Our focus is back on the boating to get ready for the upcoming season. Part of the program is the haul out at the Royal Irish Yacht Club in Dún Laoghaire to get the underwater part of The Lady checked and maintained. I enjoy the team spirit and atmosphere of this Yacht Club with the oldest purposely build Club House in the world.
Fair winds…
After four weeks in Sri Lanka my brain is flooded from all the impressions and encounters gathered during this time. An intense injection, which will be lingering around for another few weeks.
Cycling on a decent bike through scenic landscapes with amazing local people offering delicious cuisine in a safe environment. That’s all a biker needs and it’s all here in Sri Lanka.
After a five year ban on foreign vehicle imports and more than two years of national bankruptcy, people are positively optimistic that living standards are on the rise. Happiness turns into political unrest at the point when fuel & food become unaffordable.
There is no better way to summarise this trip than quoting the elderly woman in her seventies, sitting at her very basic convenience store along the road and saying with a smiling face to me: My country, very nice!
Enjoyed each of the 800km and 10’000m climbing, including Adam’s Peak!
Fair winds…
The girls and boys were already on the road at a time when I still chased for a Uber tuktuk. It was 6:30am, hardly any traffic and time for me to pick-up the bike. It took 2min and an early bird tuktuk arrived!
Randeer, mechanic with golden hands, handed the bike back to me while Hinni insisted on a photo. Both brake pads and the front derailleur cable got replaced. Excellent job done.
We got a bike again, what a difference.
Fair winds…
After a lazy late breakfast I slowly got back into the saddle. While optimizing my seating position and minimizing the chafing, I rolled throught the centre of Negombo inhealing its maritime atmosphere for some final miles.
For me, the road north of Negombo is more picturesque compared to the southern stretch but nevertheless along the coastline and off the main traffic. The action is full on after passing the Kelani Ganga River. The chaos goes up with each further miles towards the city but everyone taking care of the other.
Hinni was already expecting me back. We agreed during my first visit to service the bike after the tour. Desperately needed now. The nearby living mechanic showed up prombtly and got straight onto the job. The service level in Sri Lanka can be extremly high and paired with a positive ‘yes, we can’ attitude, it makes travelling very easy and pleasant.
A tuktuk I booked via Uber took me and my luggage from Hinni’s place to the hotel. And shortly after I arrived, the first series of photos from the bike job came in on WhatsApp. Not a single screw untouched, cleaned, greased!
A new saddle is on order, otherwise ready for the next adventure!
It will come.
Fair winds…
My time in Negombo was split between hanging & strolling around, if not nesting & resting. The body asked for it, taking eight to nine hours of sleep, much more than usual. The culinary side once more got into the focus.
Fresh tuna was on my menu list for long but I was not attracted by what the various tourist restaurants’ offerings were showing off. My Hotel Rivinson was run by two young chaps, Sonal and Malith, both in their mid twenties, living their dream and extremely flexible and attentive, accommodating. But no dreamers, solid entrepreneurs, startuppers in neologism terminology. My dilemma got resolved. I bought the tuna fillets and they made a meal out of it. Well, I bought enough for two meals. Delicious, especially the tuna curry, where I learned about adding garcinia to keep the fish tender while boiling the curry, but not too long though, it will get a bit too sour…a new culinary world to me. I told them, that at their age I was just able to get a fried egg done! Impressive.
I like Negombo and if I get another chance I know where to stay my first night after landing. Negombo, a good balance of tradition & tourism.
Fair winds…
Madikale Resort was a very special homestay. Not only to mention the unique design and architecture situated in a small well maintained garden but also because of the couple taking care of it on behalf of the creative owner. Mr. Vickrama and his wife are keeping the standard of the house build into the nature at highest level, not easy in this climate.
Today‘s ride through the lowland became quite divers. Still some tea plantations but also cinnamon bushes, banana & coconut trees, paddy fields, etc. to name a few. Sri Lanka has huge variety of aromatic fruits & vegetables.
Papaya remains my favourite and not the first time I kept a sharp look-out during the final miles before my arrival point for the night. It was a simple table standing at the edge of the road, topped with an umbrella to protect the ten papayas under offer from the direct sunshine. For 150LKR a 1kg ready to cut papaya got into my rucksack while we kept chatting. It was suddenly, that he grabbed another papaya and wanted me to take it for free, good for the next day or two. I struggled a moment for words.
Finally, I politely declined and got reminded, that similar generosity was offered to me recently in Morocco. I moved on and gulped down the whole fruit upon arrival at my homestay for the night.
Not enough. While cruising along the road, a little boy in early school age heading towards me with some other family members got excited, which is normal to me by now. In this case he was eating, or better snacking, something from a small tray and suddenly stretched out his hand towards me asking me to try. I kept rolling and it happened all rather quickly. Therefore I am not sure what he offered but the gesture itself got somehow stuck in my throat until I could squeeze out a ‘Thank you” while I kept moving on.
Only seven days left.
Fair winds…
My accommodation in Nallathanniya was very basic, value for money not great. Even for myself, slightly adapted to local standards, there is a limit, which had been crossed. I thus got onto the road early to grab some of the incense sticks smell often around in the morning while riding through smaller villages.
With some pain left in the legs from yesterday’s hike, I was happy that today’s tour took me down from the highlands to the lowlands and almost all of the ride was therefore downhill. About 40km almost constantly on the brakes. Crazy. Corrugated tarmac mostly. From above the clouds to under the clouds. Hardcore.
It became another grey day and at one point in time I took shelter in one of the many convenience stores along these country roads. The magic drink for me at these places is the instant tea, made of the all-in-one-powder: tea, milk, sugar! In other words: The 3 in 1 instant tea mix. Delicious during an unplanned pit-stops. Not more. Served with style in a porcelain cup!
I am now back in the warm & humid climate. No sleeping back needed anymore. The aircon is back in the focus.
Fair winds…
Adam’s Peak put the scenery during my lovely buffet dinner at Yellow House Restaurant into a perfect surrounding. After compensating my calorie balance back to normal with the delicious local food, I stumbled home on still shaky legs.
Let‘s see how the biking will go tomorrow.
Fair winds…
