Christmas 2015
A brief interlude between rides.
Thank you to everyone, who made Christmas so much fun.
Christmas in UK
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Chilaw to Negombo.
Chilaw to Negombo. 47.1km, 89m. Lovely flat cycle on “beach road”. Sunshine! Before the rain.
Waiting for tourists. Sadly we will have gone.
Human defences
The sea attacking the coastline.
Local, nice bus. No murderous intent.
Private national bus. A missile in disguise.
In 4 weeks, not a single problem with either bike, not even a puncture. And no fettling at all. They just worked. Bravo.
Annoying tune, but great bread.
Great to wake up to blue skies after 24 hours of torrential downpour. Most of our kit is sodden or at least damp (really not smelling great). Followed the beach road down the coast, fringed with prawn hatcheries and lots of fishermen.
Hotels very few and far between. Lunch overlooking the waves crashing onto the barricaded water’s edge. Only the two of us there, eating. Not sure how these places are surviving. We are told that the tourists start arriving 15th December. We wish them luck.
Feel sad turning away from the coast heading to our last hotel before we fly out Friday am. The heavens opened for a final dump on us before we pulled into the Tamarind Tree hotel. Absolutely amazed at the sturdiness and reliability of our bikes. They have been brilliant. They can rest and look forward to a good clean back in England. Hope they remain safe and have a good flight back.
Our blog will be continued, Jan 1st.
Thank you for reading this far.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Bloody hell. Sri Lanka is over. Great times.
Kite House to Chilaw
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.
Negombo to Kite House
Hard long day, but ended in The Kite House. Stunning position. Loved it. 7/12/15, Mon. 121.6km, 234m climb.
7 am and all’s mellow. Anticipating 120k cycle ride.
Early morning sail from Negombo beach.
Solid Indian Monsoon. We got very, very wet.
Our hut in the dry. Just.
Spot Paul.
Another colourful shrine. Not quite finished.
The belly loves it. The knees, not so sure.
Once bitten, twice shy. Our hut for the night.
Keen to drag Paul out of the hammock to get going for long cycle ahead. Were flooded out of our bedroom the night before and it didn’t get any drier heading north. Risked a dodgy looking food stop 70km into the trip – so desperate for an ice cold coke. Skipped on the hard boiled egg with rice (looked as though it had been sat there awhile) and had freshly cooked chicken fried rice. Don’t see any other tourists in this area and definitely not on bikes. In fact one one cycle tourist so far at all, in 4 weeks. Odd. People still always so friendly, waving and calling out to us.
Have an Airbnb place booked up on the Kalpitiya peninsula – £13 per night yeh. Our hosts emailed to say were heading to Colombo but “Sanda” would sort us out.
Took a wrong turning. And then another. And another. Soaking wet in a coconut plantation (owned by the St. Anne’s Shrine) Lucky to knock on the door of a Russian kitesurfer who was able to direct us. This peninsular is renowned as the best kitesurfing area in South East Asia.
Sanda and husband live next door to Ana and Manoj, speak no English and are absolutely charming. Sanda had been tasked to cook us curry and rice and, wow, best meal so far. Sat on the floor of their “chill out hut” with half a dozen different dishes of curry. Doesn’t get much better.
The Kite House b and b is basic but very comfortable with cold shower and a fan. Sadly, the fan does nothing to dry out our sodden cycling kit which is becoming “riper” by the minute. Missing washing machines and tumble driers.
Hopefully tomorrow will see bright sunshine.
Wadduwa to Negombo
Wadduwa to Negombo, through Colombo, yea. 72.8 Km, 125m climb. Sun 6/12/15.
South beach team, fishing.
North beach team, fishing.
3 hrs of hard work.
Great colour nets
Fishermen are not wealthy.
Garmin is closely inspected.
The picture tells the story: hot and hard work. King coconut needed.
Hamilton canal. Made us reflect.
More reflections
RC procession
Full steam ahead
Sailing into the sunset.
Followed the railroad tracks and continued north. Timber merchants line the side of the tracks. Every little piece of wood is used, scraps for firewood and clothes horses up to finely turned balustrades. Onto 3 lane highway into Colombo, with everyone else.
North of the city we took the Hamilton Canal path, a lovely respite from all the honking horns. Lunch spot a very empty hotel with two rather sad little Christmas trees but a very nice seafood fried rice, and beer. The manager turned on his Christmas hits melodies while we ate (yikes, less than 3 weeks til Christmas).
Into Negombo for the night. We were last here just over 3 weeks ago. Feels a few days and a few months at the same time. The thunderstorm and heavy rain hasn’t managed to drown out the howling of the dog next door and the water is now flooding under our bed. But, calamari and crab for supper.
Galle to Wadduwa
Galle to Wadduwa. 89.5km + 101m climb.
Banana man
Bikes need a rest as well.
The heavens opened.
Left Galle as the overnight monsoon eased up. Joined the throng of traffic heading north. Roads full of buses, lorries and tuk tuks squeezing past Saturday fruit and veg markets (with us caught in between).
