During my early school days I was assuming Batalegala is the Sigiriya Rock. So whenever I pass Kadugannawa I was thinking that we are living close by Sigiriya. After I was taken in school trip to Sigiriya only I realized the truth 🙂 Rachitha, Nafly and I gathered in Mawanella around 10 am and took a bus to Aranayaka, We got down from Gewilipitiya town and took a three wheeler to Hathgampola junction.

We stopped to take a few pics of the morning sky painted with gorgeous colors. The shadows of trees added to the beauty with the contours of the mountains in the distance. I wouldn’t have minded walking along this road at this time as it felt heavenly. However, time was a luxury we couldn’t afford at the time as we had planned something unprecedented even in Nava Mama’s standards. KCC at Deanston was still in darkness and no sign of activity there. It’d’ve been grand if we could be at the mini world’s end when the sun is rising. We could’ve got a super panoramic view towards Ududumbara, Hasalaka and Mahiyanganaya. I had to restrain myself so hard not to venture into the trail without this early and there was no way to get permission.

Passing Loolwatte tea shop made me crave for yet another coffee but we simply wanted to get to Meemure as soon as we could and start on our first hike. We stopped nonetheless at Corbet’s Gap for a few pics of the mountains which were rising majestically to a clear blue sky. From then on, it was a downhill journey along a circular road that entwines the mountains like a giant snake. It’d already gone by 6.30am and we hurried. There were a few places where the road was terrible but we had a somewhat higher ground clearance enabling us to pass without incident. Reaching Kaikawala concrete bridge, we saw a monk who’s going collecting his meals (Pindawatha Wadinawa). He simply stepped out of the road, without even looking back and kept looking downwards till we passed.

There are a few monks who stay meditating in this part of SL as it’s so beautiful and calm. We even came across one such place deep inside the jungle on our way back from Gala Muduna later in the day. Closer to Nava mama’s house, we got the first glimpse of the gorgeous Lakegala. Whoa, what a beauty she is despite being continuously harassed by unforgiving sunlight and intermittent rains.

The initial plan was to travel somewhere around Mathale and Reversten, with a bunch of officemates. But everyone seemed to be busy, visiting relatives for the new year. Knowing that it would be a crime to spend the holidays at home, I decided to visit Hiyare, Kottawa, and Kanneliya. This is my 1st ever solo travel experience 🙂

I started around 5.30 am on Poya day with my wife and younger son and reached Eheliyagoda and turned left along Dehiowita road and reached Eheliyagoda Rubber estate where you can see Bisodola Ella. Then we came back to A4 and turned left before Kuruvita junction to reach Bopath Ella.

After reaching Uda-delwala, there is a gravel road to right as one pass the temple of Uda-delwala. This road can only be managed by a 4wd vehicle or by a three wheeler. Otherwise one has to walk 1 km to reach the starting point of the hike. We were lucky as one boy volunteered to guide us. Otherwise we might have spent hours looking for the waterfall as some places path was not clear.

hen we were (Ashan, Sanketha and Me) climbing Pettigala I pointed my finger to a far end and asked Ashan whether it’s Horton plains. He replied me with a smile “Hariya Nogiya Thenna “. Surprised???? Yes for more than 30 years of my life I had never been to Horton Plains. So I was desperately needed to do HP ASAP and was in a hunger to do many trails within a short period. Within 3 days we ( Me and my friend Thenuka ) were able to cover five paths/trails of Horton Plains

This is an isolated village completely surrounded by numerous mountains making it located in the bottom of a deep ravine. Badulla-Passara road seems to be running around this and a few other isolated villages. Namunukula-borne Loggal Oya flows between the border of Urumeethenna, the last village with main-line-supplied electricity, and Kohonawala before joining the mighty Mahaweli at Mahiyanganaya, making it further isolated.

The story behind the start of this village has many different variations. According to the folklore, they origins run far deep thousands of years backwards where the indigenous people of SL, the Veddhas, roamed this island at will. According to one old farmer, the leader of that Veddhas in the village was an elite archer. Once he won a contest of shooting an arrow through a golden ring thus getting the name “Ranpath Mudiyanselage” bestowed upon his clan. Surprisingly all the people in Kohonawala has that as their surname to-date. Everybody is called R.M. and their given name.

By February of 2012 I had climbed Adams peak 6tims using all 6trails. Since my initial plan was to complete all 6trails and once this objective was achieved I decided to retire from climbing this peak. But this decision to retire only lasted a few days because as soon as I downloaded my GPS data of the Hapugastenne trail to my computer I found out that there are 2more possible trails that could be done

We planned to do this hike inspired by Ashan’s report. With a short notice we decided to go on Saturday and do the hike on Sunday morning and get back home the same day. We were anxious on the hike as Ashan was describing this as a strenuous and adventurous hike. As usual we agreed to go with no local guides so that we can experience adventure by missing the route.

I had read about it, heard about it but never seen it, could not find a single picture of it but I knew it existed, an archaeological site that is less known but of high importance in the fight for survival of our country; this is non other than the Key to the Kandyan Kingdom; the Balane Fort

It was on Tue 18 Feb when Hari called out of blue moon and asked if I could join them for a waterfall hike on 22-23 Feb. It is one of my favorite ones but due to not being able to take leave, I had to give up that idea. Gala Balana Kanda had always lurked in my mind and I wondered “What about climbing that on 22?”. I just didn’t wanna do it alone and then came Hasitha into the pic. He’s been calling me numerous times showing his interest to join with us for a trip and this looked like the best opening for a new partnership.

So I called him and suggested my plan, he hadn’t been to Berandi Kovil, Sithawaka Palace and Tomb of King Rajasinghe. It was perfect coz I knew we’d have enough time to cover them yet again as they are all very close to the main roads and won’t take an hour to do all three. I was anyway so sad about not being able to join Hari and the gang for the hike.

We started the journey from Petta CTB stand around 2PM on 21st Friday, 2014. There was a Rathnapura bus and we took it to go to Kuruwita. It was around 4.30 when we got down from kuruwita. Our aim was to go up to Erathna and stay there. However after getting down at Kuruwita, we were lucky to catch the last bus that goes up to Adewikanda which is the last point that public transport is available during Sri Pada season.