads.

However once we got off the ghat we encountered continuous roadworks from Ujjire almost upto Belthangady. This being a very dry time there is a lot of red dust that is kicked up by all the vehicles. On the credit side, the mud tracks are all very dry and hard; the car rolls very easily and freely. So one can still do 50 to 60 in this stretch.

Once past Belthangady, the rest is very straightforward. Overall it took us 3 hours upto Hassan, 4 hours to Belthangady and another 45 minutes to Mangalore. Of course, breaks for breakfast, lunch and bio were extra.

I have done this route four or five times before but at the end of the drive, I realised something that I had not paid attention to before. The drive “up the ghat” is very gradual so one does not notice the gradient at all. But “down the ghat” the gradient is quite steep and with many hairpin bends. So even though the car is not revving much, the brakes are in constant use.

On the reverse drive from Mlr-Blr by Charmady, the gradient will be in the reverse and the engine and the brakes are both going to be under strain. Has anyone experienced brake fluid boiling over in such a drive?

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