Itzli

Thanx a lot

koushikpmk

HI Harsha,
we recently did Karwar-Goa stretch (nov 26-30- 2009) from hyderabad. The road is okay..say...60% not good and 40% good, but heavy traffic with mining lorries along with red dust....why dont you try through belgaum...?

CrazyTraveler

I had done a short trip on the roads leading to ooty this weekend and just wanted to give a brief update on the 2 of the main roads I traversed.

Ooty - Emerald - Manjoor - Geddai - Mulli - Karamadai - Coimbatore (~120 kms)

For starters, this is the least frequented route to get to ooty and is mostly used only by locals.

Ooty to manjoor through emerald (35 kms)- Good well-laid roads, very less traffic, 34 Hair-pin bends
Manjoor - Geddai (+15) - Road repair work underway and hence at present muddy and dotted with potholes, a fresh set of 43 hair-pins welcome you, Terrific views, Almost deserted roads
Geddai - Mulli check-post (+12) - Decent roads - narrow and broken in parts but very much motorable, Hair-pins continue for a while, Forest stretch begins, no civilization whatsoever, Weak mobile signal, Marked descent leads to heat taking a toll on you
Mulli - Velliangadu (~+20) - Roads same as above, Almost plains, Forest stretch continues - chances of coming across wild elephants at dawn and dusk
Velliangadu - Karamadai (~+10) - Forest stretch ends with entering Velliangadu, Great 2-lane roads, small villages en-route
At Karamadai, you join NH-67 between coimbatore and mettupalayam.

Mettupalayam - Coonoor - Ooty

Initially planned to take the kothagiri route on return but unfortunately had to take this choc-a-bloc route due to certain logisitical issues!

Anyway, the roads were great - all the land-slide hit patches were newly laid and perfect for motoring right up to ooty.

Alright here comes the most important tip

PLEASE do ensure your bike is in a good shape before attempting the first route. Manjoor is the last place where you can expect some assistance in case of any failure. And after that, you need to get to Velliangadu for any assistance.

I made a point to mention this as you could avoid all the huff n puff in dragging the bike for 7-8 kms in the many intermediate patches of ascent in between like I did!

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Harsha116

Thanks Koushik, we guys plan to visit Gokarna, Yana and the places on the route. Would try the Belgaum route on way back, if time permits. (Belgaum route would be a little longer for us)

tourer_kashif

Hi Guys,

I am looking to do this route coming weekend.
Any info regarding it will be great.
Info like : road condition/scenary/safety anything will be highly appriciated.

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vishnuu

Kashif,

I have visited Dandeli in the first week of jan, the roads from Dharwad to Dandeli is decent enough with occasional pot holes. The road becomes narrow after Hariyal. It turns out to be in worst condition before entering Dandeli as there are paper mills & all of a sudden you will find many lorries.

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TheNoobGeek

Chennai to pondicherry (ECR): The road is very smooth after the point where there's a road going towards OMR (a KM or 2 after VGP). Before that there's heavy traffic. Post mahabalipuram, the traffic further reduces and you can easily cruise in triple digits.

Coplay@180

A small update on the road conditions from Bangalore to Hosur.
Awesome roads, non-stop. All the flyovers and underpasses etc are complete and its super cool now.
However, BEWARE of those nasty truck drivers who sway from left to right without any notice. they are KILLERS for sure

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jayaramk1983

The Belgaum-Londa-Ramnagar-Molem-Ponda route is bad from Ramnagar to Molem (upto Goa border) with heavy iron ore truck traffic on this route too. Infact the roads are not roads but craters for a good 20kms which will break anyone's back. Plus on that route once you enter Molem lots of lorry traffic jams which take hours to clear and plus the red dust will cover you from head to toe and the bike too. Its better to take the Yellapur-Karwar-Gokarna route instead of this. But anyway its ur choice

jayaramk1983

Tourer, the route from Dandeli to Karwar is filled up with numerous potholes and a back breaking drive plus narrow ghat roads all the way down upto Sadashivgad(near Karwar). So be careful here.