Well we’ve not got very far today! Moored up just outside Poynton – so only managed about 5 miles ( 2 hour) had to keep pulling over to shelter from the very heavy rain and thunderstorms! This is June you know!!!

Anyway, in the periods period between the downpours it was actually quite nice.

Not too much to report, we managed a dog walk, a Skype with the Canadian contingency and we watched the final episode of Homecoming season one. All in all a fairly quiet day. Just about to take dogs out again and then we may pop in to the Bulls Head pub for a quick one ( or two)!

Hoping for a drier day tomorrow 😜

Moored up in Bollington along the aqueduct, never seen it this empty before(must have know we were coming). Arrived a bit late due to a rather large and wet downpour, we had to moor up whilst it past. A trip to the local Co-Op, then a dog walk along the towpath whilst Neen did her Vat returns 🤨. Will see what the weather brings tomorrow before we decide where to head to next.

Well since we got back from Sri Lanka last November – we’ve been very busy with work ( well work for me..not for Gregg, he’s retired!) and with family. Christmas was especially busy, we rented a big house in Leek and had all our family come to stay – all except our Canadian contingency unfortunately couldn’t make it.

Then after the Christmas celebrations it was all go for our winter trip to the Yukon.

We had an awesome time visiting our Son, Daughter-in-law and beautiful granddaughter, Harriet. But shamefully we neglected to update our blog! So I’m including just a couple of pics to give you just a flavour of how awesome the Yukon is in the winter!

So now we are back 100% to keeping our blog updated.

Our next big trip is in 2 weeks time when we’re heading off to Australia to join our other son, daughter-in-law and 2 more gorgeous grandchildren for a bit of a road trip. Watch this space for more updates!!

Meanwhile, we’re on a pre- trip trip on our trust narrowboat, Speckled Hen heading up the Macclesfield canal to the Peak forest canal and Bugsworth basin.

Alarm goes off in the middle of the night, 4.00A bleeding M !!!!!!!!!!!

Its like being back in the 70’s and 80’s sailing around the world with BP on the 4 – 8 doom watch.

Due to the location of the hotel and chalets, during the hours of darkness we have to be chaperoned by a member of staff within the grounds (its in a game park). Our guide for this morning (its still dark) arrives at 4.20am to escort us to reception to meet Lakmal. Be careful where you walk he says, looking around all we can see our broken branches strewn all over the ground, and a huge pile of………..  Elephant dung …………… right in the middle of the path. You had a visitor in the night says our guide. So that’s what woke me in the night mutters Neen.

 

We met Lakmal at the reception and drove about 45 minutes to meet our Jeep.  There were hundreds of jeeps all lined up ready to take tourists through zone 5 of Yala National Park.

Zones 1 and 2 were closed during October so it made the remaining zones much busier than normal.  That’s probably why we didn’t see very much – all the animals were likely hiding in the closed zones where it was quiet! (and who could blame them!) – it was a bit of a shock really seeing such a large scale tourist operation.  We were quite lucky really we had a jeep to ourselves (most were shared by eight or ten people). Lakmal sat in the front with the driver ad managed to persuade a ‘tracker’ to join us for the trip.  The tracker is an expert guide so we were quite privileged, although we were advised to give him a large tip at the end of the trip!!

 

It turns out our tracker was very knowledgeable so although we didn’t see many big animals (no leopards or elephants) we saw a variety of birds, several species of deer and a couple of baby crocs. Oh, and of course the Sri Lankan national bird (which they all get very excited about) – a chicken!!

 

 

We  also saw an enormous wasps nest – apparently 7 stings from these wasps is equivalent to the toxin from a cobra bite!

 

At the end of the trip we paid our big tip to the tracker and headed back to the jeep car park. A couple of the jeep drivers were animatedly talking on mobile phones and after a few minutes we were instructed to get back in the jeep.  A couple of elephants had been sighted on the main road – outside of the National park.  So 10 minutes later we arrived just in time to see an elephant munching away on bananas and apples in the middle of the road.  Apparently it had stuck it’s trunk into a poor unsuspecting tuk tuk family and nicked the contents of their picnic.  It was an awesome sight! We passed by quite close and then turned round to pass again.  I remembered that I had an apple in my breakfast box – so after asking the driver if it would be ok I offered my apple to the elephant as we passed.  I just held my hand out and the great beast gently took the apple with his trunk and popped it straight in his mouth – such a fabulous experience!

