[nandita_bayan21]

I was hearing a lot about this small hill station, Yelagiri in the Vellore district of Tamil Nadu. So, finally decided to go on a quick one day trip to escape from the busy and boring Bangalore. Number of people traveling were just two – me and my better half, will refer him here as AK, he is an avid traveler himself. A lot of discussion went into deciding whether to go by bike or take the car. Eventually, we boiled down to taking our mean machine – KTM Duke 200.

7:00AM – We were supposed to leave home by 5AM but we overslept and kept on snoozing the alarms. By the time we got up, it was almost 6:15 and we had to rush. Luckily, most of the stuffs were packed required for the trip was previous night itself, so didn’t have much haste in the morning. Finally, at around 7, we left home. At the time of start, the bike’s ODO read 9942kms.

We took BETL, zoomed at a speed of 100-120kmph and in no time we reached Hosur. As we were on bike, we had to pay a toll fare of Rs 20. Due to construction going on both sides of the highway, the traffic moved a bit slow through narrow roads. However, the roads were decent enough to ride. After a stretch of 2/3 kms, we were once again on better highway and started a smooth ride.

8:10AM – AK and me reached Shoolagiri, in NH 7 Hosur – Krishnagiri highway (58 kms from our home). Many cars, bikers stopped at this place for breakfast. We were starving too and wanted to have something to fill our growling stomach. Here, you will have a McD, Sree Krishna Inn (veg food) and a HP filling station. I thought it was better to have a burger than have idly vada sambar, AK agreed. So, we got inside the McD, ordered Chicken and Veg Mcmuffin meals (which comes with hash browns and a cup of coffee). With a solid rest of 40 mins, we decided to freshen up and start our journey again.

9AM – journey resumes amidst super amazing roads, scenic view, hills and mountains on both sides of the highway. This made the ride really comfortable and to our delight the weather was mesmerizing too. NH7 is definitely one of the best highway I have ever come across in my life. Neat, clean, faster, wider and to top it up the nature around us. We cruised at a constant speed between 90 – 100kmph.

10:00AM - we took turn towards Chennai (onto NH46) at Krishnagiri and continued until we reached before Vaniyambadi. Yelagiri Hills can be seen from quite a distance (on right). From a left side break in the highway that comes approx 2 km after the toll gate, we turned right into the underpass road that takes to Tirupathur. Continue some 5 km and at Ponneri Junction took a left to Yelagiri Hills. The routes are all marked with signboards in English.

10:45AM – reached Ponneri, the base of Yelagiri hills and we started our ride up-hill. There are a total of 14 hair pin bend (HPB) in that 16kms stretch. Not very busy roads while climbing up but one has to be very careful as some curves are totally dangerous and blind. Be prepared to see some monkeys way up. It’s a two way road, so at times, cars and bikes have to stop to make way for a larger vehicle. We stopped at HPB 8 to take some pics. Trust me the view from the top was superb. The entire valley could be seen amidst cloud. Blue sky, green nature and clouds here and there made the scene amazing.

11:30AM – we reached the top of the hill. It’s a small town with less habitats, few shops and lots of resorts. Rising 1400metres above sea level, Yelagiri is surrounded by orchards, gardens and green valleys.
On our way to Yelagiri, we took 3 breaks to get off the bike, drink water and stretch our body.

11:30 – 12:30PM – we went to this artificial lake called Punganoor which also had an adjoining park. Rested here for an hour, as the breeze was cool. There is a newly laid garden with a pathway along the bund with a panoramic view of the lake. There is also a small watch tower constructed next to a tree which can be climbed. We could however see ladies washing clothes in the pond (this was a letdown).

12:30 – 1PM – we roamed around to see if we can go for some more attractions but not many places to visit. There were places like Swami Malai and Jalagampari waterfalls for trekking. But since we were already tired with our bike rides we preferred not to go trekking since we had to travel back and couldn’t risk by over-stressing ourself.

