My Maiden Nature Drive

AutoBond · 26th July 2010, 18:48

We planned to visit temple town of Kukke and Dharmasthala during the weekend on 17th and 18th July. 3 idiots and one perfect machine called Hyundai i20

Plan

The plan was to visit Dharmasthala, have darshan of lord Manjunath on 17th and travel to Kukke Subramanya for a night stay and have darshan of lord Subramanya on 18th early morning and start back after a quick breakfast.

We started as planned at sharp 5AM on 17th July, when most of the namma bengaluru was relaxing the early morning sleep. It was indeed surprising for all 3 that, we did the start as planned

(which never happens for most of our outing).I was very eager to take my i20 on this long nature drive and was successful in convincing my 2 friends with my not so good but a convincing marketing talk

Route

Event
Nelamangala, we reached by 6AM. Even though we were more familiar with the route, I was excited to test my mobile with mapmyidia navigator. The accuracy was proved I should say. I was enjoying every turns and roads on the navigator more than enjoying the drive at the beginning. Oopss forgot to say that all 3 idiots know driving, but I was on the wheels starting Bangalore.

The roads were pretty much good except for few stretches, where the double road work is under progress. I am not very sure until where is the double road being constructed from Bangalore towards this route. We could almost see the works being carried out till Kunigal and may be few more kilometers after that. I should say we did the best thing by leaving early as most of the stretch I was cru zing more than 100 except for few work in progress stretches. As we had started early, tolerance of the tummy had reached its peak by the time we neared Chanarayapatna, where my clock showed it’s around 8:30AM. As always Kamat was the target to fill up our pleasing tummies.

My friend took over the wheels from then on. We took a bypass route not touching Hassan town and reached Sakaleshpura around 10AM. From then on my navigator was very useful guiding through the route till Dharmasthala. The real nature start from here and it was wonderful sight driving through that wild greenery all the way. The real Ghats are beautiful for the eyes but not for my poor i20. The roads are quite pathetic driving down the hills and the heavy lorry traffic makes it vulnerable for a pleasant drive. Some of the stretches are in very bad state and the pouring rain throughout does not show any sign of good hope for the roads. My cannon EOS400, which was idle for all the while came to life as soon as the nature was at his sight (few snaps as below).

We reached Dharmasthala around 12PM and had a quick darshan, courtesy a Samaritan. We had food at the temple free meal service shelter (Hats off to the authorities, which make sure all the devotees have been taken care of the food and it’s free). We started off around 3PM and reached Kukke (around 60km) by 5PM. Checked into the pre booked hotel Senani (Thanks to my friend’s colleague, who owns this place). The place was pretty decent and had ample space for parking except that it was far from the temple (this place is at the entrance to kukke subramanya, just next to Kumaradhara River. We did a darshan of lord in the evening, when the crowd seemed bit less and had our dinner at a nearby restaurant and it was bed time for the exhausted souls…..

Next day, got up early too bath and went for a second darshan of the lord. Being Sunday, the crowd was at its peak. We managed to finish our darshan in an hour or so and quickly got ready to start back after a quick dosa (we had to queue up for a place in the restaurant). We left the place around 11AM, my friend on the wheels this time. We dint miss to click few of our bollywood poses coming back with the nature.

We planned to reach Kamat for lunch and we did it exactly at 2PM, when it was crowded with most of the travelers. I should mention that the food at this place was amazing (thanks to the Kamat group for providing such hospitality on most of such route making easy for travelers).

We reached Nelamangala around 5PM and from there we realized that we are back to the chaos of the city. It took us easily around more than a hour drive to our place.
Car performed excellent and nature gave a much needed break looking for and last but not least, had a darshan of father and son.

