[chaitanyakrish]

Plan

Monsoon and post-monsoon months are my favorite times of the year, where we can have breathtaking views oF the mountains and every inch, every frame is a photo opportunity.Hills are a great way to refresh our senses and bring calmness to our body,mind and soul. When we are on hills, suddenly time slows down and we will have all the time on earth to live for ourselves. Hills teaches us to have humility and be strong no matter the weather, and also shows how tiny we are in front of nature.Whenever I go to hills, I make it a point to leave my laptop at home and completely disconnect from gadgets.

Keeping all these mind, me and fellow BHPian @Vallabha decided to go to the meadows of Sakleshpura, where we can have leisurely strolls on the grass and just relax.

Each landscape on earth is a beauty in itself but Sakleshpura Meadows are no less than Black Forest Area in Germany / Scottish Highlands.

To explore the meadows fully, we needed a place which is far from the town and closer to nature. As a natural choice, we have chosen Misty Mountains Homestay, which offers the best views and access to nature.

For BHPians

We really love TeamBHP as a community, where all the senior BHPians did all these trips in the past and we as newbies to the forum are following the trail, rekindling memories for many among us and creating memories for us. Also, as BHPians we can't stop admiring cars and we are the only one in the homestay who are taking photos of car in all possible angles.

Others might be wondering what we are up to, but we never bothered and continued our car pics. Car is a part of the family, and not just a vehicle for us and it's a fact that every BHPian agrees to.

The Camera

At the last moment, I forgot to carry my DSLR and we clicked all photos using mobile phone. As composition of a photo is key, we focused on basic composition techniques and clicked as many as we want, until our hearts and cards are full.


The Trip

Our both families started from Bangalore on 3rd Oct 2022 at around 8AM and had a great breakfast break at Dhruvataare. I always prefer Dhruvataare as it fulfills hunger needs and also, kids can relax a bit in the play area. We reached the homestay for lunch and the moment we opened the car door, cool misty wind hit our faces and we are instantly refreshed and forgot all the travel effort !!

The homestay and the views around in the post monsoon season are so lush green, we didn't wanted to relax at least for a while inside the room. Sitting out and feeling the fresh mountain breeze felt more refreshing. The homestay has good access to meadows and coffee plantations and a great choice, if you want to have a break from hustle bustle of city life. The homestay staff was calling us for lunch, but we are so engrossed in the views and kept on delaying having lunch.

Day 1

We spent the whole second half of day 1, exploring the entire area and relishing the lush green Malenadu region grasslands.

The post is going to be photo heavy, please bear with me and enjoy the views through my eyes.


View of the lush green meadows from the homestay balcony.


This is the view of the homestay from one corner of the hill. Kids played a lot on the hill and the area felt very safe as well.


Here's the car basking in sun after a long drive.


This is shot at around 4PM and we can see mist coming towards us and this changed the entire landscape from scenic to scenic 2.0.


My car enjoying the views too.






My kid saw the mist laden hills and started singing songs from "Frozen" movie.


The homestay is very artistically built and it blends very well with the surroundings.


The pathway that leads to the dormitory accommodation is so lovely and adds to the beauty of the property.


A view of the parked cars and homestay. One was a Venue Diesel and other a Jeep Compass.


The entire scene became magical at night, with the darkness around and we can literally see the mist flowing infront of our eyes.


The painting and the wall inside the common dining area made a perfect frame for a perfect photo.


One of the walkways around the homestay


In all the rooms, we have the slit where we can natural light in the morning.


Our Car is waiting for us as we're busy walking on the hills.

[chaitanyakrish]

Day 2

We woke up early and went for a walk and walked all the grasslands and never felt tired. That's the magic of hills and we will never feel bored on hills as the landscape changes every minute with mist, clouds etc. We had a nice breakfast and homestay staff did Ayudha Pooja for all the cars. After the Pooja, we visited Manjarabad Fort and some local sights and reached homestay by noon. We thought of covering Bisle Ghat too, but kids wanted to play in the homestay grassland, so had to return.

