Category: Sri Lanka

The previous two days, Day 24 and Day 25, I’ve been in Negombo doing delightfully little except eating, drinking and washing. I started exploring the old Dutch canal running north out of the city, but the towpath and adjacent roads soon run out. In any case, the paths are something of an obstacle-course of fishing…

With an evening train to catch, and my bike entrusted to the Railway Parcel Office, I had another easy day. Most of the activity consisted of reading books and magazines in the British Council library (I could get into Adam Mars-Jones, you know), drinking tea and smoothies in local cafes, and enjoying delicious Rs200 vegetarian…

With no train out available until the night after tomorrow, I’ve ended with a couple of spare days in Jaffna. Today was a delightfully relaxed affair: everything was shut because it was a public holiday (hence the full trains) and it poured down with rain. So, after a cursory bit of biking round town, I…

Linked by causeways (pic) and ferries, a chain of low-lying islands surrounds Jaffna. I spent today exploring some of them by bike – not an entirely easy experience, given the high winds and endlessly dug-up roads. This photo is a rare shot of smooth tarmac. Here’s another extreme rarity: a direction sign. You usually have…

An easy, enjoyable day, completing my Sri Lankan End to End by bagging Point Pedro, followed by a delightful coast-road, wind-assisted ride to Jaffna. First I had to visit Point Pedro lighthouse to complement my ceremonial start back at Dondra Head lighthouse. Unlike that one, it’s cordoned off and watched over by a (very friendly,…

This was the hardest day so far, thanks to a strong headwind, hot sun, and weak legs from two days without proper food because of a gippy tummy. It was only 39 miles, but felt three times that, with around a dozen stops for water, shade and rest on the way. It started OK, with…

The A9 reminded me of its Scottish namesake: in my 1997 LEJOG, it was also the most tedious part of the trip, with scenery unchanging from hour to hour, and an irritating headwind. The Vanni, as this northern part of Sri Lanka is called, is flat scrubland punctuated by small scruffy towns, with the A9…

A short day today, entering the flat, green Northern Province (pic). Until 16 Jan this year, you needed a permit from the Ministry of Defence in Colombo to enter. I queued up there to get mine, and two days later they abolished them. The checkpoints are still there, but the army officers now spend the…

A pleasant, easy day on the bike, exploring Anuradhapura’s extensive ancient ruined sacred city, dagobas and stupas. I wasn’t sure what a dagoba was, but here is one (pic). When this was built, about 1200 years ago, only two Egyptian pyramids were bigger. I’m still not entirely sure what it is, but it’s solid, and…

Another pre-dawn start, as I slipped through cool dark forest roads, accompanied by the remarkably diatonic calls of Sri Lanka’s melodious birds. This is the sort of twitter feed I like. And it wasn’t just the birdsong that proved I wasn’t in Britain: it may have been the A9, but you don’t get road signs…