October 2013

1st October. Peter left on the morning flight. We agreed that we had a good weekend.

3rd October. Went outside to investigate a wooshing sound to be greeted by the wonderful sight of a balloon flying low over the Gare D’eau.

  

     

Took a bike ride through to Auxonne and was able to get all the things I needed. 4mm dome nuts & three packs of vacuum storage bags from Bricomarche and a free cable from the little computer shop to power up my Sky box.

4th October. Nice ride with Jacquie today. We tried to go to a lake but it is closed for the winter. However the back roads through the villages were lovely and the forests are beginning to look very autumnal although it is still quite mild.

In the afternoon Bob and I made three trips down to the petrol station next to the supermarket to get containers filled with diesel for the boat. Best to leave the tanks full for the winter to reduce the effects of condensation and it is a lot cheaper there than at the floating station on the river.

Tues 15th. Ryanair flight Dole to Stanstead. Good flight followed by coach ride to Birmingham and booking into the Travel Lodge for the night. Jon arrives tomorrow and we go to the NEC for the caravan exhibition.

Wed 16th. There’s something about the NEC. My last visit 7 years ago resulted in “Carpe Diem” and this visit……………………………………………………………………….WELL……………

             

25th October. Met up with Hannie, Sally and Andrew at Dubai airport without any problems. Dubai airport is quite something. BLING.BLING.BLING. accompanied by plenty of K-CHING!!!

26th October. On arrival at Colombo our driver was nowhere to be seem. A phone call to the office revealed that just at the moment of our call they had been advised that the van had broken down on the road and they were trying to arrange to send another one, they would call us back in 10 mins or at the most 15….. An hour later we were on the road!  Arrived at the Amaya Lake Resort following an interesting 4 hour drive. The resort is a bug complex of chalets by a large lake. It is beautifully appointed with very nice public spaces, friendly staff and a huge pool. Take a look at my suit!

        

Took at walk through the grounds in the afternoon and saw a pair of red wattled lapwings and heard though didn’t get a good look at many brown headed barbels, two hares, a foot long spiny chameleon and a wonderful cart pulled by two magnificent Brahmin Oxen. Ate a left over roll from the aircraft and went to bed at seven!

        

27th October. Up early and deliciously refreshed to try to get a good signal before everyone else hogs the broadband. Not having a lot of luck up-loading photos though. Will meet Hannie, Sally & Andy (H,S & A) at 8 for breakfast and we will decide what to do with our free day, the rest of the group do not arrive till later in the afternoon. Encountered a large monitor lizard on my way over to the breakfast room.

 

Rural Sri Lanka, as was to be expected,  looked much like rural India. Paddy fields, small villages and towns along the road with buildings in varying degrees of completion. However one thing that did strike me was that the women were predominantly dressed in western cloths. Somewhat drab by comparison with the colourful saris of Rajasthan.

The decision was to go to the Rock temple caves at Dambulla. Even though the group is going there tomorrow we thought that we might need more time than they would allocate to us. We hired a taxi and set off. It was not far away and it was good to find that the other “sights” that we should look at were at the same destination, the Golden Temple and the Art Museum. The Rock Temple was in fact a set of five caves in what looked like a sandstone outcrop and was accessed by a km worth of steps. Each cave was full of Budah’s in standing, seated or reclining positions. Some of them were very large. The decoration was colourful with even the ceilings painted in bright colours and a variety of designs. Had a good swim back at the hotel but couldn’t linger round the pool because of the Dengue fever causing daytime biting mosquitoes!

        

We met the group in the evening for the briefing and both they and the guides seem like a nice lot of people. We have a six O’clock wake up call.

28th October. Made an early start for the cycle to Lion Hill. This is the site of an ancient (9%th centuary) settlement. It was obviously well laid out with many pools and tanks. The whole area is surrounded by a big moat in which there are crocodiles. A second moat protects the interior. The top of the hill housed the king and his entourage. It is 500 m high more of less straight up with many, many steps. This vast and intricate complex was only inhabited for 18 years from laying the first foundation stone. The high light for me was the beautiful wet plaster frescos about half way up.