The beauty of her just amaze me

Nothing to beat her

Tea Time, My best buddies

Begins the nature photography.... I know there are very good photo guru's here in the forum. do forgive me for any of those wrong angle snaps

Name: IMG_6476.JPG
Views: 1232
Size: 45.8 KB

rjstyles69 · 26th July 2010, 19:17

autobond why are you being stingy with the picture size ? Please post larger images for the benefit of viewers please

.

abhinav.s · 26th July 2010, 19:42

Very nice and crisp write up. But as suggested, please post larger pics to appreciate the beauty of the car and nature

AutoBond · 27th July 2010, 13:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

autobond why are you being stingy with the picture size ? Please post larger images for the benefit of viewers please

.

Hi, I will upload a bigger resolution snaps shortly. Thanks for the comment

Quote:

Originally Posted by abhinav.s

Very nice and crisp write up. But as suggested, please post larger pics to appreciate the beauty of the car and nature

Thanks for the comments abhinav, I will upload a better resolution pics shortly

.

Mr.Bangalore · 27th July 2010, 15:06

@AutoBond you have not commented about you ride handling, FE, Performance and things. Please do upload the bigger pics.

AutoBond · 27th July 2010, 18:28

We planned to visit temple town of Kukke and Dharmasthala during the weekend on 17th and 18th July. 3 idiots and one perfect machine called Hyundai i20

Plan

The plan was to visit Dharmasthala, have darshan of lord Manjunath on 17th and travel to Kukke Subramanya for a night stay and have darshan of lord Subramanya on 18th early morning and start back after a quick breakfast.

We started as planned at sharp 5AM on 17th July, when most of the namma bengaluru was relaxing the early morning sleep. It was indeed surprising for all 3 that, we did the start as planned

(which never happens for most of our outing).I was very eager to take my i20 on this long nature drive and was successful in convincing my 2 friends with my not so good but a convincing marketing talk

Route

Event
Nelamangala, we reached by 6AM. Even though we were more familiar with the route, I was excited to test my mobile with mapmyidia navigator. The accuracy was proved I should say. I was enjoying every turns and roads on the navigator more than enjoying the drive at the beginning. Oopss forgot to say that all 3 idiots know driving, but I was on the wheels starting Bangalore.

The roads were pretty much good except for few stretches, where the double road work is under progress. I am not very sure until where is the double road being constructed from Bangalore towards this route. We could almost see the works being carried out till Kunigal and may be few more kilometers after that. I should say we did the best thing by leaving early as most of the stretch I was cru zing more than 100 except for few work in progress stretches. As we had started early, tolerance of the tummy had reached its peak by the time we neared Chanarayapatna, where my clock showed it’s around 8:30AM. As always Kamat was the target to fill up our pleasing tummies.

My friend took over the wheels from then on. We took a bypass route not touching Hassan town and reached Sakaleshpura around 10AM. From then on my navigator was very useful guiding through the route till Dharmasthala. The real nature start from here and it was wonderful sight driving through that wild greenery all the way. The real Ghats are beautiful for the eyes but not for my poor i20. The roads are quite pathetic driving down the hills and the heavy lorry traffic makes it vulnerable for a pleasant drive. Some of the stretches are in very bad state and the pouring rain throughout does not show any sign of good hope for the roads. My cannon EOS400, which was idle for all the while came to life as soon as the nature was at his sight (few snaps as below).

We reached Dharmasthala around 12PM and had a quick darshan, courtesy a Samaritan. We had food at the temple free meal service shelter (Hats off to the authorities, which make sure all the devotees have been taken care of the food and it’s free). We started off around 3PM and reached Kukke (around 60km) by 5PM. Checked into the pre booked hotel Senani (Thanks to my friend’s colleague, who owns this place). The place was pretty decent and had ample space for parking except that it was far from the temple (this place is at the entrance to kukke subramanya, just next to Kumaradhara River. We did a darshan of lord in the evening, when the crowd seemed bit less and had our dinner at a nearby restaurant and it was bed time for the exhausted souls…..

