Mumbai Black Cheetah Roaming in Tamil Nadu: Mahindra XUV500 W6


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In year 2017, I had done road trip to Gangotri in May and another in October to Dehradun, in December wife said lets go to someplace for New Year, checked few places but most of them were packed, after doing Kerala in 2015 Tamilnadu was next in my list, quickly checked few hotels and there was availability. Started research read few blogs and finalized the plan as below:

Day 1 – Mumbai – Salem
Day 2 – Salem – Yercaud - Salem
Day 3 – Salem - Pondicherry
Day 4 – Pondicherry – Mahabalipuram – Ramanathapuram
Day 5 – Ramanathapuram - Rameswaram - Ramanathapuram
Day 6 – Ramanathapuram - Kanyakumari - Tirunelveli
Day 7 - Tirunelveli - Kodaikanal
Day 8 – Kodaikanal
Day 9 – Kodaikanal
Day 10 - Kodaikanal – Tumkur
Day 11 – Tumkur - Mumbai

Service (30,000) of the car was done in June, so done a quick check-up and was ready to roll.

Total distance – 4411 KM
Total passenger – 4
Vehicle – Mahindra XUV 5OO
ODO – 35000 (approx)
Total fuel – 345 Litre
Fuel average- 12.8 kmpl (100% A/C)
Toll: Rs 4483

Day 1 (22 - 23 Dec, 2017)
Route: Mumbai – Pune – Kolhapur – Hubballi – Bengaluru – Krishnagiri – Dharmapuri – Salem
Distance: 1200km
Travel Time: 19hrs (including 2.5hrs break)

On 22nd I worked from home, and in the evening did a full tank. I thought to take some rest as the plan was to start at 12am, had early dinner and went for sleep but could not get any, finally thought to start, loaded luggage and started at 11:20pm, traffic was fine crossed Vashi toll by 11:45pm. Stopped at Khalapur food court on Mumbai-Pune express highway at 12:45am took a 15min break. Found some traffic on bend just before Lonavala wasted some 20min there, crossing Pune was easy reached Khed toll plaza at 3:20am stopped for 10min tea break after crossing toll, there were very few vehicles on road, NH4 is a 4 lane divided highway and is in good condition, crossed Kini toll plaza before Kolhapur at 5:35am and entered Karnataka at 6:15am. Road conditions are even better in Karnataka here NH4 is 6 land divided highway, as it was early morning and very less traffic I was getting good average, crossed Belgaum and stopped at Kamat Upachar for Breakfast before Dharwad, it was decent place with clean bathrooms, weather was little chill enjoyed hot sheera, upma, idli and dosa, total time spent 50min. Started after breakfast at 8:45am, stretch between Dharwad and Hubballi is a 3 lane undivided highway, finally stopped for diesel at Reliance Chitradurg (took exit from highway total time taken 15min) toilets were clean there. Traffic started building up after Tumkur, reached Bangalore by 1:30pm everyone was hungry by now, slowed down car a little and started hunting for good restaurant but couldn’t find any on highway, google was showing some but for that had to take detour which I did not wanted to do, finally stopped at one around 2pm near Electronic city on service lane, parking was problem but guard made some parking space for us, food was really good. Finally started at 3:15pm after Bangalore traffic increased due to holiday season, I was driving slow as was tired, crossed Krishnagiri toll plaza by 4:30pm, in Tamilnadu police had done barricading on highway due to which there were few traffic jams around barricades. Crossed Omalur toll by 6:15pm, in Salem due to barricading there was huge traffic jam, finally reached hotel at 6:30pm. Had early dinner and retired for the day.

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Re: Mumbai Black Cheetah roaming in Tamilnadu: Mahindra XUV500 W6

Great Start !! Waiting for more!!
That was really long distance which you covered on first day. Driving from Mumbai to Salem single handed is really great. [clap]
 
Thread Starter #4
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Day 2 (24 Dec, 2017)
Route: Salem – Yercaud - Salem
Distance: 100KM

Today plan was bit relaxed, Salem is on the foothills of Yercaud which is a small hill station around 30km from Salem. Due to my last minute plan I could not get any booking at Yercaud. After heavy breakfast left for Yercaud at 10am. Road from Salem to Yercaud was narrow but was in decent condition. Stopped on the way up for pics.

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Cheetah enjoying good view
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After that our first stop was Karadiyoor View Point which is some 10km from city centre, we reached there around 11:45am, parked our car on road and hiked some 0.5km to reach view point.

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From there next destination was Shevaroy Temple, which was on the way to city, reached there by 1:05pm. There was ample of parking, washroom and few food stalls, they have a temple and a view point to see. Had some chai and pakodas there.

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Next stop was Pagoda Point which was on the other side of town some 7km from Shevaroy temple. There were few parking spaces and this place was comparatively crowded, we reached there by 2:45pm.

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Next stop was Lady’s seat, they have good parking space and again was crowded, this is some 3-4km from Pagoda point, we reached there by 3:30pm.

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Last stop was Gent’s seat which was 0.5km from Lady’s seat and it has Yercaud Rose Garden next to it, unfortunately there were no roses, but view from Gent’s seat were amazing.

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Finally left Yercaud at 4pm, reached Salem around 5:15pm stopped at a Mall had local food and filter coffee, reached hotel around 6:30pm. Our hotel had arranged Christmas party, enjoyed it and hit bed by 10pm.
 
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Nice start and good pictures. That 1000+ kms marathon driving is a fantastic effort! [clap][clap] Without considering the breaks the average speed works to around 73 km/hr, so what was the top speeds that you touched?

By the way I am a frequent visitor to Salem, my in-laws are in Salem, but never been to Yercaud since childhood. So I plan to visit Yercaud some time in the near future. For me, Chennai - Salem is just 5:30 to 6 hours...
 