 

As we had left so early in the morning we still had a lot of the day left when we got back to Cinnamon Wild, so we set off for a walk along the beach that bordered the hotel.  A beautiful beach! It was a bit disconcerting that we saw leopard prints in the sand!  A leopard had been reported in the grounds of the hotel just half an hour earlier Eek!

 

 

The rest of the day was spent by the pool – lounging around and watching the resident wild boar family foraging in the grounds just behind our sunbeds  and the water buffalo wallowing in the nearby lagoon.

 

It’s a hard life!!!

 

Not such an early start this morning. Lakmal wanted to meet up with us at 8am but we managed to negotiate am 8.30 start – getting good at this bartering milarky🤣.

Forgot to mention yesterday that because it is considered ‘ cold’ in the mountainous areas of the tea plantations, we had a fire on our room !!!

Down to reception to book out, have you got the keycard ? asked the receptionist. No says I, left it in the room. Oh Bugger…………. I’ve left my jacket in there as well. So whilst I settle up, Neen goes back to the room with a member of staff to retrieve the keycard and jacket. Five minutes later she returns with the jacket, passports, three shirts, two cardigans, one dress and the tea we bought yesterday. I blame it on the curry we had for breakfast. So finally we make it to the car, the drive this morning was full of variety. Just a few minutes away from our luxurious hotel we found ourselves in a real slum area. It was quite a shock to see dogs and people rooting through rubbish just strewn over the road.

The scenery though was amazing. Its such a beautiful country with very rich resources – such a shame there is so much corruption and poverty.

We continued on to Ella, a very popular tourist destination- particularly for backpackers.

We stopped at a hotel ‘ the View’ ….and it certainly was – below is the view from the urinals ( taken by Gregg, of course!).

After a quick coffee at the View we wondered down to Ravana Ella Falls. Definitely a tourist attraction- there were coaches and tuck tuks parked everywhere! An awesome sight though.

 

We got chatting to a Sri Lankan guy who is currently working in a hotel in Birmingham, UK! He was home visiting for a couple of weeks – and was a massive Manchester City fan!!🤣

We felt as though we’d had very little time to relax since we arrived in Sri Lanka so we asked Lakmal if we could just go straight to the Yala hotel so we could spend a couple of hours in the pool.

We arrived at Cinnamon Wild hotel, Yala around 2pm. Checked into our amazing jungle lodge and spent the rest of the afternoon lazing round the amazing pool. Looking out over the water buffalo, crocodiles and wild boar in the adjacent lagoon.

Dinner in the evening was very romantic. Gregg had reserved a table on the restaurant balcony overlooking the pool – of course we had curry😛.

When we got back to our lodge we sat out for a while just listening to the rain and watching the lightening.

 

 

Whilst at the hotel, we were asked, “would you like to try a bit of a hike tomorrow, how far we asked, ” about 9km, to Horton Plain, with worlds end thrown in” was the reply. Sounds good to us we replied, what time? about 9.00am? We will meet you in reception at 5.30AM………….  Some times I hate being on holiday…….

We actually make it to reception for 5.30am, still dark, to early for breakfast, so a breakfast picnic was ready for our departure. Into the ‘Jeep’ (not really, more of an SUV!) , then off we go towards Horton Plains National Park for a day of walking , Nuwara Eliya is 6,200″ above sea level, we are now speeding up to 7400″ and these roads are even worse. Horton Plains is the only National Park in Sri Lanka where you can walk, and again the narrow road was littered with hairpin bends. Saw a fabulous sun rise on the way (not usually awake for those 😀 ).

After paying our entry fee, and on route to the car park we came across a few other vehicles all pulled over on the side of the road, we had just missed a sighting of a Leopard (bugger) but we were treated to a close up of some Samber deer.

Once at the park gate we had the obligatory bag search and then set off on a 9km set route. It was quite wet underfoot as it had rained a lot overnight, and it was fairly rocky in places but we were glad to be out doing some exercise after all the car travel. It was a circular route which we decided to do anticlockwise (just to be different :-D). Our first major point of interest was Baker Falls – a spectacular waterfall, named after a British explorer Sir Samuel Baker. The falls are 20m high.