1PM – by now we were very hungry and desperately looked around for some place to eat. Came across this restaurant called ‘Golden Restaurant’, so decided to hog in here itself. Not many option for food though, only meals, fish fry, chicken 65, fried rice and omelets. We ordered two meals, one fish and chicken fry. Food was not that great but had to eat whatever was served. We met couple of more bikers who came in just for a road trip and were planning to return back to Bangalore post lunch.

1:45PM – we were done with lunch. Once again we got freshen up, drank some juice and started to get ready for our way back home. By now we both were exhausted, more than me AK was, so we decided to go a bit slow this time. The down-hill ride didn’t take much time and in 15 mins we reached the hill-base.

2PM – we reached Ponneri and started towards Bangalore. By now the afternoon sun was right infront of us and wind blowing against us. This made the ride a bit harsh. As per our plan we rode slowly.

4:20PM – reached Hosur and we could see rain clouds right ahead of us. All we did was pray that let it not rain. But all this is vain.

4:45PM – as soon we reached Biocon, it started raining heavily and we had no other option but to halt somewhere to put on our rain gears. In the next 10 mins, we started again since the downpour became less.

5:30PM – reached home safe sound and a bit of wet. The ODO read 10288 kms. A total of 346 kms.
Overall, it was a good road trip, a bit tiring though. Super scenic beauty while on the roads made the ride to Yelagiri worthwhile.

Hope you guys liked it (this is my first Travelogue)

[phamilyman]

Very nicely done. Its really nice that you folks ditched the car and took the bike instead! Twisties are FUN on a bike that handles as well as the Duke!

You BLR guys can have so much fun in a single day trip!

That's an excellent choice of bike there - just the right grunt for 2 up touring and everyday usage!

[dass]

Nice and crisp travelogue. I had been in Yelagiri in 2010 with a group of friends and families and we stayed there for couple of nights. We stayed at a resort right next to the pond. There is nothing much to do there, but with friends along its a nice place to relax.

I have always wondered if the pillion rider on a bike like Duke would be comfortable over long rides. I haven't sat on a DUKE yet, but I have seen many bikes and with its high seat position and narrow seat width, it always looked extremely uncomfortable to me. Are they comfortable at all?

[Latheesh]

Nice travelogue!

Few years back we did a day trip to Yelagiri and found that Bangalore is colder than Yelagiri!

[Added_flavor]

Originally Posted by nandita_bayan21

Eventually, we boiled down to taking our mean machine – KTM Duke 200.
....
....
Hope you guys liked it (this is my first Travelogue)

Thank you for the short and crisp log Nandita! More pictures would make it even better!

Me and my better half too tour on my KTM. I am interested to know what kind of luggage you carried on the ride (Basics like Camera, Water bottle etc) and how exactly you carried it. My wife says she's comfortable on the Duke until there's no luggage on either of our shoulders. What do you say about this?

[phamilyman]

Originally Posted by Added_flavor

Thank you for the short and crisp log Nandita! More pictures would make it even better!

Me and my better half too tour on my KTM. I am interested to know what kind of luggage you carried on the ride (Basics like Camera, Water bottle etc) and how exactly you carried it. My wife says she's comfortable on the Duke until there's no luggage on either of our shoulders. What do you say about this?

Luggage on the pillion or even on the rider is a no no!

Back when we toured on the pulsar (last two years back) - the rule was simple - tank bag, saddle bag or leave it at home. What benefits do you experience in carrying the luggage on yourselves?

[ampere]

Yelagiri is ideal for a day visit. May be at best spend one night in there. Because uit gives some more time to explore the near by areas early morning the next day and may be witness a beautiful sunrise. Nice one day fun you folks had.

[Added_flavor]

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Luggage on the pillion or even on the rider is a no no!

Back when we toured on the pulsar (last two years back) - the rule was simple - tank bag, saddle bag or leave it at home. What benefits do you experience in carrying the luggage on yourselves?

True that! There are no benefits at all in carrying the luggage on our shoulders. The only qualm is I do not have a tank bag right now.
The Duke is not friendly to saddle bags. Some minor customization has to be done to keep the saddle bags in place. The Vieterra Claw tail bag I have will ensure my wife doesn't accompany me on weekend rides.

