| Year and Month | April, 2015 |
| Number of Days | One Day Trip |
| Crew | 3 adults |
| Accommodation | N/A |
| Transport | Cars |
| Activities | Photography |
| Weather | Excellent. No clouds, no mist, just perfect! |
| Route | Nuwara Eliya to Pidurutalagala and back |
| Tips, Notes and Special remark |
|
| Author | Chandanie |
| Comments | Discuss this trip report, provide feedback or make suggestions at Lakdasun Forum on the thread |
Seeing the country from the highest point in Sri Lanka has been in my wish list for a long time. A holiday at Nuwara Eliya in April saw us heading towards Pidurutalagala one sunny morning. At 2525 metres, Pidurutalagala is the tallest mountain in Sri Lanka.
The climb to the top is now easy as it is motorable but the summit point is out of bounds unless prior permission has been obtained. The check point at the base allows vehicles to the top in an orderly manner to prevent overcrowding at the summit.
The weather there is so unpredictable with mist and rain playing havoc with the least provocation. But the Weather Gods were so very kind to us the day we went…..
The forest was on either side of the road, the trees typical of montane forests.
 It is like a carpet with the tree tops all at the same level…. |
 …. with an occasional tree rising above the rest |
Halfway through you can see the sacred mountain of Sri Pada (aka Adam’s Peak) rising above the others.
 Sri Pada moutain (Adam’s Peak), as seen halfway up Pidurutalagala |
The mountain range with Sri Pada mountain at the centre
There were some trees with hardly any leaves
Having never climbed to the top of Sri Pada, I simply couldn’t get enough and we stopped a few times to get different views!
 One view |
 And another! |
The summit is shared by many government agencies and is a high security zone.
 The summit |
 Kissing the clouds |
Wild flowers on the way
“….. I pulled my coat tight and slowly climbed the last hundred paces.
What I saw there was the grandest and purest impression I took away from all Ceylon. The wind has just swept clean the whole long valley of Nuwara Eliya, I saw, deep and immense, the entire high mountain system of Ceylon piled up in mighty walls, and in its midst the beautiful Adam’s Peak. Beside it at an infinite depth and distance lay the flat blue sea, in between a thousand mountains, broad valleys, narrow ravines, rivers and waterfalls, in countless folds, the whole mountainous island on which ancient legend places paradise.”
– Hermann Hesse 1911
The mountain range from the top
 Nuwara Eliya from just below the summit |
 Us – 2,525 m (8,292 ft) above sea-level |
 About 20m above the summit :-) |
And the view was spectacular! We couldn’t have had it any better!
 Nuwara Eliya – Lake Gregory and Lover’s Leap falls in the distance |
.
 Some Randenigala mountains at left and few Knuckles mountains in the centre |
 At times it was like standing at Pidurutalagala on Google Earth and looking around! |
 . |
 . |
 Randenigala reservoir snaking between the hills with Knuckles in the centre |
 Randenigala reservoir |
 Maha Kudagala Peak – right centre (So says Ashan Geeganage |
)
 Shanthipura is a small village and is also Sri Lanka’s highest settlement |
 Shanthipura- zoomed |
Most of the other mountains can be seen clearly on a good day……
 Kirigalpotta, the second highest peak in Sri Lanka |
 Men at work! Mahaweli maha seya on the left of the antenna and Ambuluwawa in the distance, to the right of the antenna |
 Randenigala reservoir and Knuckles range |
 Saptha Kanya (Seven Virgins) range behind the Hakgala Mountain |
 We WERE quite high up! |
Kirigalpotta to the right and Thotupola kanda to the left of the antenna
And just like Hesse did a century ago, I too walked away with the grandest and purest impression from all Sri Lanka.
 . |