After being on four wheels (Read tyres) continuously for about 5 days, I am back on my feet finally! During the said period, I clocked about 1650 kms on road, and about 206 kms on railways. I started from Bangalore on June 10, 2009, and finally stopped at Kodungallur on June 15, 2009 traveling via Madikeri, Kasargod, Mangalore, Sullya, Bangalore, Mysore, Kozhikode, Thrissur, Kodungallur, Cherai, Ernakulam, Trivandrum, Alappuzha, Nedumudy, Vyttila and Varapuzha (Phew!).
From Ernakulam to Trivandrum was by train - the 2075 Jan Shatabdi Express!!! That was my first journey on a JS, and I was totally excited. The train was perfectly on time at Trivandrum, and we had a mind boggling run from Kollam to Trivandrum as well. The loco that worked my train was WAP4 #22388 of Erode, and my coach was WSCZACJ 02151 (C1).
The journey was done on different modes of transport, in different legs. Some notes of the journey are here.....
Started from Bangalore by car - I was at the wheels. We (myself with my brother, and sis-in-law) started from home at 0700, and reached Kasaragod at 1350. This includes a 30 minute break (0800 ~ 0830) at Kamat Upachar (Loka Ruchi), near Ramanagaram. The journey was amazing. The roads were good at most parts, except the Kushal Nagar - Sullya stretch.
From Kasaragod, I headed (All alone) to Mangalore by a Karnataka SRTC Karnataka Sarige bus. The Rs. 27 journey lasted about two hours. The bus was part of the fleet introduced recently amid great fanfare between Mangalore and Kasargode.
From Mangalore, it was a KSRTC Airavat to Bangalore. The ticket said that we would go via Hassan, while the bus actually went via Madikeri. This is, reportedly, due to bad roads on the route via Hassan. The driver pushed in old Volvo (It was a Mark-II bus) to its limits, and we made it to Bangalore by 0645.
From Bangalore, it was yet another KSRTC Airavat to Thrissur. This is was incident that let me down. The bus - that was scheduled to depart at 1830 - left only at 1900, and we arrived Thrissur only at 0530. That is a good 10-and-a-half hours for a Volvo! What made me more sad was the fact that the Kerala SRTC AC bus that left Bangalore at 1930 had already arrived at Thrissur when my bus rolled in. The only saving grace was the fact that the bus was a new one, in the 9400 series.
From Thrissur to Kodungallur (my home town) was by a local bus, and from Kodungallur to Ernakulam was by Car. We went to Ernakulam, from Kodungallur, through a different route this time. The normal route is via Paravur, Varapuzha Bridge, Edapally. This time, we decided to check out the Njarackal - Goshree bridge route. The route is amazing, and is pretty fast.
From Ernakulam to Trivandrum was by train - the 2075 Jan Shatabdi Express!!! That was my first journey on a JS, and I was totally excited. The train was perfectly on time at Trivandrum, and we had a mind boggling run from Kollam to Trivandrum as well. The loco that worked my train was WAP4 #22388 of Erode, and my coach was WSCZACJ 02151 (C1).
From Trivandrum to Alappuzha was by a KSRTC Super Fast bus. The bus was RRK902 of Irinjalakuda depot. That was my first Super Fast Journey since 2007, and the first in a "new generation" KSRTC Leyland bus. The run was mind-boggling, and we covered the 160km distance in just three hours and 15 minutes.
Expect more details of the Bus and train journeys in the days to come... just stay tuned till then. I have uploaded the photos of my train journey here... have a look at them, and do remember to post your valuable comments.
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