Palakkad to Pune

The Logan’s clutch plate gave up in one of the many trips we took while visiting relatives in Kerala. We gave the vehicle to the garage to get it fixed and were told that the car would not be ready in time for our return on Saturday.

This meant that we started our return on Sunday, 31 May 2026.

We started early in the morning and made our way to Coimbatore. Google Maps pointed us to a road in parallel to L&T Bypass in Coimbatore and we followed that path. Rakesh ettan also confirmed that they were suggested the same route yesterday (30 May).

We made the breakfast stop at Sree Sarvana Bhavan at 8:30 AM. We’ve stopped here each time we have passed through and have had good food here.

We had to make more frequent refuelling stops as my fuel gauge was not giving the correct picture. The fuel tank would be full and the gauge would show that it is not. I refuelled every 300 km or so.

Rakesh ettan told us that they had a huge traffic going into Bengaluru at the Atibele toll. Hence, we decided to have an early lunch when we reach Atibele and do not want to be stuck hungry in the Bengaluru traffic.

We stopped for lunch at Srinidhi Vaibhav, a little before the toll gate. There was a police vehicle outside the restaurant but the huge contingent was only taking an early lunch break as well.

We had nearly empty roads through Electronics City as we made our way to NICE road to bypass the city and go towards Tumkur. There were many by-passes as work was in progress on the Highway.

We made more time in the evening. We were discussing in the car about where to take our stop. I wanted to stop in Hubli again but at the different location other than Hotel Naveen. Rakesh ettan had stopped at the Fortune Park Airport Hotel. We decided to stop at the same spot.

We stopped at a nice stop called Naivedyam Family Restaurant at Madakaripura and got a few nice pics from outside the restaurant.

We reached the Fortune Park Airport Hotel at 9 PM. We had called the hotel earlier when we reached Naivedyam. They had told us that the stay for the kids was free. However, when we reached the hotel they charged more for the extra bed that they would need to sleep in than the cost of the room. Do they expect the kids to sleep on the floor?

I left the point as we were tired after a long drive and paid up. We liked the dinner at night which was a buffet style. There was work in progress in the hotel and so the gym, the swimming pool, and the spa were closed. Hence, we started at 7 am in the morning.

Google Maps pointed us to a way that took us out to the Highway directly and we were riding in under-construction highway roads which we usually skip when we go to Hotel Naveen.

We stopped at Hotel Udipi Vaibhav for breakfast around 8 am. We enjoyed the food and had great service there.

We stopped at Atithi Family Restaurant for an early lunch a little after half past midday, after we crossed over into Maharashtra. We got to fill our stomachs but the food wasn’t the greatest.

We reached home a little before 5 PM on Monday. I think the fact that it was a Monday hit us only after we reached home. We missed the early evening traffic of office-goers returning home.