This was my second attempt to walk along Mahaweli River and we started from Mahiyangana.

Year and Month 2014 September 05th and 06th Number of Days 02 Crew 02 Uddika and Myself Accommodation Theldeniya Guest House 081-234916 Transport By train By motor bike Activities Archeology, Photography and Just traveling Weather Excellent Route Colombo -> Kandy -> Hasalaka (හසලක) -> Minipe(මිනිපේ) -> Rantambe (රන්ටැබේ) -> Randenigala (රන්දෙනිගල) -> Kandy -> Colombo […]

This year the monsoon seems to be getting late letting me venture around more and more taking the upper hand of it. There was an old post on a trail from Udu dumbara to Rathna falls which was hanging around my long list for many years. So I thought of giving it a shot. With few calls Sri, Danushka and Lahiru were in to it. It was supposed to be an easy hike which was 2.5Km’s.
On the previous day I reached Mahiyanganaya and loitered around in the evening enjoying some unseen water bodies called Dambarawa lake and Mapakada lake.

So on the 16th 2 of us left Delgoda at 4am picking up the 3rd member on our way from Dambadeniya. By about 6.30am we were at kurunegala and proceeded towards ibbagamuwa as we intended to take the dodangaslanda – yatawatta road to matale.
The 38km distance from ibbagamuwa to matale was a gradual ascend. The scenery as we gained elevation was breathtaking.

So here I’m again with the continuation of my fairy tale from breath-taking Meemure and hope you’ve read it and enjoyed it as much as I did (Jaunting off to the Most Beautiful Village on Earth – Meemure). I left you guys at Hunnasgiriya after our morning snack of sponge cake, banana and what keeps me going Coffee… We had to wait at Hunnasgiriya for a Mahiyanganaya bus longer than I liked due to 25 April being a Poya day.

Last week end I had opportunity to spend two days in tiny jungle hamlet in foot of the Knuckles Mountain Range. Here is that memorable story. We leave Kandy at 11.00 a.m. in the morning and reached our destination after four hour journey and our crew was 08.

We planned the trip initially to the August school vacation but due to the National Elephant Senses which was on the way we had to reschedule the trip to September. All were enthusiastic on the trip and final number on for the trip was 10 with 3 teenagers, 2 youths and 5 adults. The campsite was booked in advanced and officers were helpful to provide us a campsite despite their strike. Cab service van was booked which was familiar due to the past experiences with the driver/owner of that van.

We were gathered into Colombo private bus stand on Friday night @ about 10.15pm to catch 11.45Pm Mahiyangana bus. Since it was a long weekend huge crowd was there. But we were lucky enough to get seats in 10.45 Bibila bus which was came unexpectedly late. Therefore it is better if you can reserve seats in advanced if you plan to go by Bus. We get off at the Gurulupotha rest house at about 5 am. There is a water stream, which is a branch of a Hasalaka oya is flow across Mahiyanganaya road. We had ‘Roti’ for the breakfast from a small hotel at Gurulupotha

The bus terminated at Pamunupura junction. Then we have to turn left and continue the journey by foot. The sight of Yahangala too away our tiredness all the time. It brought ice cool to our eyes. We stopped briefly at a point where a small water stream crosses the road and fall over cliff on the other side of the road. After 15 mins we restarted the journey. It was a heavy climb thereafter and after 200m we reached the Grama niladari office of the village. It was closed and we got some more rest there. The concreted road ended there and a foot path began.

Actually this was an official journey to Mahiyanganaya but we planned it out to perfection. We took the 11.45pm bus to Mahiyanganya (the bus was packed @10.45pm) and the journey was a long one and we never regretted the night journey because the road trough Hunnasgiriya was heavily under construction these days. After the bus tackled the 17 hair pin bends, it was time for us to get down at Gurulupotha. The time was 5.30a.m so we decided to have breakfast at a nearby Tea shop and started our journey towards the Seetha Kotuwa ruins at Gurulupotha (the path starts near to the Rest house).