ArniMarine

Road Updates from the recently concluded Kerala-Tamil Nadu trip I had:

As of 25/08/2010

Bangalore - Munnar (NH 7/NH 47/ TN SH -96/ TN SH -37/TN SH -87 -471 kms)

Bangalore - Salem (NH 7 - 206 kms)
As already discussed, the roads are good in terms of conditions but heavy traffic on both sides can slow down your speeds! The curves after Krishnagiri are called as dangerous and even though you wont find them to be dangerous if you are a hill rider, yet you can find an odd truck crashed on the sides! I saw two of them, one while going, another one while coming back

Salem - Perundurai (NH 47 - 85 kms)
NH 47 is butter smooth after Salem and mostly with less curves and low traffic. 120 is easily doable on this stretch. This goes straight down to Coimbatore and I guess its the same all the way.
Be careful while at Salem, coz there are hardly any proper signboards leading to NH 47, any miss and you can land up straight to NH 7 taking you to Madurai. We missed it and had to come back after riding 6 kms on NH 7.

Perundurai - Kangayam (SH 96 - 33 kms)
Be alert while on NH 47 to take a left turn for Perundurai town from the service road. This should come around 80 kms from Salem. Any miss can take you through the bypass to Coimbatore! Signboards are prominent and you wont miss it if careful.
The road is a single lane one with plenty of settlements in between.The conditions are good but village traffic can cut down your speed and 70 k's should be safe unless you are a city ripper and master at cutting through people!

Kangayam - Dharapuram (SH 37 -32 kms)
Double lane but not really wide. Condition is really good without any major potholes. Hardly any traffic on this road, so 100-120 can be done here enjoying the village surroundings

Dharapuram - Udumalpet (SH 21/SH 97 - 41 kms)
Udumalpet is angliced as Udumalaipettai nd you cant find out that place if you go with the angliced pronounciation!Even google maps has it as Udumalaipettai.
Google maps shows a straight road from Dharapuram to udumalpet by SH 87, but we were suggested by a Tavera driver to take the 28 kms of SH 21 to Gudimangalam and then head to Udumalpet (12kms). We took it and it was a heaven to ride!Clean two lanes with nice Windmills all around and hardly any traffic. The direct road was broken as per the driver.

Udumalpet - Munnar (86 kms)
This 86 took us a lifetime to reach! The road starts meandering from Udumalpet without too much of traffic and leads to the entry point of the Anaimalai Tiger Reserve.Be ready for some questionnaire from the guards here.
After the entry gate the road gets narrower and narrower as you go up and down the dense forests.After the scribbling at the Kerala entry check point the road gets a bit wider but often full of potholes and sharp curves.This route is fascinating if you are a nature lover but the tarmac isnt really friendly. This can take as much as four hours if you plan to stop for photo breaks in between.

Munnar - Kumily - Thekkady (120 kms)
Initial 30 kms consists of occasional broken roads riding up and down the scenic gap points, valleys with tea gardens and Periyakanal waterfall. Doing a 40 kmph is decent here.
After this the road divides for Madurai and Kumily, take the Kumily route with amazing roads to follow.Neat two lanes without too much of ascent or decent, one gets a feeling of riding in the plains with curvy roads.60 kmph is doable here with the wide corners all over.
After you reach the town of Kumily head towards Thekkady which is an extension of Kumily and just 4 kms away.

Thekkady - Thrissur (NH 220/KL SH 44/KL SH 8/KL SH 1/NH 47 -218 kms)

Kumily - Vandiperiyar - Mundakayam -Kanjirapally - Erattupetta - Muttom - Thoduphuzha (NH 220/ KL SH 44 - 116 kms)

10-15 kms after Kumily on NH 220(leads to Kottayam) is in pathetic condition!
Full of potholes and extremely bumpy ride, cannot believe this to be a NH!
The roads get better before Vandiperiyar with tea gardens around and clean twisties in between.Head straight on NH 220 till Mundakayam with some nice ascent and some waterfalls enroute. This is not a rippers paradise, full of sharp curves and uneven terrain at times, be careful of the KSRTC buses plying enroute, they can get you killed by pushing you to a 200 feet fall!
After Mundakayam the roads get better as you finally bid goodbye to the hills and head to the Kerala plains.The stretch about 10 kms before Kanjirapally is very smooth and again 80- 100 is possible on this.
After taking a right turn from NH 220 and joining SH 44 for Erattupetta from Kanjirapally, the roads turn really bad. Completely bumpy and full of settlements all around.They will make you irritated with the maintenance of roads at Kerala.Anything above 70 for an average on this roads can be dangerous.
Erattupetta is just another town with narrow and congested roads all around.
After leaving this place the roads started getting better, some more small hill riding and then you land up to an absolute brilliant two lane highway which continues till Muttom and up to Thoduphuzha

There is another route from Kumily to Thoduphuzha via Idukki and Kulamavu using the SH 43.Idukki is a beautiful place but I heard the roads were broken so didnt take the risk. If anyone takes this route then please update the recent conditions.

