City - Bengaluru
CITY - Honda City V MT(Petrol)
Destination - Yercaud
Riders - Me, Wife, Bishnu(My college friend), his wife
Route -
Onwards : Kasturi Nagar - Silk Board Junction - Hosur - Krishnagiri - KadayamPatti - Kanavaipudur - Yercaud
Return : Yercaud - Salem - Krishnagiri - Hosur - Silk Board Junction - Kasturi Nagar
With the details out of the way, now is time to dwell into the journey. This being my first travelogue in Team-BHP, might lack the perfection of a detailed travelogue, will appreciate thoughts and suggestions from all members.
One (dis) advantage of Bengaluru is with so many spots inside a 250- 300 KM radius, whenever a long weekend approaches, you are spoilt for choice. So, with the long weekend for Ramadan approaching, we started short listing the spots. Puttaparthi and Yercaud came into the finals and Yercaud won it with majority of votes.
With the spot finalized as late as Friday evening, we planned a day trip as hotels were nearly full baring exception of two which were clearly outside our budget. The plan was to start off by 5 AM and reach back by 10-11 PM.
As always the case with morning starts, we got delayed by 30 minutes and wheels started rolling at 05:30. Had to pick up the most vital aspect of a journey(the DSLR) on the way as I had left it out with a friend in Marathahalli. This was done by 06:00 and we were well underway.
At Silk board junction, we decided not to take E-City flyover as based on past experiences, on a long weekend eve, although you will fly on the flyover, you will get stuck at the end in toll net. Hence, we decided to keep low and with sparse morning traffic on NH-44, covered the stretch without any delay. While merging at the end, saw a huge queue of vehicles caught in toll net and with a grin in our face, sped away.
But the grin did not stay long as we approached the huge queue prior to Attibele toll plaza. In fact the toll plaza was nowhere to be seen. The queue started from the approaching bridge itself nearly 1.5~2 KMs before. We crawled through the queue up until 500 meters of the toll plaza when the staffs thought to let all gates open to ease the traffic.
Just when you put your foot down the accelerator, there comes another chock-a-block traffic thanks to TN border check post and yellow board vehicles parked randomly on the road to obtain permit. Navigate through this and there awaits open road ahead. With butter smooth tarmac, 3 onward lanes to cruise, mountains covered in lush greenery by the side.
Covered a good distance prior to stopping by road side for a nature break and small photo session. This is where wife decided to take over the wheels. She is a newbie driver and good on free roads. Me being at the passenger seat, we drove for around 25 kilometers before approaching the long queue of vehicles near Krishnagiri toll plaza. Once again queue started from bridge itself. We stopped by the side, I took over and we took service road instead of bridge to get ahead in queue. Took nearly 35-40 minutes to crawl out of queue, pay a two way toll of 130 rupees and sped away.
City by the Road
The smooth tarmac
What's a journey without a groupfie
By this time, it was already 8.30 and we were looking for eateries. Found a Sree Saravana Bhavan just beside the road after nearly 10 minutes with ample parking space. Parked safely and had a hefty breakfast(Dosa+Vada). The cleanliness and service is good despite the rush.
With our stomach full, we decided to move ahead without any further stops. Well, apart from toll net.
We approached the Palayam toll plaza. The queue was shorter, paid two way toll of 95 rupees and sped away. Negotiating some fine curves, we started looking out for filling our ride's fuel tank. Approached RG Fuels(Indian Oil). Filled up the tank and we started our final approach.
Guided by Google, bidding adieu to NH-44, we took a left at KadayamPatti just after the fuel station and started our journey on two lane village roads. With farm lands on both sides, we maintained good speed until approaching the right turn at Kanavaipudur. This one is easy to miss as there are no signboards and it's a narrow road.
Classic Railway Over bridge
There onwards started a single lane Ghat road in not so good conditions. With steep slope and bad patches right at the at bends, we carefully crawled ahead. This section of the road should be avoided(Better to take the route via Salem). Google should also incorporate a feature on delay due to road quality similar to delay due to traffic.
But the view from the road was breathtaking. We stopped by the side for our second photo session and grabbed some good memories. It was nearing 11 by then and we decided to move on.
The Bends
Bad Patches
The road got better along the way and by 12, we were by the side of Yercaud lake. It's a big, clean lake with boating facilities and looked pretty good in the backdrop of mountains. But being from Odisha(Land of Chilika), we decided to skip the lake and proceed to next attraction.
Moved ahead to Killiyur falls and the roads being narrow to pass one vehicle at a time, had a chance to ask approaching vehicles about the spot. We were told there is not even a drop of water, but still decided to visit as making a U turn was not an option. Reached the parking spot in 20 minutes. It was nice and clean. Parked and started walking down. Upon reaching the stairs, me and wife decided to stay back and enjoy the view while Bishnu and his wife carried on. We clicked few pics, enjoyed the greenery and after a good 30 minutes, saw them return. There was no water but a good exercise for them.
It was 2 PM by then and we started looking for lunch. Got a god hotel by the lake side and had south Indian thali. Lunch was over by 3 and we started our journey on the famous 32 KMs loop road. The road is narrow but very neatly maintained. With lush greenery on both sides and occasional stretches covered with big trees that deny sunlight, we rolled down the windows and breathed in the fresh air. One thing to be noted on the road, honk before every turn and give way wherever possible. The road is narrow and you have to be considerate of approaching vehicle.
Killiyur falls sans water
The View
Posing on the stairs
We stopped midway where road was wide enough to park, had a long photo session and then started back and reached near the lake by 5.20. Stumbled upon this map of yercaud town near Anna Park listing out the attractions. Decided to visit one view point Gent's seat and it was the best decision ever.
It was just 3 KMs from the park and we reached in no time, paid an entry fee of 30 per head and moved in. Parked our vehicle safely and approached the view point. You can take your car right to the top, so there is not much walking involved. Once at the spot, the view was breath taking. Lush green mountains, serpentine roads and the chill in the wind makes it worthwhile. We saw cloud looming over the mountain in far and it slowly started engulfing the views. Words fall short to describe the view. Clouds started moving in fast and in no time the whole view was covered in white. It started drizzling followed by heavy rain for a while. Took shelter in the view point. Rain did not last long but it left a good amount of mist cover for us to have one final photo ops. Had to turn on the fog lights on return leg until we left the mountains.
Loop Road
Photography experiment
Entry to View point
Started our return journey by 6.45. It was raining continuously. Reached by the lake. Had some freshly prepared Cauliflower, raw banana pakoras, Mirchi Bhajjis. With stomach full, it was time to start back.
Decided to take the Salem route and it was quite straight forward. The road is very well maintained with numbering at each hair pin bends. There are a total of 20 bends and you get a countdown at each bend. We started our descent with caution as it was raining. We reached Salem city by 8.30 and were caught in traffic. It took a good 45 minutes to get out of the traffic and on to NH-44.
Once onto NH-44, it's a straight journey of ~200 kilometers. We stopped once for dinner at A2B at around 10PM. There was not much queue at toll gates on the return leg and we drove non-stop to reach home at 00.45.
That's all for this one day trip.