Kerala Trip

All I wanted was 1 week of pure laziness. Do nothing and just while the time. But that was not to be :(

My trip to kerala was all about One Wedding and One Funeral.


I started from Bangalore to Palakkad on Nov 8. Left Bangalore around 4.30 AM. Took the inner ring road (Koramangala) and hit Hosur Road at Madivala. The road was busy even at that time. There was a huge traffic of trucks and lorries. It took about 45 mins to reach Hosur... Then the roads cleared :). The road from Hosur to Krishnagiri is excellent. From Krishnagiri, the road to Dharmapuri was bad in patches... but heck, you can still maintain 80-100 KMPH.

The hell started once we crossed Dharmapuri... till Toppur the roads are baad... (there is construction work on the National Highway)... and to make the matter worse... a looong line of traffic... i could see vehicles lined up upto 2 kms... it was crawling at snail pace...

Once off Toppur.. taking the right towards Mettur... it a beautiful drive, considering that you had been stuck up in slow moving traffic for almost an hour or so... The state highway road is excellent. This was the first time, I took this route. My earlier trip, I had driven Via Salem. Once we reached Mettur, you need to take a left to go towards coimbatore... going straight you reach the Mettur dam. We took the straight road to the dam... and it was a great view... considering that after rains, the reservoir was almost full.

You have signboards giving directions to Coimbatore..The route takes you through Bhavani and then you hit the national highway at Perundurai. (this route you avoid crossing Salem and Erode)... from here the road is awesome and soon we crossed Avinashi and reached outskirts of Coimbatore. We were there by 12.

Had to pick my sister-in-law from the airport... and the flight was delayed for hours and hours.. it reached coimbatore only around 1.50 PM. The Airport is around 10 Kms from right fork before the L&T toll gate. (You need to enter Coimbatore town...)


L&T bye-pass road is a runway... you can see Kms in front of you... and you can press the accelerator as hard as you want to...

Once we crossed the L&T bye-pass and entered Kerala... it was all together a different world. The roads are bad.. (if your call them roads).. at most places it looks like craters on the Moon. Reached Valayr check-post and luckily there were not much traffic... else negotiating this place would have taken another hour or so extra...

By this time.. it was close to 3 PM... and it took about another 30 Mins to reach home at Koodvayur - in Palakkad...

Had a late lunch,,,, and zzzzzz,,, (i do not have the habit of waking up at 3.45 AM :)

Santosh

PS: This is photo of Jog falls I had taken on my earlier trip to Karwar/Goa.


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