BHPian Old Dude recently shared this with other enthusiasts: Rediscovering the joy of driving After choking in notorious Bangalore Traffic for past many months, my big blue bear finally got a chance to stretch her legs on a weeklong trip to Trivandrum, Kerala. Onward trip was circuitous as we had stops planned at Coimbatore, Ottappalam, Guruvayoor ( temple visit), Kochi ( to attend a marriage) and then to Trivandrum. Those who are familiar with driving through highways in Kerala know it’s not really different from driving in Bangalore Outer Ring Road, for all of Kerala is one big city with traffic intersections every half a KM once you cross Palakkad and gets closer to Trichur, all the way down to Trivandrum. This is where Google Map came to the rescue, more about it later. The highway drive from Bangalore to Palakkad was effortless cruising, the Kodiaq finally breathing a sigh of relief and taking in all the fresh air – very relaxing drive. The route to Ottappalam and then to Guruvayur was through narrow undivided state highways and while I enjoyed the drive, I was feeling I was missing something which I couldn’t put my finger on until it dawned on me – the absence of potholes which I have got so used to in Bangalore The revelation was however the drive from Kochi to Trivandrum which is the most frustrating section – about 225 KM of pure chaos – Road work throughout on the National highway (for ages) and the MC Toad as recommended by my friends being very crowded, and passing through busy towns of Kottayam, Changanacherry, Thiruvalla … and so on. This is where Google Map recommended me an alternate route through the high range – and this was the most enjoyable drive I had in almost 3 years of my Kodiaq – Winding up & down road with practically zero traffic for most part, perfect asphalt surface throughout, picture perfect landscape through Kerala’s lush greenery, view of the western ghats in many places and sometimes through idyllic plantations and boy oh boy, what a bliss was that with the Kodiaq’s silky smooth abundance of power and great, sedan like handling – the weather was overcast throughout that made the feeling even more special. In the end, I averaged only 42KM/h, but I was never stopped in any traffic jam and it was all soaking up how good the Kodiaq handles these kind of terrain with slopes and curves – while not a corner carver like the BMW, Kodiaq owners know what I’m speaking about. The journey from Aluva to Trivandrum took 6 hrs:26mins ( as opposed to indicated 6 hrs:55 mins via MC road and 7 hrs:30 mins via National Highway). I strongly recommend this route for those who are traveling from Kochi to Trivandrum if you have a vehicle without much body roll and good torque, you will enjoy it every bit thoroughly. Word of caution – this road hardly touches any towns until Patthanamthitta and hence options for decent restaurants with restrooms are very limited. The other factor is that you are pretty much in your own if your car develops a snag or a puncture as it is not exactly close to mainstream workshops and hence best avoided for night time driving – the route is not exactly deserted as it goes through plantations and fields and there are palacious houses and impressive churches lining most of the way and you do cross the MC road and some other major arterial roads along the way, but the combination of the terrain, lack of traffic and the perfect road surface is what gave me the pure 4+ hours of driving bliss. Providing the route details below: Aluva – Koothattukukam- Cherpunkal -Vazhoor – Manimala – Pathanamthitta – Punaloor – Valakom – MC Road for the last bit to TVM Return drive to Bangalore was the more conventional highway via Nagercoil – Tirunelveli – Salem and was 12 hours door to door ( including breakfast and lunch stops) of effortless cruising till Bangalore traffic brought me back to reality starting right from Hosur border. Added 2000 kms this trip, finally making it to 20,000km over almost 3 years of pure joyful ownership. Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.