Lots of kilometres pedalled as we aim to get close to Colombo to try and cycle across the city Sunday am hoping the roads will be less busy.
Cycled by more stupas and shrines and a mosque with loudspeakers booming out their chanting, rythmic and scary.
More fishsellers by the road, fresh and dried. Also a few markets full of fresh fruit and veg. A whole lorry load full of pineapples. I guess all will be sold. Sri Lankans doing their weekend shop.
Reached as far as Wadduwa before sundown, trying to find a bed for the night. First hotel horribly expensive, carried on down the road when the tap was turned full on. Negotiated a heavily discounted rate. Good news, we didnt’ have to get any wetter.
To Galle
Mirissa to Galle. 1 hill, yea.
Caught before we were even awake. Should pay his way today.
Lace making, what an intricate art.
Their machine, no automation at all.
Not an easy way to make money, easier to charge for photos, which they do, if they see you.
Lunch, for two on a beach.
Selling fish. Actually smelt nice, gets worse during the hot day.
Overviewing the action. Didn’t actually do anything for 20 mins.
Before hatching.
After hatching, around 6 days old. So cute.
Ramparts of Old Galle
Lighthouse on Galle point.
Another light supper. £12.50 in total.
Don’t feel as though we really deserved this huge feast this evening after only 40 kms of cycling today. How does Paul manage to sniff out a hill up a crumbling dirt track even on a “flat” coast road? Linda was quickly shaken out of her post 2 beer lunchtime stupour. A cheeky 50m up in 1 km.
Have seen women working on the sides of the roads, digging ditches and in downpours on the steep tea plantations hills. Suspect the lacemakers have a slightly better time of it, though they’re never going to get rich.
Have a fine view across the ramparts this evening at Fort Galle, temperature at 9pm, 27 degrees, a welcome coolness after the 38 degrees while cycling.
The days are changing form rural Sri Lanka to a more touristy flavour. The people are still friendly but need more to get the best out of them. We say hello before they say hello back. A slight surliness from some is an unwelcome flavour, which we haven’t felt before.
Our plans had to stay in Galle for 2 days, but the vibe isn’t to our liking, so off north tomorrow to find a fresher Sri Lanka.
Around Mirissa, and snorklelling
Around Mirissa, in and out, fast! Touristy. Surfer and dude spot. Note 1 km cycling on water.
Mermaid, or siren?
Green Coral
Coral, with fish
Coral, Mirissa Bay
Coral, Mirissa Bay
Coral, Mirissa Bay
Coral, Mirissa Bay
Huge Sea Urchin, alive and well.
Mirissa harbour. Cost us 12p to get in.
All working boats. No tourists here, except us.
Swordfish. Not sure why he needs a woolly hat, it’s 32 deg c.
Coast guard hard at work.
Loads of boats, true colours.
The picture doesn’t record the smell
A boat out of water
Just like Hampshire
Butter fish, from sea to supper in 3 hours.
Paul, admittedly, is a proper snorkeller. Linda is not and not planning to become one in crashing waves, with no buoyancy aid. A Chinese couple joined us, equipped with smart new kit and full rash vest suit – 2 minutes later, vomiting. Paul, meanwhile, loved every second and even had the chance to swim with a turtle (Linda very envious of that).
Discovered proper Marissa fishing harbour, so colourful, a real treat to soak up the sight (not the smell).
Heading west
First day fully away from support. 2.12.15. 62km, 316m climb.
A new skill. Pack everything onto the bike.
Veg, all new to us.
Great light house
Real fishing, for real fish.
Kids just want to have fun
Missing our regular snack stops with the team, now being self-sufficient and all that (didn’t manage to find lunch – made do with a bag of cashew nuts). Proudly purchased our first king coconuts to drink – Linda ended up with severe indigestion. Maybe there is some skill to be had in selecting the ripe ones. Map reading proving a little tricky as page doesn’t match road – oh well. Found ourselves up a very dirty track with lots of construction traffic trying to mow us down. Decided probably safer to stay on main road tackling the buses.
After a bit of hit and miss, found a clean little hotel on beachfront. We’re not too fussy, trying to keep to a budget, hot water and air con a treat, beer a must. It’s all good.
AroundTangalle
Wedding breakfast, for ‘the home coming’. We feel under dressed.
Coconuts and ladders
No footprints here.
If I jump it might fall over.
Tues 1.12.15 route. 42km
A lovely stay at Lagoon Paradise Beach Resort, a welcome breather for a morning checking out the pristine beach. Finished off with a warm up cycle around the area, first time unsupported. Mapping worked and found a great mix of dirt track and back roads. A small incident with a runaway calf – Linda’s Van Nich has great brakes. Last 10 km on main road, crazy buses in big hurry. Currently this part of the coastline is undeveloped, great to be able to enjoy it before the crowds arrive. 18 hole golf course planned to open April, 2016. Can’t wait, groan.
Paul and Linda Cycle 