Day 3 – Renault India Diamond Trail – Closing in towards our first major milestone

On day three of the Renault India Diamond Trail, we entered Bhuj. The city is some 150km from our first major milestone, Koteshvar. Luckily, there were no crossing borders today. We had already driven the Renault Kwid into Gujarat (with the whole drill of bag checking for alcohol) yesterday evening. And today it was a straightforward dash towards the coast.

Renault India Diamond Trail driving the Renault Kwid – How was the Delhi – Ajmer journey? – Click here for full blog

Starting day three of the Renault India Diamond Trail in Palanpur

We started our drive in Palanpur, and before we left town, we decided to pay the local Renault dealership a visit. There were a few spanking new Renault Kwids lying at the dealership. A quick chat with the folks at the dealership told me that they sell around 20 Kwids a month here. They really like their Kwids in the heartlands! After our little meet-and-greet, we got on to NH27 and followed it for a good 250km. Slowly but surely, we left the Aravalis in our rear-view mirrors, and the land started getting flatter and more arid. There were points where we saw no trees at all — just shrubs with spikey leaves and thorns for as far as the eye could see. As we progressed towards the Rann, the landscape was beginning to resemble that vast nothingness of its salt flats.

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The strengths of the Renault Kwid

We found a few off-road trails to take the Kwid down and explore — it’s got great ground clearance and though it isn’t built for off-roading, the fact that it is so light means it clambers over a lot of things you’d expect would stop it.

We have halted at Bhuj for the night, and will be heading to Koteshwar tomorrow. If we get time, we might even go exploring the Rann. Tomorrow is a big day —we cross out one ‘K’ of the four ‘K’s we are to be visiting over these 14000km. We can’t wait!