We set off with Hashan at about 10.30 am on the road to Nuwara Eliya, up in the hills. The road was narrow and very busy with lots of crazy drivers and we soon realised that, in Sri Lanka, the distance in miles may be short but the distance in time will be much, much longer than that!

The road twisted and turned through many small villages. Small shops and stalls lined the road, and everywhere was lively and full of people shopping and going about their daily lives. Everywhere is green and lush. It seems that here just about anything can grow and beautiful flowers intermingle with the coconut palms and trees of every description.

The hours passed as we slowly climbed the twisting, winding road up into the hills. A couple of times we stopped to admire the beautiful view down into the valley, and once we stopped at a waterfall where dozens of local people were enjoying themselves swimming and bathing in the water. It must have been great to cool off as it was such a hot day! There were a few monkeys around and they were also down on the rocks by the water, drinking and cooling off.

As we climbed higher into the hills we began to see the see tea plantations stretching out on the steep slopes either side of the road. The bushes are low in height and look very neat and tidy as they stretch out into the distance. We could seem women tea pickers collecting the small upper leaves into baskets … very hot work on a day like this.

Soon afterwards we had a welcome respite from our hot and sticky journey at the Blue Field Tea Factory. A lovely young Sri Lankan girl came out to take us for a short tour of the tea processing factory. It was founded in 1910 by a now unknown 'Britisher' and there are still pieces of machinery in use there brought from Belfast at about that time. The young lady spoke very good English which she had learned at school, but she had the most amazing sing song accent which was quite difficult to follow. Nevertheless her knowledge of the black tea making process was excellent and she showed us every step from wilting the leaves through crushing, grading, drying etc and finally sorting into the different tea types of Broken, Orange, Pekoe and Fannings and many blends of these.

Afterwards we went back from the old factory into the modern, airy tea room and enjoyed a cup of BOP tea and a piece of very English chocolate cake before getting back on the road.

It was still some time before we reached Nuwara Eliya itself, but once there we were pleased to find that the air outside had a real nip to it. In fact some people were actually wearing cardigans and fleeces! We were definitely up in hill country now! This is a small town in which British influence was very prominent and there are still many houses in British style, ie white with wooden beams. The old post office was very interesting and in the old British style. At least they feel safe and don’t need a glass screen to talk to you here. I like that. They also still have old red British pillar boxes outside for posting letters. I’m sure everyone has a photo of those. We saw the Grand Hotel where all the posh people stay, the golf course which is for members only and the horse racing track where the rails all look a bit old and rickety. There were several horses and foals running around free and nobody seemed to mind.

We drove down to take a look at Gregory’s Lake which is a focal point for rest and relaxation for the local population. We saw many people taking walks around the edge and riding in small boats and canoes. We decided against taking a boat ride ourselves as it looked really chilly down by the water. How different from the heat down in Kandy!

In the fields we noticed many vegetables growing of the kind you might see back in UK. Cauliflower, carrots, cabbages and beetroot: all introduced during the time of British rule and still grown to this day. As we started our journey back to Kandy we saw many stalls at the side of the road selling these as well as lovely fresh flowers, and the children were running by the side of the car begging you to buy a bunch.

It was a long and tiring journey back to Kandy relieved only by a short stop at rest room facilities provided only for clients of a certain motor insurance company. Luckily our tour company is counted amongst its clientele!

As we came near to Kandy we noticed the full moon in the sky, showing through a thick haze. As we looked we saw hundreds, indeed thousands of bats flying past. There seemed to be no end to them as they flew by. It was an amazing spectacle and we had no idea where they came from or were going to, but I’m really glad they weren’t tangling in my hair!

Back at the hotel we sat down in the lobby to watch T20 cricket from Colombo whilst enjoying that good old Sri Lankan special of vegetable curry and rice. Yummy! Australia beat India so I’m sure they were pleased about that!