Yercaud!!

We decided to go away for the weekend .... but we dint know where :) [usual case] .. then the idea struck . Yercaud!!
Its not far away, its gonna be nice and cool and we can drive .... So off we went.

Yercaud is a hill station in Tamil Nadu , near Selem . Its around 230 Kms from Bangalore [Not too far] ...
We set off early from bangalore , we hit the NH7 and drove via hosur,Krishnagiri,Dharmapuri then to Selem .. It took us around 4 hours ... and n
We stopped for some refreshements in Selem , no Darshini concept in TN ... so had to go to some fancy looking place with fancy prices ...

We set off from Selem to Yercaud , its a steep drive up into the clouds and it has 14 hairpin turns :) .... Naveen enjoyed it .. what he dint enjoy was the
traffic jam on the way to the top :P ... traffic stood still for around 30 mins because some hot shot got stuck in a hairpin ...

We finally reached the top and we looked around ... a commercialized hill station but still pretty .. we could see that it was very small .....
There was a huge lake in the center ... and a lot of mini shops on its banks .. all of them selling yummy food !! But it was not that cold.. :(
We decided to just go to our hotel "The Grand Palace". Its a decent place , but over priced but at least clean!!

In the evening we decided to explore the place but the dusk fell quickly :( and we were kinda surprised as to how quickly it got dark ,
we went near the lake since that seemed to be the place for action ... even the shops were beginning to close and it was just 7 PM :(
We just went back to the hotel , but it was decidedly chilly and cold now ... very very cold !!

The next day we went around the place , we went beyond the lake and we saw only beautiful orange orchards and coffee plantations ... breathtaking cliffs ...
There is a famous Servarayan temple and a Devi temple ... we climbed and climbed and we reached the top of the hills and there was a view point ...
it was a picnic point with fantastic views and a park for children !!

There are fantastic trekking trails there it seems , but we dint have the time to try them as we had to get back ....
overall its a nice pleasant place , don't expect excitement , its just a place to visit once  !!
The views are spectacular and if you want to experience the off season chill , just go to yercaud!!

More info :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yercaud