Peace, calm and Yercaud

Yercaud - Gyaan, Route Map and Opinion

Yercaud was a name that - to me - was rarely heard, yet synonymous with some cozy little town nestled amidst some small corner between a couple of branches somewhere, floating on a cloud.
Theoretically only 230km from Bangalore, yet seemed miles away in reality. Why else would I not have thought of visiting this little town on a hill in the past five years I have been in B'lore?

Prologue:
Trip to Yercaud on Friday the 13th (July 2007). Two couples with three sub-5 year olds between them. In a Maruti Alto. Has all the makings of an epic journey :)

Also - some of the experiences and artefacts (driving route map) may be of use to future trippers...

The drive to Yercaud: We started off from Bangalore at 1:30 pm. The idea was to try and reach Yercaud within 5 hours or sunset, whichever happened first. The route was planned well courtesy Google Maps and the kinds souls who have added the landmarks along the way. So off we went with the kids scattered on the back seats between the two mothers secured by child-lock doors - heading off towards Salem, Tamil Nadu, 200 km away.

It took about an hour to reach Hosur after passing the never-ending construction on Hosur Road/Electronics City and the truck mafia en route. After that the route was fairly straight forward. Most of the deviations were fairly intuitive and it was not too difficult to stay on the main road. Occasionally at places like Kaveripattinam (a little town on the way), it becomes hard to appreciate that one is on NH7 with the road being no wider than truck chassis and shops encroaching the highway - however, it is always reassuring to stop your friendly neighbourhood moped rider with his half-dozen kids packed in various positions, rather precariously, on his robust vaahan to validate that one is on the right track - towards Salem, TN.

Around 3 hours later, we rested at a nice veggie hotel at Dharmapuri. The snacks and coffee was really decent - not sure of the name of the hotel now but it was just on the left of the road @ Dharmapuri, with a rather large statue of a guy holding dosas and idlis on a plate.

Refreshed, we took off again - my daughter most cooperatively refusing to get back into the car, having thrown up twice already. Thanks to my alert wife holding plastic bags in the right place at the right time, the car did not stink that much :).

Once at Salem, NH7 becomes "Omalur Road" - and curiously all the sign boards on the road do not mention Salem anymore resulting in a bit of confusion. Finally, a split on the road comes up wherein all drivers to Yercaud are required to simply stay on the left fork.
This conveniently leads you to Salem's famed "Five Roads" - a junction as maddening as our beloved Begur Road junction on Hosur Road or even better, Trinity Circle minus cops and signals.
Here we took the immediate left which led to "Hastampatti", probably a suburb of Salem.

Hungry drivers would do well to simply go straight on Five Roads - within 1 km, you would find "Saravana Bhavan" hotel on the left (park on the left turn just before this hotel). The coffee (read - kaapi) there is fantastic.

Anyways, Hastampatti Circle came up quite soon - the identifier being a temple complex on the left.
Turning left, we passed a Central Jail and we were on Yercaud Road.
There was a slightly confusing junction (Gorumedu junction or something) where on stays on the right and then another fork with a pink house where one stays to the left.

Then the main drive uphill starts.

Yercaud is essentially a little town on top of a hill surrounded by forests.
The greenery was fantastic as was the road. Numerous hairpin bends - but the road was quite well maintained and the curves were rather well designed as well (anyone in BBMP listening?).
Also the truck drivers were (surprise?) quite courteous.

Along the route, upto about 5km before Yercaud one finds simian company all along the way (probably sighting their three little cousins in our car). They are very obviously used to handouts from tourists and can get rather aggressive so better not to have any food items on hand or visible - since the drive is rather slow, they would not hesitate to reach out and grab stuff from the car. 2-wheeler drivers, especially beware.

But the sight of tiny babies clutching their mother's tummies firmly even while the latter bounds up and down the rocks and trees is very endearing.

So finally, we reached our destination a bit late.
Our stay was booked in a Deluxe Cottage at Grange Resorts.
Yercaud Road takes one to the heart of the town which is the lake. From here, we asked for directions towards "Pagoda Point" (curiously known to locals as Pakoda Point) and went on.
The roads did not have any lights but there were quite a few sign boards and an occasional pedestrian - sufficient to get us to the resort without trouble.

