Short trip to yelagiri

Well, this trip was planned in a jiffy and what a trip it was. I was reading about yelagiri for quite sometime and had even printed route map sometime ago and as it clicked, we just decided to hit it on a very short notice. The plan just came along and we were on our way early morning on the weekend.

Destination: Yelagiri, Tamil Nadu

Distance: 180 Kms approx from CV Raman Nagar

Route: Continue from Hosur road upto Krishnagiri. From krishnagiri, as you approach the second flyover, go below it and take the road which goes towards Vellore and further continues to Chennai.

Taking break: Through out the route, lot of outlets but if you plan to take early break, then Kamat yatri nivas and Anand Adiyar bhawarn are just at the outskirts of hosur and provide you ample space and locale to have a good time.

We started by 7 am in the morning and soon we were gliding our way over the express way towards electronic city and made our way out of Bangalore. Through the route to Yelagiri, there are three tolls hence keep some change aside for these breaks. if i remember correctly, the three tolls we paid were 25,30 and 20 Rs respectively, with we buying one way tickets only.

As per our plan, we broke for breakfast at Kamat upchaar which came a little too early. A beautifully maintained place with great parking, and lot of open space all around. you could just come in with loads of people and still have something for everyone. The food is steller here and everything you order, comes simmering hot to you. The weather was little cold hence hot Dosas, Vadas, Kesari baths and tea were just too good to resist. The place is neatly maintained and has lot of greenery around.

Reliance petrol pump dawns a huge presence with this kamat stopover and acts as a great refueling place.

Finally it was time to get going towards yelagiri. My 9 months daughter loved the food here and she enjoyed the greenary all around and lesser building. The cold wind was making her feel very happy about this, but as soon as we got started, to got back to business of sleeping.

The journey was nice and nothing new to detail here. Great highways with roads little busy from Krishnagiri with lot of truckers all around but still driving in way not to hamper anyone's way and we cruised through the road. The stretch has good roads and as Wifey and Daughter took a quick nap, time passed by fast.

Finally, as everyone got back, i had taken a right turn. Just a recap, while you take left turn from Krishnagiri to follow Vellore road, you dont have to take any diversions. cross through tirpattur town and soon you would come across a crossing where its clearly mentioned "yelagiri Hills" which is around 25 Kms from there. you wont be able to miss out on this crossing but in case you do, the locals are pretty helpful in finding you your way back. 

As we took that right turn, just before the ascent, we stopped for couple of minutes. My Daughter was awake and was jolly and she needed a change. we were now approx 25 Kms away from yelagiri Hills. The drive to yelagiri, especially the ascent has some 14 Hairpin bends which are known to be quite scenic. we were just gearing for the same.

 I have to accept that the hairping bends didnt excit me much, neither the height gained since this was sort of a regular ascent as you see enroute to Nandi hills though the apparent difference was the crowd. During the ascent we just met  couple of people only and the roads were just squeaky clean. the air was much cooler and cleaner and the stretches were extremely green and this was so relaxing.

The labeling of roads throughout was great and the hairpin bends looked quite nice. Learnt that tamil nadu govt has been pushing yelagiri for sometime now as a tourist destination and hence has maintained the access roads very well.

Came across a beautiful crop of flowers as soon as we entered yelagiri. I had made booking at the "Zeenath Taj Garden Resort" and we had to spend sometime searching for it. We almost reached the other extreme end searching for the same and later realized that this place was just in the very begining of Yelgairi. The town is extremely small but surprisingly has huge number of lodges all around. I was surprised seeing this since there are no major attractions here but for weather.
Finally looking for our resort, with help of locals we located the place and made way towards it. The initial impression was great. It appeared like an enligsh bunglow, as you see in Simla. This private property has a gate welcoming you and then road made of Stones taking you to it deep pathway to reception. The greenary has been made the DNA of this place and extreme variety of vegetation has  been used everywhere. you would be stunned to see such  a property here.

inside the property, there are cottages placed at little distance from each other and the landscaping around them has been done very tastefully. There are ducks which run around the resort and add natural beauty to it. My Daughter was just ecstatic seeing these ducks around.

We finally we got our cottage and voila! it looked beautiful. we got three options and finally i made a choice of this one where i could park my car just next to it. Where do you get to a place where you could get your vehicle just next to your room. At the back of the cottage was a huge stretch of jungle type area. The weather was beautiful and it was drizzling by now.

After we put our stuff in the cottage, it was time to plan for lunch and we were told by "setu" the care taker of the property that the food should be served by 1:30 which was a good hour away. We took walk through the resort and enjoyed the beauty meanwhile.

The Landscaping and the maintenance of this whole resort did put me into surprised state since after looking through the small town of yelagiri, this was definitely much more than one can expect.

The food was ready exactly at 1:30 and this was the next element of surprise. The food was just sumptuous and quite a variety. we took a walk after lunch and explored the place.

Since my daughter was sleepy, we decided to stay back and let her complete her sleep. meanwhile we enjoyed the greenery around.

 

In the evening, while my daughter got up, we went to the city and had a good time at the lake. we had to give the silk raring centre a miss since it closed by 5 pm. later in the evening we went to the nature park, which was nice but nothing special. after moving around we can back to the resort ay 8pm. 

The dinner was served at 8:30 with again a huge variety being served absolutely piping hot.By now, we were too impressed and planned that we would visit this place again. the hospitality of the staff was great. The plan was to start early morning next day so that the important stuff doesnt get hampered next day, but we were too tempted to make changes in the plan.

 With the promise to return back soon, we started back next day morning at 6:30 am and reached back Blr by 10:30 am.