Alagalla mountain hike (1140m)

Year and Month	February, 2015
Number of Days	One
Crew	1 (between 27 years of age)
Accommodation	N/A
Transport	Motor Bicycle
Activities	Hiking, Climbing, Photography
Weather	Good
Route	Colombo -> Kandy road -> Kadugannawa RS -> turn left -> Poththapitiya and retured on same route By Train, get down from “Balana” or “Ihala Kotte” railway stations
Tips, Notes and Special remark	Start your hike as earlier Carry enough water Beware from leeches on rainy days Climbing of the final gap might slipped Use comfortable cloths as there is hot on normal days Do not carry heavy backpacks
Related Resources	Trip reports : Alagalla
Author	MSRF
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Alagalla Mountain Range or “Potato Range” is situated at the boundaries of the Central and Sabaragamuwa Provinces in Sri Lanka. It has protected Buddhism and (Sinhala:සිංහල ජාතිය Sinhala Jathiya) culture from the western powerful nations such as the Portuguese, Dutch and English for approximately five centuries as a natural barrier (1505–1948).

Most of the battles against invasions aimed at the Kandyan Kingdom by the western nations from time to time in their ruling period of Maritime Provinces happened at the Alagalla Mountains. Invading foreign armies were defeated by the battles at Balana (View Point) under the reign of Kandyan Kings. Balana fort was the main fortress established to protect the Sinhalese Kingdom from foreign powers, and is situated between Kadugannawa pass and Potato Range. When the English established themselves in Kandy, they started tea and coffee plantations in the area of the Colombo-Kandy railway line, which has cut through tunnels in the mountains.

After a train ride from Colombo or Kandy trekking can be started at Ihalakotte railway station passing a mysterious climb through the Ihalakotte village. On the walk up leads a small foot path which branches off downwards through the jungle on the left. There is a 30 m (98 ft) high waterfall (Dekinda Fall) served by the Alagalla forest reserve, which is hidden in the jungle. The summit of the Potato Range is a platform to witness the view of the other surrounding mountains, including Bathalegala (Bible rock), Devanagala, Ambuluwawa, Knuckles Mountain Range and Hanthana Mountain Range. Source – Wikipedia

When we traveled to Alagalla, we should turn left to Poththapitiya road where the turning point is at before the Kadugannawa RS. This road is little bit worst. From Poththapitiya town there will be a Boo tree at left side with adjoin road. Proceed along that road up to the end. You might cross a small stream.

We started this in early morning around 7am and the weather is hot. This hike is not easy because there are many chances to get slipped. As the villagers said there are plenty of leeches on rainy days. We spend about 1.5 hours to climb this as we do not have our breakfast too and water. Please carry at least 2L water bottles.

Finally we came to the top of Alagalla Mountain; the final 30m drop is a climbing. If you get slipped to left side definitely you will fall to the bottom of the mountain. So be careful at this point.

When we go there, there was a Sri Lankan flag on the top rocky plain. You can see a adjoin mountain and we can go to that mountain too. And further we can get down from that area also. After spending few hours on the top we started to get down. Fortunately we just spend 20 minutes to get down from the top to bottom of the mountain. There is a village home where we can drink some water. The water source is from the middle of Alagalla Mountain. You can see the Kandy railway line clearly from the top of the mountain and the Bathalegala and Uthuwankanda too.

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Thanks for reading… !