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Old 26th October 2021, 15:10   #211
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Originally Posted by Dr.AD View Post

Suzlon Power and BMW Power put in perspective :
Attachment 2217595
This is a fantastic picture with a unique/rare perspective. It is a fairly legacy low-tech wind turbine and no match for your ultra modern smooth BMW :-)

Servicing a BMW is a piece of cake in comparison though!
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-windturbineservicing.png
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Old 26th October 2021, 20:51   #212
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This is a fantastic picture with a unique/rare perspective.
Thank you very much!

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It is a fairly legacy low-tech wind turbine and no match for your ultra modern smooth BMW :-)
It may be relatively low tech, but my fascination for the windmills goes well beyond the level of technology involved. Just the concept of converting wind energy into electricity is so beautiful, so clean. so pure. The blades themselves (the shape, the design and the balance) are engineering masterpieces. They represent pure poetry in motion. I love watching the windmill blades just rotate magically, and generating electricity in the process. A windmill never ceases to amaze me. It is one of the purest forms of engineering.

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Servicing a BMW is a piece of cake in comparison though!
Attachment 2223921
Wow. Thank you for sharing this picture. Is this something you shot? Do you or your company work with windmills? Sorry if I am asking the wrong question but I am just curious about this picture. Thanks.
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Old 27th October 2021, 08:30   #213
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Wow. Thank you for sharing this picture. Is this something you shot? Do you or your company work with windmills? Sorry if I am asking the wrong question but I am just curious about this picture. Thanks.
I wish I could take credit for that photo, it is just something I happen to have on my computer (originally sourced from internet) Someone I know works in this industry and this is a topic of many conversations that I never get bored of. Wind power vs Solar power is almost like ICE vehicle vs EV - so much of complicated mechanical engineering involved vs boring electronics. Thankfully wind power will remain relevant as long as winters exist. Sorry for going off-topic.
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Old 27th October 2021, 23:46   #214
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re: Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!

One of my favorite threads on the forum. The Famous Adventures of Doc and the Red Hottie

Always a delight reading your travelogues, viewing the photographs and reading through your experience log. A delight and quite educational for the readers.

Thank you Doc, look forward to the next set of adventures!
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Old 1st November 2021, 18:48   #215
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Originally Posted by BeMyWings View Post
One of my favorite threads on the forum. The Famous Adventures of Doc and the Red Hottie
Thank you very much for your appreciation and kind words.

However, I am not sure my drives deserve the tag of "Adventures". I would surely love to do more adventurous drives and drive my car cross-country and to far away locations. But unfortunately, due to hectic work schedules, the only time off I can afford is on the weekends. Thus, my drives are pretty much restricted to weekend drives to nearby places.

Talking of weekend drives, I did a couple of short weekend drives to nearby places again. Nothing worth a detailed report. But just to keep this thread alive, let me share some miscellaneous photos from some casual/short drives over last 2-3 weeks.

One recent weekend we did a family trip (with my wife and parents) to a resort near Mysore.

My car parked while we had lunch at a highway restaurant:
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-20211023_125523-2.jpg


A section of great roads on our way to Mysore:
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-20211023_133512.jpg


Another random shot on the way:
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-20211023_134803-2.jpg


"Nariyal Paani" (coconut water) is our favorite drink on the highway drives. Customary coconut water break on the return leg:
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-20211024_131522.jpg


Then just a couple of days ago, we thought of doing a night drive. My wife loves dosas at "Murugan Idli Shop" on the Bangalore-Krishnagiri highway. So we ended up doing a quick night drive there to eat their dosas:
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-20211028_220010-2.jpg


While on the way there, the traffic was dense and that never allowed me to open up the throttle. But at the same time, traffic was flowing smoothly and it allowed me to maintain decent average speeds. The result of this sedate driving was such FE numbers:
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-20211028_212237-2.jpg


And of course, the delicious dosa (and don't miss the bowl of sweet pongal that I always eat there) that we drove there for:
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-20211028_213153.jpg


