This is our last blog posting for the trip. We can't believe that our 11 months away has come to an end. We have just spent the morning dismantling the bikes and packing them back into the boxes. (These are the same 'quality' boxes that Alastair sourced for us in Vancouver and which have already survived three flights, several taxis and 5 months of storage in different places.) The last couple of weeks saw us cumatively ascend over 3,000m. On leaving the last of...

We are loving the cycling in Sri Lanka now that we have regained our cycling muscles but it is extremely sweaty work in the high humidity and temperatures of 30°+. Thankfully assembling the bikes after 3 months in boxes went smoothly even if the gearing could do with a professional touch (unavailable here - we did try - 99.9% of bikes have just 1 gear). We started out taking the bikes on the slowest of train journeys from Negombo 100kms north to Puttalam. From ...

Thirty-six hours before our flight from Bangkok to Sri Lanka we both went down with this trip's first attack of belly problems. Thankfully the worst of the action had stopped by the time we had to leave for the airport. Christmas in Sri Lanka was a wash out! We were in Negombo, a somewhat scruffy but characterful beach town north of the capital Colombo. But the rain didn't deter the kids and their firecrackers at midnight; apparently there are lots of accidents ...