| Date | Friday, 3rd April, 2015 |
| Crew | Six people (Age of 25-27) |
| Days | Two Days (Two Nights). |
| Route | Colombo Fort → Kandy → Rangala → Thangappuwa → Alugal-Lena → Knuckles Peak → Thangappuwa → Rangala → Kandy → Colombo. |
| Transport | Bus Colombo Fort to Kandy. Hired a van from Kandy to Thangappuwa. And similar on the way back. |
| Accommodation | Camping |
| Remarks | Following are the rough destances and time taken by us, to trak down each section of the trail.
Please note that the time taken to go from Y junction to the peak is lesser compared to the other sections, because during that part we traveled without any backpacks at all, and all the remaining section we traveled with extremely heavy backpacks, which slowed us down big time.
|
Before start on the details of the journey, I would start on how to get to thangappuwa, because it is not there in any of the maps, not even in Google maps. But in google maps you can easily find the Rangala Rd, which starts from Udawela Junction in the Kandy-Mahiyangana road, just after Theldeniya town. Take that road and go up to Rangala sub post office, which is 14.5 Km (according to google) from Udawela Junction. In the maps, road ends there, but it actually not. If you switch to the satellite view of google maps, you can see the road continues from there onwards as well.
Now that we know where we are heading, lets get back to our journey. Our plan was to get to kandy by bus, and hire a van from there onwards to Thangappuwa. As usual we started the journey from Pettah at midnight on 2nd Thursday. We managed to catch a CTB bus to Kandy which left Pettah at 12.45 am on Friday morning. Reached Kandy at around 3.45am and had taken exactly 3 hours. We called the van guy around Peradeniya, so he was there to pick up us from the Kandy bus stand sharp on time. We started heading to Thangappuwa, though we knew the road only up to Rangala, and wasn't sure where to go from there. The road from Udawela Junction to Rangala is Carpet laid road which is in excellent condition.
We kept moving forward in this road, but weren't sure where to take the turn to Thangappuwa. It was around 4-5am in the morning and not a single living being was on the road to ask for directions. Eventually we came across a couple of three-wheel guys parked on the side of the road, and got the directions from them. Otherwise we would have to wait till the dawn till we meet someone and ask for the directions. So, as they said, we came to the location where the carpet-laid road ends (near the Rangala sub-post office). From there onwards the road continues, but not in a very good condition. Fisr few meters are paved, but is severely damaged. And the remaining is not paved at all, and the road is mostly rocky. (Even though it is rocky, the road can be easily traversed by a car)
As the three-wheel guys said, we kept moving forward in the road, without taking any side-turns. But at one point we came to a place where the road divides in to two, near a sharp turn to left, where there is also a Hindu Temple situated. (This was not in the instruction manual we got :P ). It was dark, and no one were there to ask the way either. So we decided to take the road in the right hand side. As we move about 1-2Km we started to felt like this isn't the correct road. Luckily we saw a lady, walking out of her house (we rarely met a house in this road), and we didn't think twice to ask her the directions. And she confirmed that our guess was right, and we had taken the wrong turn. So we went back to the place where the road divides to two, and took the other turn. The Hindu Temple is situated bordering to this road, with the sharp turn I mentioned earlier. (So if you are going in this path, take the road which goes right in-front of the Hindu temple).
Finnaly after a couple of hours, and after being taking wrong turns couple of times (yes, we took a couple more wrong turns earlier, which I didnt mention, because that was strictly our fault for not keeping an eye on the GPS), we reached Thangappuwa, where you can see the yellow colored sign board, indicating distances, which are not quite accurate.
We got off from the van and packed our bags. There was a small "Ambalama" kind of structure, which we used to have our breakfast before we start on the hike. Once we are done with the food, we put-on the gears and specially the leech socks. We had brought some leech repellent and applied those too. (We never thought we would be that glad for bringing those, in time to come). Around 8.00 in the morning, we started off our tough hike. Our plan was to get to the peak first, and then head to Alugallena to spent the night, which eventually went totally haywire. (I'l explain that later).
The trail from Thangappuwa to the Junction, where the road divides to the peak and The Alugallena (here onwards, I'l be calling this as the "Y Junction" for the convenience) can be divided in to two sections based on the terrain it falls on. First 1.5Km of this trail falls through a tea state, and has a steep climb all the way through. It took us about 45 mins to pass this section, mainly due to the heavy backpacks we carried.