Next day, got up early too bath and went for a second darshan of the lord. Being Sunday, the crowd was at its peak. We managed to finish our darshan in an hour or so and quickly got ready to start back after a quick dosa (we had to queue up for a place in the restaurant). We left the place around 11AM, my friend on the wheels this time. We dint miss to click few of our bollywood poses coming back with the nature.

We planned to reach Kamat for lunch and we did it exactly at 2PM, when it was crowded with most of the travelers. I should mention that the food at this place was amazing (thanks to the Kamat group for providing such hospitality on most of such route making easy for travelers).

We reached Nelamangala around 5PM and from there we realized that we are back to the chaos of the city. It took us easily around more than a hour drive to our place.
Car performed excellent and nature gave a much needed break looking for and last but not least, had a darshan of father and son.

Have changed the resolution and uploaded the snaps for the benefit of the forum

Nothing to beat her

Begins the nature photography.... I know there are very good photo guru's here in the forum. do forgive me for any of those wrong angle snaps

Click image for larger version

Name: IMG_6505.JPG
Views: 224
Size: 147.4 KB
ID: 394994

LongDrive lover · 27th July 2010, 18:56

AutoBond. Your thread title is immense, creating lot of expectations, so looking forward for a good story and pics. i20 (CRDI version) was the car which I almost bought, before finally having hand at the Safari. So looking forward for your experiences of that nice car too.

TaureanBull · 27th July 2010, 19:15

You have a good shooting equipment. Whats the lens you are using? Like others request you to large pics, the pics appear good.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LongDrive lover

AutoBond. Your thread title is immense, creating lot of expectations, so looking forward for a good story and pics. i20 (CRDI version) was the car which I almost bought, before finally having hand at the Safari. So looking forward for your experiences of that nice car too.

@LDL : Thats a big contrast. i20 and Safari!

AutoBond · 28th July 2010, 16:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by LongDrive lover

AutoBond. Your thread title is immense, creating lot of expectations, so looking forward for a good story and pics. i20 (CRDI version) was the car which I almost bought, before finally having hand at the Safari. So looking forward for your experiences of that nice car too.

I own this i20 Magna petrol , which I have clocked around 5k km so far and this was one of the most awaited trips for me and my pals. She just performed really well on both good and bad roads and I should agree, its a great comfort feeling driving her

.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TaureanBull

You have a good shooting equipment. Whats the lens you are using? Like others request you to large pics, the pics appear good.

@LDL : Thats a big contrast. i20 and Safari!

Hi TaureanBull, I use a 18-55 lense, which came as part of the cannon EOS350 Digital SLR kit.

Sorry guys that there has been some editing issues with this thread and am tryign to get some help from the BHPians. Forgive me

