It was a gloomy day but we wanted to go somewhere and decided to head towards Polgahawela and climb the highest peak of the region which was Yogamukanda.

We still in Mahiyanganaya & first we went to “Mahiyangana Raja Maha Viharaya”. After that we went to Sora Bora Wewa.

We decided to build new house for another poor family. We get details about few poor families & we choose one family for our donation. First I went to see that family to get details of them. On September 16th morning I went there. I took train up to Kurunegala & from there by bus.

Sandaraja Wana Arana is a sub mountaneous rain forest situated in Dotel Oya area at Kegall district. It is rich in bio diversity. Ganthuna Falls is situated closer to Sandaraja Forest reserve.

Parakrama Samudraya is the greatest lake of Polonnaruwa, was built by King Parkramabahu Great during Polonnaruwa period. There are enough places around and close to this great reservior travellers can visit.

Galpadihela/ Kosgolla (1105m) mountain is situated closer to Mahiyanganaya. Ancient foot pathway from Ududumbara to Mahiyanganaya was at the base of this mountain. The lake Sora Bora Wewa was built by the giant called Bulatha and his wife has kept about 2000 stone steps along this foot pathway to make “Galpadipela”.

Hanthana is the most popular hiking place among University students. Normally Social Trips and Batch trips are planned to hanthana due to less travelling time. It is my long term dream to hike Hanthana. With the aid of trip reports on Hanthana in Lakdasun we planned this trip.

This was my 11th visit to Sri pada and third off season hike. No matter how often I visit this sacred mountain I never get enough as this Sri pada Sanctuary is the best place on earth by means of bio Diversity and uniqueness.

So me, with 3 of my friends – Ashan, Chinthaka and Dinuka – packed our bags and departed to Nava maama’s place in Meemure on 20th April with cheerful minds. Much to our dismay, a heavy shower started in the evening of 20th, shattering all our dreams of making it to the summit. Nava maama casted a totally negative outlook of tomorrow’s proceedings, as it could be observed that streams of water sliding down the Western face of Lakegala, from where we are supposed to climb. Nevertheless we insisted on going as far as we could, and Nava maama had no other option but to agree J Next day we started the journey from Meemure with the guide introduced by him, Chanaka, and reached the base of the rocky surface after nearly a 5 hour struggle. It was clear to us that any attempt to proceed further would be suicidal. Such a venture would only result in consolidation of the already established opinion that Lakegala is a deadly peak. I am not going to further elaborate on our first attempt to climb Lakegala, since our second and the successful attempt also covers the same details up to this point. Only difference here was that the climb required extra energy due to forest patch being infested with leeches and rocky surface being extra slippery.

Lakegala might be the most popular mountain from Knuckles peaks. This has two peaks but everyone knows about the classic peak at Meemure village side. This is my experince to visit at both peaks of Lakegala.

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.

The day I heard about Lakegala, I started collecting information about this incredible rocky mountain. I was dreaming about this for very long time. When I did the ‘Nil Diya Pokuna’ cave expedition, I decided my next big thing is Lakegala. Me and my friends went to Lakegala during April 2016. Weather was perfect, but the night we stayed, Meemure had a heavy shower. Nava mama told that not do the hike. I was heartbroken . But I made up my mind that something bad would have happened if we have hiked. From that day I was my clock started ticking……

Every time when I told my friends that I want to do the Lakegala, they said that it’s very hard and too risky. And to think twice before you attempt. But My mind was already set to do this hike this year. After my first attempt I tried several times, but planning screwed me up.