The next 3-4 Km was relatively easy compared to the first 1.5Kms. This section falls through a forest with a heavy undergrowth, and ascends and descends time to time, which are not that steep. Since it was the start of the monsoon season, there were plenty of eater streams crossing the trail, and we didn't have any shortage of water. For the same reason, surrounding was wet and hence the obvious threat : leeches, were there in thousands. Even with the leech-socks and repellents, we couldn't avoid their attacks. We walked on this trail for about an hour but was still no sign of the Y junction. Then came to a point, known as a "View Point", which is an open area in a valley, where the surrounding can be seen for a far distance. As we reach this point, a whole bunch of dark clouds started to take over the sky. And it was obvious that it is going to rain within an hour or two, for sure. This made us question our plan of getting to the peak, since with these monsoon rains, its never going to be possible to walk in the trail, eventhough we had come prepared for rain. Thus we changed our plan and decided to pitch our tents in the valley, and keep our baggage there, and go to the peak with carrying only our raincoats.
But Once we go down to the open area and find a place as our camping site, we realized the whole area is situated upon a one large rock, and there were no soil what so ever. This means that we cannot pitch our tents to the ground, and because it is a open area, if we didn't, our tents definitely going to be blown away with the wind. Hence we had to admit that this is not a suitable place for camping. Meanwhile the clouds started to gather and was getting even darker. Eventually, we decided to give up going to the peak that day, and instead go to the Alugallena directly, and before rain falls if possible.
In the above photo, you can see a peak covered with clouds. Alugallena is situated right at the bottom of that exact peak. There was quite a far we had to travell to get to there as it can be seen in the pic.
We kept moving forward in a some what hurry as we did not want to get caught up in the rain, for three reasons: Firstly if it rains, our cloths and baggage would have got wet, which eventually would double the weights we are carrying. Secondly, the roads would have turned in to water streams and going to be slippery which is very dangerous. Thirdly, usually with the rain the leech activity going to be increased (leeches start to fall from trees too), which there was more than enough already. Finally around 11.15 am. we came to the point where the road devides in to two, one way to the peak and the other way to the Alugallena. This junction is quite visible and wont be missed even if you travell without any guide.
We took the right turn and started heading to Alugallena. This section is roughly about 5Km in length. But alot tougher than the first half (up to Y junction) of the trail, due to the heavy undergrowth. From Y juction to Alugallena, it is an overall descend, eventhough we came across slight ascends at times. At one point where we had to cross a water stream, the trail seemed almost ends, because of a large tree that had fallen on to the stream and was blocking the path.
On the way, we saw animal-damp belong to some animal of cats-family (Felidae family), in several places. Since there are no domestic cats around this area, it should be definelty belongs to a leopard. This was further justified by the dead animal we came across at one point.
Despite the tiredness, tough terrain, and the heavy backpacks, we were rushing in this section for two reasons: rain in the air, and the leeches. Compared to the other parts of the trail, this side-trail consists of alot more leeches. If we waited to remove one leech, it would only resulted us getting bitten by five more leeches. We were so glad that we had brought leech socks and repellents, but wasnt enough to stop those leeches who were in thousands, if not millions, from attacking us. (Leech activity was high during that season because of the monsoons and the wet surrounding). We traveled for about two hours to reach the bottom of the mountain which I mentioned earlier. We were tired to death, our legs couldn't stand our bodies anymore, and could barely walk by the time. There were multiple times in which we wanted to stop and get some rest on the way, but we couldn't, and we didn't, because of the above two same reasons. Finally to the relief of everyone, we saw the large rock under which the cave (Alugallena) is situated.
Despite the tiredness, tough terrain, and the heavy backpacks, we were rushing in this section for two reasons: rain in the air, and the leeches. Compared to the other parts of the trail, this side-trail consists of alot more leeches. If we waited to remove one leech, it would only resulted us getting bitten by five more leeches. We were so glad that we had brought leech socks and repellents, but wasnt enough to stop those leeches who were in thousands, if not millions, from attacking us. (Leech activity was high during that season because of the monsoons and the wet surrounding). We traveled for about two hours to reach the bottom of the mountain which I mentioned earlier. We were tired to death, our legs couldn't stand our bodies anymore, and could barely walk by the time. There were multiple times in which we wanted to stop and get some rest on the way, but we couldn't, and we didn't, because of the above two same reasons. Finally to the relief of everyone, we saw the large rock under which the cave (Alugallena) is situated.
