Yercaud Again!!

Bangalore - Yercaud Motorbike trip 2, 3, 4th October 2009

Second time in two years, give it to the place or the urge of riding. Riding always is an unchallenged winner but the place also matches up this time. Had been few months since our last trip and the plans were keeping themselves to the notepads, so we decided to head unplanned.

Yercaud, when I heard it from Ashish the first thought that struck was, not again. But then, the rush weekend,

explosive prices and the urge of riding overrode the base class method of not_again to Okaaay.

We head with two bikes, Pulsar 200 my 19k kms companion and Machismo 500 a new entrant - Ashish’s latest asset, and three of us Rashmi, Ashish and I. With couple of guys having got married recently the count of the bikes and people has come down, for good or for bad that’s up for debate.

A quick plan worked in the background day before and we got a place to stay booked, to avoid any last minute surprises considering it was a rush weekend.

It was a little rainy on the 1^st so we decided to leave after sunrise, left Bangalore on 2^nd at 6. Going by an average speed of 60kms p/h it should have taken us maximum 4 hours for Yercaud but when it’s about the ride we don’t care about the time, innumerous breaks for tea, food, photography are a must.

We reach by 1, guided by the most creative signboards, winner being “You are sufficiently warned”. Someone in PWD got fed up of writing these warning boards and wrote the masterpiece, once for all. What I loved though was the road; I wish we had such good roads in Bangalore city.

Yercaud is known as poor man’s Ooty, and rightly so. Nature and weather were just awesome, reminded me of rides to Nainital, as soon as you cross Hanuman Garhi and get closer to the lake city, the rejuvenation kicks in, same was the feeling here. No comparison to Nainital though, it ain’t a poor man’s place anyways :)

Poor man’s Ooty, because you get almost the same refreshment and refueling as Ooty at almost 1/3 of the cost. Not many people know about or not many people make plans for Yercaud, leaving it also 1/3 crowded than Ooty.

So we reach Yercaud, and first thing we do is search for Cliffton Inn, Yatra.com’s second blunder in two years, I’m amused how these guys are wonderfully consistent in screwing up, probably Six Sigma. Though I was happy we had beds and bedsheets, unlike the last time :)

Second thing to do was search for a lunch place, my last time’s experience at this wasn’t encouraging, but things change and we were lucky enough to find a hotel, though we yet had to place a special order and wait for 45 minutes.(Don’t worry, you have another very good place to eat in Yercaud, I’ll speak about it :))

Somehow time doesn’t seem to pass at such places, and after all this drama we yet had 3 hours to kill before sunset.

One good thing about a smaller group is you don’t have to fight on what next, wherever the first bike turns to the other follows :). And that takes us to Lady’s seat, the first look disappointed me to the core, don’t know when people will learn to use the dustbins. Not that Govt. has enough of them everywhere but yet how much does it take to carry the waste to the nearest. Justifies the ban of plastics in many tourist places of the north.

Ignore that and rest is bliss, view from this place is a view of lifetime. An inside tip for the ones who can spend a little, ditch the view point most of the people flock at and head to the one next to it, 5rs ticket for the Doorbin, and the best spent 5rs of my lifetime, try for yourself.

After a good photography session here we left for Botanical Garden, a not so impressive place and after a couple of clicks headed for Pagoda Point, from my last trip experience I knew it is a must visit place after sunset. View of Salem city flooded with lights from this point is just breathtaking.

But this time nature had different plans, the place was covered with thick fog. The little displeasure of losing the view was blown away by the amazingly beautiful weather. It was like being on the clouds, may be cloud 9 :)

I tried all the best possible settings of the camera to click some moments, and did get a few good ones. The ride back to the resort through the dense fog was a little horrifying but an Experience.

Dinner was the next big question; we yet hadn’t discovered the best place I’m supposed to talk about :) We decide to try “Lake Forest – Club Mahindra”, an expensive looking place, but anything for good food :). Only to discover we being outsiders would be served only buffet, it was kind of OK to fill up, but @ 250per head sure didn’t justify the cost. The resort though is beautiful, a honeymoon place I must say.

