20th Sept. Nuwara Eliya

Not reading the map properly cost us quite a few kms on a rough road that we didn't have to travel on to get to Nuwara Eliya. NE is one of the highest towns on the island, 2000 metres above sea level. It rains a lot and can be quite cold. Every traveller we had met had become sick of the rain and mist that soaked their clothes and some had left earlier than planned. Things didn't auger well on arrival, it wasn't raining but was cold with mist hiding the highest peaks.
Nuwara Eliya useed to be the summer retreat for the colonials and still retains some of the trappings of an English village. The mddle of the town is a mass of concrete but on the surrounding hills there are some interesting older buildings. We lunched at a busy cafe near the bus stop. Bit of a novelty for the locals but under $2 for 4 tasty hot samosas and a couple of drinks it was good value.
The town is a good base to visit Horton Plains NP and World's End. The latter is in the national park and is a spectacular setting at the top of an 880 metre vertical drop to the forested land below. It's possible to see the southern most light house on a less hazy day. It's best to get to World's End before 10am as the mist usually swirls in by then and all you see is a wall of white.
We started early, 5.30am. I drove against the strong advice of the hotel staff but after a reconnoitre the day before and advice from a very helpful local we expected to have little trouble. 'Yes yes, the road continues in this manner' he said. 'There is no reason why you cannot drive all the way. But there is a better road and shorter.' He drew us a mud map then proceeded to lead us back to NE to show us the turn off. The road to the park was potholed but sealed with little traffic. We had to ask for directions a couple of times including once from an bemused buddhist monk waiting for the bus. It had rained during the night and the drive out there was through thick mist, the wipers working continuously. At the ticket office 5kms from the car park the mist and wind was atrocious soaking my clothes the short time I was outsde. At $50 to get in we had second thoughts, why pay all that money and not see anything? But the ranger assured it might be better at the cliff face.
At the car park the mist had lifted a little, we could see the undulating tussock country with the well marked paths crossing it. It was an easy 3km walk first to Little World's End then on to the real thing. It was an amazing view with the odd patch of mist adding interest. We had our play breakfast there before taking a longer route back by way of Bakers Falls. Tussocky highlands like we walked through has a silent aura about them similar to what we had experienced in the Abaderes in Kenya, Niyeka NP in Malawi as well as the Scottish highlands.A samber stag standing proud, antlers held high surprised us with his barking call. It was a memorable sight. The guide book said on weekends and public holidays the park gets crowded wth Sri Lankans. The last couple of kilometres before the car park we passed a continuous line of famlies heading to one of the many picnic spots. The car park was now chokker and a traffic jam at the ticket office made us thankful we we were there early.