[Samurai]

Originally Posted by vid6639

Also I'm impressed you seem to have learned how to use the N73 camera finally or was it Samurai's effect.

No, it is all him. He has become pretty good with the N73. I only took the close up shot of the car with N73, not happy with it, the lighting was dreadful.

[spadival]

Actually, this is a good time to fly into M'lore.. The scenery from above is breathtaking.. esp if the pilot cant land due to bad weather and goes around in circles ..

[lohithrao]

Yea the whole of western ghats would be amazing.

I envy samurai

[rjstyles69]

Mahesh splendid man, you have captured the beauty of the Western Ghats.
Glad that you had such a wonderful drive.
Dont bother about the under body scrapping. Happens .

We deviated then via Uppinangadi and thence onto NH48 (yes - the same). The road via Uppinangadi is a half-lane reasonably smooth road. If a vehicle comes from the other side, both your vehicles will have the leading side of your vehicles out of the road onto the dirt.

The last time I did this stretch there was hardly any tar visible.

Then they even collected toll on this road further down.

5 or 10 bucks?Cheap buggers.. Hehehe I cant stop laughing man.I wonder how they collect a toll here when there is no road.

Yeah, I have become a tourist attraction. Since last month, 3 BHPians have visited and took snaps of me. I feel like the lone hermit on the top of a mountain.

Samurai hope you dont mind one more BHP'ian visiting you this weekend. Probably mite head to Kasargod for a day and spend 2 days in Venoor.

P.S. Was this the trip on which you & Rjstyles went together??

Ishaan the trip would have been real GAY(fun) . But interests vary you know.

Mahesh keep that baby running. She looks super cool.

[lohithrao]

Originally Posted by theMAG

Then they even collected toll on this road further down.

hehe did ask them once but they had no answer couple of years back it was good, then it was worth paying

[theMAG]

Abhi,

Lets just say there was a lot of intermediate driving, by choice, along the route ! The distance back to BLR is including some more such intentional jaunts and BLR city driving post-facto !

[theMAG]

Vid and ben,

What can I say? My N73 works well for me

[esteem_lover]

Originally Posted by theMAG

Abhi,

Lets just say there was a lot of intermediate driving, by choice, along the route ! The distance back to BLR is including some more such intentional jaunts and BLR city driving post-facto !

What ???? you drove 400 kms extra for a journey of 375 kms & call that a lot of intermediate driving ??? BTW, did you pop off to goa & did you travel alone???

[theMAG]

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

What ???? you drove 400 kms extra for a journey of 375 kms & call that a lot of intermediate driving ??? BTW, did you pop off to goa & did you travel alone???

Nah - Goa's become too predictable to plan in advance. On the way to MLR I had a pal with me, who fortunately doesnt know driving He returned back to BLR the next day via Volvo due to office. So yeah, the drive was all mine thruout.

[chandan]

Great pics,specially the ones on the Hassan-Belur runway.I did the same route last december on the way to Karkala & simply loved it.Charmadi is truly heaven on earth & this is the best time to experince it.

[si6ma]

Hey Guys,
I just returned from Mangalore trip over the new year. I went thru Shiradi Ghat and returned via Charmadi Ghats.

My verdict is: Shiradi Ghat route is far far better than the Charmadi Ghat road. Reason:

Shiradi:
1. only 20 odd km road are in bad condition
2. No heavy vehicles as road construction is going on
3. Rest of the road is clean and easy to drive on.
4. Though ghat road is bad but there no deep potholes to damage your car.

Charmadi:
1. Ghats are way to long
2. 20km road around Kothegere is pathetic. In fact i've never seen more worse road than that. it is full of huge potholes, any miss could seriously damage the car.

Conclusion: Choose Charmadi ghat only if you wish to enjoy the break taking beauty of the nature. if your purpose is to reach Mangalore fast take NH48 direct to Mangalore via Shiradi. You might have to drive dead slow during the ghats till roads are being constructed, but you reach faster and safer.

Happy driving!
Rohit