26th July 2010, 18:48	#1
AutoBond Newbie Join Date: May 2010 Location: Bengaluru Posts: 15 Thanked: 2 Times	My Maiden Nature Drive We planned to visit temple town of Kukke and Dharmasthala during the weekend on 17th and 18th July. 3 idiots and one perfect machine called Hyundai i20 Plan The plan was to visit Dharmasthala, have darshan of lord Manjunath on 17th and travel to Kukke Subramanya for a night stay and have darshan of lord Subramanya on 18th early morning and start back after a quick breakfast. We started as planned at sharp 5AM on 17th July, when most of the namma bengaluru was relaxing the early morning sleep. It was indeed surprising for all 3 that, we did the start as planned (which never happens for most of our outing).I was very eager to take my i20 on this long nature drive and was successful in convincing my 2 friends with my not so good but a convincing marketing talk Route Event Nelamangala, we reached by 6AM. Even though we were more familiar with the route, I was excited to test my mobile with mapmyidia navigator. The accuracy was proved I should say. I was enjoying every turns and roads on the navigator more than enjoying the drive at the beginning. Oopss forgot to say that all 3 idiots know driving, but I was on the wheels starting Bangalore. The roads were pretty much good except for few stretches, where the double road work is under progress. I am not very sure until where is the double road being constructed from Bangalore towards this route. We could almost see the works being carried out till Kunigal and may be few more kilometers after that. I should say we did the best thing by leaving early as most of the stretch I was cru zing more than 100 except for few work in progress stretches. As we had started early, tolerance of the tummy had reached its peak by the time we neared Chanarayapatna, where my clock showed it’s around 8:30AM. As always Kamat was the target to fill up our pleasing tummies. My friend took over the wheels from then on. We took a bypass route not touching Hassan town and reached Sakaleshpura around 10AM. From then on my navigator was very useful guiding through the route till Dharmasthala. The real nature start from here and it was wonderful sight driving through that wild greenery all the way. The real Ghats are beautiful for the eyes but not for my poor i20. The roads are quite pathetic driving down the hills and the heavy lorry traffic makes it vulnerable for a pleasant drive. Some of the stretches are in very bad state and the pouring rain throughout does not show any sign of good hope for the roads. My cannon EOS400, which was idle for all the while came to life as soon as the nature was at his sight (few snaps as below). We reached Dharmasthala around 12PM and had a quick darshan, courtesy a Samaritan. We had food at the temple free meal service shelter (Hats off to the authorities, which make sure all the devotees have been taken care of the food and it’s free). We started off around 3PM and reached Kukke (around 60km) by 5PM. Checked into the pre booked hotel Senani (Thanks to my friend’s colleague, who owns this place). The place was pretty decent and had ample space for parking except that it was far from the temple (this place is at the entrance to kukke subramanya, just next to Kumaradhara River. We did a darshan of lord in the evening, when the crowd seemed bit less and had our dinner at a nearby restaurant and it was bed time for the exhausted souls….. Next day, got up early too bath and went for a second darshan of the lord. Being Sunday, the crowd was at its peak. We managed to finish our darshan in an hour or so and quickly got ready to start back after a quick dosa (we had to queue up for a place in the restaurant). We left the place around 11AM, my friend on the wheels this time. We dint miss to click few of our bollywood poses coming back with the nature. We planned to reach Kamat for lunch and we did it exactly at 2PM, when it was crowded with most of the travelers. I should mention that the food at this place was amazing (thanks to the Kamat group for providing such hospitality on most of such route making easy for travelers). We reached Nelamangala around 5PM and from there we realized that we are back to the chaos of the city. It took us easily around more than a hour drive to our place. Car performed excellent and nature gave a much needed break looking for and last but not least, had a darshan of father and son. The beauty of her just amaze me Nothing to beat her Tea Time, My best buddies Begins the nature photography.... I know there are very good photo guru's here in the forum. do forgive me for any of those wrong angle snaps
	() Thanks

26th July 2010, 19:17	#2
rjstyles69 Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Bengalooru.. Posts: 4,343 Thanked: 842 Times View My Garage	autobond why are you being stingy with the picture size ? Please post larger images for the benefit of viewers please .
	() Thanks

26th July 2010, 19:42	#3
abhinav.s Senior - BHPian Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Bangalore Posts: 2,774 Thanked: 1,272 Times	Very nice and crisp write up. But as suggested, please post larger pics to appreciate the beauty of the car and nature
	() Thanks

27th July 2010, 15:06	#5
Mr.Bangalore BHPian Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Bengalooru Posts: 368 Thanked: 55 Times View My Garage	@AutoBond you have not commented about you ride handling, FE, Performance and things. Please do upload the bigger pics.
	() Thanks

