Road Trip to Kannur

Keeping My Promise.. Here is my Travelogue for my trip to Kannur. For more a month I have been thinking about the route and when to start(i.e. early morning, late in the evening etc). First it was the plan to start late in the evening on Thursday to Calicut, Halt there and travel to Kannur the next day early in the morning. Then there was the plan to halt in Mysore and then start early in the morning. And all through the journey it was the 3 of us, Me,my wife-Rachana and my daughter- Advika. Special care had to taken care of the baby food. (For expert opinion, consult My wife - Rachana). I believe she has been more active reading during pregnancy and birth than earlier :). Anyway so the logistics had to be planned in such a way that Advika's food could be taken care. She is 7 months old now and has started teething! She eats ragi, some kind of cooked vegetables and fruits and biscuits. We haven' t started her giving rice. That will be after her "Annaprasham" in Guruvayoor.
So finally we decided to start early in the morning. I started enquiring about route a month back. There are a few routes from Bangalore to Kannur.
a) The simplest route but for a 20km stretch is Bangalore-> Mysore -> Honsur -> Virajpet -> Kannur. For a 20km stretch from Virajpet to Makootam & infact until Kootupuzha palam (border of Kerala), there is virtually no road. For bikers and Bus it is still viable, but not by car or any 4 wheeler, unless you have a land rover. For the records it is close to 340km
b) the next route is Bangalore -> Mysore -> HegdedevanKotte(HD Kote)-> Bavali-> Manathavadi -> Kannur. Distance around 340km. Again there is a brief stretch of 20km where there are virtually no roads. I was told that Kerala State Road Transport Corporation runs a bus from Mysore to Kannur via this route. Some time back I had come in that bus and it is a beautiful ride via the Kabini reservoir. If I remember right, there is a bus that starts around 3pm from Mysore and arrives at Kannur at about 9pm, via HD Kote, Bavali, Manathavady, Thottilpalam, Nadapuram, Panoor, Koothparamba, Thalashery & Kannur.
c) The next route is Bangalore -> Mysore -> Gonikoppal (Coorg) -> Kutta -> Tholpatti -> Bavali -> Manathavady -> Kannur. Again there is a 10km stretch from Kutta till Tholpatti, where I was told there are virtually no roads. This is through the Nagarhole National Park
d) Bangalore-> Mysore -> Nanjangud -> Gundlupet -> Sulthan Bathery -> Meenangadi -> Manathavady -> Kannur. The road is fairly good, though the distance would be close to 400km from Bangalore city.

There is another way from Mananthavady to Kannur and that is via Thottilpalam, Nadapuram, Kallachi, Kakkat, Chokli, Thalashery and then Kannur. The distance is shorter but there are lot of small towns on the way, causing you to reduce the speed, unless you are proceeding towards Thalasherry ,Mahe or Vadakara. Hence I would advice you to take the Manathavady - Nedumpoyil road, The descent starts from Periya untill Nedumpoyil.

In the end I decided to take the longest and the safest route. The day before the journey, I checked up the engine oil, the break oil, the coolant, air pressure and the spare tube. I filled up oil. BTW: Petrol in Kerala is cheaper than in Karnataka. So I had filled just enough :). The day before the journey me and Rachana decided to figure out what food to carry for Advika, and the rest of the logistics. Our plan was to leave home at around 4:30 am.

We got up around 4am and by the time we left home it was 5:15am. As usual before the journey I went to the Ayyappa temple at HAL and prayed. It was 6am when we reached Bangalore outer - Rajeshwari arch. By 8 we were in Mysore and by around 8:25 am we took the first break in between Nanjangud and Gundlupet. By then we had crossed 180km. Advika was up by then and we fed her with Ragi and Milk. We had a light breakfast "Bread Toast and busicuits" and juice. I took Advika around and showed her the fields and the trees.

At Gundlupet we took a right towards the Calicut Road. Before Bandipur Forest area, there are a lot of villages and strangely they keep their hay on the road for drying. Take care while driving in those areas, there could be nails around! During summer is really beautiful especially as you approach Onam August September. There are lots of Flowers grown in the area. Also there are a few nurseries on the way, just in case you have a mini Gardner in you! Also look out for small speed breakers on the road. There are few of them.
At the border one strange thing happened. The police check post was there to collect Mamul :), & yes Karnataka Police. They asked for 50Rs. Finally after so much of fight I gave off 20 Rs.

Driving past Muthanga among the tall trees!

By 10:45 we were in Sulthan Bathery. We drove down further for about 10km when we got to Meenangadi. At Meenangadi we took a right and proceeded towards Panamaram. The road has lot of pot holes so my speed got drastically reduced. Till Panamaram and even till Manathavady the roads have pot holes so on an average I could run at 45kmph. Fortunately there are very few vehicles on the road. We reached Manthavady at around 12 and I filled up my car. "Full Tank" :D.. As I was telling you Petrol is cheaper in Kerala! Gods Own "Petrol" Friendly Country. Till now we are almost at the same MSL (Mean Sea Level) as Bangalore. Now was the time to climb down via the ghat section.
From Manathavady towards Kannur the roads also had potholes and it was getting difficult to drive. On the way I saw a deviation towards "Boys Town" & Kottiyoor. For those of you who are new to the area, Kottiyoor is a very famous temple in Kannur and it is know for its Elaneer aatam close to the rainy seasons - June. There are two temples Akkare Kottiyoor & the main temple.
Kottiyoor is small town situated in Kannur district, bordered by Wayanad district. A very old Siva temple situated there attracts lakhs of devotees every year[citation needed]. The Bavali river, Paalukaachi hill, all are tourists places in kottiyoor. The temple festival (utsav) begins every year by mid May and lasts for 28 days. Ilaneer Veppu or submitting tender coconuts before the deity is an important ritual during the festival. Thousands of tender coconuts brought by hundreds of devotees from different parts of Malabar is submitted on a special day. The very next day is Ilaneerattam. On this day, main priest pours coconut water collected from the tender coconuts on the idol. This is the place where Daksha Yagam is supposed to have taken place.
Noticing the road ahead, I decided to take the road towards Kottiyoor. It is a steep descent and on the right hand side you can see a beautiful waterfall. Not sure which river or stream it is. But was an awesome sight. The road is very narrow, just enough for two vehicles & very steep. I was told that Christian Missionaries had made this road(small road I presume in those days) and the Government has made it large. Astonishingly I found a bus plying in the route - Iritty to Manthavady via Boys Town. Anyway I took a break and took some snaps, just to capture God's Sculpturing skills! Awesome. He and only he can do it! There are a few waterfalls in the area (un explored).

From Boy's Town the road leads towards Ambayathodu, Kottiyoor, Kelakam, Nedumpoyil and then towards Koothuparamba.Within the next 1 1/2 we drove down to Koothuparamba. My dad runs a small shop there. Advika got naughty on seeing him and pulled out his glasses :D. We drove down to Kannur via Mambram, Peralassery (approx 20km) and by 2pm we were in Kannur.
A Pleasant drive and I was let wondering what time it would have taken for me to reach Kannur had the Virajpet route been taken care! Weeks before the journey I was dreaming of the drive uncertain about the route and the way the logistics would work out. It gives me great satisfaction that the journey went on well and safe and that the 3 of use enjoyed the trip. No aches or pains for me either. Looking forward for the drive back to Bangalore!
Courtesy : MapMyIndia & my Small Family!