Yelagiri

Really, I do not recollect how I first came across the Team-BHP website, specifically their forum. And since then, I’ve been kind of hooked, even though I’m not a car freak myself and have limited understanding of these electro-mechanical wonders. What fascinates me is the travelogue section of this forum. It’s great to find so many passionate souls sharing their trips and tricks. Last November, I got an unexpected email about a meet-up @ Yelagiri for Bangalore Team-BHP enthusiasts. I wasn’t sure whether to join or not, given the heavy workload at the office that made it very difficult to commit.

On that special day, somehow we started early at 6:30 from home. Little -A was sleeping when we started, and there was thick fog when we reached Dakshin Honda on Hosur Road. We saw many cars with BHP bumper stickers waiting on the side of the road. Soon, we crossed the Karnataka border and reached the town of Hosur. The road condition changed. Suddenly, all potholes were gone, and driving became really cool. Definitely, politicians and bureaucrats of Karnataka need to learn something from their neighbors.

We stopped at A2B for breakfast, around 70 KM from Silk Board Junction, with a petrol pump next to it that you can’t miss. There was a lot of crowd; it took us a while to get a decent place to sit and much longer to get our idli-sambar. We left for Yelagiri Hills and soon left NH7 for NH46 after the first toll booth. There are signs for Chennai which you need to follow; continuing on NH7 will take you to Salem. So, after driving another 50 KM, we crossed another toll booth from where we left NH46 for Yelagiri. This state road was not that great but OK. The last 14 KM is on the hilly section with hairpin turns. As we were quite early, there wasn’t much traffic before or behind us. Plenty of monkeys along the road; they target cars for easy food if you are not careful.

We reached Yelagiri lake around 10-ish. Took a full round of the lake. With Aarush, we had no plan for hiking and boating, so we decided for lunch. It was around 11:30 when we reached the Hotel Hills. The hotel was not ready for lunch yet, and Aarush had his lunch at the reception while watching some Tamil songs on the big screen. He was too sleepy to finish his lunch, so we decided it might be a better idea to start for Bangalore while he sleeps, skipping our lunch.

According to Outlook’s “52 weekends from Bangalore,” a typical weekend at Yelagiri would be:

Good breakfast, a gentle walk, lots of rest followed by lunch, more rest, another stroll in the evening, then dinner—lots more rest, a blissful weekend.

On the way back, we stopped again at A2B for a very late lunch. After crossing Hosur, entry to Bangalore was painful. There is a huge construction site around Electronic city for the mega flyover on NH-7. We visited one of my college mates in HSR Layout on the way back as we reached Bangalore well before sunset.

Pictures How to get there — Official Link

Team BHP meetup