I mentioned previously that rail played two parts in our visit to Ella.  This blog post recounts the second.

Rather than travel by road to our final nightstop of Nuwara Eliya we decided to take the train for the major part of the journey from Ella, meeting our driver with our luggage at the small station in Ambewela, a village famous in Sri Lanka for its cattle and their dairy produce. Sri Lanka is the best example I have ever known of extensive ribbon development, so travelling by rail gives a completely different perspective; you get to see the country for what it is rather than being obscured by dwelling after dwelling lining main roads.

For much of the journey the train relentlessly climbed and climbed, eventually reaching Sri Lanka rail network’s highest point at 1898 metres / 6226 feet before descending thereafter – eventually all the way back to Colombo Fort railway station.

Hopefully the pictures give you good insight, both of what I describe and what it is like to travel by rail here.  Several times during the journey I am sure that I heard the voices of Michaels Portillo and Palin, recounting what they were experiencing or informing on matters of history! 

Steve