Up country railroad walk and Belihuloya from Horton plains via non Perial state

Year and Month	August, 2013
Number of Days	Two Day Trip
Crew	5 (between 25-30 years of age)
Accommodation	Karunadasa rest rooms at Pattipola (0524900110) – This place has two rooms and two bathrooms with hot water. Also they have arranged meals for us which was really convenient for us with our tight schedule
Transport	Train, Bus, Tuk Tuk and of course on foot
Activities	Sceneries, Photography, Adventure
Weather	It was ok till Non Perial bungalow and then rained continually for four hours till we reached to Ihala Galagama
Route	Colombo -> Pattipola -> Idalgashinna -> Bandarawela -> Pattipola -> Horton plains -> belihuloya -> Colombo
Tips, Notes and Special remark	It’s better if you can carry a stock of water for drinking purposed. Check the train schedule before you start railroad walk Carry a torch as some of the tunnels are long and dark You have to use your common sense when you talk to wildlife department officers in Horton plains entrance as well as ticketing counter as it might be illegal to take World’s end – NoPerial track. Read a little bit about the history of up country rail road, Horton plains etc before you start the journey as you will definitely be amazed by the people who worked hard to build the railway line. Special Thanks to Ashan of Lakdasun for clarifying the route. Samith for two amazing videos Two guys at Kumburuthenna (Belihuloya) who helped us to get our wet cloths changed and offered us with a hot tea.
Author	Danushka
Comments	Discuss this trip report, provide feedback or make suggestions at Lakdasun Forum on the thread Up country railroad walk and Belihuloya from Horton plains via non Perial state

This was one of the dream hikes we always wanted to try since we first heard about this trail. Main purposes of this trip was to see the beauty of our mother land, see and be amazed about how they built such a marvelous rail road 150 years ago.

Five of us started the journey from Colombo fort and took the night mail (8 pm from Colombo fort) to Pattipola (4.10 am to Pattipola). The train was fully packed as it was a Friday night and we had to take the space near lavatory and footboard as usual.

We called Mr. Karunadasa (owner of Karunadasa rest rooms in Pattipola) as soon as we got down from Pattipola as discussed with him before starting the journey. He was so kind enough to come to the station at 4.10 am in the freezing cold climate and showed us the way to his place.

Day 1

We had about 2 hours of sleep and had breakfast and packed the lunch packets which prepared by Mr.Karunadasa for us and started our rail road walk.

Our initial plan was to walk from Pattipola to Idalgashinna station (6.71 km from Pattipola to Ohiya and then another 8.92 km from

Ohiya to Idalgashinna) and then take a train to Ella and then walk again from Ella to Demodara (6.12 km) to discover arch bridges, the tunnel and Demodara loop. But the train we were planning to take from idalgashinna got late so we had to change our plans and forget Demodara.

Carrot farm

Starting the walk

Summit level – 1898.1 m

18th tunnel

Why this tunnel is so important?

One side of the tunnel is Nuwaraeliya District and other side is Badulla District,
One side is wet zone and other side is dry zone,
One side is hot and other side is cool,
Both sides are different, (trees, scenery and even the soil is different)
One side is rainy and other side is sunny
You will be able to feel all of these within 10-15 minutes.

Other side of the 18th tunnel

One of the bridges we walked on

Burned but still living

Ohiya station in 1893

Not much change even after 120 years – Ohiya station in 2013

One of the tunnels

Tea state

Exactly 200 km to Colombo – near Bandarawela station

Day 2

We started day 2 early in the morning and rented a van to go to Horton plains. We bought rotti and lunu miris from the shop next to Horton plains main entrance and got ourselves prepared for the journey. We took Mini world’s end trail to save time which we can use during our main hike.

The path from world’s end to non-Perial bungalow was not so hard to find but it is always better to carry a GPS tracker as from non Perial to Belihuloya could be quite challenging special in the Pines forest.