That aside.

The idea then was to avoid all modes of public transport and head to Mumbai from Bangalore. The car was the only answer.

Onward Road Condition

(See attached Map)

Road conditions from Bangalore to Tumkur is good only after Neelamangala. We started early at about 3 AM but still managed to get bogged down by insane truck traffic on Tumkur road. I did have this half baked idea to take NICE road and get out faster, but somehow picking up a friend from Sarjapur road and then traveling half a world around Bangalore did not make sense at that time.

At 6 AM, still sitting at a Cafe Coffee Day outside Tumkur made a lot of sense of the NICE road plan. The Mytas Construction going at a less than desired pace, the section from Yeshvanthpur till Neelamangala is exceptionally bad. Anyone taking this road should try and avoid it at all costs. Taking the NICE road will save you some time, but only ‘Some’.

The Route taken from Bangalore till Mumbai.

At about 630 AM we headed out straight into Tumkur. Had read on online Forums that the condition of the Tumkur Bypass was less than ordinary. We tried to avoid that and went through the city instead. That took some more time than usually needed. The rain and mud helped as well.

After about 45 minutes and out of Tumkur, we punched the gas on the nicely laid out NH4 before us. Road conditions from Tumkur till Chitradurga is excellent. Toll gates are there to thank for the better roads. It’s definitely a welcome change after the harrowing experience through Tumkur and Neelamangala.

This does change drastically after Chitradurga. But that later.

The Diversion

A possible route to Pune and Mumbai also exists via NH13 and Solapur, which happens to intersect NH4 (and actually merge for a while) on this route. At some parts of this section, the signage does read as NH13 and that was enough to prompt us to stop and ask for directions (from probably the worst guy ever). The direction to Pune was for the Solapur route, and that meant that we were headed on NH13 instead of NH4 for the next few minutes crossing about 20 odd kilometers. Realizing the problem, we promptly stopped, turned around and headed back to find NH4, did not take long, gave dirts to the chai wala who thought otherwise and continued.

The Bad stuff

The section of road from Davangere (after Chitradurga) till Ranebennur on NH4 is exceptionally bad. It actually makes you like Swine Flu (or any other disease) better than the road travel. The construction of NH4 on this sections is stopped, half done, stalled etc. Not a single section of the road is either un-touched and left as it was old, or complete as it should be. The 60 odd kms feel like a million. You also feel like personally killing the next guy collecting toll at the next booth.

And the good stuff

Well if that toll booth comes, what comes with it are excellent roads after Ranebennur. Things start to fly. Haveri till Hubli, the roads improve further. The Hubli – Dharwad bypass is excellent, though only 2 lanes and no median. Things after Dharwad are a dream run. Although we managed to cross Dharwad at about 2 PM, Pune came up easy by 5 PM. And then there was Mumbai – Pune expressway. By 9 PM we were sipping tea in a Hotel Room and planning our next day.

The Return Path

We did not want to experiment much. There were two drivers and I had to be in Bangalore by next morning. After finishing our meeting somewhere deep inside Mumbai, we headed out. By this time it was already 4 PM, which surely meant that a complete night drive was in store. The first leg was my turn.

Got out of Mumbai in the next 2 hours and reached Pune by 8 PM, although we wanted to have dinner but the impending danger of Swine Flu made us drive all the way till outskirts of Satara in the next hour for some chicken. Swines were not on the menu.

Zip zap

Great roads combined with zero traffic and the occasional sleepy toll booth and patrol guy meant that we were already getting ready for the Ranebennur till Davangere battle by first signs of Sunlight. 4 AM driver change went off smoothly, I have this 4 AM and 4 PM problem when I just have to grab that 1 hour nap, after which I am ok for the next whole day (although not recommended)

By 9 AM we were about to get into Tumkur when we dogged down by a stray jumping though the median, the dog survived, the car, even though I braked, took a hit on the bumper and all the pedestrian safety stuff worked and showed the crumple zones. First hit in so many KMs of highway drives.

Worried by the crack and the delayed entry into Bangalore, we still managed to miss the NICE road and landed in extreme traffic accentuated by rain from the previous night. But no point going into details of that. After dropping my friend at Sarjapur Road, I was home by 1 PM, it had taken us longer to get into Bangalore that actually get out of Mumbai and travel till Dharwad.

Next time, take the NICE road.