Day 9 – Renault India Diamond Trail – Driving through South India
On day nine of the Renault India Diamond Trail driving the Renault Kwid, we crossed southern Karnataka and drove through Tamil Nadu to reach Kanyakumari late in the night. Initially our plan was to stop in Madurai, and drive to Kanyakumari early in the morning. But our crew was so eager to tick off another ‘K’ from the four corners of India that we pushed to reach our next major milestone a little quicker than the plan. And it all seemed worth it. We reached Kanyakumari at 10pm and the aroma of a coastal town just seems so addictive that we can’t wait to drench our feet in beach sand and ocean water in the morning.
Missed what happened on the eighth day? Read here
We’ve been achieving incredible feats since the start of the India Diamond Trail. And the story has been the same for the past two days as well as we’ve driven from Pune to Kanyakumari, a distance of about 1500km, in just two days! This includes the time we took for meals, hotel stays and time taken for shoots by our photographer Sachin. Thanks to the Renault Kwid’s robust reliability and toughness, so much mile munching has been possible. For the entirety of today’s drive we were on the NH 44, formerly popular as the NH 7. It’s the longest highway in India currently. Starting from Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, the highway runs all the way till Kanyakumari, spanning over more than 2500km. The quality of the tarmac was absolutely sublime. There were rare, minor undulations but the Kwid’s suspension easily soaked the bumpy patches. The CEAT rubber too is playing a great role in keeping things steady for us on this drive. During instances where sudden brakes needed to applied, the Milaze series tyres provided good grip.
Tomorrow we’ll explore Kanyakumari, the second milestone of our drive before heading to Chennai, our next stop.
