We have planned a journey for covering 5 main giants in Nuwaraeliya in 3 days. And we were able to conquer Mahakudugala (2101m), Single Tree (2105m) and Kikiliyamana (2242) on the first day and we spend the night near the entrance of Uda Radella farm and on the second day, we conquer Uda Radella (2143m) and Great Western (2215m) successfully.

Since Madusanka lives in Nuwaraeliya, he was able to take the oral permission to enter the Uda Radella farm and we found a kind person who works there and he told us some details about this forest and the leopards. And he switched off the electric fence and we crossed it and headed to Great Western through a giant forest. We had a GPS route and we followed it always and able to reach the Great Western viewpoint without any difficulty.

Great Western Mountain (2212m) is the 7th highest mountain in Sri Lanka situated closer to Great Western estate and station. I have been there 9years ago and now the hike is not a difficult task with well paved pathways. We have added task to get down to Pundalu Oya side to explore hidden waterfalls.

We have reached Nanu Oya (නානු ඔය) railway station in early morning by night mail from Colombo and waited till dawn comes. Glassaugh Falls were seen in distance and we started to walk towards Radella (රදැල්ල) station. (Same direction we came)
According to Sri’s report there is a significant cascade down the bridge closer to Nanu Oya railway station. We attempted to reach the base of the falls just before the railway bridge and it was failed.

The smartly dressed engine driver reminded me of a senior air force officer. Their uniforms were that good. Climbing up the steps into the engine at Nanu Oya was like a dream. Thinking back, I was as if sleep walking into it. Inside, the space was fully occupied by the two comfortable seats for the engine driver and his assistant, pilot and copilot in aviation terms. Behind them in the middle were two fire extinguishers. They could move about along the narrow path behind the seating. The engine compartment was the bulk of the sky blue enclosed wagon with no access whatsoever for others including them. If there was, I wasn’t gonna push my luck that far. The full length dashboard has various control panels including the touch LCD screen of the computer making it easy for the operators. The German and Canadian engines are more towards manual operations whereas this Chinese is largely computer-controlled.

If the desire of cossing Sri Lankan 6th highest mountain is born in my heart very earlier, it spent a long time to materialize it. The main reason for that is the vary weather condition of there. However I found a guide by didn’t leaving the try & contact with him. As a result of that finally Morgan responded me which I expected for long time & then prepared to crossign.

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’ve seen mist before but lemme tell you that I’ve never seen something like this. The world around us was nothing but grey white and the odd black shadows of all kinds of trees were barely visible. We were practically crawling at a snail’s speed and it was no better than feeling your way in the dark. However we were intrigued by what we saw.

Eventually Tony had to get a torch and lower the shutter and aim at the edge of the road so that we wouldn’t fall into a drain. However lowering the glass made our hair stand on its ends and froze our exposed skin.

It was long ago I did a rail hike that was in February. So with the upcoming long weekend and been clueless, I decided to do a 3 day rail hike which I had to fast track to two days because Kasun invited me for another trip. Doing 65 Km’s for two days is more like a rail run but guess what I didn’t miss a thing. Walking speed was around 4.2Km’s/hour and I have never walked on a road even that fast. As most of you’ll know this stretch is not known for any special locations or scenery but I found out that there was lot to offer. My main focus was on flowers, may be wild or grown at stations as garden flowers, so please forgive me for adding many images of these beauties.

I was on the foot board the whole journey, highly excited, enjoying it to the max. We passed many things and stations along the way. But one thing in particular got embedded in my mind. That was “Great Western Station”. The entering onto the Station area was grand and I can still remember that day. I’ve been viewing that picture every now and then and couple years back came to know about the GW Mountain which is surprisingly the 6th highest in SL.

Great Western at 2212 m altitude is the 6th highest in the country. Situated in the Nuwraeliya district, a rail station as well as a tea plantation near this hill carries the same name. Location: Great western station between Thalawakela and Nanu oya, to be precise it’s between Watagoda & Radella
The mountain spans about 1Km and it can be climbed from both ends. We chose to take the short path so we traveled along the railway towards Radella for about 1Km and then we arrived at a place (The Kovil and the Bridge) where the station master mentioned that there may be a foot path.