Ella

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We left Mirissa sunburnt and longing for cooler drier air. The rest of our trip is now in the hill country surrounded by fabulous peaks and tea plantations. Ella is a quaint town at the beginning of the hill country. It is surrounded by peaks and tea plantations. There is nothing else to do here apart from hill country walks and tea factory visits. We are staying at a lovely guesthouse recommended by Scott and Bianca.

We visited the Uva Halpewaththa tea factory. It took about an hour and a half to walk and it was really hot but the walk was lovely, started by following the train tracks and then passing the fields and rice paddies. We had a tour of the tea factory and were shown all the different processes involved in the fermentation, rolling, drying, cutting, sieving and grading of the tea. This factory receives 20 tonnes of tea leaves a day and produce 4.5 tonnes of dried tea. After visiting the factory we then climbed up Little Adam’s Peak, passing through a tea estate to get a view of the valley. Mist swirled around the peaks and the tea factories shimmered in the distance.

We embarked on a more difficult climb the following day up to Ella’s Rock. We got slightly lost as there were no signs and the paths could barley be described as such, however, the local rice paddy workers sent us in the right direction and we eventually we made it to the top with magnificent views of the hill country. We acquired a poor rabid half blind dog which we chased off the train tracks when the train came and she followed us all the way up Ella Rock and then all the way back to Ella. All the children along the way would ask for sweets or school pens!

We met Jess and Nick from the UK in Ella and enjoyed a couple of meals with them during our stay. Sri Lankan curry is amazing, it has to be ordered by mid-afternoon and is a feast of 8 or so different dishes.

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