It was not so planned journey to venture Kodai at the peak season (April). However we decided to set out for a trip by car(Maruti Swift). It was raining as we started and we had second thoughts to venture the long trip. However we decided to embark on the visitation.
Distance - A Line map
Bangalore
|
95 Km
|
Krishnagiri (95)
|
55 Km
|
Dharmapuri (150)
|
60 Km
|
Salem (210)
|
55 Km
|
Namakkal (265)
|
55 Km
|
Karur (320)
|
70 Km
|
Dindigul (390)
|
40 Km
|
Vatlakundu (430)
|
55 Km
|
Kodaikanal (485)
We started at around 05:00 hrs and traced the Inner ring road, Madiwala, Electronic city. We had a planned stoppage at Chinnar before Krishnagiri to reach Ghar dhaba to tank up at BP, supposedly COCO - Company Owned Company Operated and finish the breakfast at A2B. We were behind our schedule as heavy rain lashed Bangalore till Hosur.
The Thoppur ghat deserves a mention as the road has marked speed brakers and monkeys greeting the way. The road is poorly managed with unevenly settled lanes primarily being attributed by heavy truck traffic.
With better weather conditions and clear stretch ahead, we sped to mark our planned reach to the destinations.
At Salem we anticipated a heavy truck traffic but however we found the traffic was very lean and we could bypass the city quickly. You need to take a diversion here to follow NH-7 - Madurai or Kanyakumari direction
We had stopped by for tea break at Karur at around 10:30hrs. We were now well ahead of our schedule.
After crossing Dindigul, be glued to the sign boards and you need to take the service lane below the grade separator to take a right turn to touch SH-18, Vatlagundu.
Ascending the hills in the evening is not so good a decision with mist cover obstructing the visibility and hence it is better to reach Vatlagundu in the afternoon.
