Yercaud - a scintillating tour (1)

Sitting in the middle of Shevaroys hills range this hill station is the queen of Salem. We planned a trip to this place over a extended weekend during the chilly month of Maargazhi. Started the trip on a Thursday early morning. We took NH79, Tindivanam route to Salem at 6 am in the morning. Traffic was quiet heavy along the Tambaram-Perungalathur area but manageable beyond that. So took a break here and had breakfast at Vasanta Bhavan.

National highways apart from providing easy commuting road also ensures accessible rest rooms. The drive all the way to Salem was smooth. Few kilometres before Salem central is the way to go up the Yercaud hill. Entry to Yercaud needs a entry fee of Rs.40. Reached this place around 1 o'clock. When we reached at the top of the hill, navigating to our friend's house there became difficult as the roads were being renovated before the summer season. A local offered to help us reach our place and asked us to drop him there as well. Raman took us on a long route avoiding the under repair path.

On reaching the place of stay with the help of friends's uncle we stepped into Venkateswara hotel for lunch. Stone tables and afternoon meals on banana leaf was a welcome treat. Rice, sambar, rasam, buttermilk, poriyal and pickle constituted the lunch which costs Rs.70, a cup of curd was given for a extra cost of Rs.20. It was a wonderful tasty meal for a moderate price at 5000 feet above the sea level.

After meals we drove along the hilly road with great difficulty to reach our friend's house where we were put up. After unpacking we cleaned up the house and made ourselves comfortable. Houses here were built amidst trees and pepper creepers. Rocks broken were used to construct the house. Near by houses had chickens and goats in their backyards.

Mobile network was a challenge. Weather went below zero degrees that night, it was in the first week of January. Electricity again was intermittent and we had to go back in times and take the assistance of candle sticks. To survive the cold we had relied on the heater installed in the house hold.

Our Yercaud sight seeing started from the next day. Will see that in the next post..

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