Hiking the Pekoe Trail in Sri Lanka
- maxroving
- Jul 2
- 2 min read
After my kick scooter adventure across Souther India, I flew to Sri Lanka and decided to walk (parts of) the Pekoe Trail, the country’s sole long distance that traverses the mountains & tea plantations in the centre of the country.
The starting point of the trail is near the city of Kandy, so I took a train from the capital, Colombo, to Kurunegala, and hitched the remaining distance towards Kandy, as the direct train between the two was suspended, due to severe damage caused by the devastating Cyclone Ditwah.
So I started hiking, and the first few days were very enjoyable, passing through forests, tea plantations and small villages on comfortable, mostly empty trails. But as usual, I did barely any research before embarking on this journey. I should have, as it turns out that in certain stages on the trail, one will likely encounter leeches. Carrying leech protection such as anti-leech socks is recommended. I didn’t - matter of fact, I didn’t have a pair of long pants. So, after a day of flicking leeches of my legs, I decided to skip a few stages by hitchhiking to Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka’s highest city & end point of the trail, from where I would hike the trail in reverse direction. It was the right decision, as there were no leeches during this part, and the views overlooking this city - which was founded by the British in the early 19th century and acted as a mountain retreat town - were stunning.
After a couple more days on the trail, I hitched towards Tangalle, a town on the Southern Coast, to relax for a few days, before heading by rail back to Colombo, ready to depart for the next country & adventure.
It was my first time in Sri Lanka, and despite the country seeing a lot more tourists than the usual places I go to, I enjoyed it quite a bit, as it's still easily possible to get off the beaten path.
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