[abhighna87]

Day 1: (Friday):

The Routine office stuff was consuming us. A weekend was approaching and our minds had already started wavering. Just as I was unable to concentrate in the office, at 10 am sharp, My phone rings.

He- “Long drive??? Harrier???
Me “You read my mind.”
He: “Let’s plan some place which is longer than our usual trips. What about Wayanad? Haven’t gone there before “
Me- “Wayanad is indeed very far but it’s not that chill there. It’s Going to be very humid and we won’t be having a fresh feel there “
He- “True !!! then let’s try new destination. I haven’t driven to Karnataka much. Karnataka for me is just Bengaluru.
Me- “Perfect then. Will be a welcome change. Let’s change the perspective “

By 10 :30 am we charted out our trip route.



500 Kms up in 10 hrs & 500 kms down in 10 hrs.
We shall start by 6 pm on Friday and return by 6 pm on Sunday. Whole 48 hrs.

So, 1000 kms in a total of 48 hrs with 20 hrs of driving.
That’s called proper Mile munching.

Our itinerary:

Day 1: Trichy to Erode (6 pm to 9 pm)
Day 2: Erode-Sathya Mangalam-Mysore-Coorg (6am to 3pm)
Day 3: Coorg to Trichy (7 am to 6 pm)


Same day: 04:00 pm:

T shirts, shorts, jacket, Bluetooth speaker, a trekking shoe, toiletries. Check

Same day: 04:30 pm:

The harrier grunts at ignition. Full Tank. Check



In a 10-hr long journey, our first halt was at erode. We took the route from Trichy-Mayanur-Karur-Kodumudi-Uthukuli-Erode. It was mainly a 2-lane road with substantial lorry traffic. But the roads were good and we didn’t face any noticeable trouble in reaching our accommodation in Erode.

We booked our accommodation at a hotel which was just along the main road so that ingress & egress from the city would be easy. We reached Erode by 9:30 pm. The Hotel had a separate parking, so rest assured that harrier would be parked safe.

The first surprise of the trip was this restaurant- Chidambaram Murthy’s Café in the ground floor of our accommodation. The restaurant is famous for its parotta and kadai Chicken



We instantly ordered parottas and kadai chicken. Then we gazed through the menu and ordered a fried chicken which was just okay. But the surprising part was the egg chutney which caught our attention. It was so simple, subtle and good. I do recommend to try parotta, kadai chicken and egg chutney in this hotel for all the parotta lovers.

Day 2: (Saturday)

We started the day early. We left our hotel at 6am The day was fresh and we made the maximum use of traffic less roads.



We decided to chuck the junkies & chips for munching and decided to get a watermelon enroute. The watermelons were fresh from the farm. A couple were selling the watermelons and we got to taste the fruit before buying it.



By 08:30 am we reached the Bannari Amman temple and offered our prayers to forest goddess Amman. Since it was little early in the morning, the queue was less and we got to see the goddess to our hearts fulfilment.



We left the place at 9:30 approx. and started our ascend of 27 hairpin bends enroute to Sathyamangalam.Through the drive was short, the ascend was steep with bumper-to-bumper heavy vehicle traffic as this was one of the major routes into Karnataka for heavy vehicles. But once we crossed the step rise, the path paved the way into Sathya Mangalam forest and the route was the most scenic route.
Though we didn’t find any animal crossing, it is understood that the route is a usual crossing for elephants . We cut through the jungle route seamlessly.
The vegetation through the Sathya Mangalam forest was thick and lush.
A view of the demonic looking bamboo tree.*



The geographic location immediately changed once we entered into Karnataka.
We were welcomed by some dry vegetation, lingering heat beneath clouded sky.
We entered Chamarajnagar.



