Travel | Just another weekend in Yercaud

Every travel leaves you with some unforgettable travel experiences you would want to treasure for ever. And what better way to freeze those precious moments than writing a bogpost and reflecting on your travel time with family and friends.

“We have a marriage invitation from my colleague in Metur city this weekend. Do your Google search and let me know if there are any good places nearby worth visiting.” Hubby informed me from his office and cut the line.

A few Google searches and I liked this small hill station Yercaud in Salem district which is located in the Shevaroys range of hills in the Eastern ghats of India.

But wait...there is more. Every other person in the forum was advising  not to visit Yercaud, as this small hill-station has nothing great to offer in terms of places of interest in the city.

Which was all the more better, as visiting every nook and corner of the city and spending the entire day running from view points to museums to photographing the monuments is not our cup of tea. We had done the same during some of our earlier trips and disliked doing it.

I did not want to fall in the same trap again and booked a quiet plantation resort, Grange in Yercaud, far from the main city.

There is absolutely nothing to do in the resort except spending some quality time with family, relaxing and trying to be one with nature. And this is what exactly what I wanted from my travel trail!

We planned for a non-stop travel to Yercaud and started our journey at 5 am from Chennai on a weekend to avoid the early morning traffic.

We took a diversion before Salem city and followed a different route to reach Yercaud as suggested by a friend.

This route (via Kuppanur, diversion from Salem town) is full of dense Teak forest. We enjoyed the quiet, picturesque and almost traffic free uphill journey and reached Yercaud at 12 noon.

The strong scent of thousands of citrus trees, coffee and pepper climbers planted in 100 acre property of the resort welcomed us.

 
The next day morning I woke up at about 5 am and opened the door, it was eerily quiet and dark outside. I stepped out of the room and there I was, just me and the pristine natural surroundings.

I immediately went inside to wake my hubby up, I was little scared of sitting out alone.
We sat till quietly listening to the chirping of cricket in the forest till the day broke.
We ordered coffee, by the time children woke up and off we went, for a long morning walk through the 100 acre secured plantation in the resort.  

  
Children enjoyed exploring and learning the many secrets nature unfolded in our morning walk.
Tender Peppercorn climbers hugging and climbing on giant Jackfruit trees made a pretty site.

Children were amused to see green round berries of coffee beans.

Evening was spent playing cricket, running around and swinging with children in the resort.

Pretty Jack-fruit tree and a few tropical flowers growing in front of our cottage.

Playing time in the resort.
 

A quick trip to the botanical garden in Yercaud.
We had a sumptuous breakfast in the resort, played cricket in the large garden right in front of our cottage and decided to go out to explore the city.

The city has nothing exciting to offer, so don’t have great expectations. This small hill station is a perfect place to curl up with a book, sip hot coffee made with fresh ground beans and do nothing.

It was a wonderful experience exploring the rustic side of the city during our early morning walk outside the resort.

We met some of the local people on streets, exchanged greetings and asked for directions. The stunning view of Shevaroy hills, fruit orchards and coffee plantations is a pleasant sight for sore eyes.

Way to the small restaurant in the resort where food is cooked and served on demand. We had a hearty meal and headed to visit a few places in the main city in afternoon.
There is a popular lake in Yercaud which is too crowded during weekends by tourists and the local people, but children wanted to do boating and we heeded for their request.
Botanical garden near the lake has a good collection of saplings and is maintained well.

The next morning, after a leisurely breakfast, we started for Salem city where we had already booked a room in Windsor castle.

Salem was our stop over, from where we a went to attend the marriage in Metur and proceeded to Namakkal, a historical town popular for enormous rock cut temples and forts. 

On our way back to Chennai we met some of hubby's office colleagues who attended the function.

We stopped at many places during the up-hill journey to catch up with nature and admire the beauty of the surroundings. Had fun watching and playing in small rivers and cool water dripping from the mountain cracks.Chill and gentle breeze from the lush green Teak forest on the other side of the road made us linger for more.

We did stop at many places to let children watch the hard yet extraordinary lives of mountain people. The benevolent farmers shared some local fruits with us, beautiful mountain women posed for our camera while their children were busy taking care of the cows and goats grazing nearby. 

Trip to Yercaud is for those who love the ‘journey’ aspect of travel and who travel for travel’s sake.
Don't have any great expectations from this small hill-station.
Yercaud is a good place to relax and feel at peace with nature. .
I would suggest you book a good plantation resort and make a weekend trip to the city without any agenda or purpose.
Am sure, the city will not disappoint you.

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