               

        

After a delicious lunch it was back to the hotel to freshen up before riding to the rock temples that we had visited yesterday. Hannie and I went along for the ride but did not climb the rock again. Instead we went to find an adapter for Sally and Andrew and buy some fruit. We had a very fast cycle back along dirt roads in the dark, very scary!

Lakeside sunset.

29th October, Big Bach. hoeing the rice paddy and our tea stop shop.

        

                  

29th October.  Another early start followed by a ride to the 900 year old ruined city of Polonnaruwa. Most of the visit took place in heavy showers so we were in and out of the bus. The ruins are mostly constructed of clay bricks and have remnants of plaster on some of the walls. They were probably formerly covered by frescos. The most impressive part of the site was a rock with three huge budas carved into it.

        

We had another delicious lunch and continued on to our hotel. Got to the hotel late and tired with no time to swim or explore the grounds. Had soup and a roll and went to bed for a really long and good sleep.The days cycle was 85k of which I did about 69. It is getting hillier.

30th October. The portion of the ride that I did today was really lovely. It followed a river that was flowing quite strongly and mudily along one side of the road and the road was mostly tree-lined giving some welcome shade. We stopped at a bakery mid morning and got to the hotel in time for a late lunch. The distance today was about 70k of which I did about 45k, getting into the bus before the serious hills started. The hotel for tonight is a recently opened guest farm which is beautifully appointed with huge room and good fittings and fixtures but which still somehow fails to escape that particularly Indian smell of untreated waste. We had a wonderful Biriyani for lunch and a couple of hours at leisure before visiting a spice garden. It was pouring when we got there and darkly overcast which somewhat inhibited the talk and the ability to see everything. After the garden walk we were given a lecture on the benefits of Ayurvedic medic in and all the wonderful products we would later be given the opportunity to buy! Then the best part was a neck, shoulder and head massage by some students to soften us up before we visited the shop!

The vegetable stall stop where Suresh identified veggies, demondtrated betel and instroduced the toothless old men with red mouths!

        

Jim’s Farm Guest House and the group with all the staff.

         

The spice garden and massage!

        

In the evening we went out to another hotel where the non premium group usually stays and had a cookery demonstration in the rather primitive kitchen. The meal was delicious again. Still pouring with rain, we are all hoping that it will be over by tomorrow.

        

31st October. We have a lie in this morning. 7.00 wake up call instead of 6.30! We started the day with an English breakfast then headed off into the hills. The rural scenery was pleasing and although the ride was tougher with the hills the pace was slower and we were able to enjoy the rural scene better. At one stop we provided entertainment for a number of school children and ultimately toffees courtesy of Monique.

        

  

I got into the bus 3k short of the hotel to avoid the really steep bit going into Kandy and was able to catch some of the group as they arrived at the entrance to the very smart hotel.        

        

In the evening we went to a cultural show of drumming, dancing  and fire eating. It was quite spectacular as was the storm that broke just as we arrived. The rain on the roof was so loud that we could hardly hear the drums. fortunately it had stopped by the time we headed back to the hotel after the show.

        

 

 

 

 

An amusing game was introduced to the group on the first day by two of the couples, Angie & Davis and Eve & Dave. It is called “Dick of the Day” and involves the whole group keeping their eyes out for funny things that happen to other members during the day. Whoever is voted most deserving gets to wear a head band with a pair of bats on it in black and purple with bling! Here are Dan and Sally who have both had that honor so far!

 

 

 

 

 

 

1st November.  We had a free day in Kandy today. After breakfast Sally, Andrew and I walked into town went to the ATM and managed to get the group photo printer for giving to Suresh at the end of the trip. From there we took a tuktuk ride to the Botanical Gardens which were really beautiful. There wasn’t a lot in flower but the trees were truly impressive. The toilets were plentiful and clean and the cafe served good and inexpensive food.