Further along the walk we came to World’s End – wow!!! This took our breath away – it’s a sheer cliff with a drop of 4000ft!! It was completely in cloud but every now and again the cloud cleared and the views were stunning. You truly feel that you’re sitting on the end of the world.

About 1km further on we came to little world’s end – this cliff face has a smaller drop (about 1000ft) but it’s still stunning!

At the end of our walk we treated ourselves to a cup of tea (coffee for Gregg) and hopped back into the ‘jeep’ for the ride back to the hotel. As we were driving back down the mountain at another enevitable hairpin bend, a family of monkeys were sat at the side of the road and up a tree, Purple faced varity, chucked the last of our fruit from our breakfast picnic out of the window for them to enjoy.

On the way back we had to cross over a railway line at Pattipola station, the highest station in Sri Lanka (1891m above sea level) – there was a train stopped at the station so we jumped out of the jeep for a look and to take some photos. It turns out that the train had broken down and was going nowhere for the time being – so everyone had piled off the train and were just milling around the station – it was like a scene from the movies! We got talking to a guy from Australia who had been travelling around Sri Lanka for the last 2 months – he’d even bought himself a second hand tuk tuk. He gave us some great tips on what to see and where to go.

It was mentioned that there was a train due going the other way so we decided to hop on for a few stops and our driver kindly agreed to meet us 3 stations down the track. We passed through Ambewela, Perakumpura finally stopping at Nanu-oya It was an awesome experience! We stood in the doorway with the doors wide open – hanging on for dear life 🙂 and just taking in the passing views of everyday life in this wonderful country.

We met up with Lakmal later on in the afternoon to visit the tea factory. We were given a guided tour of the factory – very interesting! Unfortunately we weren’t able to see the machines working as all the rolling in the factory is done at night, when it’s cooler.

We were then treated to a cup of their best tea – Orange Picah – and a piece of cake which Lakmal had picked up on the way (yum). Gregg is still not converted to tea drinking – but at least he gave it a go.

Back to the hotel for dinner and a few drinks.

Met Lachman our guide at 9.00am this morning suitcase’s in the boot then off to see the Bhudha Tooth Relic. An experience not to be missed, unless you turn your cameras on for the first time that day, take that first picture only for the camera to throw a wobbler and come up with error code 0x57. Which basicaly means “throw camera in bin”. With it being Sunday most of the people seemed to be Sri Lankan, a pleasant walk, after having to queue up separately to get in. (Neen had to queue up separately with the women)

through the grounds to get our entrance tickets, couldn’t go into the summer palace (ladies bathing area) as it was under renovation. 1st stop drop our shoes off at the shoe depository (foreigners section) up the steps though the tuskers entrance. This is where the sacred elephant takes a replica of the casket that holds the copy of the Bhudha’s tooth to the annual parade from Esala to Kandy (it’s a complicated tale). Then into the temple hall with 2 drummers, a bazoky player and a chanter.

We attempted to follow our guide through the hall up more steps through a throng of worshippers, but if you leave a millimeter gap, there’s 10 more people in front of you.

Lots were carrying packages to offer to the monks, which contained a robe (there’s a couple of bits to it) a piece of cloth to strain water through, a bowl and a razor, because the
monks cant buy anything for themselves. We made it in one piece into the upper level which housed the relic behind a big gold door, they only allow a few devotee’s in to see the outer case (there are 6 I think), when we eventually caught up with Lacman he got us to stand across the hall from the gold door. More and more people were pouring into the hall that we got pressed further and further back,
after 15 minutes suddenly the door opened, and the place erupted, everybody wanted to see inside the room and catch a glimpse of the relic. We were moved around the hall, from one side to the next with absolutely no control of own movements, it wasn’t scary, a tad exhilarating to tell the truth, but to see the look of awe and wonder on everybody’s face is something we will remember for some
time.

Once the door shut the place emptied almost immediately, we made our way back to the ground floor and into another temple with the story of the Bhudha and his tooth around the outer walls above 12 bhudha statues.