And then finally, a weekend lunch meeting with @robimahanta's GTI (we also had another lunch meeting with his M340i, but I don't have a picture together that day):
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-20211030_16440001.jpg


My apologies for these mundane updates. But that is all I have been doing last 2-3 weeks. I hope a bit more exciting drives will happen in November. Let's see.
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Old 22nd November 2021, 18:25   #216
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Weekend Drive to Chikmagalur



It had been about three weeks since I drove my BMW out on a weekend drive. It rained very heavily in Bangalore last couple of weeks. We faced plenty of water logging and terrible road conditions due to heavy rain last two weeks. That made me reluctant to drive my BMW (however nice the BMW is to drive, it has one serious issue - it hates water). Instead, I used my beater car (Maruti SX4) last two weekends. SX4 had to go through plenty of water logging. We actually had nightmarish drives on a couple of occasions when I had to drive out in the heavy rain due to some unavoidable reasons. This 320d would have never managed what SX4 could manage in these times. While I am extremely thankful to my SX4 for doing the dirty duty of driving through water, mud, slush, broken roads and all that kind of stuff, I kept on missing driving my BMW out on open highways.

Therefore, when it looked like the rain would stop this weekend and the weather radar looked a bit clearer (owners of BMW sedans would relate to this: you must keep checking weather radars and forecasts before you plan a drive ), I decided to drive out this weekend. My wife had been busy with some major conference till last weekend. This weekend, she was free and was in a relaxed mood as her conference was over. Thus, it was a perfect time for us to spend a weekend together in a drive to some nice place. The plan was just to be in some scenic place and relax, listening to music and reading books. And of course, I wanted to drive the car and take some car photos too.

With that motivation, we planned a drive to Chikmagalur. We booked a resort which apparently has great mountain views and balconies where we could sit and relax soaking in the mountain views (and this turned out to be true - the resort did offer fantastic views from our room and the balcony). And I planned a drive around that mountain too.

Route Map: This was the driving circuit I followed (in clockwise direction):
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-map.jpg

We drove from Bangalore to Chikmagalur via Hassan on Day 1. And then on Day 2 we returned via Tarikere and Hiriyur.

Day 1:

We started a bit late from our home (around 8:30AM), under heavy cloud cover. It looked like it would rain a lot. After having done so many rainy drives this whole extended monsoon season, I was keenly hoping for a sunny and dry drive. However, this was certainly not a day for that. It is almost end of November, but still the rainy season is continuing. And that day started just like another rainy day.

When we reached our first snacks/coffee break near Hassan, it was raining. The car looked like this, soaked in the rain:
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-20211120_114820.jpg

However, luckily for us, the weather cleared after we started driving further. The rest of the day we did not get any noticeable rain except for an occasional shower. The skies were cloudy. But the air was dry and crisp. Ambient temperatures were very pleasant. We had the best of the weather and driving conditions through the rest of the day, and we loved every moment of it!

Soon after we crossed Belur, we saw one Yagachi Dam Park on the left. The map showed huge blue water body on my left as I was driving, and that made me look out on the left, and I noticed a proper parking spot and a gate for Yagachi Dam Park and Viewpoint. We parked our car there and took a stroll to the viewpoint.

A view at Yagachi Dam Park:
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-20211120_130422.jpg

The park offered a small walk with good views all around. The water body is huge and there are some excellent water views as well. It is definitely a good place to spend some time walking around and enjoying the views.

I had a chosen a resort about 25km away from Chikmagalur city, on SH57 towards Tarikere. The reason for choosing this resort was the location. I love to drive on this SH57. It is a ghat road that offers excellent sections with smooth tarmac, lovely turns and corners to enjoy the handling of the car, and of course great scenic views all around. This road also offers great photography locations.

After we crossed Chikmagalur and started driving on this SH57, I could not resist getting down and spending some time taking car photos. While I was busy taking photos, my wife enjoyed stepping out and breathing the fresh clean air, and soaking in the serene ambiance there.