Within minutes, we went to the cave. The clock said it was 1.20 pm, and we had traveled roughly about 2 hours. As soon as we went to the cave, without thinking twice, we put all the baggage down and started unclothing to get rid of any leeches who has reached inside the cloths. About 15 minutes after reaching the cave, the rain started to pour down, realizing us how lucky we were.
Now let me describe the place a little bit. This is not a cave which goes very deep, but rather a half of a cave, which is very open. But because of the angle of the mountain/rock, a good part of the area is protected from any rain. The cave is large enough to pitch more than couple of tents, but can stay even without any tents as well (But it is always recommended to stay in a tent, to protect from wild creatures). I've read from many articles that this place is uses by villagers when they take the trail from Thangappuwa to Meemure which falls near this cave. Therefore the place was very clean. There was also a tiny water stream flowing rigth next to the cave, which starts from another small cave in the same rock. This water stream infact was coming from inside the rock.
There were some foot prints of birds and some animal belongs to felidae family. By the size of it we guessed its belong to a Fishing-Cat (හඳුන් දිවියා).
This clearly showed the need of a campfire. We managed to find a couple of dead tree-branches to put up a camp fire. Though some of the branches had got wet with the rain, we knew as long as the inside parts of those are dry, we can use them for the fire (from the experience we had during the Yala camping). After that, we prepared some noodles, which was the only proper meal we had for the day.
Once we done with the meal, started a campfire, since it was getting dark. As the night progresses, we managed to came up with some cool ideas with lights and low shutter speeds.
We left to sleep around 9.30 pm, hoping to wake up early in next day morning. The night turned out to be really cold. The sleeping bags, jerseys and bed-sheets barely kept us warm. My self woke up dozens of times during the night because of the same reason. However we managed to wake up by 5 in the morning. Eventhough our plan was to leave the cave by 7.00 am, we actually couldn't leave until around 8-8.30 am.
Then we headed back to the Y junction on the same way we came. Now this time around, we had to ascend all the way. So despite we were in better conditions in terms of fitness than the day before, it took us about 2.5-3 hours to get back to the junction, which is a much longer time than what we took on the way down.
By this time, two of our team members was backing off to go to the peak, because of the tiredness. All the effort we made to convince them didn't worked out. So we decided that those two will headed down to Thangappuwa and wait for us, while the rest of the four of us will go to the peak and then return to Thangappuwa.
We (four of us) left our baggage in a place near to the junction, and took only some food, water, and rain-coats. Later realize this was such vice decision we took, and how lucky we turned out to be on the day before thanks to the rain ruining our plans. Because, if it had not rain, we would have go to the peak on the first day as we planned, with our backpacks, and only to ended up not making it to the top. (As they say, everything happens for s reason, and a good reason :-) ). This section of the train was somewhat dry (So make sure to carry enough water. There was no water streams at all for the last 3-4 Km of this trail, even during the rainy season), and has a steep climb. Specially the last section of the trail is almost not possible to travel with any backpacks.
After some serious vertical climb, finally we reached the top around 12.30 noon. It had taken us about 1.5 hours from the junction (we had traveled fast because we weren't carrying any backpacks). The view from the top totally worth the effort.
After spending about half an hour at the top we started our way back to the village. On thing I forgot to mention was, on the way up we met a local guy who was guiding some foreign tourists to the peak. From him we got to know that the last bus from Thangappuwa leaves at 4.00pm. Since we were still at the top even by 1.00pm we knew we wouldn't make it on time to catch the bus. Hence we decided to call to the van guy with whom we came on the first day. Fortunately at we managed to made a call to him at on point on our way back. (There are no mobile phone signals at all through out the trail, except for two points : one is the small peak that we met just before the highest peak, and the other one was at the end of the tea state at the start of the hike from Thangappuwa). Somehow luckily for us, we managed to contact him in both points, and get him confimred to pick up us from the exact place where he dropped us on the day before. (We asked him to pick up us at around 6-7pm).
