Our trip here was with Railway Touring Company and was partly steam hauled, making use of the Viceroy Special train. We visited much but not all of the network Our initial trip was from the airport station (not normally a passenger line) to Mount Lavinia (where we stayed on our earlier visit to the island – the hotel has been extended since then) on the special train. Almost immediately the rail enthusiasts leave the hotel for the Dermatogoda works where there is much which is simply decaying. We have more or less free rein to wander around the works.
The following day we travelled up to Kandy and subsequently onwards to visit the tea plantation area around Nuwara Eliya with the train going no further than Nanu Oya, so I have yet to travel to Badulla at the end of the line. We visit a tea factory as part of the excursion and then return to Kandy for another night’s stay. The scenery outside the train is beautiful as we wind through the tea plantations and the hills which are much cooler than the coastal areas.
In Kandy we are able to visit the Temple of the Tooth which we were unable to visit on our previous trip to Sri Lanka and so made up for the shortfall on that journey.
We leave Kandy by road with the train having gone on ahead but we join it at Gal Oya and visit Trincomalee (where we are muchly disappointed not getting to see the town) and the following night we stay near Batticaloa – both towns are situated on the East Coast of the island and are typically much drier. The following day we take a service train to the end of the line at Batticaloa – simply going there and back through an area which still shows some signs of devastation following the huge tsunami a few years ago.
We also revisit Dambulla caves where Jackie had stayed outside last time – this time she is also able to wander through the caves and see the sights – and this time we seem to be able to enter at a much higher level as a group party and so the climb is far less arduous.
From Maho we head north passing through Elephants Pass (with a photo stop) reaching Jaffna. We were due to go the whole way to the end of the line but the steam locomotive had suffered a failure (just before the run past at Elephants Pass) and we encountered significant delays with the diesel pushing us from behind. On our earlier visit we could not visit the north of the island due to the ongoing civil war – it was out of bounds so this has only been possible since it ended.
We then return in two stages to Mount Lavinia where the tour itself ends.
Jackie and I have arranged a few days on the coast near Galle to give us a chance to rest from exertions of recent days. We are able to visit Galle itself and also the beach at Unawatuna where scenes from the The Good Karma Hospital were filmed. The trip to Galle is on a heavily loaded train which eases dramatically at Bentota where the locals are going to the beach for the day.
After our few days break we then head up country stopping at Monragala – a taxi takes us there. Then with Plan A (a charity) we go on to Maha Oya. We spend a second night at the Capital Hotel but leave very early in the morning for Colombo – I had to find a second taxi firm at short notice as I recall. We spent a night close to the airport and returned home the following day.