Beginning of my favorite section on SH57:
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-dsc_64842.jpg


A couple of shots on a particularly nice corner:
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-dsc_65142.jpg



Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-dsc_64922.jpg


My favorite section of the Chikmagalur driving circuit:
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-20211120_1430052.jpg


Visiting an Idyllic Coffee Shop: One of our favorite places in that area is "Coffeebarn Cafe". This is now renamed as Halli Berri Coffee and Cottages. This is just a couple of km away from our resort, and this was also one of the reasons for choosing this resort.

The Coffee Shop is on the side of this hilly road:
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-20211120_144351.jpg


The Idyllic Coffee Shop nestled in the lush green setting:
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-20211120_145134.jpg


Our table, hidden behind these flowers and trees:
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-20211120_145321.jpg


After eating some delicious sandwiches, we ordered the main item - their famous coffee with absolutely freshly made fries:
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-20211120_151453.jpg


And finally, a banana cake to wrap up our visit to this coffee shop:
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-20211120_151857.jpg

By the time we finished our lunch and coffee there, dark clouds had gathered in the sky, and it was quite dark and gloomy in general. It looked like it will start raining heavily any moment. So we decided to check into our resort and take it easy for the rest of the day.

In the Resort:

Our resort was a place called Blossom Resort. I had chosen this primarily for the location - located on my favorite driving circuit, away from the city, close to our favorite coffee shop, and most importantly, offering great views of the hills. It is not a super fancy luxury resort. However, it is a good clean 4-star resort. It offers clean, spacious and airy rooms with wide open windows and balconies, a spacious and secure parking lot (one of my most important criteria when choosing a place to stay), and the location advantages I mentioned above.

We had booked a suite, which offers great mountain views.

Our room, which was spacious, clean, airy and bright:
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-20211120_155109.jpg

View from our balcony shows the dark clouds that had engulfed the hills by this time (the hills are quite close to the resort, but they look far away in the pictures):
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-dsc_6548.jpg


A closer look at the hills and the clouds on the top:
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-dsc_65312.jpg


Restaurant with a view! The hills are constant backdrop no matter where you are in the resort, and this restaurant is no exception:
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-20211120_173156.jpg


After a round of coffee and snacks at the restaurant, we came back to our room and enjoyed our main agenda: relaxing there soaking in the views. My wife took out a book and sat in the balcony reading the book. I put on my headphones and started listening to my favorite music, while enjoying the views and the changing cloud patterns:

A tree stump looked interesting on the cloudy backdrop:
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-dsc_6546.jpg


I could watch and photograph these clouds on the hills for hours:
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-dsc_6556.jpg


Zooming in on the distance, I could even spot a waterfall on the mountains, when the cloud cover lifted partially for some time:
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-dsc_6552.jpg

Overall we had a great time relaxing there enjoying the views and the weather. We spent the rest of the day just chilling there and enjoying the views.


Day 2: Plan for this day was to drive across the same mountains (or hills, if you don't want to call them mountains) we were enjoying the views of on Day 1. This SH57, which goes from Chikmagalur to Tarikere, crosses these same mountains, and is quite a scenic route.

To our pleasant surprise, it was bright and sunny when we got up. It had been a while since I saw such beautiful sunny morning. It was a really nice experience:

When we got up and came to our balcony, we were greeted by such sunny views:
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-dsc_6563.jpg


We took a stroll through the resort, enjoying the sunny views (and notice the blue sky; this was a rarity for us in recent times):
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-20211121_085523.jpg

As we started our drive back (or forward, since technically we continued further on the same loop as on Day 1), we were now on those same mountains. Again, I could not resist some taking a few car photos in that scenic drive.

Descending down the ghats on SH57:
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-dsc_6578.jpg


Somewhere on the side of the road:
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-dsc_65892.jpg


It was bright and sunny now, and both I and the car enjoyed the sunny weather (and of course such delicious corners of the road) after a long time:
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-dsc_6601.jpg


A parting shot on SH57 before we reached Tarikere:
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-dsc_66092.jpg

By the time we reached Tarikere, we had descended the mountains and now we were on flat tracks. The road from Tarikere to Hosadurga (this is SH24, by the way) is flat, but still quite scenic. It is a wide state highway with smooth and well-marked tarmac, some nice turns and corners once in a while, and with lush green trees and farms on both sides. Driving on this road was quite enjoyable too.

