සමනල රක්ෂිතය යනු පූජනීය ස්ථානයක් බඳුය. උතුම් බුදු සිරි පතුල පිහිටි සමනොළගිර වන්දනාමාන කිරීමට උචිත උඳුවප් පොහොය සිට වෙසක් පොහොය දක්වා කාලය වාරය (Season) ලෙස හඳුන්වන අතර එය දළ වශයෙන් මාස පහකි. ඉතිරි මාස 7 අවාරය (Off-Season) ලෙස හඳුන්වන අතර ඈත අතීතයේ පටන් පැමිණි සම්ප්‍රදාය වනුයේ එයයි. එය හුදෙක් ආගමක් සම්බන්ධ වූ නියමයක් නොවන්නේ ඒ තුළ පරිසරයේ නියමයන් අන්තර්ගත වී ඇති හෙයිනි.

We start our journey from Mawanella around 8.00 a.m. Our aim was visit important places as much we can during the day. Because now we came to last part of our journey.

We start our journey from Matale & our next destination was Kandy. On that way we went to see “Hakkinda” area. After having some time there we went to Kandy.

We arrived to Anuradhapura around 4.00 p.m on 16th evening. First we had little rest & then we visit to “Mirisawetiya Viharaya”. Next we went to “Isrumuniya Viharaya” & “Ran Masu Uyana”.

First I visit to “Kadiragala Raja Maha Viharaya”. This temple built by “King Walagamba”. Ancient stupaya situated on the rock. From there you can get the nice view of surrounding area. I spent nearly one hour there & came back to Wariyapola town. From there I went to “Kebella Len Raja Maha Viharaya”. This temple also built by “King Walagamba” & situated on the rock.
Climbing was very difficult due to very hot weather.

First we went to Kiri Vehera. After that we went to Tissamaharama. From there we went to Kirinda Viharaya.Again came back to Tissamaharama & went to Debara Wewa. First we went to see the family we gave new house in last year. We spent some time with them & came back to Tissamaharama Viharaya after visiting 4 important places.

Again long awaited August vacation came. We decided to arrange a tour like last year we do. But due to little one’s school home work & other work the trip day by day got delayed. But finally we managed to start our trip on August 22. This time we focused to cover important places in Wellawaya , Buttala , Katharagama , Monaragala , Lahugala & Ampara area.

Uthuwankanda (431m) is the place where Soora Saradiyel lived. He is identified as the local Robbin hood.

Veediyagoda Raja Maha Viharaya very famous in Bandaragama area. Every year they have very proud & colorful “Esela Perahera”. It was one of the most important & large “Perahera” in the area of Raigam.

In April month everybody busy due to Sinhala New Year. We planned to visit our relatives house in Mawanella. We planned to go by train.

We received an information about very poor family in Medagampola in Alawwa. The information we received was hard to believe. Therefore we went to see them after 2 days. Information was correct & we saw their family condition. I don’t have words to say about my feelings when I saw their hut/ shelter.

After a snail-like journey, we reached Maskeliya and bought a couple of essential things like instant noodles. We were planning to take a tuk-tuk from here but our luck held coz there was a Nallathanniya bus leaving at 10am. So having breathed a sigh of relief we got into the bus and settled. The sun was back and my hopes soared like an eagle. However as we got closer to Nallathanniya aka Dalhousie (remember it’s Dalhousie not Delhouse or Delhousie), those hopes came down and down like a deflated balloon.

It was very gloomy and there were a couple of passing showers as well. “This is going to be one heck of a hike” I told Atha and we both regretted not having brought the umbrellas. Well we shouldn’t have worried coz the usage of umbrella becomes next to zero after Geththampana due to the open area and strong winds. We had our long overdue coffee from the shop just before the bridge. Already there was a group of people getting ready to climb for a Pooja and we started our hike around 11am, after 8.5hr journey, well literally.