Alagalla

Hiking our way to Alagala

Arrived in kandy at Midnight and I walked my way to my grandparents’ house where I tucked myself in bed only to be woken up to the loud tune of “Mr Saxso Beat” (my alarm) early the same morning. Soon I hurried myself in getting dressed and tying   my shoe laces and packing up all the water bottles and food to be taken on the hike, I was in one pretty bad state for hiking , as I had a terrible cough and also was grasping for breath, so just to be on the safe side I swallowed a pill which easers the breathing, and off I went to the station to be met by Joash, later   pramith and Nilesh , and soon having grouped ourselves off we bounded a train heading to Colombo.

The train ride was quite a small ride as we were only going up to ihala kotte, during which we treated ourselves with some yummy wadeys which could have been the cause for all that “padeys” which later filled the air lol .

The train stopped as to what I believed was ihala kotte but I wasn’t exactly sure as I saw no board but I trusted my instincts and we all got off, yes we were at the right station!!soon we followed the foot  path which Broaden itself to some jeep tracks and suddenly I saw a green snake a “ahata ulla” it was funny the way Joash reacted he totally got freaked out even though he proved himself to be a good hiker J.

On top of Alagala

Along the way Nilesh was quick to spot yohan, I meant to say a Bison or at least a look alike ;) since we were missing yohan we all thought it was a good idea to take a picture with the bison, and as we approached it we soon found ourselves getting caught up in the mud nilesh was the smartest who quickly droped the quest while me and pramith went forth and there by getting our feet all wet and covered with Mud. I like muddy shoes any way so it wasn’t a bad choice either, as we climed a bit further on our left lay the Mighty Mountain “alagalla” , It was so tall and indeed it looked to be a steep climb I was soon reminded by what my father spoke of alagalla which he climbed in his young days,  and I was happy and proud to be doing it myself along with my friends. As we gazed into the rock even more pramith found a interesting image which surly looked to be a bit like a butt, with funny little jokes popping quit often we marched our way up in through a tea estate and into the border of the alagalla reservation we came.

As we entered we surly noticed the change in vegetation and much to our surprise the undergrowth became even more nasty the slope of the climb didn’t help either, We soon stopped to take a water break but we just realized that we were running out of water nothing seemed to be going right as we soon realized there were dozens of leaches attacking us, leaches later proved to be real bloody and naughty as one even crept up to my groin and was sucking away blood luckily I had tight underpants!! Hehe any way none of these stopped us from pushing ourselves to the top, as of the previous experiences I knew all of this will pay off once you know that you have done it. And if you’re lucky enough to have a clear day you will be overwhelmed by the beauty all around you.

We were Blessed with a clear day that day, the sky was spotless it was a clear blue sky , and as we soon hiked our way through some tough bush- waking  we were amazed at the beauty around us, it’s just unexplainable, I’m quite sure even the best of writers will find it hard to write how they feel.
At that moment you are Tired, bruised, beaten up But when you look beyond ,everything just flows off and Joy fills the air , I know that every hike will not be a clear  and bright, so I made it a point to enjoy God’s creation on a bright sunny day.

 We hadn’t reached the summit yet but we were just a few meters below it,  the last phase is a bit tricky as you got to do a bit of rock climbing I was once reminded of what My seeya said “be care full the last part is really dangerous” , so I knew I got to be careful and not just me the whole bunch especially the younger one out of the lot(joash) , Both me and pramith went in for the climb first but as usual I was getting all nerves, I mean indeed this was real tough, what’s tough is never the climb what’s tough is knowing what’s below you, to be precise there is nothing below you for a good kilometre or so, I have gotten over the fear of heights to a great extent but still rock climbing isn’t my thing, any way pramith bravely went before me and he soon reached the summit, we could hear him bellowing  in Joy!!  Up in the distance, the blood  started pumping In I really wanted to dash up as well but I kept my nervous down as we had to help our little joash up the rocks, He did really well for his maiden hike actually he did brilliant!! And with a very very awkward leap he lost his virginity!! Lol.

On top of Alagala

On our way to alagala

The scenery was Spectacular We were awed by what we saw, I was soon to spot Bible rock, Uthuwankanda, Ambuluwawa , Hanthane , Knuckles , and hunasgiriya(this I’m not sure), and the little mountains made it such a  wonderful master piece of the Creator.

With hunger setting in we opened the Tin sardine and made the “choristers’ salmon paste”( a secret recipe ;)),which we ate, but soon we realized that what we were actually looking for was for some liquid. The baking hot sun didn’t help the cause either, weary we were to head straight back down, So we opted to hide ourselves from the baking hot sun by going into a cave like structure where we took refuge from the sun. There we engaged in singing songs and making harmony, as singing was a common trait among the four of us.

After a one final visit to the summit, we started our hike back the mountain, this was the funniest and the craziest descends I’ve done thus far, cause slipping down was quite frequent and we all did slip not just once or twice but 101 times, I think I started it off by taking every one off trail in through a slippery trail, The funnier it was when one falls down(walking down) and everyone starts laughing and at the same time the other one laughing falling down while not even walking down, It was so funny but we soon hiked our way back to civilization as water was the number one priority at that very moment.

We were pricked, scraped, sweaty, scratchy, tired, and with bloody legs after all the leach bites , But looking over the shoulder we saw alagalla and it was so great to know that we all did it and we all made it back safe through God’s grace.

Alagalla Hike
08,12,11 with Pramith nilesh and Joash J