6 BHPians in 6 Cars Drive across Karnataka!
Got wheels, must drive! That was a simple idea behind this drive by a group of BHPian friends from Bangalore. All of us love driving. And driving was the primary agenda. Everything else was secondary.
We chose a circuit that offered a nice mix of driving conditions - fast highways, some lovely hill roads and descending down the Western Ghats and reaching the west coast, a small drive along the coast, then a hill drive again and ascending the Western Ghats from another route, and back to four-lane and six-lane highways for a fast highway drive back home.
To add more variety in the mix - not just in the driving conditions but also in the landscapes we would see - we chose one beach location (Kumta) and another iconic location far away from beach (Hampi) for this 2 nights drive! That meant we had a chance of a car photoshoot both at the coastal areas and at the iconic sites of Hampi. Outdoor photography is often a matter of luck. Multiple factors including location, time and light must come together for it to work. As it turned out, we did not find any decent location for a car photoshoot at a beach near Kumta. But we did find a nice location for car photoshoot in Hampi. So overall it was a mixed bag for photography in this trip.
The approximate route map of this drive spanning more than 1200km is shown below:
We had 6 friends and BHPians driving 6 cars. A solo driver in each car. That is how the most enthusiastic drivers drive.
The group of 6 included
@robimahanta (driving his White VW Polo GTI),
@jkrishnakj (driving his Gray Audi A6),
@RakishRam (driving his Dravit Gray BMW M340i),
@praveenbalan (driving his White BMW 330i),
@HighRevving (driving his Blue BMW M330i), and myself (driving my Red BMW 320d).
We had another friend, who is not a forum member, joining us for some time on the first morning, in his White 320d. He could not join us for the whole trip, but it was nice of him to join for about a 200km of distance in our early morning run!
The convoy at the beginning of this memorable drive:
Our convoy somewhere on the scenic forest stretch of the road:
We took Shimoga-Sagar-Honnavar (NH69)-Kumta road, and this road is brilliant! Sagar to Honnavar (NH69) is one of my favorite roads to drive on. This road has the best of everything - lovely twists and corners, hilly drives with ups and downs, scenic views and thick forests all around, and butter smooth tarmac. I have driven on this road in monsoons too, and even in peak monsoons, the road surface here has always been great. We enjoyed our drive on this road.
The six cars at our beach resort in Kumta:
The four bimmers in the group:
Another group photo of all six cars in Kumta:
As I mentioned, we could not find a right spot for car photography at the beach. All we managed was to crawl on an off-road track trying to find a beach location and then returning back with not much success on that front. However, while crawling around on those dirt tracks, I managed to take a couple of casual mobile photos near the beach.
@praveenbalan's White 330i MSport:
@HighRevving's Portimao Blue 330i MSport:
Although we did not get a good beach photoshoot, we did get a great evening at the beach. We spent the evening talking cars while chilling at a beach resort. The simple and idyllic beach resort we stayed in Kumta was "Om Bodhi Retreat". Nothing fancy. No luxuries. Just a simple place that was peaceful and comfortable. The resort and the rooms were clean, it was located right on the beach, had a good parking space (very important for us), and offered a great dining experience at their beach restaurant. The hosts were hospitable and the service was great. Food was fantastic and always fresh! We did not expect much from this basic place, but we got more than what we expected and we ended up having a great time at this beach resort.
Evening scenes at the beach:
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