Hike to Uthuwankanda and Bathalegala: part 1

After the off-season journey to Sri Pada this is our next hike, climbing Uthuwankanda and Bathalegala (aka Bible Rock).

Our first destination, Uthuwankanda: this is famous for a hide-out used by a local hero named Deekirikevage Saradiel better known as Utuwankande Sura Saradiel who fought bravely against British colonialism. Actually, our destination was Saradiel Rock, located in the Uthuwankanda area.

So it was 7 in the morning when we got off the bus at Mawanella with a crew of three, had our breakfast and hired a three wheeler to Uthuwankanda junction (1.5km from Mawanella), turning right at the junction to Uthuwam Mawatha. It is possible to travel in a vehicle along this road to get closer to the destination, but since we needed to see the surroundings, we started our journey on foot from the junction. After about 1 km turned left onto a concrete paved road that was heading toward Saradiel Rock and about 500m ahead, we found the trail head.

The trail was through a small rubber estate and from there it was a continuous climb to the peak, not too hard but not easy either. Within 45 minutes, we could reach an open area where the peak was visible on one side, but the moment we saw it, what was on our minds was how the hell were we going to climb this? It was just like a cuboid with a stone fist carved on the top (about 10m high, 12m long and 5m wide). This part of the hike was really challenging. Three of us spent some time in the open area, enjoying the scenery. It was quite windy, but had some fine weather. At first, climbing the peak was not in our minds since it seemed quite impossible, but that's when another crew of three arrived, one of whom was a local guy. He showed us the way to climb the peak and with his help, we could get to the top. It was  a pure 90 degree climb and when we stood on the top, there were no words to express the thrilling experience we just witnessed. 

A glance at our destination...

The summit

On the top...

Colombo-Kandy(A1) main road in the far distance

It was quite windy, felt like floating. Some dark clouds were approaching and soon it was drizzling. We had to climb down immediately since it was very dangerous to stay on the rock when it was raining. Even with the drizzle, the rock can get very slippery and we could also easily turn into ashes if lightning stroke. So we climbed down and started our descent with the other crew and on the way down, the local guy mentioned about a cave with tunnels built by Saradiyel, a fact that we hadn't heard about. Even though he didn't know the exact location of it, we decided to do some search and the 'Operation Saradiyel Cave' was executed :) We were climbing up and down, following the other trails that were branching off and our biggest obstacle was a plant called 'Nambiriththa (නාබිරිත්තා)' a stinging plant just like Nettle (කහබිලියා) and it gave me a hard time when a leaf of that plant rubbed against my hand. It was getting really itchy, but because my hand was sweaty and since I washed it with water ASAP I was ok.

Nabiriththa (නාබිරිත්තා), a stinging plant

Finally, after a strenuous effort, we found the cave. It was hidden in a rock boulder covered with trees. We went inside the cave. It was dark as hell and luckily we had the flash lights on our phones. It was a tunnel dug by Saradiyel to escape. About 15m-20m ahead, the main tunnel branched off into three more tunnels. It was unbelievable. It became even more unbelievable when the local guy said each of those three tunnels was a few kilometers long. One led to Bo-Ella which was about 2 kilometers away. He advised us not to go further, as these tunnels were said to have cobras.

Finding the cave...

In the cave, entering the main tunnel

One of the three tunnels inside the main tunnel

It was raining when we came out of the cave. After spending about half an hour, we started our descent. The path was muddy and slippery. We were all dripping wet, getting caught in the rain on the way. However, our next stop was Uthuwankanda junction. There, we said goodbye to the other crew and took a bus to Mawanella.

We had been planning a hike to Bathalegala for a long time, but no one of our crew thought that it would turn out to be this day because before climbing Saradiyel Rock, there was nothing about a Bathalegala hike in our minds, but after descending, since we had a whole half day left (it was noon) we decided to climb Bathalegala as well.

continued on next post..:)..Hike to Uthuwankanda and Bathalegala- part 2