Our trip to Vellankanni fom Bangalore

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Our trip to Vellankanni was a piligrimage to "Our Lady of Health - Basillica" - Vellankanni. We tried for tickets with the Air bus companies but found that thay were all booked for one month. We decided to take the plunge in our own vehicle 😉

We started off at 4:00 am from Bangalore going through Hosur, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri and Salem.I love getting a peek into the countryside whenever I am travelling, so we ended up taking a less known route from Salem to Thanjavur. We travelled the road from Salem via. Attur, Perambalur, Ariyallur and Thiruvayur befor we reached Thanjavur......Sure got a peek into the country and even got a 60km saving from the usual one, but the price we had to pay was terrible - the road some place after Attur till Thanjavur, is on record the bumpiset one I have ever been on. We reached Velankanni around 3:00 pm travelling a distance of 480km's.

Vellankanni is always crowded with piligrims. The cleanliness and hygiene of the place is questionable though. We stayed at a place called "Golden sand".

The Basillica was built by the portugese as a gesture of gratitude to 'Our Lady'(Mother Mary) for saving them from a shipwreak. There are a total of 6 places of worship here which include the "Naduthittu Shrine" where Our Lady had appeared to a lame boy who sold buttermilk, Our Lady's Tank is another Chappel where Our Lady appeared to a Brahmin boy (The name "Our Lady's Tank" is because Mother Mary appeared close to a pond which now is below the chappel - water is drawn from the pond and given to the devoutees here).

Our journey back started from Vellankanni at 6:00 am. We decided in favour of NH 67 this time. The route till Thanjavur was the same from there on we moved via Tiruchirapalli, Kulittalai, Karur and Namakkal before reacing Salem. We enjoyed the road back thoroughly, a very good 2 lane road with trees on both sides and the river Kaveri giving us company too. We took this journy in the end of September 2007 - there is a 4 laneing project going on from Dharmapuri to Namakkal, so the roads were bad on NH 7 in some patches. Reached back at 5:00pm and went off to bed.

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Photos

A journy though the countryside in Ariyalur
A heard of bullocks coming back after their morning grazing and bath

Ploughing
I guess a decade from now all Bullock run ploughs will be replaced by tractors, so took an oppurtunity to click one into my camera.

Tiruvaiyur
The Kaveri flows by the temple in the quiet town of Thiruvaiyur.