Very enjoyable SH24 with such lovely tarmac, trees, and corners:
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-dsc_6612.jpg


My car enjoying the views of the upcoming corner too, and of course, the bright sunny conditions for a change: Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-dsc_6617.jpg


Finally, a parting shot of my car on SH24:
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-dsc_6631.jpg

After that, the return drive was quite straightforward. I know these roads very well since this is part of my usual driving circuit. Although it was a simple and known drive, it was not necessarily uneventful. After enjoying such lovely roads for two days, I had my fair share of bad roads in the final stretch of the drive. When I reached close to Hiriyur, the last section of the state highway was closed for some work, and the cops there diverted us onto some random village road. It was a challenge to maneuver the 320d on these narrow village roads full of potholes and mud. After a bit of this challenging detour, where I had to be very careful and slow, and constantly pray that the roads don't get any worse than what I could manage, I finally joined a bigger road that took me back to Hiriyur. At Hiriyur, we joined the main NH48, the six-lane National Highway.

NH48 is amazing to drive on from Hiriyur to Sira. In fact, this is one of the best sections of six-lane tarmac you can find anywhere in the country. However, from Sira to Tumkur is pretty bad again, thanks to the hundreds of sudden potholes in the middle of the fast road. These potholes are there since more than two years now, and it takes a very careful driving to avoid crashing in one of these potholes at typical highway speeds. It was (and has always been) a slow, annoying and painful section to drive on. Somehow this time this section felt worse than the usual, and there were many new potholes this time. Luckily, with lot of patience and careful driving, I managed to negotiate this section quite well.

And then the final twist in the tale was the weather. I enjoyed the sunny drive all day (without even a drop of rain) and was thanking my luck for this bright weather and the dry drive that I got after a lot of praying and hoping. However, my joy was short lived. Just as I reached Bangalore and started driving on the NICE road, the skies became ominously dark, and it indeed started pouring soon. It did pour a lot about 15 minutes before I reached home. I reached home just in time before the water logging on the road started. So again, I was lucky with my timing, but the heavy downpour and the dark grey clouds in the final moments of the drive did give me some anxious moments.

Overall, it was a memorable drive. The car did quite fine as always, and I enjoyed every moment with this car after spending two weeks with my other car.

Last edited by Aditya : 23rd November 2021 at 18:41. Reason: As requested
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Old 22nd November 2021, 18:46   #217
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Beautiful travelogue Doc! Lovely pics! I have a road trip planned to Chikmagalur in December, from Mumbai in the X1 (Mumbai - Mangalore - Chikmagalur - Mumbai). This is a good reference guide. I just love the way you look forward to driving every weekend. This is so inspiring. You are doing full justice to both your cars now and it is great to see you follow your passion(Love for driving and Photography). I always look forward to reading your travelogues. Please keep them coming!
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Old 22nd November 2021, 19:05   #218
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Beautiful travelogue Doc! Lovely pics! I have a road trip planned to Chikmagalur in December, from Mumbai in the X1 (Mumbai - Mangalore - Chikmagalur - Mumbai). This is a good reference guide. I just love the way you look forward to driving every weekend. This is so inspiring. You are doing full justice to both your cars now and it is great to see you follow your passion(Love for driving and Photography). I always look forward to reading your travelogues. Please keep them coming!
Thank you very much for your kind words and appreciation.

Mumbai - Mangalore - Chikmagalur - Mumbai sounds like a great trip. I am sure you will enjoy this drive. Mangalore to Chikmagalur is usually via Charmady ghat, and that is a very scenic road. You will enjoy driving your X1 there. Wish you all the best for this trip and looking forward to seeing your photos.
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Old 24th November 2021, 09:46   #219
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The park offered a small walk with good views all around. The water body is huge and there are some excellent water views as well. It is definitely a good place to spend some time walking around and enjoying the views.
I have great memories associated while this Dam was being constructed as it happened right through my growing up years in Belur. So this one is certainly close to me and thank you for penning down about Yagachi dam.

