jigsaw91

Introduction:

The usual college madness, exams and boring lectures were driving us crazy and we desperately needed to break the routine. During the usual talks, my bench mate came with the brilliant idea of touring in bike. The place was still undecided but we planned to do a bike trip for the weekend. Having read many trip logs, I was inspired to ride to a new place which I ve never visited, a place that would be a complete change in terms of weather and surroundings at the same time should be nearby. After a lot of discussions, we decided to do a bike trip to Yelagiri on 12th and 13th of February. Yelagiri seemed like the perfect choice considering the fact that it is nearby(240kms), has a pleasant climate and the ghat roads leading to the hills has many hairpin bends would satiate my longing for scrapping my footpegs. So the plan was finalised and we were all getting geared up for the ride.That night, packed my bag and other things to make sure everything was ready when we start the next day morning. So the final plan was something like this, three of us had to meet early in the morning on Saturday and reach Yelagiri by early afternoon. Visit few places in Yelagiri the same day and a trek on Sunday morning. After the trek we head back to Chennai.

12th February, 2011

The D-Day arrived and we had our meeting point at Hot Chips in Adyar at 4:30am. As usual one the guys came late so we had to wait a good half an hour in the cold. Our in house photographer, Pushkar was meddling with his cam and took some pics in the mean time.




Finally at 5:00am we started after a good tea. Our plan was to ride continuously till we reach the Rajiv Gandhi memorial in Sriperumbudur. We had to fill petrol on the way for 500 bucks which should serve us till we reach Yelagiri. Roads were dead empty and visibility was very poor in the morning so we had to stick with 60kmph till the sun came through. After about 35kms the first toll arrived, we were literally shaking from head to toe even with the all the protection on. The morning was unusually very cold but we moved ahead on the Bangalore Highway. On the way we came across this beautiful big statue of Shiva which looked spectacular bathed in the early morning rays of the sun.




Slowly the sun did come up and now it was time to look for a good place where we could relax for a breakfast. Finally after riding through 20kms with a growling stomach, we came across this hotel. The hotel is situated at 70kms from Chennai on the Bangalore Highway.




The food was good and it was much better than we expected also the price was reasonable. The pongal, chutney and sambhar were so lovely to the mouth. We had to order another plate of Idlis to fill our stomach and a water bottle. After a good cup of coffee we resumed our journey and started moving forward. We had planned to constantly cruise at 65kmph so that we do not miss anything interesting on the way. We came across the second toll at 115kms and took a small break for a picture. By now the sun was fully out and the visibility was full. Throughout the whole journey, I was thinking about the ghat roads that were awaiting us and how badly I wanted to experience it.
At 8:20 we took a break near the Ratnagiri Murugan temple and we had covered 125kms by then, still a good 120kms to go. Called my mum and updated her about my location and how many kilometres still to go. Just after the break we came across a vast expanse of land that was bare empty with just the mountains in the background. That was truly a beautiful setting and we were forced to take pictures and take another break there. Here are some the pics we took



We decided to ride nonstop till we reach the foot of the Yelagiri hills as we were behind the scheduled time and we needed to move on. On the way, near Ambur we refilled the tank for another 200 bucks. The roads between Ambur to Yelagiri were very good and it was easier for us to hold 80kmph constantly.
We did have little confusion with the direction so stopped in a nearby tea shop for the route and asked for the details. After the Vaniyambadi flyover, we’re supposed to take the second left to go to Yelagiri, we were also warned that it was easy to miss the turn so we had to closely watch out and drive slowly. The roads are clearly marked and there are signboards at every junction, so it was easy to find the particular left and we moved on to the foot of the hills. The time was 10:30am when we reached the hills and then came this sign board



The roads were fun to drive and there was a remarkable difference suddenly in the way my bike started behaving in the ghat roads. The strain was visible in the way the bike pulled in the slopes though only a little but was enough to get noticed. The roads were empty and this gave us a lot of time to experiment, play and take pics of the beautiful setting.





The fun continued for some time and we finally made it to the top at 11:00am. We were expecting a busy and happening hill station but Yelagiri is actually a small village that has few attractions of its own. Being a weekend it was difficult to find accommodation with parking facilities. The hotels near the bus stand have lodging facilities but do not have a parking option and the rooms are quite cheap here. For better accommodation and resorts, you need to climb a little more and there a few resorts which offer parking facilities. We finally found our accommodation at a Hotel named O Nila( I know it sounds weird) but it was quite decent and mainly had good parking facilities for both motorcycles and cars. We had to settle for a deluxe one and accommodation with food for a day costs us 3600 rupees. We were initially told that it was 1750 bucks plus 12.5% tax but before we were handed over the bill they told us food were compulsory part of the package during weekends. There was something strange about this place, right from the beginning. The attenders, receptionist were kinda weird looking, I don’t know whether I was paranoid but sure my instincts were sensing something strange about this place. I was just hoping that it was not the “Hotel California”. We checked in at 12pm.
We were shown the rooms and it was quite clean and well maintained. I would suggest people who are cynophobic i.e. have fear for dogs should stay away from this place. This place is infested with dogs of different breeds that have no other job than following people and taunting them. Yes, I am a victim of it. Lunch was ready by 1:00pm and it was okayish kinda food. Being a vegetarian, I found it difficult to select from the limited menu. After the food, we went back to our room and relaxed till 4:00pm.



