Just had my duke's first service done. Asked my colleagues Asim and Atul for a short bike ride towards Nandi hills or somewhere less than 100kms from bengaluru, but they had other plans. Few weeks back they had a ride towards Hogenakkal and heard about a place called yercaud, which is near salem and insisted on going there. Since it was 500Km round trip, that too in one day and i had never ridden more than 30km in one day(Yep 30Km), i was skeptical about this one but joined them.
Ride Planned to : Yercaud
Date : 01-Aug-2015
Route : Bangalore - Dharmapuri - Yercaud - Pilleri - Manjavadi Pass - Salem - Dharmapuri - Bangalore
We planned to meet at 6:30AM near our Bommnahalli office. But we left at around 7:15AM. Since it was my first long ride, they explained how to ride on highways, the average speed they are going to maintain and where the pit stops would be after crossing electronic-city.
Hosur road (NH-7) was just awesome. Smooth as butter. Could easily cruise at 100-110Kmph. Since the bike was pretty new i didn't want to stress the engine, was maintaining a constant speed of 80-100Kmph. It was my first time cruising on a highway and the experience was just awesome.
We stopped for breakfast at "Krishna Veg" just after Hosur. The food at this place was really good, would suggest this place to anyone traveling on this route.
Reached Dharmapuri at around 9:15AM.
40km from dharmapuri we took a left at Deevattipatti. The roads were scenic giving a nice view of Shevaroy range of Hills.Took a few pics here.
Continuing on this road, we reached danishpet where we should have taken a right after crossing the railway track, but some local confused us leading us the opposite direction. After covering few kilometers another local put us back in the right direction.
Note: If you're going by car you will not be able to take right at danishpet as the roads are too narrow for a car to pass. it's better to reach yercaud by salem.
After danishpet we were into some really awesome back roads covered by thick forest. Roads were okay with pot holes in between but except few bikes there was no traffic on this road.
Around 11:00AM we started riding through the yercaud ghats which has exactly 20 hairpin curves. The roads are clearly marked and banked, number of hair pin bends to be covered is indicated at every curve. Riding here was no problem at all. Made a few mistakes while cornering as i was a bit scared of leaning (Had never done it before). Best part about the duke is corner carving, it inspires a lot of confidence in you, mainly due to the Tyre profile and good feedback from brakes.
As we rode up the ghats the climate change can be easily felt. There was a bit of mist when we reached the top. Reaching there we realized that we hadn't even had a tea after the breakfast at Hosur. Stomachs were rumbling. We saw a hotel opposite to the yercaud lake, the food was okay. Took some rest for half an hour. Resting our asses.
Now we had four places planned to visit in Yercaud
1. Yercaud Lake
2. Lady's seat
3. Gent's seat
4. Kiliyur Falls
5. Pagoda point
- Yercaud Lake was famous for boating which was out of our interest. We just had a look of lake, took a few snaps and left for Lady's seat.
- Lady's seat (Weird name!) had a nice view of the hair pin curves which we would have passed to reach yercaud and also a view of the manganese mine. The view was awesome and also a warning painted on a stone next to the view point. :D
We had some nice tea and biscuits at Lady's seat. Asked a few locals about Gents seat. We heard that the view was similar to Lady's seat, so we skipped that and continued our journey to Kiliyur Falls
- Kiliyur Falls, To reach here we had to come back to Yercaud lake and take a deviation of around 4Km (Roads were pretty bad.) ,park our bikes, walk another 1.5km downhill and then take around 200 stairs. But reaching the falls, we felt it was not worth it. The falls was all dried up, may be the time of the year we visited was not rite.
After spending some time at kiliyur falls. We left towards yercaud but it was not so easy now. We had to climb those 200 stairs back and while we were going back we found out that the height of each stairs were like climbing a rock. At the last step we took some rest sleeping having a nice view at the forest. Had some tea and lots of water at a tea shop near kiliyur falls. Came back to were we had parked our bikes and left to yercaud. We then decided we'll go to Pagoda point and leave to bangalore.
- Pagoda Point, Its around 5 km from yercaud lake. The roads were very good. This was the best view point in yercaud. We spent some time here. Had a look at the binocular view towards the salem city below.
We asked a local guy here for for the best route to Manjavadi Pass (Well this place was planned once we
reached Pagoda point). The road through Pilleri was the best and roads were in good condition is what he told. We took our bikes and left towards Manjavadi pass. Roads till Kottachchedu were superb. we stopped at Pilleri for some pics. Roads were highly scenic.
There was actually no road from Kottachchedu till the intersection Kuppanur-Yercaud Ghat road. Only the first layer of road was layed. First few kilometers had gravel on it then only clay (Yes Only Clay!), this is on a downhill ghat road. We could'nt hit on the brakes. Since duke had a omega shaped tyre, it didn't sway while riding on clay. But Atul, riding on FZ lost his balance. Both of them Atul and his bike were fine except mud on both of them. After we joined Kuppanur-Yercaud Ghat, roads were smooth.
- Manjavadi Pass, This is place where road passes between two mountains, nice scenic place. Grabbed a few clicks and drove towards Salem.
Ride Planned to : Yercaud
Date : 01-Aug-2015
Route : Bangalore - Dharmapuri - Yercaud - Pilleri - Manjavadi Pass - Salem - Dharmapuri - Bangalore
We planned to meet at 6:30AM near our Bommnahalli office. But we left at around 7:15AM. Since it was my first long ride, they explained how to ride on highways, the average speed they are going to maintain and where the pit stops would be after crossing electronic-city.
 |
| Hosur road, after electronic-city. Myself and Atul |
Hosur road (NH-7) was just awesome. Smooth as butter. Could easily cruise at 100-110Kmph. Since the bike was pretty new i didn't want to stress the engine, was maintaining a constant speed of 80-100Kmph. It was my first time cruising on a highway and the experience was just awesome.
