Sleepy Yercaud
- March 18th 2022
An opportunity to go for a long drive beckons when you get to see a typical weekend getting extended by a day because of a holiday preceding the Saturday and Sunday and you miss the bus of booking early only to realize that the flight tickets have become exorbitant.
Chennai fortunately has lot of places around which can be reached anywhere between an hour to 5 hours and with the onset of summer just around the corner, we chose the Poor Man’s Ooty also known popularly as Yercaud for the March 3rd week holidays which were coming forth thanks to Holi falling on the Friday. Yercaud is a derivative of 2 Tamil Words Yeri and Kaadu meaning Lake and Forest respectively and is at an altitude of around 1500 metres above mean sea level. Yercaud is abundantly rich in flora and fauna and is home to numerous fruits, spice and coffee plantations and silver oak trees.
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The best time to be here in Yercaud
The months between October to June are perhaps the best time to visit any hill station and Yercaud was no exception. The months of December and January get slightly nippy especially in the early mornings but otherwise the temperature becomes quite manageable during these months.
How does one reach Yercaud
Thanks to an Airport being available in Salem from where Yercaud is around an hour’s drive of 30 kms, direct flights are operational from Chennai, Bangalore and Kochi.
The nearest Railhead again is Salem and there are multiple trains from different cities which ply on this route.
Should one want to drive down to Yercaud, it would take around 5 hours from Bangalore and around 7 and a half hours from Chennai.
One could also look at landing at Coimbatore airport and look at hiring a cab for the 200 odd kms distance.
Plenty to choose from for stay at Yercaud
We had booked our stay at Saffron Villa through MakeMyTrip.com. Multiple resorts and hotels have sprung up in Yercaud over the last few years thanks to the influx of tourists increasing over the last few years. Other options which people could explore are GreaT Trails by GRT group, JK Grand, Casita Inn, Cliffhanger Retreat, Sterling, Coffee Valley Resort, Le Cressida, Forest View Resort and many more.
The Drive begins
The start was at around 6 AM from home to beat the traffic. We stopped by at Shree Balaajee Bhavan in Chromepet by around 6.45 for Breakfast. We were done with the breakfast by 7 AM and after downing a couple of strong filter coffees, we hit the National Highway for Salem. Save for a couple of tea breaks, it was a pretty fast drive thanks to the roads being good and we hit Salem City by 12.30 Noon. We had a quick lunch in Salem and commenced our drive towards Yercaud by 1.30 PM.The 30 Km stretch winds its way through 20 Hair-pin bends.
Our resort was less than a km from the City center and we reached Saffron Villa by 14.15 hours. The check-in formalities done, we unwound ourselves in the room. Since we had done Yercaud multiple times in the past, the idea of this break was to just chill around and maybe see a few new places which might have come up newly or which we might have missed during our earlier visits. The Lake and boating was a definite NO GO given the kind of crowds which would come over the weekend.
Caught up with some sleep post lunch at the resort and in the evening went for a stroll around the resort premises. Some tea and fritters preceded the dinner which was by around 9 PM after which got into experimenting with the camera on the terrace since it was a full moon night. After spending around an hour on the terrace, we retired for the night.
The Saffron Villa
- March 19th 2022
Got up early and went for a run around the town. A few kms away from the resort, while I was on my run, I bumped into a couple who were walking their dog around. I had stopped them to ask for directions so that I don’t get lost and understood from them that they were early settlers in Yercaud for generations and ran a perfumery business. Was quite intrigued by their description of how these perfumes got made and promised to look them up sometime during the day when we would be roaming around. Got back to the resort by around 8 AM after some nice filter coffee at Kaapi Stop adjacent to the Yercaud Lake.
We set out for some bit of sightseeing post a hearty breakfast at the resort by around 10.00 AM.
A little bit of Sightseeing
The Pagoda Point
The Pagoda point was the first place of visit. Nothing noteworthy about this place except that you get some views of the villages below from the viewing point. Spent about 10 to 15 minutes here and moved onto the Montford school.
The Montford School
Not sure why the school authorities de-classified the Montford School as a tourism spot.
While respecting their decision, vivid memories of going around the school campus in 2001 resurfaced in our mind and it came as a big disappointment when the security guards did not allow us inside. Remember seeing a beautiful garden with lots of flowers where one could walk around and take photographs.
We could just about manage shooting some photographs of the campus and from outside. A co-ed Residential Anglo Indian Secondary school run by the Montford brothers of St. Gabriel, this was initially a European school founded during World War I.
