YERCAUD

Yercaud

Lovely Drive

As decided a week ago, this Saturday morning again we hit the roads. We started from our office in St Marks road at 9 AM. We reached Hosur at 10.30 and had breakfast at Saravan Bhavan.

This time the vehicles were Rakesh's Esteem and Chethan's Zen. From Hosur roads were lovely till Krishnagiri, which made us to take an immidiete decision that roads in TN are far better and advanced than roads of Karnataka , but roads from Krishnagiri to Dharmapuri again forced us to take our words back. From here till Selam roads are in not- so-bad condition. But some streches are really beautiful and of international standard(!!!!!!!!!?????).

The drive was eventless and surroundings were dry and the sun was very very hot. We reaches Selam at 2.30 in the afternoon and had lunch there. From here Yercaud is ~40 kms. At 3.30 we started towards Yercaud and it too nearly 2 hrs to finish the strech of 40-45 kms. The ghat section is narrow and very steep consisting of mant hair-pin curves.

There is a watch tower on the left side of the road nearly 10~12 kms before Yercaud. This gives an excellent view.

We satyed at Sterling Resorts and the rooms we got (300 series) had a very good view of the valley. The view is really good and one can sit in the verandah at night for hours watching the lights of Selam city.

We went for a drive at 8.30 pm to a nearby temple and lost our way. But the drive in windy, empty and curvy roads at night was an unforgetable moment.

Next day (Sunday) We went Pagoda Point , Kiliyur Falls and Montfort School. You can not enjoy if you consider Yercaud as a place with many attractions, but you can enjoy the drive and stay there.

We started back to bangalore at 2.45 from Yercaud and reached Bangalore at 9.30.

Data :

Teamsize - 9, Vehicles - Zen and Esteem, Total Expenses -1,500 per head, Trip Meter Reading - ~600 kms. , Stayed at Sterling Holiday Resorts, Yercaud.

Team : Keshav, Chethan, Rakesh, Nagesh, Sridhar, Prasanna, Manu, Kamal and Mrs. Kamal (Rashmi)

Route : Bangalore -> Electronic City->Hosur -> Krishnagiri -> Dharmapuri -> Selam -> Yercaud

Photos :

KEMMANNUGUNDI

Travelouge : Kemmannugundi..


Day One:
At 7.30 on a Saturday morning we were waiting in front of the Railway Station at Mejastic for Ramesh, his train from Chennai was late by 40 mins, finally he came at 8 and we started our journey, but soon after 30 mins we saw 'Shanthi Sagar' in Malleshwaram and could not resist ourselves from the idea of having breakfast there. Now all are full and the Qualis proceeded towards Nelamangala in a slow pace. Our next stop was Chikkamagalur because we had to pick two more guys from Chikkamagalur , so we had to spend an hour there waiting for them. It was already 1 PM when we picked them and we finally reached 'Rangers Camp' (a kind of home-stay), where Aravind had arranged the stay for us. From here we need to travel around 15kms to reach the Kemmannugundi peak.
Had a wholesum lucnh. It was tastey and filling. Evening around 4.40 we started towards the Peak. Thats a good place with all green around. The joureny is also full of greenary. The road takes us in the middle of lush green coffee estates and dense forest. Finally we are on the peak and its almost dark, we cant take our vehicle because the road is closed because of the land slide due to the hevy rain. Decided to go to the peak next day.
Walked around some of the parks there and went back to the cottage had good dinner and slept off.


Day Two:
Got up at 6.30 , and went for cycling. We cycled nearly 10 kms and it was very cold. Took some good snaps and came back to the cottage to have the breakfast. We went to the peak again and this time the road was open. We parked the car near the peak and started walking towards the peak. Its almost 2 kms walk. But myself, Ramesh and Subbu wanted to explore the forses and we took our own way, which ended up in walking a few more kilometers and some more leach bytes .... but again the effort was worth it. There is nothing special in the peak. Its a small flat green ground.
After lunch we started back towards Bangalore at 3.30 PM and we reached around 9.30 PM...


Route Map ----------------->

Day Three:

8.00 AM, Again the same sad office ............. :(

This was a trip in November - 2005, Teamsize - 6, Vehicle - Qualis, Duration - 1 night, 2 days, Distance From Bangalore - Nearly 250 kms one way, Expenses - 1,800 per head all inclusive.

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