Day Three

Leon had been having an internal struggle with the fact that we had – besides a little rough patch here and there – been on perfectly well paved roads, and hadn’t gotten lost once. On the one hand it was great, easy driving but on the other, where is the adventure in that?

It was finally time to get properly lost onto the ’roads’ that would lead us to our first POI (Pole of Inconvience): Foul Point. Foul Point is a lighthouse situated on the east coast of Sri Lanka. Our tourist map had one simple snakey purple line leading off from the main road – looked pretty easy. It was not. This was a dusty maze of tracks that had us stopping to seek help from locals every few minutes. Where the tuk were we?!

It took hours of wrong turns, and a few detours in our off-road adventure (along with a few broken tuk tuk parts), but one way or the other we were adamant to make it to Foul Point. We were happy we were finally venturing where no other tuk tuk had been before.

The final stretch to the lighthouse was smooth and inviting, as if it were teasing us. Our arrival was met with armed Navy soldiers, a gate, and barbed wired between us and our objective. We knew this wasn’t going to be easy as another team had already shared a picture of the lighthouse, but without their tuks. We were hell bent on getting through.

For reasons not needing any explanation we sent Bron, the charming blonde, in first. The honeypot failed. In desperation the men followed with smiles and pleads, and finally some alternate compromises for good measure. Nothing worked.

Just as we were positioning the tuk tuks outside the gate for a consolation photo when we heard that the base commander had given permission. “You have just 10 minutes!”. Omg, jackpot! Nobody had ever been this excited to see a lighthouse. The gate was opened, barbed wire moved, and we quickly scooted down the dirt track and positioned the tuks.

Now, at this point in the day, we were drunk on adventure and success. We were going to simply head down the east coast though a section of the map which we could only see one track. It didn’t matter if we got lost, we were just going to keep on tukkin’.

In the end, the heat, dust, lack of fuel or a plan always wins out though. We got our wish to get lost and then some. Our seemingly hand drawn map had screwed us over again, there were tracks going off in all directions. Shit. We were getting pretty fed up and began dreaming of those smooth, easy paved roads. It was so bad that even Google Maps – to be used only in absolute emergencies – couldn’t help us now.

The above photo carries a little bit of a sore back story – the track Leon was standing on was, in fact, the right way to go and the only way we could have gotten to where we wanted to get to. Instead – we opted for some local’s directions which were terrible (probably on account of miscommunication).

The challenges never stopped coming. Tracks would start promising and hit a dead end (damn, another naval facility). We had water crossings, and sections which would be classed as a ‘footpath’ in the UK, to finally emerge in a dusty village which sold petrol in 2 litre drinks bottles. It did the job.

We were mentally and to some degree physically defeated, the prospect of being stuck in the arse end of nowhere as dusk hit was definitely going through our minds. After getting some sugary bread from the bakery we hit the highway straight to the next resort town and booked the best one going – it was time for a dash of 5 star luxury after that ordeal.

The stretch did have it’s surprises. It seems proper roads are only afforded to certain regions, and yes it is possible to carry what looks like a year’s supply of kindling logs on a bike (pictured above). It was time for delicious, ice cold mojitos by the pool, and boy did we make the most out of it.

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Day Four

The problem with staying in a fancy hotel for one night is the knowing that we’re going to be back on the road before we’ve even had a chance to savour any of it. As we found from the previous night, our three team tuk tuk convoy is extremely democratic.

For the choice of the next destination the group was split – 3 votes for Kandy, 3 votes for a second POI (on the east coast but much further south, and again – in the arse end of nowhere). Hugh was the undecided vote, but after further discussions the coin landed on Kandy, a city in the highlands of Sri Lanka’s central region. Nobody grumbled.

We are three separate teams. At the end of the day, we could have gone our separate ways. But it was heart warming that the cohesion of the group was stronger and the preference to stay together was more of a priority. I think deep down everybody knew we would have a cracking time regardless of where we went, so off we headed to moutains of Kandy. Not before taking our sweet time leaving the hotel.

Did we mention our rickshaw horn was broken? Horns are used all. the. time. in Sri Lanka. Not having a horn was a huge disadvantage. So in the name of safety, we used a squeaky horn kindly donated by Tuk Tuk Goose, which we zip tied onto Raj. Of course we could have got it fixed properly, but where was the fun in that?

