Day 6. 13 February 2026. Ella, Sri Lanka

We were picked up at 8:30am and driven into town and stopped at Ella Railway Station. Deb and I got some great “Ella” photos.
After that bit of fun we walked about 500m to the start of our mornings adventure, Stage 16 of The Pekoe Trail. It’s a 8.74km trail reaching a maximum height of 1066m above sea level with a rise of 393m and decline of 524m
We started off walking through a pine forest and followed a creek to the “famous” Nine Arches Bridge”. It was built between1914 and 1919,has a length of 91m and a height of 24m. It has been given the name Bridge in the Sky and is one of the most iconic landmarks in Sri Lanka and is said to be a masterpiece of colonial engineering. By the time we got there, there were lots of tourists at the bridge. A train was due to cross it and they were all waiting for it, As the train approached everyone raced to their positions and the photo thing got done. So many “Instagram” moments!? Lol
Once the train passed we set out again on our hike. We followed the train line for a while then turned right and up the hill on a straight set of stairs. It was so good to get to the top. We followed a road for a short distance before turning left back onto the trail.
From there the trail meandered up and down on the hills as we passed through a tea plantations and general cropping allotments. It was so interesting and peaceful. On the trail we saw all sorts of fruits, we saw Jackfruit, a few different kinds of Guava, Fishtale palms (from which kithul jaggery is made), Coffee plant with berries and flowers, Pepper vines, Breadfruit, Papaya, Pink pepper, Pomelo and a whole lot of others I have forgotten.
While walking through and around the tea plantations we were given little insights into tea. The best tea is from picking new sprigs with just 2 leaves on them. The tea bushes are heavily pruned every few years, when this is do they leave a few hundred leaves on the bushes to ensure vigorous regrowth. The tea is all picked by hand in this area, 80% of the pickers are Tamales from southern India. The tea leaves are processed locally. We saw pickers getting their pickings weighed and the amounts recorded, they get paid by the weight of tea they pick.
While walking we saw a few different birds, the standouts for me we the Red-backed Flame-back woodpecker and Yellow Black-capped Bulbul and the Dark Capped Bulbul, all beautiful birds.
We finished our hike at Demodara Train Station. We got there just in time to see a train do an almost 360 loop, including a 74m tunnel to make its way to the Black Bridge and continue on its way.
From there we headed into town for lunch at Ekho Ella. Deb had a vegetable soup, and I ordered a Local Pork Curry. I got the shock of my life when my lunch would fit on our table, they had to wheel an extra table over just to put it on! My lunch consisted of 11 bowls with different things in them (the curry, rice, pappadams, and 8 different sides!) So much for my light lunch! Both our meals were very tasty.
After lunch we walked into Ella looking for touristy things with Ella written on them for our Ella. Unfortunately there was none, very disappointing, all the tourist “stuff” featured Sri Lanka, not Ella.
Feeling a bit disappointed at our lack of success we headed back to our hotel for some R and R. And that was our day of exploring done.
#retiredlyf done our way.
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