Since we had enough time, we were in no hurry and took our time on the way back. We reached Thagappuwa by 5.15pm. There was large water stream flowing next to this village, which was showed to us by a bunch of local kids, as a gratitude for giving them some food items which were left with us. We got cleaned and refreshed, from the wash we had after two days. Then we came back to the place where we asked the van guy to pick up us, who was there right on time, and was waiting for us. So we left Thagappuwa by 6.30 pm, and headed to Kandy. On the way, we also managed to witness a partial lunar eclipse, which was pretty clear since it was a day after a Poya day.
After reaching Kandy, we had our dinner from a restaurent, and catch a bus to colombo. Bus left Kandy at 10.30pm, and for the surprise of all, it reached Kadawatha (from where I got down) by 12.30 midnight. Which means it had taken only 2 hours, which usually takes about 3 hours, even when there is no road traffic. We were lucky as all of us were sleeping, otherwise we would have had our hearts on our mouths seeing the way the bus was going.
This clearly showed the need of a campfire. We managed to find a couple of dead tree-branches to put up a camp fire. Though some of the branches had got wet with the rain, we knew as long as the inside parts of those are dry, we can use them for the fire (from the experience we had during the Yala camping). After that, we prepared some noodles, which was the only proper meal we had for the day.
Once we done with the meal, started a campfire, since it was getting dark. As the night progresses, we managed to came up with some cool ideas with lights and low shutter speeds.
We left to sleep around 9.30 pm, hoping to wake up early in next day morning. The night turned out to be really cold. The sleeping bags, jerseys and bed-sheets barely kept us warm. My self woke up dozens of times during the night because of the same reason. However we managed to wake up by 5 in the morning. Eventhough our plan was to leave the cave by 7.00 am, we actually couldn't leave until around 8-8.30 am.
Then we headed back to the Y junction on the same way we came. Now this time around, we had to ascend all the way. So despite we were in better conditions in terms of fitness than the day before, it took us about 2.5-3 hours to get back to the junction, which is a much longer time than what we took on the way down.
By this time, two of our team members was backing off to go to the peak, because of the tiredness. All the effort we made to convince them didn't worked out. So we decided that those two will headed down to Thangappuwa and wait for us, while the rest of the four of us will go to the peak and then return to Thangappuwa.
We (four of us) left our baggage in a place near to the junction, and took only some food, water, and rain-coats. Later realize this was such vice decision we took, and how lucky we turned out to be on the day before thanks to the rain ruining our plans. Because, if it had not rain, we would have go to the peak on the first day as we planned, with our backpacks, and only to ended up not making it to the top. (As they say, everything happens for s reason, and a good reason :-) ). This section of the train was somewhat dry (So make sure to carry enough water. There was no water streams at all for the last 3-4 Km of this trail, even during the rainy season), and has a steep climb. Specially the last section of the trail is almost not possible to travel with any backpacks.
After some serious vertical climb, finally we reached the top around 12.30 noon. It had taken us about 1.5 hours from the junction (we had traveled fast because we weren't carrying any backpacks). The view from the top totally worth the effort.
 |
| The victorious moment! |
Since we had enough time, we were in no hurry and took our time on the way back. We reached Thagappuwa by 5.15pm. There was large water stream flowing next to this village, which was showed to us by a bunch of local kids, as a gratitude for giving them some food items which were left with us. We got cleaned and refreshed, from the wash we had after two days. Then we came back to the place where we asked the van guy to pick up us, who was there right on time, and was waiting for us. So we left Thagappuwa by 6.30 pm, and headed to Kandy. On the way, we also managed to witness a partial lunar eclipse, which was pretty clear since it was a day after a Poya day.
After reaching Kandy, we had our dinner from a restaurent, and catch a bus to colombo. Bus left Kandy at 10.30pm, and for the surprise of all, it reached Kadawatha (from where I got down) by 12.30 midnight. Which means it had taken only 2 hours, which usually takes about 3 hours, even when there is no road traffic. We were lucky as all of us were sleeping, otherwise we would have had our hearts on our mouths seeing the way the bus was going.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts
Subscribe To
Posts
Comments
0 comments:
Post a Comment