In the evening, homestay staff took us for nature walk near the property and its amazing. While walking on the mist covered meadows, we felt as if we are on another planet.

Pics below :

We discovered many meadows while walking in the morning and each one of them is a beauty in itself.




This is the view just before sunset at the homestay. We waited to see sunset, but on all the 3 days we had complete mist cover.


This is the parking near Manjarabad Fort. There is no specific parking area, so we need to park on the road side. Also, there is no ticket for the fort and we need to climb around 300 steps on one side.


Moss inside the fort gave a very nice look to the walls, which otherwise look like plain stonewalls.







Once we are back from the fort, we started car photoshoot again. Some pics.











Me and my daughter having a nice walk on the hills. I really enjoyed walking on the hills with kid, which we really miss in city life.



BHPian @vallabha clicked my picture when i'm fully involved enjoying the view.

[chaitanyakrish]

In the evening, Homestay staff took for us for a nature walk in the coffee estate behind the property. This gave a other worldly experience and it must be experienced. Let me share some pics and videos.

My daughter collecting some coffee fruits.


These are the mist covered meadows which we covered as part of the nature walk and this is a surreal experience.












Homestay from another angle. This is one of the best angle where the fence adds to the beauty.


The next morning, me and Vallabha went for a morning walk to a different side of the homestay and had an amazing experience. We walked a lot but never felt tired, that's the beauty.

Some pics from the morning walk.


Vallabha is very busy clicking photos. I had to catch up with him.




A lone house far away and the road formed the perfect setting for a photo. On day1, we confused this to be the homestay and went there directly and then, they guided us to the homestay.


This looked like a gate to heaven.


These type of signboards are kept at every junction point which will lead to the homestay.



We thought of taking some pics of the car at night and took a few by playing around with ISO settings on the phone. I can control it easily in my DSLR, but in phone its a challenge, but we managed it well.

[chaitanyakrish]

Epilogue

BHPian Vallabha will share some more pics and videos. Thanks all for reading through the post. We returned on the 3rd Day, and had a nice drive through rain and stopped for lunch at Swathi Delicacy. We spent around 2 hours at Swathi Delicacy and reached Bangalore by dinner time.

Car

i20 Asta IMT

Total Distance : 550 KM

Mileage : 16 KMPL

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[Kousie_Arima]

The Homestay is definitely on my wishlist now! Could you please elaborate on the I20s driving experience, Comfort, suspension and the IMT specifically.

I was considering the i20 IMT but went with the 1.2L IVT. Wasn't sure of the long term reliability of the transmission. So could you please elaborate on the transmission.

[CeeBeeR]

Thank you for the beautiful photos.
I visited Misty mountains in Dec 21 and had a wonderful time there.
The owner is very courteous and our entire group loved Ruby, the resident canine guardian.

[jessie007]

Looks like a nice trip! One query i have regarding i20s ground clearance - how did you find it - was it adequate for the mild off road / grassy track drive??

What about our pot-holed roads - does the car bottom out and how well does the suspension do in transferring the least amount of jolts to the passengers inside? Thanks in advance.

[chaitanyakrish]

Originally Posted by Kousie_Arima

So could you please elaborate on the transmission.

IMT is very convenient as it offers best of both worlds. We never felt lack of power, torque, convenience while driving on highways,hills and on any uneven terrain.

Originally Posted by CeeBeeR

Ruby, the resident canine guardian.

Yes, Ruby used to follow us wherever we go and stop at a distance and ensured that, we are safe. Also, Ruby is so well trained, it never asks for food from guests, even if we are having chicken in front of it. Homestay offers pure-veg malenadu style food and if we want, we can ask for non-vegetarian dishes at an extra nominal cost.

Here's Ruby overlooking us from a distance, when me and Vallabha are busy planning some angles for photos.

Originally Posted by jessie007

was it adequate for the mild off road / grassy track drive??

Drive is very comfortable in i20 and the ground clearance is enough to handle all rough terrain and slush, that we faced on the hills. Last month, we went to Wayanad and did a 900km round trip and my mother who came along with me, felt so comfortable. She has motion sickness and she never complained in the entire drive.