About the resort:
Grange Resort has a website which makes it look quite appealing, but after two days of stay, I must say I was quite disappointed. For Rs.1350 a day, it was mostly not worth it. Reasons??

• The "Cottage" is basically just a bedroom with an attached bath.
• The rooms are not particularly clean and it is possibly to spot small cockroaches around.
• The bedsheets left a lot to be desired - one of them having a large hole in the center.
• Tea and coffee are not available until 7:30 am - so my idea of sitting up at 6:30am in the midst of the dense, lush greenery sipping fresh hot tea was rather washed out.
• The food at the resort is not great.
• Morning tea/coffee (when it is eventually available) is charged at Rs.12 per cup - so forget about having 2-3 cups at no cost if you are a tea addict like me.
• The swimming pool was non-functional.
• The main play area was derelict.
  
• Breakfast is over at 9:30 am so if you plan to get up late, prepare to go hungry.
  

On the positive side:

• Green Green Green - lot of trees
• Small play area in front of our "cottage"
  
• Sprightly young manager - quite a nice guy
• Complimentary breakfast is GOOD
  

Overall - there are better options for that price range. Grange is honestly not a very professionally run place - its a nice place with a chalta-hai types attitude.

We experienced lunch at the Grand Palace - it is on the way to "Kilyur Falls".
The food was fantastic - wide range of options and quite tasty - even for vegetarians.
4 adults and 3 kids ate well - all the way from soup to ice-cream and the tab was less than Rs.800.
Also, the place looked professionally run though I cannot really vouch for it since I have not stayed there.

Anyways - our Yercaud - things to do list ran as below:

• Pagoda Point - nice view point 4 km from the lake. Beautiful vista. However, not too well maintained.
• Parks - brought out the kids within us. We (adults) had a jolly time on the swings along with the little ones too. Lots of parks.
• Anna Park with the HUGE slide - Rs.2 entry fee
• Horticulture garden - Rs. 2 entry, Rs. 10 camera
  
• The park without a name and free entry - by the lake. Small zoo though mainteance leaves a bit to be desired. LOTS of swings for adults and kids there...
  

• The lake - nice lake though dirty in some corners. Rs.70 for a paddle boat for 30 min. Very nice and enjoyable.
• Kiliyur Falls - We didn't go there since there's not water at this time. If you got Yercaud in the late monsoon or December time frame, it will have water.
  

Food - Surprisingly if you are a veg Nazi like I am, there is only one real option - Hotel Malar, next to Shevaroys Hotel. They have a typical South Indian fare. Kaapi and ghee roast are really good. We had the South-Indian thali for lunch - pretty good.
There is a supermarket with Pizza, etc downstairs - haven't tried that though.

Shopping

• Bhavani Singh's Perfumery - I was obviously struck by the name. Apparently Bhavani Singh was a freedom fighter who settled down with family in Yercaud about 60 years ago. His family now run the business. They basically provide forestry products (honey, perfume, herbal extracts, etc). They have a shop and factory where one can see how things are done. This is on the way to Lady's Seat.

Nothing much else to shop around - uniquely at least.

Route Tips

• You can go to Hogenakkal. It is just off NH7 at Dharmapuri - take a left (on the way to Bangalore) - go 30km. Not very advisable if you have small kids with you.
• At Dharmapuri, the NH forks out - both forks go to Bangalore. The right fork is 25km longer but it is a NH with multi-lanes along the way.

  The left fork is a State Highway - 2 lanes all the way. But given it was a Sunday afternoon (this is the route we took), it was quite empty. Just a few trucks and buses here and there.

  The road is decently maintained but has quite a few undulations all along. The route is very scenic and passes through Palacode and Royakattai towns before merging with the NH at Hosur.

• If you change your mind, you can turn right at a junction and Palacode and join the NH earlier.
  

Learnings:
-- If you have kids below 5, keep lot of plastic covers when you travel by car.
-- Don't feed kids in the car. It messes up the car while feeding AND after as well.
-- Just because a resort charges you nearly Rs.1500 per day, it won't necessarily be 3-star.


Appendix:
Route map: Bangalore - Yercaud >>>> Download here <<<<