Another day’s walking through tea estates and villages in perfect weather. Again we realised the value in having a guide (Murali) to explain and interact with local people. You get more out of the trail with a guide – a better understanding of the plants, the birds, and the history.
Breakfast dosas Archu-agam Home Stay has a shared kitchen so it’s possible to prepare your own meals but why would you when they can get a local to deliver food like thisThe local people were quite curious about what Pam was doing with a bag of rubbishOriental magpie-robinChrystlers Farm – the uniform is black skirts and black bagsSudalai Maadan regarded as a guardian deity who protects people against evil forcesTea picker women going to workHindu Temple in HattonA load-bearer stone from 1880 A resting platform for travelers going uphill – level with the height of an average person so that they could unload and reload the load from their heads or shoulders without helpThe dark areas have been picked and the lighter areas are ready to be harvested Refreshing juice halfway alongDickoya & Maskeliya Cricket Club (DMCC) founded in 1868 by British tea planters to play cricket, rugby and tennisAdam’s Peak is a sacred mountain famous for its pilgrimage route, especially for sunrise, featuring thousands of steps and tea housesEvery village in this area has a Christian church Most of today’s walk was on good dirt roadsWe spent 2 nights in the Tea Queens Bungalow, a historic British-era plantation house built for estate managers in the 19th century String hoppers with dahl and coconut chutney
We walked this stage in reverse hiking towards Norwood as it’s slightly less challenging and for better views. It also puts the sun on our backs.
We have two female guides today Aisha and trainee Denusha.
We took the local bus to the end of Stage 8 at Bogawantalawa, walking back to Norwood Our guides for today Denusha and AishaEach unit in a Line House (estate worker’s rooms) is painted a different colour Hanging the placenta and umbilical cord of a cow on a tree is a superstitious custom. It is to ensure the cow produces more milk and prevent dogs from eating it, which is thought to make the animal more aggressiveTea planted by the British is not producing quality leaf any more so it is being dug up and replaced “Golden Valley of Ceylon Tea” has been the home of the finest Ceylon Tea since 1869Blue Church on Stage 8The Pekoe Trail Organisation’s first Community Impact Initiative – a Pre-School at the Kew Estate recently opened 17/01/2026Children having lunch at the new Pre School Every day Tea Factories sound a siren when it’s time for the morning meal – all work stops, everyone eats and rests until the siren sounds againPam, Ashia and Denusha on the Stage 8 trailThere’s a short area of overgrown path but the orchids are in bloomTea leaf collection center, where workers gather to sort and weigh their day’s harvestNorwood town
Ayesh returned to guide us over the next few days. Stage 9 is rated as ADVANCED due to the steep climb over rocks up Jacob’s Ladder. Once at the pass, tea cultivation changes to dairy and vegetable farming, very different. The rest of the day was on dirt road.
Bogawantalawa jummah MasjidDrishti Bommai Hung at the entrance of homes, believed to ward off negative energies and misfortune. String of lemons and chilies is another traditional charm used for the same purposeColonial era Bogawana Tea Factory built 1891Early morning tea pluckersAyesh leading us up Jacob’s Ladder, a challenging V-shaped mountain pass“Dead Forest” at 1,600 meters – there’s no sound, no birds, no animals Bird attacking his reflection in truck mirror Moisture content needs to be reduced to 40% before sending tea leaves to the factory so here they are drying the leaves on the roadDayagama Hindu Temple
A steady 700 meter climb today zigzagging up to the Horton Plains National Park. We left early as it’s exposed and gets very hot even above 2,000 meters.
After a 40 minute break at the Information Centre we continued a few kilometres past the end of Stage 10 exiting the National Park to avoid another entrance fee of about USD40 per person per day.
Fog in Agara River ValleySunrise on Stage 10Rules for plucking tea leavesShortage of tea pluckers has led to the use of mechanical harvesters which cut the tea leaves like a hedge whereas only the top three leaves are plucked by handNests of the giant honey bee A single nest can contain up to 60,000 bees and a single “bee tree” can hold 50 or more nestsThe once motorable Dayagama Horton Plains Road – a beautiful walking path in the National ParkTree rhododendron at 2,100 meters in the Horton Plains National Park In April they will be covered in red flowersBlack-cheek Lizard, endemic to Sri Lanka Grasslands of Horton Plains Red-wattled Lapwing, ground birds incapable of perchingWhat to do if you see a leopard (don’t run) but we never got to put it to the testCloud rolling in on Horton Plains The road down to our hotel is so steep that the TukTuk has to offload passengers to prevent it sliding
Today’s walk was shorter than the published Stage length as we’d done some of it yesterday and finished at the Acacia Inn, a kilometre before the end of the stage. An “active recovery” day.
The highlight of today was the “Devil’s Staircase”, the steepest downward descent of The Pekoe Trail. Described by some as difficult even dangerous, maybe in the rain, but today was warm, dry and clear, spectacular. Actually there are no stairs, it’s a rough 4WD track.
We took a TukTuk up to the National Park entrance at an elevation of 2160 meters and stared walking back from there with our guide HiranAt a slightly lower altitude (2000 metres) these Rhododendrons have already started to flowerTree fern native to Sri Lanka, considered to be endangeredPale-fronted toque macaque: endangered, endemic to the wet zone forests of Sri LankaThe Devil’s Staircase, a winding 320 meter descent in 3.2 kilometresIt’s not really a Staircase but a rough 4WD trackHiran picking wild blackberries, tasty but sourNelu, endemic to Sri Lanka, only flowers every 12 yearsTropical Fritillary, a rare endemic butterfly found in the central highlands of Sri Lanka above 1500 metersThis Blue-tailed Bee-eater has caught a bee
This was our longest Stage so far. Slow going with a lot of fallen trees and extensive areas of overgrowth Great views though on a good weather day. Estimated time: 4 h 0 min, but it took us 8 hours.
Luxman, the manager of Acacia INN where we stayedUdaveria, an abandoned tea factory At 1,700 meters the sky is clear but the valley below is full of cloudThis boy hit the ball into the gully, game overVillage settlement amidst the terraced tea plantationsPath down to …… an abandoned village The once well maintained road has fallen into disrepairHiran looking down into the valley belowSome of the Highlands flowers Rare Rhino-horned lizard blends inPine forestClimbing over treesCrawling under treesMaking rotis at IdalgashinnaEating rotisThe train is coming soon so two boys rush to lower the barrierTrain arrives at Idalgashinna Station through the cloudTunnel 36 It’s not easy walking on the railway line, the sleepers are not evenly spacedNarrow path along the edgeA very steep descentStage 12 finishes at Haputale Railway Station
Stage 13 and 14 Haputale – St. Catherine – Makulella
We combined the Stages 13 (14.8 klm, 5:05) and 14 (9.8 klm, 2:55). A very scenic route walking along tea terraces. We left Haputale in cloud with a cold wind blowing but walking uphill soon warmed us. There’s some broken cobble stones in places, hard on the feet and slow going.
Monkeys on the wiresHapatale TownClimbing into the cloud Hapatale from aboveTea pluckers working around the rocksPath through tea estatesBees shimmering to protect the active hive
Gum trees are owned by the estates and used to power the tea factoriesHiran restingWild guavas We have a long descent but not down this cliff!Green Forest LizardEndemic Red-backed Flameback woodpeckerNearly made it before the rainDinner at U & V Homestay“IT’S NOT THE MOUNTAIN WE CONQUER BUT OURSELVES. LION IS THE PERFECT COMPANION FOR WHEREVER YOUR ADVENTURES TAKE YOU. BECAUSE EVERY JOURNEY HAS ITS REWARD.”