Todays drive was smooth – wow, not a pot hole in sight. We worked our way up the mountains via countless hairpin bends, taking our time, enjoying the views, and taking plenty of pictures and videos. We stopped for a ‘Chinese Restaurant’ lunch which was in fact all Sri Lankan food. Fair enough. We scoffed down some kottu (a delicious popular Sri Lankan dish of diced roti with egg, chillis, onions) whilst the restaurant owner introduced us to his wife and little girl and requested a photo with us.

The refreshing mountain air was a welcome change. Every twist and turn upwards was a fraction of a degree cooler, which felt so good.

This time we were going to to find somewhere to stay before dark, but the distances proved too much when combined with our lack of a proper organised plan. We always knew the distances covered today were going to be a stretch, and sure enough we were booking accommodation en route to the town.

At a leisurely 8pm in the pitch black we arrived at the the noteworthy Simpson’s Forest Hotel. Highly recommended, they have an exclusive bungalow villa at the top of a hill with a private infinity pool, gym, 3 large double rooms, a games room, garden amongst other things, at the cost of an average hotel in the UK. Covid discounts!

The night was rightfully spent being loud and partying in our private pool with plenty of drinks to last us until it was time to pass out – at a respectful 3am.

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Day Five

With views like these and with sore heads there was no getting up hitting the road at any kind of early hour, so we took advantage of a delivered breakfast spread and a morning soak in the pool.

So far our experience of Sri Lanka accommodation ranged from the most basic to the most extravagant, and one thing we have learnt while travelling in the pandemic is the price range from cheapest to most expensive is vastly reduced. Choose any popular destination in Sri Lanka, and it’s not unusual to see 50-70% off a normal priced night. Hotels are desperate for what little business there is to compete for.

The Adventurists decided to grace us with a new 9th POI (“Mini World’s End”). Coincidently, this happened to be a short 1.5hr drive away from where we were staying. The plan was set – we were going to be the first team to get this quickly done and dusted, before heading further south past Kandy and into the mountains.

True to form, the 9th POI had other plans for us. Far from being a short stopover on our way, it took hours out of our day but in exchange turned out to be the most hair-raising and fun drives of the entire Rickshaw Run.

The approach to ‘Mini Worlds End’ started beautifully – as above, a smooth concrete road. For roughly 100 metres all was well. The track was lined with tea plantations, and was paved, but with large stones and what little cement (if any?) that used to be between them often completely washed away with surface water over the years.

We stopped to take some great snaps on the way up – all of us posing for photos whilst pretending we’re not all thinking about what part of our rickshaws would break or fall off first. The “road” got worse, and worse and worse.

Just after the above photo was taken, James was brutally attacked by three leeches. Right in between his toes. Ewww. Someone had heard that fire is a good idea (?) to get them to detach, so that was the plan. Aran separated the toes whilst I filmed the others torch the leeches in between the toe gaps. Which did work, although sadly toes were charred in the process.

We were all then on high leech alert. Poor Hugh had them in his socks.

Through cattle and adversity, the tuk tuks plodded on and ventured forwards, while the track got more and more ridiculous. We’d come too far to turn around, it was foot on the gas in 1st gear time.

The track went on and on and on. We were being bumped around like there was no tomorrow, and I was holding down all our bags and belongings in the back of the tuk tuk to stop them flying out.

We finally made it. Where no tuk tuk should ever be, on the edge of a huge cliff. I genuinely have no idea how all three tuks made it up there without any damages (well, that we knew of anyway).

We proved the impossible possible and immediately boasted to the 75 person Rickshaw Run WhatsApp group.

We were met with praise and respect from our fellow Adventurists.

After getting some drone photos and videos, we headed back down. Leon quickly learnt that flip flops were not suitable driving footwear when combined with super rocky tracks. His foot slipped on the brake and the pedal got wedged between his big toe and flip flop; resulting in a collision between two tuks. Oops. A dent was formed in our tuk, and the metal exhaust flap was ripped off team Tuk Tuk Gooses’ rickshaw. Naughty Leon.

