It was a long drawn plan. My desire to make this happen triggered, 2 months back.
As usual, the plans strike when i am away from the beautiful India.
My wife and myself always wanted to do a Golden Quadrilateral drive. We always think, its the journey, and not the destination, that matters. I had sketched out the usual plan of the 7 section GQ drive.
I keep gazing at the Google Earth everyday, searching for strange places, viewing forest covers from the air, visiting wierdly located islands and its
occupants! One such time, i thought, why not drive from Bangalore all the way till Dwarka along the coastal Gujarat. i had finalised the 11 day plan to do so in full earnest.
In the mean time, i invited my wife's brother and his wife to join us on this journey. He got his vacation approved and there we were. 4 ppl, 2 cars, ready to drive a 11 day trip.
I have travelled Karnataka, Kerala and TN well. But i had not had oppurtunity to travel and explore MH, AP and beyond, except a 3 month stay in Baroda in 2004. So, driving all the way to GJ, bypassing or ignoring MH looked very tough to me. How can i ignore the beautiful beaches, caves, Archeology, Hillstations, the cities of MH, and just drive past it. And hence, the plan changed again. This time, we decided, to cover MH. Covering a full state in 1 trip, is impossible. So we prioritised based on variety and the plan looked as below. Mind u , the plan is always supposed to change... lol.
This trip was going to be my longest. Bangalore-Kodai-Madurai-Kanyakumari-Bangalore was my longest till date. This is documented on team-bhp.com here.
Day 1 : Bangalore - Yellapur
Day 2 : Yellapur - Ganapatipule beach
Day 3 : Ganapatipule beach
Day 4 : Ganapatipule - Mahabaleshwar
Day 5 : Mahabaleshwar - Shirdi
Day 6 : Shirdi - Ellora - Aurangabad
Day 7 : Aurangabad - Chikaldara
Day 8 : Chikaldara/Melghat
Day 9 : Chikaldara - Sholapur
Day 10 : Sholapur - Bijapur - Kodalasangama
Day 11 : Reach bangalore late.
This plan covered my desire to drive the Hubli-Ankola stetch, the beautiful beach at Ganapatipule, the Hill station, the Religious essence of Shirdi, the
Archeology of the Elloras, and the wilderness and the sense of being far away from home at Chikaldara.
The recent DreamDiesel's trip to MH was a bull's eye, interms of what could be covered and the time needed to do so. So thanks to DD, for his account on this site.
Thanks to hvk, Ranjit and AbheekGhosh, for guiding the routes, when necessary.
The trip was done on 2 Fords. My 2007 1.6 Fiesta. And my bro-in-law's Ikon Tdci 1.4 .
Below is an account of the Day to Day travel. Hope u guys enjoy it, through the blog and the photos, that would follow.
Day 1:
Bangalore - Davangere - Yellapur - Karwar
Plan was to start early and have breakfast with my cousin and family at Davanagere. So we did. We started the day early. Far too early. 3 AM... lol.
We were all set and started the drive from J.P.Nagar at half past 3 and met Mahesh and Ashwini in their Ikon at Hulimavu, Bannerghatta road.
We drove on the Nice road and hit the NH4. This was my first drive on the newly laid 4 laner until Nelamangala. Looks promising, looks helpful. We reached Davanagere at 7.40 AM. A good 3 hour 40 minute drive to cover the first 280 Kms. Chitradurga section is a big improvement from what i had seen before. No hic-cups.
We enter VidyaNagar entrance on Davanagere bypass. My cousin & wife are a Homeopathic doctor couple at Davanagere. We reach their house at MCC-B block, quickly, through Vidyanagar - Taralabalu - BDT college area.
Spent the next 1 hour at their place. It was time for Breakfast. The brilliant Benne dosa at "Old Sagar Benne Dose" hotel in Davanagere.
For people who intend to try this authentic benne dose at Davanagere, there are basically 2 places to do so.
One is right infront of the Bapuji Medical college and Taralabalu college.
And the other (the more authentic one) is near the "High school grounds" 100m from the city center - Ram & Co circle. This is the Sagar Benne Dosa.