My Travelogues: Yelagiri Hills Tamil Nadu

Ride to Yelagiri Hills

Yelagiri is a hill station about 150kms from Bangalore, just off the Krishnagiri-Vellore road. An ideal weekend spot for tourists looking for less crowded and peaceful place near to Bangalore.

While reading about this place it was observed that the drive uphill to Yellagiri will be great because of the 14 hair pin bends and in December of 2008 my buddies and myself decide for a one-day ride to the place. Our Infosys biker gang which we later named 'Cruising Sultans' had planned this one and this was my first ride with the guys.

We started off at around 7 am from Electronic city and the 4-lane Hosur road was just like butter. This was the first time I was riding with a group and with 7 Enfield thumping around, it was just amazing. Our first halt was near the petrol bunk at Hosur where Arun shared his 'gyan' on group riding and we decided to follow that. Being December, the weather was pleasant cold which made the ride enjoyable.

The next stop was at Kamat right after Hosur. After a quick breakfast, we rode again towards Yelagiri. From Krishnagiri we took the left under the flyover. If you get over this flyover then you'll miss the turn for Yelagiri. Better keep in mind Vellore so that the left sign for Vellore serves the purpose. Once on the Vellore road, we reached a small town where there was a sign for Yelagiri saying 'Elagiri'. The hill station is about 30 odd kms from here.

Riding the hairpin bends uphill was exhilarating. We stopped for some snaps on the way. One of the guys had a pillion named Ren who was kind enough to keep on clicking great snaps. On the way up the first stop was the Telescope House. Was a good place to watch the horizon. The view was good, not as awesome as Kodaikannal or Munnar though. After checking this place out we went uphill and reached the hillstation. It's a small place, not as developed as Ooty or Kodaikannal. I could see some lodges around, but did not spot any big hotels.

The Punganoor lake was the next attraction. It was a nice quiet place not what I wanted at the moment. I was expecting to find some adventurous spot to ride to. After spending some time at the lake and after click here and there, we started back. I insisted to move ahead to check out if there was anything ahead. After a few kms, I spotted a formation of rock and we all decide to ride off-road there. Well the off-road part was not that much, just a little bit of grass and mud to be precise but the rocks looked great. Again it was time for some snaps and since everyone was hungry our humble moderator Manas decide to go to nearby shop and get some chips and biscuits which we readily enjoyed. After an hour of lazing around, we decided to have lunch.

There were not many restaurants around, but only local eateries. The food was tasty, nothing fancy but manageable. with our tummies full we decided our ride back. After an heavy lunch I was feeling sleepy but the hairpins kept my eyes wide open. I bet the other too were sleepy then. On our way back we stopped at the Krishnagiri junction where we had tea and started back. Our final rendezvous point was e-city junction where we gathered back to check on everyone.

It was a superb ride, my first with a group where I got to make new friends and which sparked off many more ride!

Places to see:

Telescope House

This is the first spot one should reach while uphill. It is like a small observatory or a watch tower from where one can use the telescope kept there to see prominent place in the town at the foothill. A good place to spend sometime.