I mentioned in my Ella post that the railway was to play a part in our stay.  Actually, it was to play two parts the first of which is the subject of this post.

After Little Adam’s Peak we walked to the 91 metre long Nine Arch Bridge, a viaduct constructed under the lead of a local builder, P. K. Appuhami, in consultation with British engineers and completed in 1921.

With perfect timing, we arrived just before one of the day’s trains arrived, sounding its horn as it entered the tunnel just before the bridge and clattering along at is lazy pace enforced by higgeldy piggedly sleepers, lose and missing fasteners, and often lack of solid foundation for the sleepers to bear on; as we found out when walking the track for the 1.5 miles / 2.5 km from the bridge to Ella railway station, some of them displace vertically under the weight of a human foot never mind a locomotive or carriage wheel.   

Photography opportunities in the late afternoon sunlight were plentiful, including of a herder and his two cows, the latter munching away at the lush grass in this peaceful landscape whilst the former waited patiently sitting on a rail, safe in the knowledge that when the next train came it would be at little more than jogging pace and audible for half a mile before.  

A gentle end to an action-packed day.

Steve