[Swiftron]

Bangalore to Chickmagalur – August 2008
This is my first travelogue so please bear with my grammatical mistakes and the way I have penned down this piece.
After 2 months of making decisions whether we can get away, we finally decided it’s time for us to leave everything behind and head towards a peaceful place to spend our weekend. We found the long weekend of 15th, 16th and 17th to be ideal since 2 of us had a leave on Independence Day.
Every time I thought about the trip, I found sakleshpur to be ideal during this weather and I also got an email about a place called Rottikallu which looked really promising. 2 weeks prior to our departure I tried to make reservations but I was told about this Dirt Track Rally which is to be held exactly on that weekend. So hotel and home stay was jam-packed. I stumbled upon Samurai’s journey to Agumbe to test his jeep and was excited looking at the pictures. Unfortunately, again I was told that only a bunker cottage was available, which of course didn’t suit us as our baby sis, who also happens to be our Gang Leader and another girl would be uncomfortable. Tried several other places including Wayanad, Coorg, Bandipur, Kali River, Jungle Resorts but nothing seemed to be helpful.
Finally, I called up a friend of mine who’s Aunt happens to own an estate in Chickmagalur. Found out that a couple of her friends rent their estates as home stays and made our booking at Athithi Home stay. All said and done, all of us 4 guys and 2 girls decided to make this trip happen.
Due to some unfortunate events, one of us was not able to make it and it created a whole lot of confusion in everyone. One minute we would tell everyone that this trip is cancelled and the other minute that it was on. About 18hrs before our departure we somehow managed to convince him to come along which he agreed to, now everyone’s happy that we can all go on. But again, just about 7hrs before we get to know that the tables have turned against us. Now we are 5 of us and just one car, an Alto. Sid had spoken to me the same night saying we will all go on with this as too many people would be disappointed. I didn’t want to make the girls uncomfortable with all 5 of us in one car. The whole night I kept on thinking about how to go and I got a call. Its morning 5:30AM and I had just slept for about 40mins. Robin calls up and says that he is getting ready and that I should too. So I pack up my bags and head towards New BEL Road. On the way I make a few calls to hire an Innova or Tavera but the prices seemed to be too high. One of our member’s vinayvtech had just woken up and I was told about the self-driven rent –a-car from Hertz. As with our luck, they were all booked so I called another company Avis. Fortunately they said that they do have a few hatchbacks that we could rent. Booked a Swift over their website and making a few calls to their head office in Delhi I was told that they can arrange the car in 2hrs.



At last, we picked up the car and all of us headed towards our destination. I was feeling really tired and lethargic. Our baby sis was travelling along with me in Swift and others, Robin, Sid and Viji were coming in the Alto. We got out of Bangalore only by around 11:30 or 12:00 in the afternoon. Since this was our first time towards Chickmagalur none of us knew the exact route and we drove straight from Nelamangala towards Tumkur. Made a few queries and was told that we will have to travel back till Nelamangala and take a right. We managed to get onto the right track. The roads were not that good. But we were happy that we were able to manage getting out for this trip. Made a few stops here and there. Had our lunch and coffee at Kamat (I forgot where it was). We somehow lost our way through Hassan city and were given a run around by a few locals. I happened to spot a traffic policeman and he was nice enough to guide us. We found a very nice stretch of road from Belur to Chickmagalur. Never expected the roads to be that good on a state highway. We reached the estate owners house in Chickmagalur town at around 6PM. The road from the town till the estate was really treacherous. Slushy and deep gorges on our left. It was totally dark and the tires didn’t seem to get a grip. We drove as slow as we could. I didn’t want to damage the rented car. Reached the estate and unpacked our bags. Had a nice dinner cooked by Krishna, I must tell you the food was lovely. Had a few drinks till late in the morning. We all slept at about 4:30AM and found Viji trying to wake us all up by 8:30AM.




I couldn’t bear the sweet torture and I decided to wake up. After all of us got ready we had a nice breakfast and headed towards Mullanagiri. This was the best part of our trip, driving through the estates in all the slushy roads. I wish I had a jeep to do some 4x4 off-roading there. Half way through we stopped and found a huge patch of hill filled with mist. Walking towards the grass on the hill, we noticed that our cars seemed to fade every second and there was one point where I couldn’t see them anymore. Even the parking lights were not visible. From here on we headed towards the peak of Mullanagiri. Believe me it was the most amazing experience we have ever had. The wind was probably passing at around 80kmph. We literally couldn’t walk by ourselves. Took a few pictures and then headed back home. We wished if there was a tea stall there. It would have been perfect. The drive back home seemed really short. Had a sumptuous lunch at 4PM. We all slept for about an hour and headed towards the town to do some shopping. After getting back again, we decided to have a few drinks and make the best out of this night. We knew we all had to leave the next day.





Next day, we woke up around 10AM and walked through the estate for a while. Got our cars cleaned too. Each one of us was feeling really bad that we had to leave this beautiful place in a few hours and get back to the chaos in Bangalore. After all of us got ready we had our lunch and drove back towards the town to do some more shopping and then leave. Got the tire pressure checked and then started to drive back to Bangalore. All through our trip it wasn’t raining much, just light showers. So weather gods were really supportive. After having our dinner just after Hassan we drove back into Bangalore. Found this huge traffic jam at Nelamangala. Got out of it and then dropped everyone. I had never been to Hennur and lost my way trying to return the car. By the time I found the office, returned the car and got dropped back home it was 4:30AM. All in all, it had been a very nice trip together, but we missed our friend Vicky a lot. As each one of us kept telling, even though the rest of us are going, it would never be the same. Nevertheless we are on the verge of planning our next outing sometime soon.

The Royal Challege



Review of the rented car.

