4.30am wake up call on my birthday.... I wasn’t feeling it but there was a big group of people going so more agro if I didn’t get up and go. It was freezing, dark, damp and foggy.
I thought the minibus ride was only a 30 minute job.... nope! A 1 hour 30 minute job with a pounding headache, no water and a aching tummy. Awesome birthday so far!

We got to the national park gate, a steep 3500 ruppees to get into the park. I was very apprehensive about it all because the weather had gotten worse and not better. What the hell were we going to see in this weather other than your hand in front of you.
Begrudgingly paid the ticket and off we went inside, the Gods were on our side as they would say... the fog cleared as we rode into the park and we could see so very clear! Brilliant - lets get going!

It all looked very much like Jurassic Park, was half expecting a herbivore to stroll out from behind the trees. Wasn’t aware until the gateway that it was a 3 hour round trip hike to what they called lands end.
It was pretty incredible there and the walk was fairly easy/steady pace. Incredible views!! Couldn’t believe our luck with the weather! The round trip back through the waterfalls and mountain fields was gorgeous and very peaceful.

We were starving, I thought we deserved a cheeky rotti breakfast before jumping back in the van and heading back whilst we waited for everyone else. We smashed the walk in 2.5 hours and that was after stopping for a while at lands end. Mountaineers you see from the woods! Haha.

Didn’t fancy finishing the day at 11.30am or sitting about the hostel, so we walked up to the Pedro tea factory for a tour and a drink of tea. However we discovered that the factory was closed until tomorrow morning... bloody typical! So we managed to dab ourselves a free brew before we left with some custard creamed biscuits (Sri Lankan style) and headed back down to the hostel for a shower and a well deserved nap (Ellie wasn’t able to function on so much little sleep and I’m sure a stinking hangover that she was trying to hide) and then a few birthday beers!

Couldn’t wait for dinner, and they were late tonight spicy kottu tonight with some chickpea curry. Again, I wasn’t feeling the homemade punch and the beer was going down in lumps. A little weird having a birthday surrounded by random people in an unfamiliar setting.. I slid away to bed very early just to be on my own for a while.

Happy 27th to me!! Let it be over fast and let the next one not arrive so soon!!