In fact, my dad was a visitng doctor to the construction site for the laborers when this dam was being built. The engineers of the consortium that built this dam became very good family friends that we are still in touch with few of them after 3 decades and all of them hailed from the Nellore region of Andhra Pradesh.

Many may not know but distance between Belur to Chikmagalur was 22 Km. The construction of this dam meant that the stored water will submerge part of this road and also few small villages and they were all provided makeshift locations and these villages were built from scratch there after. You pass one such village here soon after the dam on the way to Chikmagalur. Due to the realignment of certain stretch of this road, the distance between Belur and Chikmagalur went up by ~ 4km.

In the image below, you can see the part marked in red was the road that existed earlier. And during the initial phases after the Dam was functional and water getting stored, both the roads were accessible till water started to fill up on top of the old road.

Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-yagachi-dam.jpg

For those of you who don't know, Yagachi Water Sports center is located little ahead of the Dam and offers water rides in various forms. This is something that can be adventurous during summers.

Quote:
The reason for choosing this resort was the location. I love to drive on this SH57. It is a ghat road that offers excellent sections with smooth tarmac, lovely turns and corners to enjoy the handling of the car, and of course great scenic views all around. This road also offers great photography locations.

After we crossed Chikmagalur and started driving on this SH57, I could not resist getting down and spending some time taking car photos. While I was busy taking photos, my wife enjoyed stepping out and breathing the fresh clean air, and soaking in the serene ambiance there.
This is a brilliant road and a very apt alternate to reach Tarikere from Chikmagalur and popularly known as the Kaimara - Lingadahalli road. The best part about this road is that it is scenic and has very less traffic as most buses and trucks take the regular Chikmagalur Kadur road while you mostly will see trucks ferrying timber, that too during certain seasons only.

Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-img_1441.jpg

There was a time when the regular road from Chikmagalur to Kadur remained in very bad shape till it was repaired and this route that you took for Tarikere had become the de-facto choice to access Tarikere/Bhadravati from Chikmagalur.

Thank you once again for a brillaint write-up doc.

Last edited by paragsachania : 24th November 2021 at 10:13.
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Old 24th November 2021, 09:47   #220
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Originally Posted by Dr.AD View Post
Visiting an Idyllic Coffee Shop
Lovely report and a beautiful property.

I remember this coffee shop from a trip I did with my family mid 2013. Its in the middle of nowhere. I did not push further down the road but clearly remember the path being inviting to drive. Was like a perfect driving or even riding road.

My car at the time was a Fiat Linea T Jet. My wife, 2 year old and the coffee shop in the background. We had gone in summer so the colors are quite different to your photo.
Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!-p1030826.jpg
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Old 24th November 2021, 10:22   #221
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I have great memories associated while this Dam was being constructed as it happened right through my growing up years in Belur. So this one is certainly close to me and thank you for penning down about Yagachi dam. ...
Many may not know but distance between Belur to Chikmagalur was 22 Km.
Thank you Parag for telling us the history of this dam and the road that went through it. Very interesting! This is certainly a beautiful place. Somehow I was not aware of this before. I am glad I found this place in this drive, although just by chance. I am sure to to back there and spend more time there in one of the future visits :-)

Quote:
This is a brilliant road and a very apt alternate to reach Tarikere from Chikmagalur and popularly known as the Kaimara - Lingadahalli road.
..
There was a time when the regular road from Chikmagalur to Kadur remained in very bad shape till it was repaired and this route that you took for Tarikere had become the de-facto choice to access Tarikere/Bhadravati from Chikmagalur.
Yes, this is a nice road and a good alternative to reach Chikmagalur. This (Chikmagalur-Tarikere) is one of my favorite roads and I take every opportunity to take this road whenever possible. In fact, in one of my previous Bhadra visits, I had driven back by Bhadra - Tarikere- Chikmagalur - Hassan - Bangalore route just to enjoy this beautiful road.

