April 13, 2025
Cycle day 19 - Anuradhapura to Dambulla
Anuradhapura to Dambulla = 74km (Total distance on this trip so far = 1230km)
Weather= Low of 24 with a high of 32 degrees. Another south westerly wind today about 20-25kph. This wind will be with us until Kandy and then it looks like it is abating while we are in the mountains!
Accommodation= Yashumi Homestay = 4840 rupees ($26.00 AUD)
We can feel it in the legs today – not the Quads but more in the calf muscles from all that walking (for Neil) and elephant rampaging (for me) in bare feet while at the temples yesterday! But they soon loosened up. We were back on the main highway to Kurengala for about 15km and then we turned onto a B road at Talawa and headed acrossto Kekirawa and then down to Dambulla on the main highway again.
The B road was busier than we anticipated but it had a narrow shoulder to ride in and although the traffic was constant it was a very pleasant ride. Lots of little towns and villages along here.
I have said before that we have alot of people pull up alongside us and chat well today we had a father and daughter chat to Neil and invited us for a cuppa tea at their place in Eppawala. Neil was a little sceptical at first but said yes. And as it turned out, despite the language barrier, it was a pleasant cuppa tea and goodies as well! Not sure what we were eating but they were sweet and lovely. One had a peanut taste and they googled it and found the English name was green beans. And the other treat was like a deep fried pastry that was very hard and crunchy which was nice too – possibly using chickpea flour as I could taste chickpea.
So the family consisted of husband and wife with a 10 year old and 7 month old girls and the husbands mum – who I have to say I would consider is very laid back for a mature aged Sri Lankan woman. Not that I have spoken or met many but she was very approachable to us! She understood English ok but not necessarily could speak it enough to be understood.
So we stopped for about 30 mins and then pressed on. Due to the nature of this B road which consisted of jungle either side of the road and these massive trees that over hung the road we didn't really notice the wind that much. Or the sun due to these trees! Once under them they have these massively long branches that will go over the entire road and cover it with shade
Heaps of people out and about driving and visiting between towns and so the roadside was crowded with little market stalls everywhere and selling absolutely everything and anything. It is like being on a never ending Kmart store when riding these roads!
Clothing is very popular – there is always someone who has forgotten to bring their sarong for when visiting the temple! Or they decide they need a new dress especially for visiting the temple. But my favourite ones to look at as I ride past are the broom ones – people here love to sweep and they will sweep anything -outside their door step, their driveway, inside the house, the porch and even the roadside if you are a shop owner and each particular spot has a special broom for it! Love it!
It is hot and when we get to Kekirawa we were suppose to have a cuppa tea but Neil stops and turns to me and says – do you want a cuppa tea or ice cream! I say we have already had a cuppa and since you mention ice cream I assume that is what you want! I didn't realise that Neil had planned this stop across the road from Cargills – our ice cream suermarket! So we grab an extra bottle of water and a small tub of chocolate ice cream, found an empty spot on the roadside under a tree and sat there eating our ice cream! We are the only people that stop and eat on the side of the road, everyone else finds a place that is an actual eating spot/cafe/shop!
Dambulla is another busy town and riding through it is busy but no where like it was in Anuradhapura! The shops are all open and there is a hive of activity with last minute grabs of fireworks and food for tonights new years celebrations. Crackers have been going all day – teenage boys just couldn't wait to let the crackers off and had begun early today!
At the southern end of town is a famous ancient temple – not sure which one but there were alot of foreigners out and about waiting outside it. We can see a small group of teenage girls not exactly appropriately dressed for visiting a temple and they are waiting outside the gate and we assume they cannot go in as they are not covered enough!
We find out accomodation which is quite a way out of town and we will have to ride back in for dinner – yeah Neil chose this one by himself and I didn’t check it. It is just a standard double room and when we get there we see it doesn't have a ceiling fan instead it has a wall mounted pedestal type fan which won't cool a closet so the room heated up once we got back from dinner, so much that it was unbearable so we asked the host if we could change our booking to an airconditioned one, they were obliging! Ah it is way more pleasant now in the room! Without it it is like being in a tent up in Darwin at night with the residual heat coming up of the ground and through the thermarest that outside it is 28 degrees but in the tent it is about 40 degrees – that is what it is like with this room without that airconditioner. So Neil has learnt a valuable lesson – get the airconditioner or make sure in the photos you can see a ceiling fan. Ceiling fans are good for sleeping at night!
Tomorrow we get to Kandy and will stay there for 2 nights. We are booked into a hostel! A youth one at that! But not affiliated with the YHA but looking at the photos (yes I assisted Neil in tomorrows accommodation choice) it certainly doesn't look like a typical hostel. But it remains to be seen. There are lots of choices in Kandy but we need to be near eating, supermarket and be able to put the bikes somewhere. Alot of places don't have that and have a street frontage and no locked yard. This one is above a dentist! But we can bring the bikes up – fortunately we don't have the trailers with us!!!
Today's ride: 74 km (46 miles)
Total: 370 km (230 miles)
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