Bangalore - Yercaud Travelogue

Yercaud was one of the location which we wanted to visit for a long time. One reason was our desire to stay in Sky Rocca since we heard a lot of positive reviews about this property. But sadly Sky Rocca was completely sold out due to the long weekend. After hearing good feedback from one if my cousins, we decided to settle for Sterling Holidays Rock Perch. The booking was done on makemytrip and we started counting the days for our trip.


First phase - Hebbal - Srikrishna Restaurant/Mc Donanld/CCD
Total Distance from Bangalore - 73 KM
We started on a Saturday morning around 8 AM. The traffic was less and  the drive was uneventful.  But after crossing Hosur, we had to slow down on multiple places due to the ongoing road expansion work. No complaints- considering the fact that this will improve the road condition between Hosur and Krishnagiri. If NHAI has waited any more for starting the expansion work, Hosur - Krishnagiri stretch would have become like a Hosur road in Bangalore few years back. We stopped at Srikrishna Restaurant for the breakfast. This was deviation from earlier trip where we used to only stop at A2B.


Second Phase  - Srikrishna Restaurant/Mc Donanld/CCD   - Salem
Total Diatance from Banaglore - 209 KM
This stretch was a breeze. The road is in an excellent condition. But we started having problems once we reached Salem. We took the road toward city and kept on going straight in the hope of finding any signs showing us the direction to Yearcaud. It was a mistake and soon we realized that we are going in a wrong way. Switched on GPS on my Galaxy and started following the direction. It was taking us through small bylines, but we kept our faith in Google. Soon we hit the main road towards Yercaud. Salem Collectorate is also on the same road.

Third Phase - Salem - Yercaud Sterling
Total Distance from Bangalore to Yearcaud - ~240 KM.

The road from Salem to Yercaud is single line, but it's in a good condition. The ghat road started immediately after we crossed Salem. The Ghat road up to Yearcaud is a single line, but it's maintained very well. Except for some trucks which is coming down to steel plant in Salem, the traffic was  less. Considering the long weekend, I was really scared of the traffic. There are totally 20 hairpin bends  to Yercaud. By around 2 we reached Yercaud. That day we spent our time exploring the facilities in resort.

      Hainpin road starts to Yearcud


      After the 18th Hairpin bend


    Madhav before Sterling RockPerch

       Sterling RockPerch reception, Yercaud
Second day
Second day we booked a cab for sightseeing.

                      Yercaud Lake


      Rose Garden near the Lady's seat


               A view from Pagoda point



            Evening - A view from Sterling resorts, Yercaud


              A view of Sterling resorts, Yercaud

'
   A view of Sterling resorts, Yercaud
Third day
We started back after having our breakfast.
-Manoj

Bangalore to Kerala through Nilambur

We took the route through Nilambur when we traveled back to Bangalore. We were looking for a more scenic route and decided to explore this route. Even though it doesn't save you time, it definitely saves you Rs 300+ toll and petrol by driving 80 KM less.

The major points on the route are Pattambi, Perithalmanna, Nilambur, Gudulur, Muthumala, GundalPet, NanjinGod, Mysore, Bangalore.

The road condition to Bangalore through Nilambur is pretty good except for some patches in between.. I will suggest this route if you are in picnic mood and not worried about the time.

Hotel Tamirand by KTDC. The hotel is just after Nilambur town and close to the teak garden

Landmark for Hotel Tamirnad

Nadukani Churam, Kerala

Gudalur, Tamil Nadu

Muthumala, Tamil nadu

Bandipur, Karnataka

bangalore Kerala Driving Travelogue part 1 - Bangalore to Trichur

Even though we have been travelling to Kerala almost on every month by road, this is the first time I tried to create the route log. We planned our vacation for 7 days and this is the first part of the vacation.

Route-
Day 1 -
Starting point -Bangalore
Destination - Trichur.   
Via - Salem, Palghat, Shornur

Route condition
1. Road from palghat to thrissur is in worse condition especially once you enter thrissur district. Best to avoid this. There are two alternatives

1. Enter Palghat town and take the road towards ottapalam. After you cross Ottapalam, the next major point is Shornur and then wadakanchery. This road many be approximately 20 km more compared the NH. Watchful about taking left turn towards Shornur at Vaniyakulam . The straight road goes to Pattambi and Guruvayur.
2. You can avoid palghat town and continue in NH-47. Take a right turn at alathur junction towards alathur town. Continue towards pazhayannur, chellakara and then wadakanchery.

The road widening work is going on between Avinashi and Coimbatore and between Hosur and Krishnagiri.