A little tip from me…… DON’T TOUCH THE MARBLE BHUDHA’S….. it was like I had tried to remove the crown jewels from the tower of London. But that pales into insignificance if you take a selfie of you in front of the shrine. You have been warned. Finally onto the Octagon Shrine room, which housed another Bhudha but also had a collection of 1000 year old writings on palm leaves, “NO TAKE PICTURES” it wasn’t me, but I still jumped, turned around and some poor sod of a tourist was gibbering in the corner trying to hide
his camera. Upon retrieving our shoes (for a small donation) we made it out to the Queens Hotel for a coffee and banana cake. A wander around the area (had a look in a camera shop, no cheaper than at home, so a clip on lens for my phone was aquired), then to the Botanical Gardens. We parked about a mile away (next to the gem factory) and jumped in a tuk tuk, what a great way to get around the city.

A pleasant walk through the gardens including the orchid house, the gardens were originaly
planted by one of the Sri Lankan kings, but once the Empire got their hands on it they planted half the plants from jolly England don’t you know. Our tuk tuk awaited us and whisked us back to the car where we were once again accosted by the fiendish gem salesman (he got the hint this time). Next
off to the wood factory were they carve some beautiful pieces of furniture and carvings, funnily enough all for sale and for export. Needlessly to say we declined all offers and walked out with a wooden mask carving, that came apart so it would convienently fit into a suitcase. After all this we needed a spot of lunch, so a request for something simple cheap and authentic was delivered in full. DJ’s Restaurant not far away down a few back roads. We had chicken curry and rice, it came with sambol (coconut relish), coconut flower, dahl, potato curry, beetroot curry, and the best popadoms I have ever tasted. The meal was THE best curry I have ever had, with a beer each £10. If anyone goes to Kandy, you have to eat there. There is no menu, whatever they are cooking thats what you get. Brilliant.

Now for the drive out of Kandy to head to Little England, Nuwara Eliya. The drive out of the city was its usual hope for the best experience, then we started heading uphill, the road narrowed, the day turned to night, the monsoon hit, the windscreen was a greasy mess, windscreen wipes shite and our driver couldn’t see if any cars coming the other way with headlights on. The road got worse, no
straight section of road more than 50 yards with hairpins bends…… Then the cloud came down and no one could see F*** all. Our driver had main beam on the whole time which made it even worse. Every bend we went round we ended up on the wrong side of the road near to the barriers. This carried on for another 1 ½ hours. This is officially the worst drive I have ever encountered EVER. When we eventually arrived at the Blackpool Hotel (doesn’t have a pier or a tower), we couldn’t get out of the car quick enough, dropped bags in room then went directly without passing go to the bar.
What a day.

Early start this morning, breakfast at 6.45a bleeding m. Don’t these people know I’m retired. No curry this morning, we decided to try an Egg Hopper. Very tasty….. rice flour made into a batter (like a pancake mix) cooked in a bowl shaped pan, then an egg goes in with plenty of seasoning AND chilli’s so its not technically a curry. Will defo have these again. Meet our driver in the lobby along with another 100 people, (about half in two big coaches with a couple of Police officers, Police escort said I jokingly) off to watch the cricket at the Pallekele International Cricket Stadium. A drive of just over an hour through the most amazingly bizarre traffic, dodging every mode of transport (except trains) plus thousands of the same dog, every dog looks identical, and wander into the road at every opportunity, or just lay down on which ever part of the road takes their fancy. Either all the drivers manage to avoid them or there is a great trade in road kill.

Arrive at the stadium safe and sound, short walk in and find our seats, excellent view, 5 rows up from the field and watch the players warming up.

Sri Lanka bat 1st, band behind us, beer tent nearby, cloudy but warm, let the games commence. , Naser spotted in the sky studio

but a bit of a slow match, brightened by the Lion mascot. I was always ready to take that stunning catch in the crowd, but alas not one of the batsmen was good enough to hit a six in the right area. Sri Lanka ended up on 273/7.

England to bat next, the crowd went ballistic every time Malinga the slinger came on to bowl. the rain came down, it rained heavily, it absolutely pi**ed it down at about 4.00pm and that was the end of play, England win by 18 runs D/L. So a rummage in the backpack, no umbrella, raincoats but no umbrella. Only option, leg it, but whereas before there was roads and tracks and pavements, there was now only torrential rivers. But we were brave and made it to the car park. found the car………..No driver…… BUGGER. Luckily after 10 minutes he arrived carrying a couple of brollies (he had been trying to find us) ah well.