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Day Six

“Sorry about my bad breath the monkeys ate all my toothpaste” Lucas said as he hugged me. It was really great to cross paths with another team, amongst the unfamiliarity of being in a foreign country.

Today we joined forces with a forth team: the unimaginatively named Team Lucas & Lucas. Between our 4 teams we had more tech than the other 43 teams combined.

This was Lucas (the shorter one) forth Adventurist adventure. His previous one being the Icarus Trophy X. If you’re not familiar with The Adventurists, the Icarus Trophy is (or rather, was) a paramotoring race. Equally amazing and terrifying, but also very dangerous.

Balls. Of. Steel.

Today we were all heading to Gampola. Located in Gampola, Kandy, lies a biodiversity complex and multi-religious hilltop place of worship with a very unusual tower: Ambuluwawa Tower. The tower itself is located on the summit of the mountain peak and provides excellent views over Kandy and beyond. Though to climb it is not for the faint hearted.

By now you’ve probably realised we are all adventure seekers so it wont come as a surprise that we were eager to climb this crazy tower. It gets progressively narrower and narrower the higher up you go. Poor Bron is scared of heights, but took up the challenge regardless.

I am not scared of heights, but it was impossible to not feel unease as we climbed up and up, around and around. My hips wouldn’t fit (damn, my curves) so sideways climbing it was!

Things were fine until you were met with people trying to come down. It was a case of tightly squeezing past people, butt-to-butt, or crotch-to-butt. This happened over and over again.

Though if there was no room to squeeze past, you could take advantage of the Tower’s delightful passing points. Every so often you could crawl into the small, hollowed out areas within the tower itself. Huddling in there whilst others pass; your faces melting off with the sweaty heat. They were dark, cramped, and claustrophobia-inducing.

After the tower and some more tukkin’, we had a pit stop at Chill Cafe in Ramboda. Beautiful views.

Then drove some more, whilst enjoying the gorgeous moody sunset as we headed towards Ella.

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Day Seven

The final day. Our last destination on the Run was Ella; a lively, social, backpacker hot spot. Certainly made a change from the quiet hotels, restaurants and bars we had experienced earlier in the week.

Our time was spent bumping into other teams (which is always a pleasure), zip lining through tea plantations, and enjoying the Ella nightlife.

Also it turned out that our hotel (Garden Hotel) was right next to Zipline Rawana. Well, it would be rude not to.

Before we began the quest for the finish line, we made a quick pit stop at the beautiful, famous Nine Arch Bridge.

In true Adventurist style the finish line was, of course, almost impossible to find. We couldn’t even use Google Maps properly, damn those Adventurist buggers!

The time was ticking and the pressure was rising. We had a couple of hours remaining and did not want to miss the finish line deadline.

We got very lost. We had other teams join in a convoy behind us, then leave. Wait, are we going the wrong way?! Probably.

The finish line was due to close at 17:00; and we arrived just in time at 16:30. Phewww! We were greeted with loud cheering and clapping from the crew and the other team members who had already made it. Half the teams were still lost, poor sods.

After an ice cold beer on arrival, a finish line photo shoot, and an interview – the celebrations began!

The remote Finish Line camp site was in the middle of nowhere, next to a beautiful lake shared by crocodiles and elephants. Our tents were pre-pitched on the edge of the lake. with no fence in between. Though we did have a 24 hour round the clock team supervising the area, to avoid the wild animals invading our tent area. Whilst Leon took part in the cricket game, myself, Bron and James watched an elephant have his evening bath nearby to our tents. “Don’t worry when the elephants are too close, we will set off a firecracker to scare them” the guy on the look out told us.

We celebrated, watched a traditional Sri Lankan dance, enjoyed a BBQ, and exchanged our crazy adventurous stories (one Irish guy even got arrested on day 1!). Also, the punishments (for using Google Maps, or for helping others in the WhatsApp chat) were dealt out – which included hilariously being bent over and spanked on the bottom in front of all watching. How embarrassing.

After a long evening of celebrations and partying, we retired to our tents by the lake. The noisy fire crackers were going off all night long. I know this because like the night watch men, I too was awake, albeit for very different reasons.. The delicious BBQ buffet had given me with food poising.

Well it was bound to happen sooner or later…

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