The Blue Magpie Lodge

We felt a bit sad leaving The Blue Magpie Lodge as it was so serene and incredibly natural. We both thought it was one of the best all round places we’d stayed at so far. We’d also made friends with Prasad, the lodge manager, and the waiter, both of whom were really friendly and generous. Prasad gave us a book on Karma by Sadhguru, a New York Times Bestseller (2021), and offered to send us some sour sop, a fruit said to be good for reducing cancer cells. He wanted it to go to a friend of mine in the UK who’s recently been diagnosed with cancer. How lovely!

We started our trek in a cooler temperature and followed the rain forest canopy for around 8km. We passed hardly any traffic, just the odd tuk tuk or motorbike as Sri Lanka had a national curfew in place for 36 hours. Everyone had to stay in their homes unless they had written permission from the authorities that they could leave, and all social media was cut off for that period too. We were lucky, as tourists we’re exempt from observing the curfew.  Again we met families in their gardens who waved at us as we passed, with one young boy enthusiastically climbing a tree to pick a small pink fruit called jumbu (rose apple) for us to eat on our way.  

A visit to the gem capital of Sri Lanka – Ratnapura

I was keen to revisit and show Gill a working gem mine as I’d had such a memorable visit to one in 2013. Click here for link to previous gem mine blog. On the way to our next resting place we were lucky to see the whole mining process including the cleaning of the stones which only takes place once a month.  I even managed to buy a replacement sapphire pendant!

If you missed Blog 6 then check it out here 

Further sponsorship – If you’d like to sponsor us on this trek whilst being assured that every penny will go to those who need it, then please donate by clicking on this link. https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/marcia-summerstrekssrilanka Don’t forget that if you’re a tax payer to declare ‘gift aid’ when doing so which will increase your donation by 25% at no cost to you . Alternatively, if you know anyone or an organisation which may have any interest in these causes please forward onto them.

Next up: Rambas Reserve and up Adam’s Peak (Sri Pada)