Not for the faint hearted

Gabrielle chats woman to man with Mr Lipton of tea bag fame.

It was lovely having some down time, especially knowing what today would bring. Another full-on day. So although it felt a bit of a cheat lounging around whilst on this tour, it was actually a welcome break.

We went early doors for dinner knowing we were going to be up early this morning. Dinner consisted of English for Nick and Sri Lankan for me. Well, I have been good for the last 24 hours, so felt it was time to get my spice fix again. We were serenaded by a couple of blokes singing and playing the guitar. As with our previous destinations it was a game of who could guess the song first. As per Nick’s previous post, you recognise something from a song you knew from years ago which was a hit. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve heard Lady in Red on this holiday. It seems to be a staple for the performing fraternity here.

Lights out by 10pm with a 6.30 alarm set for this morning. The spluttery one decided that perhaps he’d trot off to the bathroom to do his spluttering, so that I could get some sleep. What a gent. And sleeping I got. All 6 hours of it which was lovely. The bed we’ve had at The Argyle has been the best to date. Oh that we could stay here for the rest of the trip. However, it’s time to see some more of Sri Lanka.

I woke before the alarm in time to see the early morning mist over the hills, but by the time we’d breakfasted, the sun was already shining. Nick checked out the weather forecast and it looks as though we’re going to miss a week of rain. Our timing has been perfect then. It was hard again to get breakfast down us. I struggle eating so early, but know that travelling on an empty stomach makes me queasy, so it’s a case of forcing something down in preparation for the long and winding roads ahead of us.

It was a bit of an emotional departure. A gift for the ladies and all the staff lined up waving us off with promises for us to return. What a very special place. But of course, we have to move on and our first couple of brief stops were the Devon Falls, which we saw from a distance and looked very dramatic, followed by St Clare Falls which were fairly gentle.

The journey was again, long and winding. Watching the world go past us were elaborate Hindi shrines, the usual mania of the tuktuks, the dogs, the monkeys, the people wandering on the roadside just being missed by what ever overtakes them. We seem to learn a little more about the tea plantations each day and today’s piece of information was that the average tea plant lasts 40 years and is pruned every four years.

We stopped at Nuara Eliya at The Grand Hotel cafe which turned out to be the best coffee so far. Our stop wasn’t exactly what we were expecting, which on the itinerary said was to be an a la carte lunch. Ok so the reality was it was a take away lunch. We ordered what we wanted and then went for a walk around Nuara Eliya. Again, not quite what was on the agenda. We were due to have a guided tour of Nuara Elyia, it ended up being just have a snoop around on your own kids. If I’m honest, I was surprised at how unhassled we were. We visited the town’s pharmacy to stock up on essentials for Nick. More tissues, more paras, more cough sweets. I’d noticed at The Grand Hotel cafe and at the pharmacy that the process was to order at one counter, but then pay at another.

After Nuara Elyia, we came into leopard and black monkey territory. We saw the latter but not the former sadly. Maybe we’ll see a leopard on the safari. And so on to Haputale. Up and down tight hairpin bends and repeating the previous days of attempting to overtake slow lorries and buses on blind, white-lined bends. The scenery is utterly exquisite but there is simply no chance of taking pictures because the direction of travel is constantly charging. We finally got to Haputale and breathed a sigh of relief. I have no idea which way up my stomach was. And so on to our next transport. A Tuk tuk driven expertly by the very competent and considerate Sidu, up to Lipton Seat.

We coughed, spluttered, wheezed, lurched, weaved and avoided other vehicles our way up the 10km 6000 feet drive to Lipton Seat. At one point passing a candy floss stand. Seriously. Our driver was very careful and did his best to avoid the many potholes. We had the occasional photo opportunity stop which was a relief from the bone rattling transport. We tried to avoid looking down at the sheer drops with no hint of protection if your driver made a false move. As we progressed higher, the clouds rolled in and big splatters of rain started. We made it to Linton’s Seat in the dry, but as soon as we got in the shack, which turned out to be a cafe, the heavens opened. A proper downpour and our hope of seeing the amazing view, vanished.

There was much discussion from the staff at the cafe when we arrived and we were being pressured to eat the cafe food, but we already had food with us and if I’m honest, I could see into the make shift kitchen and although I’ve experienced worse, I didn’t fancy our chances of coming away without a dodgy stomach. In the end, we gave them 500Rs and the staff were all smiles and chatty thereafter.

We’re all pretty chilled on this trip and continue to go with Atulah’s advice which means the itinerary remains “advisory” or perhaps more a case of a “serving suggestion”. That means that when I read the itinerary for today, it largely involved an a la carte lunch at The Grand Hotel and stacks of driving, so I opted for a sun dress. The reality was as we snatched up a take away and then ventured into the hills, it was a good 15 degrees colder. Hey ho, being ever resourceful, I located my rain mac and made good use of it. Most of Haputale is dedicated to Lipton Tea and so the trip to Lipton’s Seat was to take in the amazing views (not so due to the rain and mist) and to have a photo opportunity with Sir Thomas J Lipton, who, in the late 1800s brought tea to the then Ceylon. When we arrived back down to Atulah, (shaken, not stirred) we were all cold and kept our jackets on.

We had a change to our hotel and are now staying at The Grand Beragala. It looks very new and sort of sparse. The poor lads had to carry our suitcases down a couple of flights of stairs as there is no lift. Once we were settled into our room, the lad returned to take our dinner order. Ok, no buffet meal tonight. Happy days. Sounding like an alcohol-dependency person, yet again, I asked if there was a bar, as the hotel looked rather too small for a bar. We were reassured we could order beer, wine and gin from the restaurant. This is a far cry from The Argyle, but the beauty is, we’re getting different experiences every day. And the beauty is the surroundings of this hotel and the constant churtle and chirrup from the many exotic birds. It is also noticeably more tropical.

This trip involves a huge amount of travel and although this is mentioned in the itinerary and the mileage actually isn’t great, it takes so long and is exhausting simply because of the constant bends and up and down hills. Today we’ve actually only done 90 KM, but it’s taken all day to get here. Nick has actually just fallen asleep in the middle of me talking to him. OMG, is it my scintillating conversation or is he just exhausted? And breathe. Over to you matey.