The day finally ended with our search for tea, and that took us back to the lunch place. And then we bid Good night with the promise to get up early and visit Padoga Point for sunrise.

Day 2. Unlike all other trips we did get up on time, only to discover the freezing weather outside, with thick layers of fog it made no sense to ride 5kms when we knew the sun wouldn’t show up. We got up again at 10, had breakfast at our lovely resort and rode straight to Kiliyur Falls.

8km ride, 1 km trek and all worth it. Spent a good time there and had long camera sessions.

It was lunch time and search time again. Somehow Rashmi remembered seeing a board of Shevroys Silver Oak Restaurant, pillion riders have the luxury of not loosing anything.

If you follow the road from the lake towards the city bus stand this place will be on your left at the second turn. Looked like a normal Bangalore restaurant and was overcrowded too, not deciding to wait we came out to try our luck in the Chinese restaurant, “Red Dragon” next door run by the same Shevaroy’s management.

This is the best place to eat in Yercaud, the one I was supposed to talk about.

Reasonable price, amazing food and decent service. Not just the Chinese place, Silver Oak is equally good, we had our dinner and next day break fast at Silver Oak and it was worth each penny.

After lunch we did a city tour. Saw the best ever school playground at Monfort School and visited the city church.

In the evening we went back to Lady’s seat; trust me just for the Mirchi Bhajji’s, a delicacy not to be missed.

The weather was clean with almost no clouds and there wasn’t a second thought when someone said, lets go to Pagoda Point. This was our second shot at it, and it all paid up. Brilliant views of Salem at night from this place will keep you glued and you would not want to come back.

Day 3: We had half a day at our disposal, because second half was reserved for traveling.

We did not plan to visit Shevaroy’s temple, but a bike ride on that road is a no no miss.

And on our way what we find is the lost Orchidarium, I say so because Rashmi had been hunting for this place from day 1, but nobody in Yercaud seemed to know about it. And when we find it, Sunday – closed, what luck :( AND then the savior, Rashmi’s Tamil speaking skills proved good enough to get us in.

It’s a National Orchid Research center friends, but you get in and you would know why no one in Yercaud knows about it. BTM Park is maintained much better.

The ride on Shevaroy Temple road was awesome anyways :)

We hit the road back to Bangalore at 2 and were comfortably home by 8, with all the important breaks in between :)

Yercaud is a wonderful place if you can enjoy nature in its raw existence.

It’s called poor man’s Ooty and so it is. Nothing is maintained, you can notice few conservation efforts by the government at some places but then our super educated people leave no chance of improvement, be it the world is a dustbin or let the world know about my love attitude.

We enjoyed it, and anyone with the right spirit would. Go there and live by the moment. You never know what makes you smile, picture perfect views or a funny display board offering part massage :)

Quick Facts

Distance from Bangalore	230 kms
Route	Bangalore-Hosur-Krishnagiri-Salem-Yercaud (NH7 till Salem)
Road Condition	Awesome
Where to Stay	Lake Forest – Club Mahindra Hotel Shevaroys Sterling Resorts Ponkailash Holiday Home
Places to Visit	Lady’s Seat – Sunset point, breathtaking views of Salem city. Pagoda Point – Sunrise Point. After sunset view of Salem under lights. Kiliyur Falls – Must visit waterfalls. Adventurous trek to this place adds to the fun. Bear's Cave Shevaroy Temple Monfort School
Place to Eat at (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner)	Shevaroys- Silver Oak Restaurant (Hospital Road, near Shevaroys Institute of Hotel Management) Red Dragon Restaurant (Next to Silver Oak)
Petrol Pump	Yes
Service Stations	Small Repair Shops, Tubeless tyre puncture repair shop available. Salem (30km) has service stations for all major manufacturers.
Nearest Airport	Salem
Nearest Railway Station	Salem

Happy Riding :)

Kamal