Quote:
Thank you once again for a brillaint write-up doc.
Thank you very much, Parag!

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Originally Posted by sandeepmohan View Post
Lovely report and a beautiful property.
Thank you very much!

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My car at the time was a Fiat Linea T Jet. My wife, 2 year old and the coffee shop in the background. We had gone in summer so the colors are quite different to your photo.
Wow! Great photo and great memories! Yes, the place indeed looks quite different in summer. There are a few more such coffee shops near Chikmagalur, and it is worth driving around there just exploring such coffee shops. There are some nice coffee shops near Mudigere as well.
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Old 24th November 2021, 10:57   #222
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re: Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!

Nice write up Dr. AD. Planning to use this as a reference guide for my trip to Chikmagalur in Dec 24-26.
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Old 24th November 2021, 12:31   #223
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re: Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!

Nice write-up, BMW looks cool in red. which route is better, I see you have taken return route via Hiriyur. I Think Tumkur road has more traffic than the Hassan, what about road to reach Hiriyur, is it better than Hassan road? I am planning to travel in couple of weeks time.
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Old 24th November 2021, 13:30   #224
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re: Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!

Great travelogues! The inescapable conclusion is you love driving, scenery and your car(s)! It reminds me of earlier bachelor days when I would just pick the car and start driving on highways, most of the times without even having a destination or route in mind, just a day trip or drive.

I wish to do more trips on Ghats soon. That's one part of KA which I have not driven much! May be this December!
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Old 24th November 2021, 19:01   #225
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re: Red-Hot BMW: Story of my pre-owned BMW 320d Sport Line (F30 LCI). EDIT: 90,000 kms up!

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Originally Posted by indrangiri View Post
Nice write up Dr. AD. Planning to use this as a reference guide for my trip to Chikmagalur in Dec 24-26.
Thank you very much. I am sure you will have a lot of fun in your drive too!

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Originally Posted by sharan_si View Post
Nice write-up, BMW looks cool in red. which route is better, I see you have taken return route via Hiriyur. I Think Tumkur road has more traffic than the Hassan, what about road to reach Hiriyur, is it better than Hassan road? I am planning to travel in couple of weeks time.
Thank you very much.

Regarding roads, yes, Tumkur road has more traffic than Hassan road. Also, as I mentioned, the section between Tumkur and Sira is in very bad shape and that is a pain to drive on. Hassan road, on the contrary, is extremely smooth and lot more fun to drive on. Also, Hassan road has many more nice eating places compared to Tumkur road. Thus, for the highway section, Hassan road is much better choice than Tumkur road.

However, the balancing forces are the state highways once you get off the national highway. From Hassan route , the state highway from Belur to Chikmagalur will have a lot of traffic, and it is not as scenic any more. It also has some broken section. On the other hand, for Tumkur route, once you cross Hiriyur, the roads are fantastic. These are some smooth tarmacs, and the SH57 I mentioned is very scenic too. So this is an advantage of taking Tumkur road.

Thus, you win some and lose some in both options. And therefore my suggestion would to take one option for going and another for returning, so you get both the experiences.

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Originally Posted by OffRoadFun View Post
Great travelogues! The inescapable conclusion is you love driving, scenery and your car(s)! It reminds me of earlier bachelor days when I would just pick the car and start driving on highways, most of the times without even having a destination or route in mind, just a day trip or drive.
Thank you very much. Yes, you summed it quite well :-) I love driving and I love my cars. Actually I love your posts on how you enjoy offroading in your Q5. So you and I both have that common factor - we love driving our cars in whatever conditions suit our cars!

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I wish to do more trips on Ghats soon. That's one part of KA which I have not driven much! May be this December!
You should definitely plan a drive soon. This part of KA is incredibly beautiful, and the roads are amazing to drive on. I am sure you will love driving there.
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