Thoduphuzha - Mavattuphuzha -Angamaly - Chalakudy- Thrissur (SH 8/SH 1/NH 47 -101 kms)
The brilliant two lanes which started before Thoduphuzha continues till Mavattuphuzha. After Mavattuphuzha SH1 takes over and is equally good in terms of conditions but with slightly heavier traffic. 80-90 is safe on these roads.
Take a left turn on NH 47 from Angamaly and continue till Chalakudy. The NH is full of heavy traffic at this stretch and also a number of diversions and broken roads due to broadening of NH 47.Continue from Chalakudy for about 14 kms and then take a left to join a single lane road leading to Thrissur City.This road is again heavy with traffic and max speed can be 60-70 here.

..to be continued

__________________
Thanks,
Arni
My Adventures : Enchanted at Bhutan
My Clicks!
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Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover- Mark Twain

ArniMarine

Road Updates Continued :

As of 25/08/2010

Thrissur- Athirapally- Kochi (NH 47/ KL-SH 21/NH 47 -114 kms)

Thrissur - Chalakudi (NH 7 - 32 kms)
The two lane road that connects Thrissur city to NH 47 is just another busy road with settlements around.After 14 kms the NH 47 is spotted, but it isnt in good shape till Chalakudi.Even though its pretty wide at some places, at most places there is a diversion due to road widening. The diversion takes you through the towns on the adjacent side.I guess this road will become butter smooth till Angamaly in another year.

Chalakudi - Athirapally (SH 21 - 33 kms)
This is a neat road with cornering heavens spread all over. The road doesnt gain too much of elevation till Athirapally and at times its too straight which will take the speedo considerably up.The road is covered by trees, part of forests on either side and ocassional settlements

Athirapally -Angamaly -Kochi (SH 21/Connector/NH 47 - 64 kms)
Took the same road back but found a junction, from where a shortcut goes to Kochi. Kochi was 50 kms from the junction.The road looked alluring here with a huge bridge on a river, but after crossing the bridge the road went on to become narrower and narrower.About 10 kms after the bridge it was full of potholes and ocassional craters.The narrow road went through several villages and entered Angamaly town to become a busy thoroughfare.NH 47 starts after Angamaly and is pretty good in terms of conditions and traffic till Kochi International Airport.
After that it slows down into Ernakulam City and turns left to head towards Trivandrum.

Kochi - Kanyakumari (NH 47 -302 kms)

Kochi - Kollam (NH 47 -137 kms)
Boring two lane highway with bumpy roads full of traffic, rains make them ever worse. 70 kmph is safe on this stretch. Lot of settlements throughout, hardly any bypassing done.Have to stop at enormous signals in the town areas.

Kollam - Trivandrum -Kovalam (NH 47/TVM Bypass - 79 kms)
The road gets better after Kollam and after being average for quite a stretch, becomes suddenly clean and smooth as you enter Thiruvananthapuram district.The road gets extra ordinarily good, 30 kms before Trivandrum and continues to be the same on the bypass road till Kovalam

Kovalam - Nagerkoil - Kanyakumari ( NH 47 - 85 kms)
From Kovalam, its a single lane road which leads to NH 47 near Parassala.The road is narrow and through small villages with lot of road crossing happening in between.The road condition is decent without any major potholes.NH 47 is also extremely crowded and narrow in this stretch after Parassala and continues to be the same till Nagercoil and also further down till Kanyakumari.



Overall Kochi to Kanyakumari isnt a pleasant ride by any standards and there is hardly anything to see on the roads, unless you branch off at places like Alappuzha or Varkala or Trivandrum.

__________________
Thanks,
Arni
My Adventures : Enchanted at Bhutan
My Clicks!
---------------------------------------------------

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover- Mark Twain

TwistedSouL

Guys i am planning a ride from banglore to dharmasthala temple on wednesday morning.i want to know the road conditions on NH48 till hassan and from hassan which road to take should i prefer sakleshpur ghats or a charmadi ghats Or is there any other route from banglore to dharmasthala
as they say we can go from banglore-mysore-madikeri-kushalnagar-sulya-kukke subramanya and from there to dharmasthala and please do tell the total distance on each of these roads to dharmasthala.

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There are two kinds of light--the glow that illumines, and the glare that obscures.