Into the car and ready for the manic trip back to the hotel, about half a mile up the road, a Police motorcyclist ( a Honda 125 with flashing lights and sirens) goes past us, the pillion Bobby wearing a normal cap  with huge white gloves waves all the vehicle to the side of the road, then the 2 coaches from our hotel follow then through, hazards lights a flashing. Follow them coaches says I to the driver. so on go the hazards and an even move terrifying journey commences through the streets of Kandy. But it only took us 30 minutes this time. It appears you can hire the police for blues and twos escorts. You couldn’t dream this up. I think Terry Pratchet must have visited at some point.

Scoff in the hotel (Crab curry) then a drink in the bar, watching the barman put together and serve a Bong or two,

then back to the room to complete the blog.

Up early this morning after a great nights kip. Neen got up sat outside whilst she filled the hot tub on our veranda. As she started the day in a very leisurely manner having an early morning soak, it took me a while longer. It seems the dreaded lurgy has followed us out and got me on the plane. It seems I now have a sore throat and a cough (the curse strikes again).

 

Down for breakfast, huge choice,including eggs, bacon sausage, beans, mushrooms, toast. But started the day with a some fruit (I know that’s a bit strange for me) then……..

Fish curry, coconut rice and flat bread. A belter of a choice.

At reception for 08.30am for our driver, Lachlan (possible spelling error). Then out into the morning traffic, its not so much as driving as barging your way along. We are supposed to drive on the correct side of the road (The Left) but this seems to optional as is the speed limit, zebra crossings, traffic light etc.

1st stop chemist, then cashew stall at the side of the road then onto the Pinnawala Elephant sanctuary, half way to Kandy, get taken to the front of the queue then our own personal guide. A bit of a chat on elephants(they are all rescued domesticated animals that are looked after for the rest of their life) then all aboard, no seats or anything so grand, a canvas sheet the scramble on, grab hold of a bit of rope and off we go. Health and safety….. my arse. My god its uncomfortable, elephants are really boney. There are no saddles or seats just sheet then elephant (not done for the tourists comfort but all for the elephant) a good laugh wobbling along then down for a bath and scub in the river, our elephant really seemed to enjoy it, he even blew bubbles. Our ride was the only one on site that was wearing chains, its explained that the only reason was it kept getting horny and would run into the road or through houses and over cars when it got the urge. They where removed when the testosterone levels decreased. A look through their museum (ish) than back in the car with our personal driver and guide.

 

Next to the Spice Gardens of Mawanella, looking forward to all the spices that go to make up the fantastic food, interesting but all about the medicinal properties. We had sandallwood oils rubbed on our faces, aloe vera extract (with other bits) on our heads for a head massage which was actually very good, then finally red oil ???? back massage, also very good. Then into     THE SHOP.  Not telling you how much we paid for 3 items, but obviously had mugs stitched into our foreheads, (also me cocking up the conversion in my head X 10) Lesson learnt (or so I thought).

 

Motoring through the villages then a sudden swerve to the left and pull up next to a fruit stall, a king coconut and a red banana each, then back on the road to Kandy. A holy buddhist tree was next, actually building around the tree. Stopped on the outskirts of <Kandy for a spot of lunch, another great selection of scoff, thought I would try something different, so had a beef curry, fantastic. Into a clothes shop downstairs, shirt for me and someone had to try on a sari.

There was a Sapphire gem factory next door which we popped into for a look. Boss man saw Neens rings and must have thought we had money. They cleaned her engagement and eternity rings then we were whipped down to their gem cutting workshops, there must have been a few million quids worth lying around. Next minute we are seated in a very plush room and tea, coffee and wine were on the table, help your self he booms. within milliseconds there are trays and trays of beautiful sapphire’s spread out in front of us. 45 minutes later we emerged battered and bruised from an intense sales pitch for jewelry , we finally managed to get him to realise that we weren’t bartering, but actually didn’t have the dosh.

We made it into the car somewhat stunned, then into Kandy it self in the rush hour. the traffic was F**KING MANIC. How they could fit that many cars, lorries, buses, tuk tuks and scooters onto one road at the same time is a sight to behold (and block out at the same time) our driver asked if either of us wanted to sit in the front……..NNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO….. It was too scary even to take a photo.

 

Finally made it to the hotel in one piece (in body only, mind scarred for life). Settled into our new suite for the next 2 nights, a stroll down for diner for a nice bottle of vino and a few Lions and another brilliant curry. This is a first for us both, curry for every meal. (I could get used to this).

|Internet too slow to add many pics so will put some more up tomorrow