Back down the same road, but wetter. If that were possible. 86km.

Breakfast at The Kite House, with Anais and Manoj.

Saying bye bye to Anais and Manoj.

Main road from the Kite House.

Anais, from Barcelona and Manoj, Sri Lankan, arrived back home from Colombo after midnight.  Caught in the Colombo flooding – good job we left when we did.

Met them at breakfast.  Such a fun and interesting couple.  Incredible how much they have achieved in a few short months.  Anais and Manoj met in Kandy, his home town, had a dream for a business together and the Kite House was born.  Neither of them was aware of the kitesurfing community that had grown in this area and the number of travelers who come from all over the world seeking the perfect wind.  Offshore from the lagoon lives a thriving dolphin community and a number of different whale species can easily be spotted.  The beauty of the place is that it is currently uncommercialised.  Anais’ love of cooking draws  locals and  visitors to the area, to their friendly open air informal restaurant where she serves only local produce.  Manoj has now learned that avocados are not just a fruit to be eaten with something sweet and that 4 sugars in a cup of tea are unnecessary.  We wish them every success with their project and hope to be able to return for another visit and stay longer.

We had a longer ride than anticipated. Planned 40km, did 80km. Not quite sure how this happened. May have been getting lost in Chilaw, or the fact that Sri Lankan Km’s are a fairly unreliable measure of distance. Either way, we were getting a bit concerned, cycling at 5pm, getting very dark and the rain hadn’t stopped. We vowed the next hotel we saw we would go into, no matter what. Phew! 8km later a rather splendid 4* hotel appeared through the gloom. 80 bedrooms, a bit big compared with what we had been used to, but they had space! Yippee. In fact only 4 of the rooms were taken. Moderate discount agreed and a hot shower. Pure bliss. And a cold beer. Even better.

Last day cycling tomorrow. Sad but happy.