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The Portuguese, in the 17th century, hid their ships here and over time the harbour was taken by the Dutch, the French and the British. It was even bombed in 1942 by the Japanese and finally England gave it back to Sri Lanka in 1957. It is now dotted with expensive yachts.
Leaving the heat of the coastal lands behind we gradually climbed into the hills where the temperature was a fair bit cooler. Being overcast helped a lot with the heat until it rained, and boy did it rain! It rained so hard the drains overflowed in less than ten minutes. We stopped for shelter as water was teeming across the road and made it just that bit more dangerous riding the twisties. The rain only lasted about twenty minutes, before we were away again.
Climbing the mountains cornering carefully, as who knows what or who is around the other side, or on my side of the road! Those that have ridden in Asia will totally understand what that means: cows, dogs, goats, kids, chickens, people, machinery, landslides, potholes, you name it, you will see it! Turn after turn after turn we continued to meander through the jungle. The roads remained wet and slippery until we reached Corbet’ s Pass, which would have to be the windiest place on earth, nearly blowing my bike over! It sits right on the edge of the spectacular Knuckles National Park, a popular spot for hikers if you want to get eaten alive by leeches, that is.
Reaching Meemure, at the end of a narrow road, I was able to see how the village harvests rice using water buffalo and pitch forks. The buffalo break the seeds from the stalks by walking on them, then the farmers separate the stalk using the pitch forks leaving only the grain behind.
The Signal rock is used by ships to ping signals off, we were nowhere near the ocean, but given its size, I can see how this would work. Ducking and weaving back through the jungle to our accommodation Corbet’ s rest, a warm shower and a home cooked Sri Lankan dinner was the perfect end to a perfect day in a landscape that feels like Jurassic Park! It is simply stunning here.
After spending the night deep in the jungle on the edge of Knuckles, I didn’ t want to leave the beautiful mountains in a hurry, so instead of being on the bikes at 8.30 I was fortunate to hang around for another 40 minutes, just sitting on a log taking it all in, listening to the birds and the monkeys, watching the clouds float over the sky with the early morning warmth from the sun on my face, it is one moment in time I did not want to end and a moment I will not forget.
I noticed eucalypts on the mountain opposite me and like India
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