Tea Country Trail OLD 23 Ragala To Kandapola

Today’s stage starts at the Ragala Estate Tea Factory. Starting at an elevation of 1519 meters, we are going to climb 550 meters over the next 8 kilometers. The stage is mostly a gradual and manageable ascent on tea trails except for a few hundred meters on lightly used tarmac road.

At the 0.5 kilometer point, we leave the village surrounding the Ragala Tea Factory. The estate road zigzags through the Ragala plantations upper divisions. At the 1.4 kilometer point, our trail merges with a trail that heads down towards Ragala town itself. Brookside is the name of the tea factory perched on the hill as we look right.

At the 3 kilometer point, the trail turns on itself and back again leaving a few houses surrounded by their vegetable patches on our right. For the next 1.5 kilometers, our trail cuts through the mountainside and then turns sharply north as we cross the stream.

At the 4.9 kilometers, we turn left up the tarmac road. 300 meters up the road there is a trailhead that merges onto the tarmac road’s left side. Take the trail and keep going up, and as you do the views get better and better. We are now on the opposite side of the small valley. The slope on the opposite side of the valley is dotted with large eucalyptus trees just under the tea fields of the Goatfell. The plantation you see on the hill is home to Goatfell Bungalow, a luxurious bungalow managed by the Teardrop hotel group.

At the 7 kilometer point, we reach the Concordia Estate Tea Factory, the highest point of the day. From here it’s a very easy and gradual 700-meter descent to Kandapola town.

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