Galle, Sri Lanka
Dawn in the valley of Warwick Gardens is a quietly beautiful thing to behold, arising as we do for our early morning departure. There is dew on the grass and condensation on the windows but the clouds have cleared overnight and the sun dapples through the trees and illuminates the plantation below us.
A warming breakfast of porridge with honey from the hive and home-made strawberry jam warms us up, and Kingsley has had the heater in the car running for ten minutes as he's frozen to the core. We suspect he's only ever-used the air-con prior to this excursion.
The views as we descend from the Sri Lanka highlands and through the Talawakale region are even more incredible than yesterday, with the 281ft Devon Falls proving a particularly stunning cascade.
For 60km the road is formed of almost continuous hairpin bends through even more tea plantations and mountains. We spot Adam's Peak in the distance, rumoured by Christians and Muslims to have the footprint of Adam at its summit, causing Sri Lanka to be considered by some to be the Garden of Eden, although Buddhists maintain the naturally eroded piece of rock is the footprint of Buddha instead.
Adam's Peak is also said to be the starting point for the four main rivers of Sri Lanka including the Mahaweli to Kandy and the Kelani to Colombo, whose course we are following initially before heading south to the coast. The
Kelani is famous for white water rafting and was also used as the location for the 1957 film The Bridge On The River Kwai, starring Alec Guinness. After three hours on the road we stop for a cup of Ceylon tea in the village of Kitulgala, at the rest house where the cast and crew stayed while shooting. Their pictures adorn the walls by the toilets.
Once out of the mountains it's still a a long drive through the central plain before we hit the brand new motorway that will take us to Galle, our final destination in Sri Lanka. Finally the motorway ends when it meets the sea and connects with the old Galle Road that wends its way back to Colombo and would deliver us back to the very doors of Casa Colombo if we so chose.
As we drive along Marine Way towards the fortress walls of Galle's colonial heart, Kingsley explains that the entire area had been swept away by the Boxing Day tsunami ten years ago, which killed over 36,000 people in the Galle area alone. In fact one of our friends had been staying at a hotel inside the fort that day and chosen to linger over a coffee while other guests headed to the beach. The stone walls protected the UNESCO listed old town - and him - while all around was destroyed. Those fellow guests never returned from their morning swim...
Our hotel is also within the old town walls and named the Fort Printers, having previously been an old Dutch bank, a school and finally a printing press before its transformation into the hotel it is today.
Originally just five heritage-style rooms, since the tsunami the owners have gradually been given permission to extend into neighbouring buildings following very strict planning regulations to preserve the integrity of the structures, but creating a boutique interior of modern design involving floating staircases, polished concrete and the latest fittings.
We bid a fond farewell to Kingsley and are shown around by Peter, the manager, who originally hails from Serbia. Once familiarised with the unique layout and introduced to our room, the Church Suite complete with mosquito-netted bed, we take a late lunch in the small courtyard by a little pool under the shade of frangipani trees, and a short stroll of the neighbouring streets before unpacking our bags. We are staying here for four nights; the end (almost) of our epic touring schedule.
Following such an early start and a seven-hour drive we are both weary with fatigue but after a bath and stiff cocktail we force ourselves out of the tranquil environs of the hotel to have dinner in a bistro called Sugar within the newly restored Dutch Hospital complex, just a couple of streets away.
As we walk back to the Fort Printers we pass a busker murdering popular songs for tourists who sway and dance to his, at times, almost strangulated moaning. He even treats the assembled throng to a unique take on 'All About That Bass'.
What a small, but wonderful world!
