Bike ride to Yercaud

Hi folks.
I am back again, from another road trip.

Let me begin. Ramesh and I decided a few days ago to go on another roadtrip, as it had been a whole five months since our last trip (Coorg one). So we called all friends. Ultimately, when the Saturday of the trip arrived, only four guys were ready: Shivanand, Gurunandan, Ramesh and I. What stops us? Not even heavy rains.
Though we guys had decided to leave Bangalore by 6 AM, as usual, it got delayed by a few hours. So we guys met up at Silkboard junction at almost 8 AM. Ramesh on his Pulsar, Guru on his Splendor, Shiv and myself on Shiv's Pulsar. It was cold and slightly drizzling. Perfect weather that we wanted. There was already enough traffic on Hosur road towards ITPL. Plenty trucks. I had already got some warnings from friends/colleagues about the number of trucks that ply on that road. We had to be extra careful in those slippery conditions.
Soon we entered the TN border and we were at Hosur within an hour. It was raining and the water was brown, probably because of the pollutants thrown into the atmosphere by all those industries there. Our jackets, clothes and bikes turned brown, thanks to this rain.
As Ramesh and Shiv had not yet had the pleasure of having breakfast, we decided to stop. We couldn’t find any decent hotel on the Hosur main road. We didn’t want to go into the town, so we stopped at a roadside hotel. After three rounds of breakfast (consisting of vada, dosa and bulls-eye; again reminding me of the phrase "I love vada"), we were off again, towards Krishnagiri.
This stretch of the road is the 2nd best road I have ever seen. No junctions, and no way to take U-turns. On the way, we found a monkey lying in the middle of the road, probably hit by a vehicle. Guru decided to help it. He lifted it and brought to the side of the road. However, he couldn’t save its life. Something tragic here.
We continued, and crossed the toll-booth at Krishnagiri. 2 wheelers need not pay any fee here. After riding over an hour, we reached Dharmapuri. This is another small town through which the main road goes. But by this time, the 4-lane road had reduced to 2 lanes. And the traffic was a bit heavy too. The process of widening the road to 4 lanes is still under progress, and might take a few years for completion (few years because it is not a short span of road that is being widened. Widening is going on right from Dharmapuri till Salem - that's 100 km!!!!).
After getting over a traffic jam in Dharmapuri, we continued further towards Salem. This part of the road goes through the ghats. Somewhere here, Shivanand asked me to ride, as he was tired. And I rode the bike for the rest of the day. The view from these ghats is mindblowing. You can feel a change in the climate. However, the menacing buses (that connect Bangalore, Hosur, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri and Salem) soon bring you to reality. Over the ghats, roads aren't in good condition for a few small stretches, and repair work is going on. You gotta go slow. This rule doesn’t seem to be applicable to these buses though!!! Not much different from Bangalore, isn't it?
By this time, the 3 bikes were in 3 different locations and no one had any idea of where other two were. Ramesh was riding very cautiously (hardly exceeding 60kmph!!!) and was far behind us. So we waited at a police checkpost over the ghats. Here we shared biscuits and water. And then we continued towards Salem.
Soon we were at Salem. A small city, you can say. We had our lunch at a vegetarian restaurant there. After spending some time relaxing, we continued towards Yercaud, which is about 30km from there. After we found the milestone that said '21km to Yercaud', the climb towards the hill station began. It reminded me of Agumbe in Karnataka. Salem's weather was hot, and now we could feel the sudden change in the temperature as we climbed. The road is narrow, but well maintained. There are quite a few hairpin bends. But hardly any places to pull over and relax. And as you keep climbing, you find a few boards showing you the altitude of that location.
At one of the hairpin bends, Ramesh skidded and got slightly injured. The bike got injured more. So when we reached, we found out one place where the guy repaired the bike to some extent. We couldn’t find any fullfledged garages there. There are quite a few fuel stations though. And yes, petrol is about 3 Rs per litre cheaper in TN compared to Karnataka!!!
The hour hand was approaching 5, and we had to find a place to rest our heads at night. After all this riding, we deserved a pleasant sleep. There are quite a few good resorts there. We started enquiring in all these places. We were hoping to find a cottage for ourselves. Cottages are so cheap there. Before taxes, a cottage rent starts with 1000 Rs per day!!! I felt it was pretty cheap. Sadly, luck had played a villainous role on us here. We couldn’t find any cottage. Leave alone cottage, we couldn’t even find a single room in these resorts. There is a 3 star hotel there, called The Grand Palace, at the top of a hill. But we didn’t want to try our luck there. We are poor bike riders you see.
Finally, we found a spacious room in a place called KONGU RESORT. No no, it is not a resort at all. It doesn’t look like the businessmen here really know the meaning of 'resort' and 'cottage'. The real resorts have real cottages, so even these small hotels (there are at least 30 such hotels!!!!!) call themselves resorts and cottages!!!!! The Kongu guy turned out to be a very stingy one. He refused to give us more than 2 towels. He didn’t even give us soap and drinking water.
Time was ticking. But it wasn't dark yet. So we thought we'd explore this place as much as possible, leaving as less as possible for the next day. We had already spent quite a time looking for a room. There are quite a few 'tourist spots' around, and none are far off, if you have a vehicle. Again it depends on the resort you are staying in. there are resorts that are quite far off from the centre of Yercaud.