[nandita_bayan21]

Thanks @phamilyman and @Latheesh for liking the travelogue. Will share some more in coming days.

Originally Posted by dass

Nice and crisp travelogue. I had been in Yelagiri in 2010 with a group of friends and families and we stayed there for couple of nights. We stayed at a resort right next to the pond. There is nothing much to do there, but with friends along its a nice place to relax.

I have always wondered if the pillion rider on a bike like Duke would be comfortable over long rides. I haven't sat on a DUKE yet, but I have seen many bikes and with its high seat position and narrow seat width, it always looked extremely uncomfortable to me. Are they comfortable at all?

KTM200 is extremely comfortable for me as a pillion rider. Me and AK have been to many trips by our Duke and till now the ride has been quite amazing. However, for extremely long rides we make sure we take breaks in between.

Originally Posted by Added_flavor

Thank you for the short and crisp log Nandita! More pictures would make it even better!

Me and my better half too tour on my KTM. I am interested to know what kind of luggage you carried on the ride (Basics like Camera, Water bottle etc) and how exactly you carried it. My wife says she's comfortable on the Duke until there's no luggage on either of our shoulders. What do you say about this?

We generally carry a backpack with very minimal stuffs like water bottle, camera, snacks, towels. This is ok for me to carry. We are planning to buy and install saddle bags (Rynox) for longer rides in coming days.

[Karthik Gullu]

We drove to yelagiri hills from Bangalore and it is about 160kms. The drive was very nice and the weather is more or less same as Bangalore. Even the height above the sea level is almost same as Bangalore.

The main attractions are the boat rides and the park around the manmade lake. There is a musical show with laser lights and water geysers at the main park around 7pm but not very good according to me.

The night drive to the downhill is delightful with spectacular night view of Vaniyambadi town, just look like a galaxy .

Hi Nandita,

Can I add some more pictures to make gleeful with your permission ?

[nandita_bayan21]

Originally Posted by Karthik Gullu

Hi Nandita,

Can I add some more pictures to make gleeful with your permission ?

Hey Karthik, sure you can buddy. Please go ahead and add them

Meanwhile, some more pics from my end.

[ampere]

you should resize the pictures to a larger size. And as I said there are some small places near Yelagiri/Vellore which are worth exploring esp in a bike. For that it makes sense to stay in there for the night.

Originally Posted by nandita_bayan21

All my pics were of size 5/6MB, so in the process of compressing them under 1MB, the size shrinked. Do you know any software or process with which I can reduce the file size without compromising on the pic size?

Here is a thread on the same.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/announ...-team-bhp.html

[nandita_bayan21]

Originally Posted by ampere

you should resize the pictures to a larger size. And as I said there are some small places near Yelagiri/Vellore which are worth exploring esp in a bike. For that it makes to stay in there for the night.

All my pics were of size 5/6MB, so in the process of compressing them under 1MB, the size shrinked. Do you know any software or process with which I can reduce the file size without compromising on the pic size?

And yes, we will plan another trip to Yelagiri next time for a night stay and explore some more places which we missed this time. May be you can let us know which places to visit. Thanks!

[nandita_bayan21]

Originally Posted by ampere

Here is a thread on the same.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/announ...-team-bhp.html

I think I got it. Thanks a lot Will take care of posting larger pic size from next time.

[atul.ktm]

Originally Posted by nandita_bayan21

I was hearing a lot about this small hill station, Yelagiri in the Vellore district of Tamil Nadu. So, finally decided to go on a quick one day trip to escape from the busy and boring Bangalore. Number of people traveling were just two – me and my better half, will refer him here as AK, he is an avid traveler himself. A lot of discussion went into deciding whether to go by bike or take the car. Eventually, we boiled down to taking our mean machine – KTM Duke 200............................................... .....................

Really was an awesome day trip with great roads to ride on...nice travelogue..will be waiting for more adventures together in the future!!