[motomaverick]

It was a long time since the white whale went on a proper highway drive. The last one was to Conoor Oct 1st week 2012. Both the car and its owner was itching for a drive. So out came an idea of a short trip to Yercaud for lunch and back the same day.


Yercaud
Yercaud is a hill station in Salem District, in Tamil Nadu, India. It is located in the Shevaroys range of hills in the Eastern Ghats; the Yercaud hill area is called the Shevaroy Hills or sometimes also called as Salem Heights 


The car



The occupants (L-R): My friend Ibnul, fellow member M.R.Borwa and yours truly. I know there was no dress code just a good coincidence



Route:
Kanakpura Metro – NICE Road – Hosur – Krishnagiri – Dharmapuri – Thoppur – Salem – Yercaud


PS: All the pictures are taken by either one of the 3 of us, since I don’t remember who took what, I would like to acknowledge the 3 of us 

Since it’s a short drive, this post will also be short. The drive started at around 7:15am from Kanakpura, quickly hit the NICE road to get you to Hosur road. Somehow being a Saturday Hosur road was choc-a-block with cars and trucks, plus add to this numerous diversions due to the ongoing 6 lane work. Some of the sections post Hosur town has been completed and new roads laid but a lot of sections are still pending. These sections are bouncy, broken and dusty. So if you are in a light or small car you need to be careful about the bounce as rear seat passengers can be uncomfortable.

Somewhere after Krishnagiri


A quick breakfast at Shri Krishna Sagar, Shoolagiri ensure that hunger pangs will be curtailed till we reached Yercaud. The drive to Salem is fast and laid back as not too many vehicles from Krishnagiri. One thing I would mention here is the deteriorating condition of the highway from Krishnagiri to Thoppur. The road is not broken as such and there are no sudden potholes but it has become quite bouncy or what we call body roll. Since the Manza is a heavy car it was not felt so much at the back seat but I could see small cars and hatchbacks bouncing like crazy. This was not the case some 6 months back. It’s sad to see that despite taking such high tolls the road has not been re-laid in a long long time.

After Dharmapuri


A Nariyal paani stop. The white whale enjoys being clicked on a highway. All prep for Ladakh



It took us not more than 2 hours to reach Salem and from there on we needed to find the Salem-Yercaud road. This is a bit tricky and that’s where the GPS comes in handy and without any hitch we got onto the correct route. Midway through the climb you get a nice lay off place to stop the car and take pictures.

Beautiful roads leading to Yercaud



The climb itself is not difficult and hairpins are pretty easy. I must say the ghat road to Yercaud is very well maintained and its easy to drive up. Once in Yercaud we needed to find a place to rest for a while, have lunch and also take some pictures. We knew about Sky Roca but we reached there by 11:30am so obviously lunch would not be ready, so we went around to the Yercaud lake. Nothing to write home about, its like any of the lakes that you see in hill stations in South India.

Finally it was decided to have the buffet lunch at Salem Heights, GRT Nature Trails or also known as Sky Roca. The view from this property is really good and you can relax for some time soaking in the views. The buffet was INR 600 per person including tax, yes it’s on the higher side but the food and the ambience is really good. After having lunch and spending couple of hours, it was time to head back home.

The view from Sky Roca



That is the resorts building perched on a hill side



Valley view from the Sky walk


Couple of artistic composition from my friend





Various hues of the sky you get while driving


Looked like it would rain but alas nothing


Reached back near Kanakpura Metro by 6:30 PM to culminate a wonderful day drive.


A parting shot of the traffic on Hosur road


Coming to the performance of the car, well it was sweet as usual. The RD box helping the cause quite a bit, in fact for the 495kms round trip the overall mileage shown by the MID was 20kpl. Which I think is pretty good considering the route had fast highways, ghats, and city traffic thrown in for good measure.

[ampere]

A 220 km drive for a lunch? Now that's costly !
I love such drives. Once we went all the way to Mettur for lunch !

GRT is always a good place to go to. That I think is one of the best maintained resorts in Yercaud. I had been there end Dec and weather we got
was rain and fog! Never felt better. To give a glimpse. (If you permit)



And if you want the fun of driving to Yercaud via a 2-lane SH, lined up with trees try the route via Karimangalam-Morappur-Harur-Kuppanur-Yercaud.

Amazing drive; though the ghat roads very narrow. But you hardly see any traffic.

Ref:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/route-...ml#post3003868

[motomaverick]

Originally Posted by ampere

A 220 km drive for a lunch? Now that's costly !
I love such drives. Once we went all the way to Mettur for lunch !