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Thread Starter #6
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Nice start and good pictures. That 1000+ kms marathon driving is a fantastic effort! [clap][clap] Without considering the breaks the average speed works to around 73 km/hr, so what was the top speeds that you touched?

By the way I am a frequent visitor to Salem, my in-laws are in Salem, but never been to Yercaud since childhood. So I plan to visit Yercaud some time in the near future. For me, Chennai - Salem is just 5:30 to 6 hours...
Thanks for kind words [:)], sorry but respecting forum I can only say, as I started drive at night due to low traffic I got good average.

You should plan to visit Yercaud its a nice small hill station.
 
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Day 3 (25 Dec, 2017)
Route: Salem – Attur – Ulundurpet – Villupuram – Villianur – Puducherry – Auroville – Puducherry
Distance: 250km
Travel Time: 4hrs

Today plan was to start early and reach Puducherry by lunch, Auroville is around 12km out of Puducherry so I thought to cover it first. Left Salem at 8:20am, road from Salem to Puducherry is a 4 lane divided highway, which was in good condition and with less traffic. Crossed Mettupatti toll at 8:45am, Nathakkarai toll at 9:25am, Sengurichi toll at 10am and Moratandi Plaza at 11:55am. Moratandi toll is at the exit of Puducherry so after crossing toll cops told me to stop the car, but as he realized I have family with me he told me to go, I think due to cheap liquor prices at Puducherry there is a heavy checking. We reached Auroville at 12:10pm, due to holiday season there was lot of crowd so parked car on the road. From parking Matrimandir is around 1km, they have complementary shuttle service but there was a big queue so we walked. Auroville is very well maintained, clean with lots of trees around and good walking paths.

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Matrimandir
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Thread Starter #8
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Left Auroville around 1pm topped-up diesel on the way and finally reached hotel at 2pm. After lunch rested for some time and in the evening went for a walk to Rock Beach which was very near to hotel, beach was too windy. Due of Christmas there were some functions going on the road side. Puducherry beach promenade is around 1.5-2km long and all the main attractions are on it, in the evening vehicular traffic is restricted on promenade. Reached back to hotel by 8pm, had early dinner and retired for the day.

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Thread Starter #9
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Day 4 (26 Dec, 2017)
Route: Pondicherry – Mahabalipuram – Tindivanam – Villupuram – Tiruchirappalli – Devakottai - Ramanathapuram
Distance: 560km
Travel Time: 11hrs (including 3.5hrs break)

Today’s plan was to reach Ramanathapuram which is 50km from Rameswaram, due to my last minute plan I could not get any hotel at Rameswaram so booked one at a nearby town. I was very interested in visiting Mahabalipuram as it was only 100km from Puducherry. Google was showing travel time of 6.5hrs between Puducherry and Ramanathapuram, discussed with family about the plan a night before and asked them their views on visiting Mahabalipuram, luckily everyone agreed and were ready for covering more kms. I planned to start little early so that we reach Mahabalipuram by 9am cover everything in next 2 hours and leave at 11am.

We were ready by 6:45am but at the hotel we were staying breakfast was not ready by then, waited for some time and finally had breakfast and left Puducherry at 7:45am. Mahabalipuram was 100km from hotel, took East Coast road which is a 3 lane undivided highway, road condition was good. East Coast road runs parallel to coast and connects Puducherry to Chennai. As it was little early I could maintain good speed and reached Mahabalipuram by 9:15am. First we went to Shore temple, parked car at a parking near temple.

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Thread Starter #10
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Left car at the parking and walked for 0.5km to reach Arjuna's Penance & Krishan’s Butter Ball, took a guide there who showed us around.

Arjuna's Penance
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Krishan’s Butter Ball
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Thread Starter #11
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Picked car and went to Pancha Ratha, parked car at a parking near attraction.

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Finally left Mahabaliparam at 11:45am, by then it was very hot outside. Connecting road from Mahabalipuram to till you connect NH32 (Chennai – Trichi highway) is a 2 lane undivided road which passes through villages and had few bad patches. NH32 is a 4 lane divided highway with ggod road condition, crossed Athur Toll Plaza at 12:55pm, stopped for lunch on highway near Villupuram at around 1:30pm, after nice lunch we were back on road by 2:30pm. Crossed Samayapuram Toll Plaza just before Tiruchirappalli at 3:50pm, and stopped for a 10min tea break at Tiruchirappalli. Crossed Lembalakudi Toll Plaza at 5:15pm, after Devakottai road was in bad shape, finally reached hotel at Ramanathpuram at 7pm, everyone was tired so had early dinner and retied for the day.
 
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Superb travelogue[clap]
looking forward for the following days....
Reading your thread made me realise that a roadtrip to the opposite shore(Mahabalipuram) from Mumbai is possible too.
 
Thread Starter #13
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Superb travelogue[clap]
looking forward for the following days....
Reading your thread made me realise that a roadtrip to the opposite shore(Mahabalipuram) from Mumbai is possible too.
Definitely possible and am sure you will enjoy it, road from Mumbai to Mahabalipuram is throughout minimum 4 lane divided highway and in very good condition.
 

bhvm

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Superb travelogue.
Mahabalipuram has some interesting and controversial history regarding alien gods and reptilian gods. There are also models of rockets & Spacecraft cleverly hidden in architecture. You found some clues?
 
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Thread Starter #15
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Superb travelogue.
Mahabalipuram has some interesting and controversial history regarding alien gods and reptilian gods. There are also models of rockets & Spacecraft cleverly hidden in architecture. You found some clues?
Oops I didn't knew about it [sad]
 

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