R.I.P Bonney,U will always be remembered.

pabi

guys road conditions on the below routes:

chikmaglur-kudremukh-udipi-kollur

chik'lur-coorg

penukonda[AP]-sira-chik'lur

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on 4 wheels u feel the speed after a crash, 2 wheelers are much more advanced

Ananthagiri Trip

Kemmannagundi-Mulliyanagiri

Ooty trip

Tirumala-horsley Hills

Kudremukh

aargee

Also one should expect the twisty roads from Muvattupuzha to Kottayam for about 51 Kms that is bound to keep your average speed down.

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Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind - Dr Seuss

phanikar

@ Twisted soul:U can take Bangalore- Magadi(Take right near Magadi KSRTC bus Depot,Connects to NH48)-Yediyur-C.R.Ptna- Hassan-Sakleshpura-gundya checkpost-Dharmasthala-Gundya-Shiribagilu-Subramanya and back .The road conditions are not bad but have to be very careful. Since there is road widening project going on on hassan road ,Dont take Nelamangala-yediyur road.U would be taking around 2.5 hours or more just to reach yediyur,where as magadi route u can reach in less than 1.5 hours. I would seriously suggest u not to take Madkeri-somvarpet-shanivarsanthe route as there are no roads after sanivarsanthe. ur bike will take a serious beating. Besides this there are no mechanic or puncture repair shop once you leave shanivarsanthe till subramanya.

Bangalore- Dharmasthala=300kms
Dharmasthala- Subramanya=80ms
Subramanya - Bangalore=280kms

The route that u have quoted, banglore-mysore-madikeri-kushalnagar-sulya-kukke subramanya is way too long and the roads are also not that good(I dont know how it is now,i had done it an year back).

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Work life balance is like air fuel mixture
Life is too short for traffic, take the highway...........

pabi

Status till 11 Sep 2010:

Andhra Pradesh:

HYD-KURNOOL-ANANTAPUR :

Smooth NH7 4 line highway except for few diversions near shamshabad, after kurnool and between anantapur and penukonda.

Penukonda-Madakasira:

Good single line roads till madakasira .

Karnataka:

Madakasira-Sira-banavara:

Good single line roads till Sira, from sira to banavara its a avg kind of road, with some areas stretching from .5 - 1 km have no roads at all.

Banavara-birur-lingadahalli-k'gundi:

From banavara to birur good 2 lane road, from birur to lingadahalli below avg single lane roads , same goes from lingadahalli till the bottom of k'gundi hills. from here its avg roads till you reach hill top.

K'gundi-Chikmaglur : This route is not from top of k'gundi hills but need to get down and take right turn after the lingadahalli petrol bunk. Good 2 lane roads till chikmaglur , its a bikers paradise with ghats , twists and many many turns.


k'gundi-mulliyanagiri:

Good single lane roads.

Chikmaglur-javagal-ariskere:

Till javagal its good 2 lane road with some bad patches . After javagal till ariskere roads are real messed up. Take the road to banavara from javagal if you are heading for tumkur side , i heard it from locals.

ariskere-tumkur:

Good 2 lane roads till tumkur can vroom here.

Tumkur-madhugiri-madakasira-penukonda:

Roads from tumkur till madhugiri are very very bad plz avoid this route. From madhugiri till madakasira are just avg kind of roads. Already mentioned abt rest of the roads above.

Instead of this route take the route tumkur-devenahalli-chikballapur-penukonda if want to go to penukonda. We spent 4 : 30 hrs covering 150 kms in these stretch.

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on 4 wheels u feel the speed after a crash, 2 wheelers are much more advanced

Ananthagiri Trip

Kemmannagundi-Mulliyanagiri

Ooty trip

Tirumala-horsley Hills

Kudremukh

rubber_stamp_champ

Any update on the road conditions from Kolkata to Chennai???

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Live the journey, destination is just a halt!

cursedcrusader

Damm>..

yesterday was a worst nightmare for all of us..

We planned To go to narasaroapet from hyderabad ....

We took right turn from the junction it divides from suryaraopet and from on it was good till few k's and then the road had big patches about 3 ft deep.

Our swift had bad bruises down under.

and so had to take the guntur -vijayawada-hyderabad when coming back costing extra k's ..

The NH9 construction was a never ending process and had patches here and there and overall better than the yesterday's ride.

People stay away from piduguralla's route

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The rising petrol prices burn your pocket not your riding soul!

anand.js

NH 47 from Valayar Check post to Ernakulam is in Horrible condition for 2 wheelers. Full of potholes !!!!
Ernakulam to Allepey is Fair enough for a Day ride. Occasional Potholes and pathetic Patchwork
Allepey to Kollam is a Lil better. Almost every one meter you would find patches..

this is Valid 02.Oct.2010

If you are heading from/to Kollam or TVM from Bangalore Take the NH7 right uptill Thirumangalam. Then continue on the NH 208 road to Kollam.

If from Chennai, you can catch the NH7 at Salem.

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Andy...

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