Travel log
Day 1
5:30 Am
Hebbal, Bangalore O km.
Hosur - 42 km.  - high traffic except on early morning hours
Krishnagiri toll booth -98km - moderate to high traffic. The road work is going on and this can slow down the progress.
Dhramapuri toll booth -166 km. - moderate traffic
Salem toll booth - 203 km - moderate traffic till you reach near Salem. That session initially after you cross dharmapuri. Scenic road compared to remaining stretch.
Perumdurai toll booth - 303 km - moderate traffic.
Coimbatore bypass toll booth - 358 km - road work is going bad. Bad roads till this point.
Paghat - road gets worse
Wadakanchery - cross ottpalam, shornur on the way - 470 km - good roads',  Med to high traffic



A2B restaurant near Dharmapuri - Approximately 160 km from Bangalore


The road from Krishnagiri to Salem




Ottupura - Restaurant after you cross valayar check post to Kerala.



Road from Palghat to Thrissur through Shornur



Hebbal, Bangalore - Morning 5:30 AM

Bangalore Kodaikkanal travelogue

As the count down for the 2010 started, I and my wifey started planning for our next trip. As I had two days off for new year, I wanted to take leave on other three days which could give me 10 days long vacation. As I wanted to start my new year in my home town in Kerala, I wanted to select a place which is en route to Kerala. The plan was we will stay there for two days then will go Kerala and will return back from there to Bangalore. I immediately selected Yercaud as the place as it fits perfectly in to our plan. It's just a 30+ km away from my route and also is one of the less crowded place. Also I heard a lot of good review about GRT nature trails in yercaud and I wanted to try the stay there.

But just like most of our plans, this also got shot down immediately as no place was available in Yercaud during the last week of December. The search then started for finding an alternate place. I wanted to go to Kodai and my wifey wanted to visit Mookambika. For Mookambika, as we have to take a complete deviation from our route to Kerala, we finally decided on Kodai. Getting a booking on Kodai was also difficult as most of the hotel bookings were already over. After much search we finally shortlisted JC Residency. We made the booking, sent the car for servicing and start counting the days. As my parents were visiting bangalore, they also decided to join the group.

The trip details
Total distance covered:1320 KM
Banaglore -Salem - Dindigal Kodai road- Kodai - 470 KM
Kodai - Palani- Pollachi - Palghat - Shornur- WKY in Thrissur - 270+ KM
WKY in Thrissur - Palghat - Coimbatore - Salem - Hosur - Bangalore - 470KM

Petrol- I filled for Rs 3500 (Ok. this looks really high. I believe I got royally cheated in 2 petrol pumps in TN.)

Place of Stay:JC Residency, Kodai
My home, WKY(THrissur)
Road condition:
Bangalore - Dindigal: Four lane: Excellent
Dindigal - Kodai: Two lane:Average but scenic
Kodai - Palani:Two lane:Good and very scenic.
Palani - Pollachi - Palghat: Two lane:Good
Palghat- Shornur -Wky:Two lane:Excellent

Restaurants en route:
A2B in HP petrol pump before Krishnagiri.
Sangeetha in Salem Bypass.
JC Residency, Woodlands in Kodai.


Trip details
We started by 5 from Hebbal, Bangalore. The roads were pretty much empty.As the work of elevated high was almost complete, even driving in Hosur road was a pleasure for a change. In our entire trip from Bangalore, the two place where we faced any traffic was near the attibela where over bridge construction is still going on and near hosur bus stand. Rest the driving was a breeze. Even though many people in net suggested palani route to Kodai,I took salem dindigal route as I knew that 4 line work has been completed till dindigal.This entire distance is one hell of staright road where you just need to keep your leg only in accelerator. Before reaching dindigal, approximately at 430 Km, you can see a deviation towards right to Kodai and theni.We took that deviation and then we need to take immediate left. This road goes approximately one km in parallel to NH-7 and then takes a right turn to Kodai road. So there may be possibility that you could take right turn from NH-7 at here.

The road from here is two lane. But except at the initial patch, the road condition was pretty goad. As we start reaching near kodai,the fog started covering road. At one point we had to stop vehicle because of zero visibility. On Your way up, you can see the silver cascade waterfall also.




Silver cascade water falls



Crowd near the waterfall


We checked in to hotel by 4 with our infinite stops in between. Next day was spent more for sight seeing. We reached lake almost by 10. The crowd was very less as it was early and we had the fun. The kodai lake and surroundings are much more fun than Ooty lake.




I would post the continuation of journey as a separate post.