27th July 2010, 18:28	#6
AutoBond Newbie Join Date: May 2010 Location: Bengaluru Posts: 15 Thanked: 2 Times	We planned to visit temple town of Kukke and Dharmasthala during the weekend on 17th and 18th July. 3 idiots and one perfect machine called Hyundai i20 Plan The plan was to visit Dharmasthala, have darshan of lord Manjunath on 17th and travel to Kukke Subramanya for a night stay and have darshan of lord Subramanya on 18th early morning and start back after a quick breakfast. We started as planned at sharp 5AM on 17th July, when most of the namma bengaluru was relaxing the early morning sleep. It was indeed surprising for all 3 that, we did the start as planned (which never happens for most of our outing).I was very eager to take my i20 on this long nature drive and was successful in convincing my 2 friends with my not so good but a convincing marketing talk Route Event Nelamangala, we reached by 6AM. Even though we were more familiar with the route, I was excited to test my mobile with mapmyidia navigator. The accuracy was proved I should say. I was enjoying every turns and roads on the navigator more than enjoying the drive at the beginning. Oopss forgot to say that all 3 idiots know driving, but I was on the wheels starting Bangalore. The roads were pretty much good except for few stretches, where the double road work is under progress. I am not very sure until where is the double road being constructed from Bangalore towards this route. We could almost see the works being carried out till Kunigal and may be few more kilometers after that. I should say we did the best thing by leaving early as most of the stretch I was cru zing more than 100 except for few work in progress stretches. As we had started early, tolerance of the tummy had reached its peak by the time we neared Chanarayapatna, where my clock showed it’s around 8:30AM. As always Kamat was the target to fill up our pleasing tummies. My friend took over the wheels from then on. We took a bypass route not touching Hassan town and reached Sakaleshpura around 10AM. From then on my navigator was very useful guiding through the route till Dharmasthala. The real nature start from here and it was wonderful sight driving through that wild greenery all the way. The real Ghats are beautiful for the eyes but not for my poor i20. The roads are quite pathetic driving down the hills and the heavy lorry traffic makes it vulnerable for a pleasant drive. Some of the stretches are in very bad state and the pouring rain throughout does not show any sign of good hope for the roads. My cannon EOS400, which was idle for all the while came to life as soon as the nature was at his sight (few snaps as below). We reached Dharmasthala around 12PM and had a quick darshan, courtesy a Samaritan. We had food at the temple free meal service shelter (Hats off to the authorities, which make sure all the devotees have been taken care of the food and it’s free). We started off around 3PM and reached Kukke (around 60km) by 5PM. Checked into the pre booked hotel Senani (Thanks to my friend’s colleague, who owns this place). The place was pretty decent and had ample space for parking except that it was far from the temple (this place is at the entrance to kukke subramanya, just next to Kumaradhara River. We did a darshan of lord in the evening, when the crowd seemed bit less and had our dinner at a nearby restaurant and it was bed time for the exhausted souls….. Next day, got up early too bath and went for a second darshan of the lord. Being Sunday, the crowd was at its peak. We managed to finish our darshan in an hour or so and quickly got ready to start back after a quick dosa (we had to queue up for a place in the restaurant). We left the place around 11AM, my friend on the wheels this time. We dint miss to click few of our bollywood poses coming back with the nature. We planned to reach Kamat for lunch and we did it exactly at 2PM, when it was crowded with most of the travelers. I should mention that the food at this place was amazing (thanks to the Kamat group for providing such hospitality on most of such route making easy for travelers). We reached Nelamangala around 5PM and from there we realized that we are back to the chaos of the city. It took us easily around more than a hour drive to our place. Car performed excellent and nature gave a much needed break looking for and last but not least, had a darshan of father and son. Have changed the resolution and uploaded the snaps for the benefit of the forum Nothing to beat her Begins the nature photography.... I know there are very good photo guru's here in the forum. do forgive me for any of those wrong angle snaps
	() Thanks

27th July 2010, 18:56	#7
LongDrive lover BHPian Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Lucknow Posts: 782 Thanked: 114 Times	AutoBond. Your thread title is immense, creating lot of expectations, so looking forward for a good story and pics. i20 (CRDI version) was the car which I almost bought, before finally having hand at the Safari. So looking forward for your experiences of that nice car too.
	() Thanks