Thanx a lot

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...?

Update on road conditions in the nilgiris

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!

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)

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.

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.

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.

Bangalore to Hosur Via SilkBoard and electronics City

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

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

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.

The trip's been already done 15days back I guess but will be helpful to others wh wish to follow the same route

LOL , sorry I didn't see the date..yes nevertheless someone else might find this information useful too. Thanks for informing, I need to check the dates before I post !!

Route update:

Went on a little weekend vacation to Kumta and Gokarna this last weekend. Decided to take two different routes for the onward and return journeys. First was the NH4 from Bangalore till Haveri. Return was the usual NH206 via Sagar and Shimoga.

NH4 from Bangalore to Haveri:

Road is almost fixed. The dreaded Davangere to Haveri stretch is now more of a hindrance rather than a nightmare. But would still recommend travel of this stretch during the daytime so as to enable higher average speeds.

Haveri-Kumta/Gokarna:
Haveri to Sirsi (SH2) - 70 kms: Excellent two laned road till about 5 kms before Sirsi, with some sporadic patches near Dasanakoppa.

Sirsi to Kumta/Gokarna: Again, wonderful roads, lots of twisties with smooth surfaces which have been relaid since my last visit to the area back in September. It's a dream come true for the people who love twisties.

Gokarna/Kumta to Bangalore via Shimoga:

NH17 from Kumta to Honnavar is a decent road, with moderate traffic and good road conditions. From Honnavar, you get onto NH206 and you have A LOT of twisties climbing up into the hills, all the way till a few kms after the turnoff point to Jog Falls.

Sagar to Bangalore is a two laned road, with 4 laning going on near Arsikere. Not a recommended route, especially during the weekends when there is a lot of traffic on a two laned route. And not to mention massive potholes which jump out on you from nowhere!

Tumkur to Bangalore is the usual nightmare. Badly surfaced road with uneven surfaces.

All in all, if anyone wants to get to Jog Falls/Gokarna right now, please take the NH4 route to Haveri and proceed to Sirsi. This will be the fastest and least stressful route for sometime to come, and worth the extra 30 kms you will have to cover in case you're visiting Jog Falls.

Any updates on Shiradi Ghats

Hey Guys,

I gotta know from few people who claimed that they've traveled in the recent past that the Shiradi Ghats is opened for traffic & its a smooth ride... Is the news true ??? Any first hand info on this would be great...

TIA,
Pranesh

10th April I stretched to Madikeri and Kavu from bangalore..

Due to some road widening work between Kushal Nagar to madikeri, it was screwed up and It will be very bad to ride in rain.. Madikeri to sampaje road is good, only few places it is bad, but manageable. Sampaje to Kavu(Near Puttur) road is good...