New Year's Resolution

[Digger]

Gotta get out more.

Watch this space...

[_Wilks]

Yep, you've been parked up on the couch a bit long.

[Digger]

G'Day Slackers...

New Year; New Adventures.

This one will have me and my son, Trevor, cycling around Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon). Depart on 9th January and SPOT Tracker activated from the 11th. Initially heading South and following the coastline for a few days. Gotto be home in time to attend the BMW Safari so should return around mid/late Feb.



SPOT Link is here;
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/face ... UCtYLNPufa

So much to do...

[Cookie]

Sounds great, I look forward to another series of amazing photos and video.

Will you be a Cats on Sunday? if so see you there, if not have a safe and fantastic ride.

[Digger]

We are a few days into our ride and things are progressing smoothly enough.



My new ‘do’ for 2018...Trevor and I look like a couple of bookends lol. Just about to check in at Perth International Airport.




When I was assembling the bikes, I noticed a broken bit in the bottom of the box. It took me a little while to figure out where it was from. This is the bike inverted with the front wheel removed (front wheel has to come off for shipping in the box to allow it to fit).



The front wheel still fits but I’ll have to make sure the axle is done up real tight. No wheelies on this trip. The baggage handlers must have dropped the box from a height for this to happen. Not impressed.

[Digger]

We stayed at Negombo which is the nearest commercial centre near the airport.Trev likes his creature comforts so I like to spoil him. Misery Road is not far away.



Spent the day getting orientated and looking around...typical scene along the coast with fish drying in the sun.



The Dutch ruled Sri Lanka after taking it from the Portuguese which is a common story around this part of the world at the time. This was part of an old Dutch fort which is now converted to Sri Lankas major prison.

[Digger]

The people are friendly enough...sometimes too friendly. All they want to do is chat while you’re riding which makes it hard to focus on what is happening around you. Here, Trevor is having a discussion with a Tuk Tuk driver while inbound to the nations Caoital, Colombo.



This is just South of their Capital...the train line runs between the main highway and the ocean. During the 2004 Tsunami, a passenger train was swept off the tracks and carried inland for 1 km. 1,700 holiday makers lost their lives. 33,000 Sri Lankan’s died during the tsunami.



For years, I’ve been promising Trevor ‘palm trees and beaches’ and all he’s ever seen is dirt and misery. This time, I might be able to keep my end of the bargain. This was end of day one just south of their Capital.

[Kots]

No DNA test required! Safe travels.

[Digger]

Using MapsMe App, we are able to avoid some major arterial roads making the journey a little more relaxed and stress free. The rail network seems in better shape than in Myanmar where I experienced a train derailment last year. This is not narrow gauge like it was in Myanmar which was still using British era infrastructure.




There are still times when you must navigate busy commercial centres....me trying to fight my way thru early morning traffic.




Sometimes, the App chooses tracks that are less then ideal. We choose whether we want to take them or not. You don’t get this on no package tour.

[Digger]

This is typical of the route selected by the App. You can deviate from the route at any time and head for the nearest main road if you want to make up time. This picture shows the reverse route...we are heading south.



We had a rest day in Galle where this a heritage listed UNESCO site....a fort complex dating back hundreds of years originally built by the Portuguese and later expanded on by the Dutch. It is a huge site with a small town within its boundary.



Another view from within the fort

[Digger]

I missed a turn and the App updated automatically which led us to this track....we chose to continue.



“Let’s go for a ride” he said. “It will be fun” he said. “What could possibly wrong” he said. The track deteriorated quickly and became muddy from earlier thunderstorms. Thankfully it was only for about 1500 metres before it went back to a sealed road.



Trevor enjoying his first coconut experience....when in Rome.

Distance covered to date - 288km.
SPOT Link is here;
http://share.findmespot.com/shared/face ... UCtYLNPufa

NB.
WIFI is painfully slow in this country...

[KoosWA]

Thank you for the update. Looks great. Is it less hectic than the Asia rides?

PS - I also purchased a Giant Talon 2nd hand, great bike. Will add more bits for touring.

[Digger]

. Looks great. Is it less hectic than the Asia rides?
.

Very similar in a lot of ways although this time we are covering less distance daily as Trevor has more time in country

[Digger]

We found ourselves in another seaside town and occupied a former jail for the night. My guess is there would’ve been 30 prisoners to a cell ‘back in the day’. Would have been very demoralising for them to be able to hear the waves crashing so close to where they were doin’ time.



There has been a lot of investment in infrastructure in the far south of the country but I am at a loss to explain why. There is a second international airport there that nobody uses and we had the roads to ourselves for a while.



Another night...another relatively deserted beach.
There was a ‘save the turtles’ eco voluntary group nearby who run tours at 8pm nightly but we chose to give it a miss.

[Digger]

We had to leave the coastline and head north to ride around the perimeter of a large national park (NP). We then encountered some ‘rolling country’. Here, Trevor in cresting over a hill on a minor backroad.



We had no choice but to ride thru part of the NP which was a bit tense as they have Safaris go thru for tourists to watch the animals in their native environment. Thankfully, this bird life offered little threat to us.



This is why we were a little concerned...there is a Bull Elephant who acts as gate keeper and stands in the middle of the road demanding payment (usually fruit). I did not know how we were goin’to get around that one. Thankfully, he must have been on a break cause we didn’t see him.