The school was named after the founder of the Order of St Gabriel, St Louis Grignoin de Montford.
Some famous people who studied here are Shashi Tharoor, Roger Binny, Anbumani Ramadoss and Nagesh Kukanoor.
The Shevroy Temple
We moved on next to the Shevaroy (Anglicized form of Servaroyan) Temple. Situated at an altitude of 5,326 feet, this temple is located at the highest point of Yercaud hills.
This is an ancient cave temple believed to be over 1000 years old and is dedicated to Goddess Kaveri and Lord Shevaroyan. The male deity is believed to the God of Servaroyan Hills while the female deity is considered as the Goddess of River Cauvery and is considered as the guardian of the 67 villages around Yercaud.
The locals here believe that the caves extend to the Cauvery river in Karnataka located 480 kms away. Tipu Sultan is believed to have hidden here in the caves during a war. The natives come here in hordes during the annual festival in the month of May.
A wishing well is located near the temple. The locals have the belief that if one were to pick up 3 stones from the temple and keeping their backs to the well throw at least one stone into the well, success would meet them in whatever they set out to do.
An interesting process of making tea in the clay cups as can be seen in the video below. This is otherwise known as Kulhad Chai. Should laud the entrepreneurial skills of the young girl to make a living out of this in a remote place in Yercaud.
The Raja Rajeswari Temple
The Raja Rajeswari (meaning Goddesses of all Gods) Temple is located 3 kms away from the Shevroy temple.
The huge 4.5 feet high idol of the Goddess is seen in a sitting posture, surrounded by other deities.
It is said that near the vicinity of the temple, people discovered an inscription which dates the temple to the 8th century AD. This temple was supposedly built around the clay idol by King Suratha who had offered his own crown, studded with precious jewels to be placed on the head of the deity.
The Perfume Factory
We then went to the person’s house who manufactures the perfumes which I had earlier written about. They welcomed us with tea and biscuits and showed us around the various kinds of perfumes and pain relieving oils they make.
They took the pains of explaining the entire process of how they go about making these perfumes which had the family listening in rapt attention. Spent around an hour at their place, made a few purchases and then headed for lunch.
A little ahead on our way back to the town, we discovered a North Indian food joint Rasoee but it was extremely crowded. We had to wait for almost 45 minutes before we managed to get seats. We were quite hungry by them and indulged in an assortment of stuffed parathas with curd and paneer tikkas for lunch.
The Anna Park
We then headed for the Anna Park located opposite the Yercaud Lake. A pretty well spread out and landscaped garden with a good collection of roses. We spent around 20 minutes photographing the wide assortment of roses and got bored after some time. An entrance ticket of Rs.15/- per head is levied for entry to the Park.
The Emerald Lake
The Yercaud Lake or the Emerald Lake as its better known as is a natural lake in the center of the town and is perhaps one of the main tourist attractions. Amongst the various hill stations, this is perhaps the only naturally formed lake. There are facilities for boating available right from Motor to Row to Self Row and Pedal boats here.
The Children's Seat
The Children’s seat is similar to the Pagoda point and is close to the Gent’s Seat and the Ladies Seat. Good views of the town and the villages can be seen from this place.
We were back at the resort by 5 in the evening and lazed around till it was time for dinner. We were to commence our drive back to Chennai the next day by around noon.
- March 20th 2022
The checkout formalities got over by around 11.30 AM and we left the resort by around noon. Spent some time indulging in a bit of photography before we commenced our drive.
The checkout formalities got over by around 11.30 AM and we left the resort by around noon. Spent some time indulging in a bit of photography around the resort before we commenced our drive.
Sri Chakra Maha Meru Temple
We had planned to visit the Sri Chakra Maha Meru temple before starting our descent to Salem. This temple is believed to be the World’s biggest Sri Chakra temple and comprises a 3 dimensional pyramid on the temple which takes the shape of Sri Chakra when viewed from the top.
The main sanctum is made out of white marble along with paved pathways and consists of a Semi-circular pit which when filled with water shows the reflection of the Sri Chakra Maha Meru. The prime deity here is Goddess Lalitha Tripurasundari.
Our prayers offered, we started our drive back to the main town. Stopped for a coffee while the family picked up some chocolates and post that we started our descent to Salem. Had our lunch at a wayside restaurant and and drove on till Tindivanam non stop back to Chennai by around 2.30 PM. An uneventful drive for 7 hours almost and we were back home by 9.30 PM.