As we progressed further, vibrant fire lily trees made the route colourful .
Harrier parked under the fire lily tree



We took a small break, drinking water, washing our faces and of course some selfies



It was 12 pm and we started our journey cutting through the outer ring road of Mysore. We thought we might not find any restaurant once we cross Mysore. So, we stopped by a humble vegetarian eatery. We filled our tummies with hot Besabelabath, vangi bath & curd rice. A little over a 30 min break and we then pressed the gas.



The road beyond Mysore was just smooth with curves. Real bliss driving through these routes. But we were afraid Harrier would have to encounter only such leisure roads this trip.



Enroute we booked our accommodation at a resort named “Kwality Estate “. It had exceptional ratings in booking.com but the place was very near to the Mysore Mangalore highway. Not expecting much, we blindly followed google maps until we came to our destination at 3 pm not to find any resort there.

We enquired few localites about Kwality Estate. A women in a petty shop pointed her finger onto the narrow path that went in-between tight bushes.
WOW!!!!! The surprise package of the trip started here. We pressed the pedal into the narrow roadless path among the bushes. It was going endlessly for a km and we were totally thrilled.The route lead us into a stony path descending into a serene isolated coffee estate totally cut off from the hustle and bustle of the Mysore Mangalore highway.



In front of us was a big bungalow which did look like the haunted bungalows we see in movies.



We both looked at the bungalow at looked at each other
This was it !!! A place for a perfect peaceful holiday that we were carving for some clicks of the bungalow.



The Bungalow was spaciously built with a big hall, dining hall & kitchen and one bedroom in ground floor. Two bedrooms in upstairs. The doors looked strong with those lofty forest wood,



The surprise was quite refreshing for us. We parked our car and called the caretaker. Ramesh received us and our luggage’s. He called Mr. Rajappa and in a few minutes time, Mr. Rajappa welcomed us with a warm smile. The man looked completely different from what we expected. So upbeat and didn’t look like a caretaker in any way. He did appreciate our car and offered to park it. We checked in into our rooms and as always, the same rule. “Don’t Sleep”

We decided to explore the estate.

The estate had three bungalows. The Main bungalow where we stayed. The bungalow on the left side which looked completely deserted and one on the other side which too didn’t have any movement.



We understood that the caretaker Ramesh and his family lives nearby to the estate taking care of estate as well as a caretaker to the guests. We went to the bungalow on the left side that was very isolated. We spent time there gazing at the trees around. We asked Ramesh to bring chai & pakoras there.
By the time the refreshments were ready, We decided to walk uphill into the estate.



The estate was completely silent with just the sound of birds chirping. Something that you hear to in LJP’s movies. We walked a long way into the estate listening to the sound of nature



Some really strange flowers welcomed us. We were so much into the peacefulness of the nature that we forgot to see this intruder beneath our legs.



After 2 long hours of nature gazing, it started to drizzle.We rushed our way down and found that more guests started coming as Mr. Rajappa said and the resort had full occupancy being a weekend.
Nevertheless, We munched Hot pakoras & Chai that Ramesh gave us in the light drizzle.



We spent time at the stream. It was a serene experience.



We had our dinner early and decided to sign off the hectic day with a pleasant night.

Day 3:

Day 3 was going to be a long day with almost 11 hrs of driving and 500 kms to cover .So, as usual We started the day early. Had a light breakfast. Ramesh took nice care of us with a nice dinner yesterday and a light breakfast as we wanted.
He was a nice man.We thanked him and Rajappa for the hospitality and started our return journey.






We had to leave the resort. The place is definitely worth mentioning. It’s completely cut off from the hustle & bustle of outside world.
It’s a good place to come and visit with family. We had families residing with us and the resort was full by 8 pm yesterday. One day won’t be sufficient. Two days of stay shall be a good deal. The prices are also very much affordable.

As time clicked in our watches, we had to rush. We decided to see one popular spot before leaving Coorg.We stopped at Kushal Nagar and proceeded to Namdroling Monastery.



