Coimbatore to Bangalore - Driving alone

After almost a year I was going to drive from Coimbatore to Bangalore without a person for company. This time the vehicle was Maruti 800, the old warhorse which has clocked 1.5 lac kms in the odometer. Left home after tea in the evening hoping to get to Mettur by night fall. Got to Trichy road from home and took it to reach L&T toll gate in Chintamanipudur. Drove past the toll to Avanashi via Nilambur and Karumathampatti. Early evening traffic on the two laned NH-47 made the drive tight and packed though I got to Avanashi with 6 minutes to spare for an hour.

A block in the usual Mettupalayam road junction got the traffic stacked up in Avanashi town. After reaching Chengapally the drive was faster in comparison and it took just 30 minutes to cover 44 kms to reach Bhavani. The drive towards Mettur via Ammapettai was marred with shoddy roads and diminishing day light. The clock showed 19:12 IST when exiting Mettur dam and taking the road to Thoppur. The distance of 84 kms from Komarapalayam to Thoppur 4 landed road junction took 90 minutes, the average speed worked out to 56 kmph which is not bad given the heavy traffic and twilight conditions.

Joining the NH7 at Thoppur was relieving, the next 9 kms to Thoppur L&T toll gate took 10 mins and I stopped for a much deserved rest at Adyar Ananda Bhavan (AAB), the first stop coming after 198 kms. After a 30 mins dinner break I rejoined the road. The second leg of the journey was quicker due to NH7 and the general dislike for the night by most on the road helped speed the journey up, 44 minutes and 66 kms later I got to the NHAI toll booth in Krishnagiri. The clock showed 21:14 ISt and I had 87 kms to cover before calling it a day.

Driving to Hosur from here took 40 minutes (47 kms) and a small traffic holdup on the road in front of the inter city bus stand took a good 10 minutes to clear. After another 51 minutes I managed to cover the remaining 40 minutes of the journey to reach home and doze off into the night. Here's a quick stats cheat sheet.

Route: Coimbatore to Bangalore via Avanashi, Bhavani, Mettur, Thoppur, Krishnagiri, Hosur

Departure: 12th July 2009, 1634 IST (Sungam Bypass, Coimbatore)

Arrival: 12th July 2009, 2246 IST (Viveknagar, Bangalore)

Total distance - 351 kms

Time taken - 6 hours 12 minutes (includes a 30 min stopover for dinner at AAB, Thoppur)

Average speed - 56.6 kmph 

Average speed after deducting break time - 61.6 kmph

Fastest sector - Thoppur to Krishnagiri (NH7) - 66 kms in 44 mins (Avg speed - 90 kmph)

Slowest sector - Hosur to Silk board - 34 kms in 37 mins (Avg speed - 55 kmph)

Max speed achieved - 140 kmph

Fuel consumed - 18 lts (Petrol)

Mileage - 19.5 kmpl