Tea Country Trail OLD 08 Hatton To Norwood

Hatton is a buzzy place and a major transport hub. It is also known as the gateway to Adams Peak. If you are coming to hike up Adam’s Peak you can hire a van or a car at the train station. The travel time to the base of the mountain is approximately 2 hours. Alternatively, you might like to walk all the way on the Tea Country Trail – it’s a 2 or 3-day hike to the base.

Today we start at Hatton’s Town Hall which is near the train station We cross the railway bridge, turn left and head upwards the main depot. This road runs parallel to the town’s main bustling road. If you need supplies for today’s walk head into town to stock up.

The bustling town quickly turns into the quiet outskirts, and as you walk down, before you know it, the sounds of the thriving activity have been left behind. At the 0.7 km point, you are once again back in the plush, green tea countryside. Hatton Rock is the mountain we see to the left towering over the town.

The next 5 kilometers are a series of pathways, through rolling hills of green tea culminating in your first sight of Castelreigh Reservoir in the Bogawantalawa Valley, otherwise known as the “golden bowl” home to some of the best brews in Sri Lanka.

At the 2.5 km point, you will see a football ground to your left. Football is actually quite popular in the tea country, perhaps even more so than in other rural areas of Sri Lanka.

At the 3 km point coming over the hill, the Battalgalla Tea Factory, and the large red roof of the Dickoya & Maskeliya Cricket Club (DMCC), usually referred to as The Darrawella Club present themselves. The planters club is one of Sri Lanka’s finest of its day.

At the 3.2 km point, the trail joins the Agarapatana - Dickoya road for approximately only 300 meters before turning off to your left just as you reach the planters club itself. A short stop to visit the club is well worth it.

After a few hundred meters along the trail, we cross the river Dick Oya, and make a small climb up passing a small hamlet to your right and then a dog-leg up towards the valley on the other side.

The next few kilometers of the stage feels higher than the other parts, as you are walking along the tops or the sides of the valleys. You will notice the prevalence of Christian churches here. This part of the country is primarily Tamil, who practice either Christianity or Hinduism. You might even bump into the friendly and always-smiling Father Alexander, the local pastor, who tends to his flock, and acts as the de facto psychotherapist with all manner of his congregation’s troubles.

Continuing along the trail, you will pass numerous brightly colored line rooms (tea workers’ terraced housing), some simply a single line, whilst in other areas, small villages are made up of hundreds of line rooms, replete with both Hindu Kovils and Christian churches.

At the 6.8 km point, the Castlereigh Reservoir comes into full view, and we being to descend towards the bottom of the valley. The town below is Norwood. The trail will have you meandering down through the tea estate paths. The fitter of you may take the shortcut paths down the middle, whilst those with time on your hands, or with more robust knees, may prefer the simpler wandering down the main paths at a more leisurely pace.

At the bottom, you are now in Norwood, another bustling tea town. The bridge at the 8.8 km point marks the beginning of Norwood town. The stage ends at the town itself 600 meters away.

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