So we decided to visit Pagoda Point first. It is at the top of a hill. And it gives a scenic view of the whole Salem city. The winds were pretty strong and it was drizzling. We had some butta (corn ears) and some fruits here. No warm items (bajji or tea) available here. After spending some time here, we decided to go to Lady's Seat. This is in another direction. On the way we found a board that read 'ornamental lake'. Curious, we went to see what it is. Huh!!! Just another lake!!!!
I must say, no point in going to see different lakes here. Nothing great about any of these lakes. We have plenty lakes in Bangalore right!!! The difference is, Yercaud lakes ain't that polluted yet... There is one lake at the centre of Yercaud where you can hire boats or go on a boat ride.
Anyway, we were least interested in boats, so we went towards Lady's Seat. It is another high point from where you can see the Salem city. The view is not much different from the view of Pagoda Point. However, here some roadside shops sell hot snacks like bajji. So we had a few rounds of banana bajji, chilli bajji and onion bajji. Guru went further to check out the Gent's seat, that is a few metres higher than lady's seat. He said the view is almost the same as from Lady's Seat.
By now it was dark, and we had to return to our hotels. Guru went ahead. Rest of went together. And when we reached the centre of Yercaud, we realised that we had lost our way and had taken a different route!!! No sign of Guru. After waiting for a few minutes, he appeared, from a totally different direction!!!! He had drifted too much farther from our original route, and taken a completely different route!!! Luckily we were all safe...
After packing up some food and water, we went back to our room. I wanted to take bath. The hotel owner said the geyser is on. Ramesh told me which is the tap for hot water. I kept the tap on and waited till eternity. Hot water never came. Cursing the hotel owner, I took bath in that cold cold water.
Then we had our usual chat, while sipping Black Dog (no points for guessing what it is!!!). Then supper. Luckily the hotel owner hadn't missed out to give an extra bed. Soon the other three guys were snoring. But these folks didn’t allow me to switch on the fan. I didn’t feel that it was very cold outside. I actually was feeling pretty warm. It was around 11 PM then.
When I woke up at 8.30 AM, Guru and Ramesh were already awake. And they had discovered that the hot water tap was not the one Ramesh had told me about the previous day. So Guru got a chance to bathe in warm water. And I was cursing Ramesh all the while.
Then Guru left to visit Shevaroy Temple, which is at the top of another hill. Meanwhile, we 3 guys finished our breakfast of poori and vada (again vada, huh!!!) and were ready to leave. After Guru returned, we packed our bags. Then we went towards Kiliyur falls. WHAT A BAD IDEA!!!! First of all, after parking the bikes, there is a trek for half an hour. The path is pretty bad. On one part of the way there is a fence. And the fence has not only barb wires, but also a strip of iron with sharp teeth on it (like a hacksaw). The path is steep and if you fall, the first thing that comes to your mind is to grab whatever is available. And what is available, the hacksaw teeth!!!! Luckily we managed to stay away from the fence (fulfilling the intention of the fence-builder, who owns the other part of the land). As we continued, we found a few huge trees across the steep path. I somehow managed to climb over the trees and cross them while the other guys used the small gap under the trees to go to the other side. Before crossing the trees, we even had the idea of returning, because the steep path was too irritating. But then Guru had already thrown his slippers to the other side before going under the tree. So he had to go to the other side anyway. We too went. And after going down further, we reached the falls. It was a major disappointment. I think my pet dog can pee more than that water.
HAHAHAHAHA, I am just kidding. I don’t have a pet dog.
Immediately we decided to return. And now it was a steep climb. A very tiring one, as we guys, except Ramesh, aren't used to exercising :-D.
Somehow managed to reach the top. Immediately all of us lied down on the road for ten minutes, trying to get our breath back. Then we returned to our "resort", took our luggage, and said good-bye to Yercaud. Time for 20km downhill ride. Guru and I (I was riding Shiv's bike all the while you see) switched off our engines. Ramesh didn’t. soon the gravity helped us cruise at more than 40 kmph, FREE OF COST!!!! I had to start the engine in two places, to overtake a bus and a Tata Sumo filled with a few drunks. We didn’t want to take any risk while overtaking.
And we were at Salem again. Back to the hot climate. The dust in Salem is strange. The particles are really huge, and you can feel them hitting agaist you when there is a wind. They make real noise when they hit the helmet!!!!
We stopped at Hotel Green Park (really good hotel) for our lunch. We had not done anything great with our food so far. So we (except Guru, who is a vegetarian) ordered all types of non-veg available there (sea-food in the form of crabs and prawns, pork, chicken and mutton). The quantity was really huge. Quite different from the general custom of serving less quantity and charging less. Here the charge was more and quantity was more. And the table (actually meant for six people) was filled with food. There was no more space. But soon the contents of the plates disappeared. Though we couldn’t finish all, we actually managed to eat almost twice of our usual quantity!!!
Now the ride back. As usual, Guru led the way. Just before Dharmapuri, we saw Guru waving at us. He said he asked a police officer there and found a new route to Bangalore that would save us 20km. So we returned via Palacode and Rayakkottai. But we missed the fun of that Krishnagiri-Hosur highway. After a pleasant ride through the villages and small towns of TN, we reached Hosur at dusk. Guru went off ahead to his house. We 3 guys dined at Bommasandra and went to our respective houses for a hot hot hot water bath and a pleasant sleep.