Bangalore – Coorg Trip

The Bangalore Coorg trip was a long pending trip for us. When we started short listing places for a two day trip during Deewali holidays, Coorg was not high on the list. But as always things changed finally and Coorg got short listed.

The first challenge was finding an accommodation. Coorg being famous for home stays, we wanted to explore that. For me an ideal place was an estate home stay where greenery surrounds me. It was at that time a friend suggested a home stay where he stayed sometime back. It was run by very friendly Coorgy family. The trade-off is that it was not in an estate. But we settled down for that and never repented. Rather they made our stay so comfortable that still my two year old son thinks that Coorg is his home.

Prologue
The Passengers: Husband, Wife, Kid
The Carrier: SantroXing XL
Petrol consumption: Around Rs 1500
Starting Point: Hebbal, Bangalore
End Point: Madikkeri
Approximate distance: 270KM.
Road condition: Bangalore to Kushal Nagar: Excellent (70% road was 4 lane)
Kushal Nagar to Madikkeri : Bad (Work is in progress. May get better soon)

Route
Bangalore- Bidadi- Channapatna-Madya-Mysore-Hunsur-PeriyaPatna-Khusalnagar-Madikeri

Driving direction to Madikkeri
From Hebbal, we took outer ring road to Yeswanthapur. On the dead end (Gurugundapalaya, T junction, left to yeswanthapur) took a right and then left after 200 to 300 meters. We kept on going straight till we hit the Magadi road. The over bridge construction is still going on and from here again a left followed by right (around 200meters). Kept going on this road and approximately 20 minutes later we hit the Mysore road where the big arch over bridge has been completed. Took a right and zoomed in Mysore road.

The better way to reach mysore road now is NICE roads. If you are staying somewhere near to the Nice road, I strongly suggest you to take NICE road unless you are travelling at night.

Mysore road is in good condition, but you still need to watch out for the humps and mad drivers. Once you reach Srirangapatna, you have two options to reach Madikeri road. Go till Mysore and take Hunsur road. The other option is to take right after Srirnagapatna. The board you need to look out for is Rangathhittu bird sanctuary. You need to take the same road which goes to this bird sanctuary. Since we skipped this road, don’t know much about it.

Once you reach near Mysore, you need to take outer ring road. You will see a big aqua duct going above the road. You need to take right in the next junction. Look out for direction to Hunsur. We didn’t see much sign boards on Mysore outer ring road. But keep going and by the time you compete a semi circle, you will find board to Madikery. From here it’s a straight road till Khushal Nagar. From Kushal Nagar the roads become narrow. Watch out for signboards as it is very easy to miss from here.
Another 45 minutes, you are in madikeri.

Hotels around the way
KaduMane(Before Bidadi)
Kamat Lokruchi and another Kamat (don’t remember the other name)- Channapatna and Ramanagar
Coffie Day- I counted three
MC Donald’s - Near Madhya
Idra Dhanush
Madur Tiffany - Madur

Places to Visit

Tibetan Monastery: Look for their arch on your left side once you reach Kushal Nagar. Very hard to miss.


Nissargadhama:This is on your left side after you cross Khushal Nagar. There is green arch in Kannada. You could see vehicles parked inside from the road.





Raja seat: Right in the city. Look out for sign boards.



Thala Cauvery: This is around 45 KMs from Madikeri. You need to take the road to Managalore. This is the road going down in the main junction of Madikkeri. This is on your left side if you are coming to Madikery. The first 10 KMs of the road is in pathetic condition. There were lot vehicles in this route because of Pooja in Thala cauvery when we visited and everybody was driving crazy. As you are getting down in the winding roads, you would see a deviation towards left to ThalaCauvery. The road gets better from here onwards.

Dubera elephant camp: We went to Dubera from Madikkeri. So this route may be good, only if you plan to start from Madikeri and want to reach back Madikeri. It is almost a 45 minutes drive of which every minute is worth the drive. The road is in excellent condition and is very scenic. You need to take left in the first junction once you reach Madikeri. This was an unmanned junction and there was no traffic at all. I couldn’t see any board there. So watch out for a board of Koorg international instead. After you travel 10 minutes, you would see a Bhavans school. Keep going in this route. After travelling further straight on a junction, you will see a board towards left to dubera. The road become extremely narrow from here. So it is advisable to drive slowly and enjoy the scenery. This would soon hit a main road where you need to take left. Keep going on the bigger road and you will see the board to dubera on your right.


-Manoj

My first Blog

So finally I also created a blog of my own. I have interface to talk to the world. Feels good...
Now I have to think of what should be the content in my blog. But thats for later. ....