I found this guy leaning on the Swift at Kamat and I remember murmuring “Get the hell out of my rented car”
Well I would give it a 4 on 5. Just for the fact that they arranged it within 2hrs even though the actual time they take is around 24hrs. The car was in a pretty decent state with a few scratches here and there and the front bumper being damaged. The pickup was really great in this Diesel Swift LDI. The engine made quite a lot of noise but it didn’t deter us at all. Even with the AC on this beast had quite a lot of power under its hood. Fortunately neither this nor our beloved Alto suffered to climb through the tough terrain. I specially loved spinning the wheels in certain parts of the slushy roads. The ICE wasn’t much but then what more could you expect out of a rented car.

[khan_sultan]

Nice travelogue buddy. looks like you had a great adventure on the long weekend.

A selfish question: BTW, did you spot any areas/trails that were suitable for off-roading where you went? The more muddy/slushy the better. :-)

Cheers,

[gowda79]

Nice travelogue and you guys have nicely enjoyed the trip with RC.

You should have read the travelogue on the forum and you could have had a better idea to plan the trip and you would have not missed the route also.

If you guys had reached Tumkur, from there you could have joined Kunigal instead of coming back to Nelmangla.

[snaronikar]

Nice travelogue and pics. RC is a good way to yourselves warm in that chill weather. Just remember one thing, if you are going out anywhere (India or outside) just do a search here and you will find all the details of route/stay/weather/roadconditions etc.

[maddy42]

I loved your last picture buddy. Beautiful house. Nice pictures by the way.

[mjothi]

Nice write-up.We can visualize the happenings. First travelogue and you wrote a big one. Great
Just curious, how about the financial aspect of renting the car? Do you mind me asking that?

[arindambasu13]

WHAT a house man! drool place to go during the monsoons. Would my 800 be able to manage the roads?

[-GT-]

Beautiful travelogue and very nice pics. The place is indeed fantastic; and good you guys had a lot of fun.

Please do provide the details and contacts of the homestay that you guys were put up (of course only if that place is open to publlic) so that it can be helpful for T-BHPians in future.

@khan sultan: I don't think it will be difficult to find off-road trails in that place - the regular roads themselves look like they are cousins to that kind of terrain.

[senindra]

Thats a great travelogue. How much did the self drive swift cost you ?

[Swiftron]

Originally Posted by mjothi

Nice write-up.We can visualize the happenings. First travelogue and you wrote a big one. Great
Just curious, how about the financial aspect of renting the car? Do you mind me asking that?

Originally Posted by senindra

Thats a great travelogue. How much did the self drive swift cost you ?

Well, initially they said its 1500/per day for Ford Ikon but then since they were short on that they offered the Swift Diesel. They fill the tank to the brim when they deliver it to you. And when you return it back, you need to have the tank filled again. So in a way, i thought it was worth. All in all it came within 3500/- inclusive of taxes and all. I had to make the payment on their website first. And when i took the delivery they had me sign a self-drive form and also submit my credit card details and a copy of my driving license which also came in handy as an address proof.
They have all sorts of cars, Innova, Ikon, Santra, Corolla, Mercedes....etc. Not sure of the charges for the other cars though.

[sushrutha]

Nice travelogue there swiftron. Equally good pics.
Instead of turning back from Tumkur to nelmangala, You should have continued the journey from there till Kadur n you should have taken a left turn there .

[Vinay DL]

Great pictures and great weekend getaway. I guess this would be the right weather to enjoy the extreme rain and slushy conditions.

[Swiftron]

Originally Posted by khan_sultan

Nice travelogue buddy. looks like you had a great adventure on the long weekend.

A selfish question: BTW, did you spot any areas/trails that were suitable for off-roading where you went? The more muddy/slushy the better. :-)

Cheers,

Thanks mate, well most of the trails towards the estates and towards any view point is slushy in this weather. It would have been better with a jeep.

Originally Posted by gowda79

Nice travelogue and you guys have nicely enjoyed the trip with RC.

You should have read the travelogue on the forum and you could have had a better idea to plan the trip and you would have not missed the route also.

If you guys had reached Tumkur, from there you could have joined Kunigal instead of coming back to Nelmangla.

Originally Posted by sushrutha

Nice travelogue there swiftron. Equally good pics.
Instead of turning back from Tumkur to nelmangala, You should have continued the journey from there till Kadur n you should have taken a left turn there .

Originally Posted by snaronikar

Nice travelogue and pics. RC is a good way to yourselves warm in that chill weather. Just remember one thing, if you are going out anywhere (India or outside) just do a search here and you will find all the details of route/stay/weather/roadconditions etc.

One of the locals there advised us not to go via Tumkur which would make us drive an additional 100kms....it was my mistake not to carry a print out of the instructions that i got on this forum. I wasnt actually sure if we would make it.

Originally Posted by maddy42

I loved your last picture buddy. Beautiful house. Nice pictures by the way.

Thanks Maddy, the place is very very beautiful, i happened to carry only a Point n Shoot camera, couldnt experiment much.

Originally Posted by arindambasu13

WHAT a house man! drool place to go during the monsoons. Would my 800 be able to manage the roads?

Ofcourse, she would be able to manage it, but i would suggest take it a li'l slow as some places have deep potholes.

Originally Posted by -GT-

Beautiful travelogue and very nice pics. The place is indeed fantastic; and good you guys had a lot of fun.

Please do provide the details and contacts of the homestay that you guys were put up (of course only if that place is open to publlic) so that it can be helpful for T-BHPians in future.

@khan sultan: I don't think it will be difficult to find off-road trails in that place - the regular roads themselves look like they are cousins to that kind of terrain.

I would love to share the details with everyone, just PM me and i will give you the number of the person who manages the homestay.