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Yercaud Weekend Cycling Trail
Yercaud is a hill station located in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It lies in the Shevaroy Hills, and is known for its orange groves, coffee, fruit, and spice plantations. “Yercaud” is Tamil for “Lake-forest. Spread over 383sq kilometres in the Eastern Ghats, the terrain is generally dry and has rocky hills. Yercaud is a delightful aberration lined with quaint villages, ancient shrines, lakes, and streams. This can prove to be an enchanting trail for cyclists looking a sense of serenity, culture, and diversity.
Our “Yercaud Weekend Getaway” trail is crafted to appease the traveler and the nature lover in you, allowing you to meet an interesting bunch of fellow cyclists and travel with them.
Who can do this tour?
This trail is recommended for an active cyclist who is familiar with climbing hills on a cycle. While the distance is short, the intensity of the climb is moderately high. To ensure that we cycle together as a group, we expect you to have practiced some amount of cycling in the hills. As ever, you can rely on the Unventured support team to motivate and cycle along with you to make it to the top!
We depart on the evening of Day 0 at 5:00 PM from Bangalore and reach the town of Salem to rest for the evening at a hotel. We begin the ride the following morning, post breakffast riding about 16 KM toward the foot of yercaud. We’ll be riding a total of about 35 kilometres on day 1, of which approximately 21 kilometres will be an uphill climb. The ride takes us winding up 30 curves to reach the top of Yercaud from Salem. On day 2, we trail about 30 KM through coffee plantations village roads to with surreal view points before we ride back downhill to Salem to wrap-up and drive back to Bengaluru. Its a pleasant ride around the hills as the trails are sparsely populated routes that lead to small hamlets around Yercaud.
Your tour guide will brief you about the trail over a delicious breakfast session consisting of local dishes. Once done, we’ll start the ride from the town of Salem and make our way up to Yercaud. We will eat lunch enroute and take an ample number of breaks, refreshing ourselves with fresh fruits and snacks. At Yercaud, we’ll check into our hotel and rest up. Later in the evening, we’ll head out and walk around the local market, shop for some freshly ground coffee, and eat dinner at a local restaurant. Post dinner, we head back to our resort for some quiet time by the bonfire or rest for the next day’s adventures. Drive distance: 35 kilometres Accommodation Type: Homestay Highlights: • You will meet and greet the participants. • You will ride through a scenic trail to the top of Yercaud. • You can shop for goodies at a local market.
We begin the day with an authentic South-Indian breakfast at the famed Saravana Bhavan, Yercaud. Post a sumptuous breakfast, we ride the loop road around Yercaud hills through villages and coffee plantations. We’ll stop for some local snacks and at a coffee museum along the way and then ride back to Saravana Bhavan for some lunch. Post lunch, we will ride downhill to Salem. We then drive back towards Bengaluru, eating dinner en route. We arrive in Bengaluru late at night. Ride distance: 40 kilometres Accommodation Type: None Highlights: • You will ride past villages and coffee plantations which make for picture-perfect views. • The downhill ride is adrenalin-pumping. • You will visit a coffee museum to learn more about coffee cultivation.
The Unventured Experience
Our “Yercaud Weekend Getaway” is a 2-day weekend cycling tour to the hill station of Yercaud. Nestled at 4,500 ft high up in the Shevaroy Hills of the Eastern Ghats, its unhurried pace, stunning viewpoints, and hidden pathways are perfect to savour as you ride up. We will ensure you savour local experiences along the way.
This trail is crafted to appease the traveller and the nature lover in you, allowing you to meet an interesting bunch of fellow cyclists and travel with them. Our journey starts on a Friday evening from Bangalore which is the closest and most well-connected city to Yercaud. We will return to Bangalore on the Sunday evening. This fun, leisure trail, covers 80+ kilometres over 2 days and 20 hairpin bends. For those of you looking at a moderate to easy trail, the trails take you through Dahlia and orange blossom lined roads.
Difficulty Level: Moderately challenging due to extended climbs
Cycling Support:
Your tour will be supported with cycles; these are 27-speed American made, well-maintained mountain bikes of good quality. You will also have a well-trained mechanic accompanying you, and a full repair kit with essential spares. We will also be carrying a back-up cycle along the tour; just so that nobody misses out on the riding experience should his or her bike have a serious breakdown.
Accommodation:
Accommodation will be at a basic hotel or homestay with good hygienic bathrooms offered on a twin-sharing basis.
Transport:
A team of 10-12 riders will be supported by one TT with a carrier that will carry both the riders and bikes along with a spare cycle, lunch packs, and water. Through the day this vehicle will ride with the riders.
Adventure travel at it’s best!
I have done three different tours with Unventured now (and definitely the number will go up in future).
First started with the the day tour of “Treasures of Nandi Cycling Trail” and enjoyed riding around the Nandi hills, learning about the people living in the villages around Nandi and historical heritage of Nandi. The second was a weekend getaway to Yercaud. Starting from Salem and cycling all the way up to Yercaud with some intense climbs and hair-pin bends is a wonderful experience. The third was a weeklong Bhutan Bike and Hike Tour. Cycling in Bhutan and seeing the country is a serene experience.
Why I love traveling with Unventured?
1. Commitment to traveling green. Try to avoid use of plastics as much as possible.
2. Conscious effort to contribute to the local economy and work with local people everywhere we visit
3. Hassle free cycling experience. All the bikes are in great condition and here I can boast that in Bhutan we rode on KTM MTBs! And we always had support vehicles with us throughout the ride, so we don’t have to worry about food/water on the way. We ride comfortably and stop to enjoy the surroundings wherever we want to take pictures.