Category: End to Ends

A day off the bike exploring Nuwara Eliya today. Created by the English, it’s still got a colonial feel to it: racecourse (pic), golf club, half-timbered villa houses, High Tea at the Grand Hotel (more of this later). And the A5 goes right through it, though the one from London to Holyhead probably doesn’t go…

A beautiful, tranquil dawn start, with awesome views of Hill Country peaks sticking up like islands above the layer of cloud a thousand feet below (pic). Down there in the clouds, at Bandarawela, it was cool and damp and felt more like England, except my breakfast muffin from a bakery only cost 25p. It was…

A rest day today, but I was still up early, rewarded by some stunning views of the hillscape mists (pic). It’s chilly at night up here in Hill Country: there are actually sheets and blankets on the bed (elsewhere there’s nothing), the windows had condensation this morning, and I needed my fleece to go out…

A short distance today – just 30 miles, whatever that is in km – but very strenuous ones, into Hill Country. There was around 1500m of climb, whatever that is in feet. But the dawn start from Balangoda was a delight, cycling through sunrise rice paddies to the sound of birdsong. Lots of steady climbing,…

Along with my guesthousemates, I went out on a morning safari. Udawalawe National Park (pic) is one of the world’s best places to see elephants in the wild. Apparently they drink 200 litres of water a day, which is what I felt like doing once I got cycling later on. But we also saw loads…

More glorious cycling on a hot day, relieved by cream sodas and excellent curries. Heading north from Tangalla I visited the Rock Temples of Mulkirigala. They’re up this rock (pic). In the long climb to the top you pass five temples that contain enormous reclining Buddhas (pic). They rather put me in mind of the…

At last I got cycling today, starting from Galle at 6am with only the sound of birdsong, and of my rattling mudguard that was trashed by Etihad’s baggage handlers. I followed the A2 south, stopping off for a typical Sri Lankan breakfast en route (pic): rice; fish curry; dhal; and something evidently consisting of coconut,…

I’m desperate to get cycling, but with admirable restraint, I got the train this morning down to Galle, a tourist must-see. In Sri Lanka, you book your bike as a parcel, and it costs three times as much for the bike as for a single fare. But with the single fare costing under a pound…

A day of walking around the centre of Colombo, waiting for my bike and luggage to be returned to me. I was quite taken with the old building, now almost empty, that used to house Cargill’s department store (pic). The colonnades still help shoppers dodge the monsoon rains or the noonday sun, but not English…

I arrived safely in Colombo at four this morning. My luggage didn’t. Etihad managed to lose it somewhere en route last night. Most of my bike did turn up, though that’s more of a hindrance than help: the pedals and tools to reassemble it (and mend the minor damage such as trashed mudguards and bottle…