GRT is always a good place to go to. That I think is one of the best maintained resorts in Yercaud. I had been there end Dec and weather we got
was rain and fog! Never felt better. To give a glimpse. (If you permit)

Yeah costly lunch but then no harm in a quick drive and stretch the legs of the car

Nice picture, I guess this pool is at lower levels because we did not see a pool near the restaurant. The weather was cloudy and sunny when we went but it was not that hot, though the sun can burn you if you stay out for too long.

[Rajain]

Good travelogue. Years ago my wife and I drove from Noida to Jaipur and back (close to 500 kms) - just to listen to gazals. Its a unique experince to simply drive, listen to music and enjoy the drive. Part of the philosophy of 'live to drive'.

Keep the pictures coming. Nice pictures

Cheers

[sami316]

This was a short and sweet travelogue. I have been to Yeracaud a few years back on a Team Outing and had stayed in the Sky Roca. Its indeed a nice place with spectacular views. Thanks for updating on the road conditions, would love to see some more snaps.

[motomaverick]

Originally Posted by Rajain

Good travelogue. Years ago my wife and I drove from Noida to Jaipur and back (close to 500 kms) - just to listen to gazals. Its a unique experince to simply drive, listen to music and enjoy the drive. Part of the philosophy of 'live to drive'.

Keep the pictures coming. Nice pictures

Cheers

Yeah "Live to Drive" is what the philosophy we have been following ever since we got introduced to motorized two & then 4 wheels

Originally Posted by sami316

This was a short and sweet travelogue. I have been to Yeracaud a few years back on a Team Outing and had stayed in the Sky Roca. Its indeed a nice place with spectacular views. Thanks for updating on the road conditions, would love to see some more snaps.

Well that's about it with regards to pictures as it was short and sweet. Also, while on the way back all the passengers were either sleeping or sitting quietly with the a/c turned on and a leisurely speed.

[karan561]

Great drive, perfect roads & beautiful pics.

All in all a perfect short & crisp travelogue report.

PS - Love the pic of the bench ( Sadly no proper full shot of the car )

[motomaverick]

Originally Posted by karan561

Great drive, perfect roads & beautiful pics.

All in all a perfect short & crisp travelogue report.

PS - Love the pic of the bench ( Sadly no proper full shot of the car )

Here you go, the car might look a lil elongated as it was taken with a wide angle lens

[karan561]

Originally Posted by motomaverick

Here you go, the car might look a lil elongated as it was taken with a wide angle lens

Attachment 1055446

Thank you for uploading this picture, it really is well taken & the Manza looka handsome in this wide angle lens.

On 2nd thought this still isnt the "full" picture of your car, if it hadnt been mentioned in the topic of your travelogue your manza can be mistaken for an VISTA

[motomaverick]

Originally Posted by karan561

Thank you for uploading this picture, it really is well taken & the Manza looka handsome in this wide angle lens.

On 2nd thought this still isnt the "full" picture of your car, if it hadnt been mentioned in the topic of your travelogue your manza can be mistaken for an VISTA

Hahaha good catch, thats the sad part of driving a car which has a sibling. But I have run out of ammunition at least for this trip as far as the car goes

[Asif 6959]

Hey Hirak, great travelogue there. The Manza surely looks awsome in the first picture.A little of the Aria and little of the Vista. Thanks for the details on the place. Its been added to the list of ride due this year. We have such amazing places to visit in India that many of us including me are unaware.The place should look more beautiful in monsoons IMO.

The Chennai-Bangalore highway is really in a sad state of condition. Last week rode down from Chennai and it was a pain with the traffic and diversions all the way to Bangalore. Hope for conditions to improve.

[motomaverick]

Originally Posted by Asif 6959

Hey Hirak, great travelogue there. The Manza surely looks awsome in the first picture.A little of the Aria and little of the Vista. Thanks for the details on the place. Its been added to the list of ride due this year. We have such amazing places to visit in India that many of us including me are unaware.The place should look more beautiful in monsoons IMO.

The Chennai-Bangalore highway is really in a sad state of condition. Last week rode down from Chennai and it was a pain with the traffic and diversions all the way to Bangalore. Hope for conditions to improve.

Well first of thanks for the comments. Yes there are quite a few places that are really good, in fact it was my first time as well in Yercaud.

The highway to Yercaud is the Salem one which is Bangalore - Coimbatore one and not the Chennai - Bangalore one but the later one has lot of diversions because of 6 lane work. Hope it completes soon.

[Asif 6959]

Well upto Krishnagiri the road is common and since had only last week traveled on it i.e Bangalore-Chennai-Bangalore got a bit carried away. Thanks for the correction.

The roads upto Chennai is the same with all diversions and village traffic all over the highway. To add to all this the heat of Chennai is only an icing on the cake.