A 3 day visit to northern part of Knuckles range, called Knuckles due to its mountains appearance similarity to a knuckles. Once we reached Rattota around 1.30pm. There wasn’t any bus to at least somewhere near to Riverstone. Three wheel and Van fares are very high. In Rattota town they were well organized and they asked same fare. I suggest using hired vehicle from home town or Matale would be a better idea. We finally got a bus from Matale to Puwakpitiya.

Afterwards we proceeded to Hunnasgiriya Town, from where we took the road to Loolwatta. The Deanston Conservation Centre is located about 8km away on this road.

The place is accessible by bus. To reach Hunnasgiriya either the Colombo to Kandy, Kandy to Mahiyangana bus combination or the Colombo to Mahiyangana bus should be taken. After getting down at Hunnasgiriya 616 Hunnasgiriya – Loolwatta bus must be taken. However this bus only operates. It leaves the Teldeniya depot at 12.30pm each day (Information can be obtained by calling the teldeniya depot).

Knuckles mountain range has been a paradise for me since the first time I visited there via Deanston in 2009. The breathtaking surroundings, strong cool winds and challenging hikes had been tempting me to visit there again and as a result I decided to visit Knuckles again in the following year from Illukkumbura side. The story of our unforgettable journey is as follows

On our way we stopped at several places, first stop was near the Victoria power house office where the dam is visible. It was very difficult to capture a photo with the drizzle but managed to take one picture. Then again we stopped at “Hilpankandura”, there was a small boutique and we were in need of refreshment specially a plain tea. And there was a mini water fall adjoining the road it took some time to take the kids out of that place as they started playing in it.

The by-road started from the junction at Lunugala Police station, turned in to a hilly & narrow one within the first kilometer in distance. Condition of the road was acceptable because it had been repaired recently. Having climbing the hill, we came to a place known as Janathapura, a small village on a gap of two ranges of mountains. Janathapura was a three way junction. There were two roads at the western face of the range. (We came from the Eastern face).

We started the journey in the early morning from Colombo and we reached Kandy within three hours. We bought all the food items / kerosene oil from Kandy. We planned to stay first night in Deanston Conservation Centre and second night in Dothalugala Cabin and we had no idea that Knuckles has a camping site. If you need to book any of these places you need to book it from “Sampathpaya” Forest Department office and for that you will need a recommendation from a Forest Dept Official.

This is a continuation of a 4 day trip. We camped First Night and before going to sleep our objective was to complete the “Kirigalpotta Trail” on next day. It was a special trail because I was planning to get engaged on top of kirigalpotta.

But unfortunately there were heavy showers at night with extreme wind conditions. Our tent got damaged. Water came in to the tent and we had to take a decision and there were no alternative other than returning back to our Van. It was 11.30PM and we started walking on the rain to the Van. Phew! This was a once in a lifetime experience. I don’t think anybody have ever walked around 12AM inside Horton Plains.