Namdroling Monastery is one of the teaching centre of the Tibetan Buddhism.
The construction of the monastery too resemble the Tibetan style. The place is a must visit. It will infuse a completely different vibes .The rituals were ongoing when we reached there and the sound was reverberating to our ears.

We clicked some photographs.



After the visit , it was time to start the return journey . The route was scenic as usual and the roads were so good that we didn’t feel like stopping anywhere for lunch or any breaks.

Entering Tamilnadu



And descended down the 27 hairpin bends post Sathyamangalam.



By 4 pm we stopped in the outskirts of Kangeyam for a refreshment break. We had chai and Maggi for late lunch.



We changed driving seats and started our journey for the final leg.
By 8 pm, hustle & Bustle of a small town city welcomed us . We reached our destination at 08:30 pm.



Highlights of the Trip :

1) This trip was a surprise in more than many ways. One, this trip was planned 5 to 6 hrs before starting. There wasn’t any exhaustive planning/discussion on this. Just time of starting was sharp and the trip took us through .Moreover it was the like mindedness of the travellers that matters the most.
2) As we try out different locations every-time, (we have never stayed at same location in a place), The resort “Kwality Estate” was really a surprise package. It was away from commercialisation and so raw that it had the real interior feel of a forest. You can feel the natures silence & birds chirping sound at its best here, something that you rarely find at other places.
3) As the odometer showed, the trip had 20 hrs of driving out of 48 hrs, a good crude feel for guys who love driving. Harrier again returned with an impressive mileage of 15.8 kmpl for 1000 km without any glitches.

[arnieshwartz]

I enjoy reading such travelogues as it helps plan similar road trips and the pictures definitely help getting a feel of what to expect on the route. Thank you for the nice write-up supported by ample pictures!

btw, I looked up 'Kwality Estate' on Google Maps and found a property right by the Mysore - Madikeri road. I'm guessing that isn't accurate going by your own description of the inner road you had to take. Any chance you might be able to drop a pin and share a screenshot with satellite view? Or maybe you have coordinates of the actual place?

Oh, and last-minute road trips have a thrill of their own. We did this Hyderabad - Goa trip once and enjoyed it thoroughly! Here's wishing many more happy miles for you and the trusty steed.

[ghodlur]

Nice travelogue and some really nice pics (esp of the bug). If possible pls share the stats too of the trip like FE, driving time etc. How did the Harrier perform in the hair pin bends? Did you face any A pillar blockages or any blind spots?

I for one never could have an impromptu drive coz I need a lot of planning and things to be in place before I could start (some kind of OCD)

[abhighna87]

Mod Note: Merging back to back post, you can use Multi Quote [Quote+] and also edit post once approved to make changes.

@ ghodlur -
1. Reg stats & FE - harrier gave 15.8 kmpl for 1000 kms ( including plains n hilly terrain ). Mostly in city mode and use of wet mode when it rained .
2. Reg driving time , the trip from Trichy to the Sathyamangalam is plains . Then it takes an uphill and then returns to plains. The terrain to Coorg is not a steep uphill , it’s a gradual gradient that rises . It took a total of 12 hrs to reach ther ( Trichy to erode -4 & erode to Kwality estate - 8 hrs )
3. Harrier did well on hairpin bends . Climb was mostly in 2nd gear and 3rd gear when it flattens. But yeah A pillar is thick here and does cause a blind spot at hairpin bends . But stick to your lane n keep honking at turns to alert the upcoming vehicle . Keep your speed safe too.

@arnieshwartz :
Thanks man . Yeah the location in the maps marks only the entry of the resort . U cannot identify it from outside . Pls find the coordinates -(12.4417005, 75.7848846).
This is the exact location . The place is a homestay but you will definitely have a beautiful experience here .

[rajeevsulu]

Beautiful pictures. I love the sathyamangalam route for this very reason. The route is very scenic. Your harrier in white looks beautiful and that is very good fuel efficiency figures that you have
Cheers