We stopped for breakfast at "Krishna Veg" just after Hosur. The food at this place was really good, would suggest this place to anyone traveling on this route.
 | |
| Toll booth(Our pit stop), After Dharmapuri. Rides of riders. |
Reached Dharmapuri at around 9:15AM.
40km from dharmapuri we took a left at Deevattipatti. The roads were scenic giving a nice view of Shevaroy range of Hills.Took a few pics here.
 |
| Stop for photo shoot. |
 |
| View of Beautiful Shevaroy Hills |
Continuing on this road, we reached danishpet where we should have taken a right after crossing the railway track, but some local confused us leading us the opposite direction. After covering few kilometers another local put us back in the right direction.
Note: If you're going by car you will not be able to take right at danishpet as the roads are too narrow for a car to pass. it's better to reach yercaud by salem.
After danishpet we were into some really awesome back roads covered by thick forest. Roads were okay with pot holes in between but except few bikes there was no traffic on this road.
 |
| Beautiful back roads |
 |
| Isn't she just beautiful? |
Around 11:00AM we started riding through the yercaud ghats which has exactly 20 hairpin curves. The roads are clearly marked and banked, number of hair pin bends to be covered is indicated at every curve. Riding here was no problem at all. Made a few mistakes while cornering as i was a bit scared of leaning (Had never done it before). Best part about the duke is corner carving, it inspires a lot of confidence in you, mainly due to the Tyre profile and good feedback from brakes.
 |
| The awesome twisties |
As we rode up the ghats the climate change can be easily felt. There was a bit of mist when we reached the top. Reaching there we realized that we hadn't even had a tea after the breakfast at Hosur. Stomachs were rumbling. We saw a hotel opposite to the yercaud lake, the food was okay. Took some rest for half an hour. Resting our asses.
Now we had four places planned to visit in Yercaud
1. Yercaud Lake
2. Lady's seat
3. Gent's seat
4. Kiliyur Falls
5. Pagoda point
- Yercaud Lake was famous for boating which was out of our interest. We just had a look of lake, took a few snaps and left for Lady's seat.
- Lady's seat (Weird name!) had a nice view of the hair pin curves which we would have passed to reach yercaud and also a view of the manganese mine. The view was awesome and also a warning painted on a stone next to the view point. :D
 |
| View of Manganese mine. |
 |
| Hair pin curves view |
 |
| :D :D |
We had some nice tea and biscuits at Lady's seat. Asked a few locals about Gents seat. We heard that the view was similar to Lady's seat, so we skipped that and continued our journey to Kiliyur Falls
- Kiliyur Falls, To reach here we had to come back to Yercaud lake and take a deviation of around 4Km (Roads were pretty bad.) ,park our bikes, walk another 1.5km downhill and then take around 200 stairs. But reaching the falls, we felt it was not worth it. The falls was all dried up, may be the time of the year we visited was not rite.
 |
| Walk towards the falls. |
 |
| Nice view of the forest |
 |
| Kiliyur Falls |
After spending some time at kiliyur falls. We left towards yercaud but it was not so easy now. We had to climb those 200 stairs back and while we were going back we found out that the height of each stairs were like climbing a rock. At the last step we took some rest sleeping having a nice view at the forest. Had some tea and lots of water at a tea shop near kiliyur falls. Came back to were we had parked our bikes and left to yercaud. We then decided we'll go to Pagoda point and leave to bangalore.
- Pagoda Point, Its around 5 km from yercaud lake. The roads were very good. This was the best view point in yercaud. We spent some time here. Had a look at the binocular view towards the salem city below.
 |
| Pagoda point view |
We asked a local guy here for for the best route to Manjavadi Pass (Well this place was planned once we
reached Pagoda point). The road through Pilleri was the best and roads were in good condition is what he told. We took our bikes and left towards Manjavadi pass. Roads till Kottachchedu were superb. we stopped at Pilleri for some pics. Roads were highly scenic.
 |
| Scenic Roads |
 |
There was actually no road from Kottachchedu till the intersection Kuppanur-Yercaud Ghat road. Only the first layer of road was layed. First few kilometers had gravel on it then only clay (Yes Only Clay!), this is on a downhill ghat road. We could'nt hit on the brakes. Since duke had a omega shaped tyre, it didn't sway while riding on clay. But Atul, riding on FZ lost his balance. Both of them Atul and his bike were fine except mud on both of them. After we joined Kuppanur-Yercaud Ghat, roads were smooth.
- Manjavadi Pass, This is place where road passes between two mountains, nice scenic place. Grabbed a few clicks and drove towards Salem.
 |
| Manjavadi pass |
We reached salem through
Bypass(Which actually passes through the city! :P) and after around three traffic
lights (In the middle of highway! :D ) we left salem.
Around 7:00PM it started drizzling.
We entered a Dhaba just after salem and stayed there for some time. Had a tea, waiting for the rain to stop.It was nearly 8:00PM and it had stopped
drizzling. We finished our dinner and started to ride at 9:00. We still had
around 170Km to ride to reach Bangalore.
We constantly rode the remaining
170Km without a stop and reached Electronic-City at 11:00PM, from where we
split up. Reached home at 11:30PM.
To summarize, this was my first long
ride and never thought i could ride so much in one single day. Though i had a light
shoulder pain due to the riding posture of the duke everything else was pure
joy and loads of memories to cherish.
Signing Off.
The Duke Man
Ride Safe.
Thank you.