Had a good session of Badminton and Basketball till 5:30pm and we were suggested that we should visit the small Murugan temple which was 1km from the Hotel and also a “nature” park. The temple was a small one and was closed. The view from the temple was breathtaking and the temperature was constantly dipping with every passing minute. Some of the pictures that were taken from the temple are



The nature park was situated near the Bus stand and there was a big queue outside for tickets. From the look of things we thought it would be worth visiting it. We were also told that this place has a musical fountain and aquarium. Once inside, we saw different pathways leading to the aquarium and the musical fountain. The path is filled with colourful plants and flowers, few fountains and it was the usual looking park without anything extra-ordinary. But the ambience and weather made the park a nice place to visit and relax. It was soothing to sit in the park bench with the cold breeze hitting your face and in the background some nice melody running. This was the exact reason why we chose to tour such a place, a place where we can unwind and relax. Then came the musical fountain, the fountain that is illuminated with 3-4 colour on a cyclic basis and some random song is played. Yes, it was nothing spectacular but again the weather and the whole aura around the place was so relaxing. We spent about 30min there and the show got over.




Evening was well spent and we went back to our hotel for dinner. It was surprising to see so many people on the ground all gathered around a camp fire. Few of them swimming, others playing some game, it was a completely different setting, something I badly wanted to experience. It was also good to see the dogs chained to the staircase. After a long day, I hit the bed while those two busy preparing themselves to watch the movie “127 hours”. Hopefully our trek the next day would go on fine.

13th February, 2011

All three of us got ready by 5:30am because we had planned to start the trek by 6:00am so that we get the best possible view from top of the hill. The moment we stepped outside our door, we were welcomed by a group of three crazy dogs.All three of them were bloody hyper and started circling us and made sure we couldn’t escape them. Thankfully the watchman came and shooed the dogs away in the nick of time. Phew! We didn’t have our coffee yet so we planned to have it on the way to the trekking point. We reached the spot in few minutes as it was just a km away from the place where we stayed.
Had a great tea in a nearby small tea shop and started our trek. We were told that the trek was a short one and we could do it in an hour or so. So we started the trek, which starts as a small passage through a village and leads to the hill.





We were quite brisk and we could cover the first few kms with ease as the climate was perfect and we had our tea just then. But slowly we the climb was getting to us and without water it was becoming difficult for us to climb the hill. We had just done a big mistake! We didn’t have water with us and we were caught in the middle of the forest without anything to drink. Getting back was not an option so we had to move on till we found the top. Half an hour passed and there was still no sight of the small temple that we were told. By now we were exhausted completely because we had just our tea in the morning and nothing after that. The climb was also steep with occasional big rock to jump over.





Another half an hour passed and there was no sight of the temple yet and it was becoming hopeless as we didn’t have the energy to move forward so we took a short break on a nearby rock. Venkatesh was still up on energy so he went ahead to check whether the temple was nearer on his own and told us he would call if he had found it. Ten minutes passed and there was no call from him, so we planned to move forward to find that guy. Since there was only a single small passage there was no chance that he could have wandered off and got lost so we moved on ahead with our stomachs growling. Ten minutes passed and there he was coming back down to call us and we were told that the temple is just another 10 minutes away. Somehow we managed to climb the hill and finally made it to the top by 7:45am.
The view was spectacular to say the least and we could see the whole of Yelagiri from this place. A guy in the tea shop also told us that we would be able to see Thiruvannamalai but we were not able to identify it from here. The temple was closed and there was a great sense of satisfaction in what we had achieved that day.



We spent a good one hour in the same place and we decided to trek down. Coming down was comparatively easier and we managed to come down within 1 hour.

All of us were very exhausted and hungry so we decided to directly have our breakfast before going to our rooms. After the breakfast, we had to relax a little bit as we were still suffering from aching thighs and ankles. Finally at 11:30 we vacated our rooms, packed the bags, cleaned up the mess and checked out of the hotel. We were asked to pay another 40bucks for 1 lit of water bottle that we had bought the previous day. It was just another locally made water bottle but we were happy that we were leaving the place for good. Started our return journey at 12:00pm and we had planned to stop every 60kms on the way back.


The only things that were running in mind were the college next day and the assignments I had to submit. After 4 hours of riding with frequent stops, we finally made it to Kathipara flyover at 4:00pm. We had to split up as the other route would be easier for me to reach home, so after a good short break we parted ways and I reached home at 4:30pm.
It was one of the most memorable trip considering that we planned it just a few days before the trip and the fun we had during the two days. It was great to come back home and sleep for some time. The dogs, the trek, the park, all were running through my mind as I fell asleep.

sunilg

Travelogue approved.

beautiful pictures there.

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k2cool_87

nice pics man...loved them...

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To ride or not to ride?? is a....
very very stupid question....

Lonely Rider

Beautifu pictures. Loved seeing them.

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aargee

Excellent pics; what gear did you guys use? BTW, any specific reason as why all the motorcycles are shot in B/W?

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phanikar

Nice pics and log guys obsessed with grey scale is it ????? This is why i dont like to spend more than a day at yelagiri.This is the same case with almost all the hotels over there.What you see on paper and what it actually is very different.,

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pushkarb

No specific reason at all. I love shooting in b/w :P Kind of gives it the rich feeling. Other than that, nothing else

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pushkarb

Here are some more

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whizzkid_ram

Splendid pics. Loved each & everyone.

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muRali.dexTeR

all your pics are treat to the eyes..stunning pics of RTR. i did yelagiri swamimalai trekking exactly last month.
We climbed it under hot sun..the route was like never ending.
But the temple at the top, refreshed us like anything. we are lucky enough to get the darshan..
Do it again when the temple is open, its really worth!