Arrived in Jaffna surviving the 400 km/8 hour car journey from Colombo which was almost as long as the flight from London. Of course we had to stop for our coconut drink and breathe in …
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Less than 6 weeks to go blog:)
Projects Update Since my last last blog 6 weeks’ ago Kate Gale has been to Sri Lanka, volunteered in a village school in Kurunegala doing amazing stuff helping to make a difference to the Manapaha …
Continue reading12 Weeks to go . . .
Funding update Just 12 weeks to go before I set off on my third and final leg of trekking from the south to the northern tip of Sri Lanka. I’ve currently raised £25,000 of my …
Continue readingMore exciting connections – Nov ‘23 update
One of the great raffle prizes for 24 November – Electric Storm Flights now booked for next March for the final stage of my and Gill’s trek across Sri Lanka. £23,363 (77%) of my £30k …
Continue readingI can see clearly now . . . September 2023 Update
I can see clearly now . . . The many hundreds of pairs of spectacles I had shipped out in April this year arrived just a couple of months ago at Colombo Shipping Port. They …
Continue readingAugust 2023 update
The 10th anniversary of the passing of Pearl Stephen The 31st July this year was the anniversary of the death of Pearl Stephen who was my inspiration for returning to Sri Lanka to volunteer following …
Continue readingJune 2023 update
Fundraising Update On 4th June our road’s open-garden fundraiser raised almost £1300! This was a super amazing achievement and almost twice as much as last year with generous donations from those who visited the 5 …
Continue readingMay 2023 update – fundraising and impact
Fundraising After being back for a month from our epic trek from central to north east Sri Lanka, this is an update on some of the outcomes: Impact Suba, teacher in Kirimetiya, distributing the books …
Continue readingBlog 15 (Final Blog) – To a remote village in Kurunegala to celebrate the beginning of the Sinhalese new year
Welcoming Wow! Another amazing visit to a village community just outside of Kurunegala. I’ve been coming to this particular village since 2015 and the experience is always so warm, welcoming and colourful. It’s lovely to …
Continue readingBlog 14 – The Temple of the Tooth Relic
The history The Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, also known as Sri Dalada Maligawa, is considered to be the most important Buddhist temple in Sri Lanka. It’s also one of the most famous in the …
Continue readingBlog 13 – Our visit to a Spice Garden in Matale
On our drive back from Trincomolee to Kandy we were treated to a stop off at Matale spice garden. It was like walking into a mini paradise which included us having a face massage with …
Continue readingBlog 12 – A relaxing day on Niraveli beach
Niraveli is just north of Trincomolee and where we’re staying for 2 nights to conclude our trek across Sri Lanka. Niraveli is popular for whale and dolphin watching as well as snorkelling and diving. Pigeon …
Continue readingBlog 11 – Habarana to Trincomolee
Leaving Habarana We left our Habarana base where we’d stayed for 2 nights and headed for the strategically important Naval port of Trincomolee on the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean. We both loved …
Continue readingBlog 10 – Habarana village tour and an amazing simple recipe for you to try
Resting our feet Our village tour as a 3 minute movie Coconut sambol recipe This recipe was made for us almost everywhere we’ve been. It is amazing and so simple to make if you have …
Continue readingBlog 9 – Climbing Sigiriya Rock – the ancient fortress in the sky
We were up before the cockerels woke us this morning and on the road by 5am. We made the steep climb to the top of Sigiriya Rock in time to see the sunrise at 6.05. …
Continue readingBlog 8 – Just walking – Polonnaruwa to Habarana
The tanks and reservoirs of the dry zone This section of our trek has been dominated by walking alongside two main tanks or what we might call reservoirs. Tanks in Sri Lanka were hand built …
Continue readingBlog 7 – the ancient city of Polonnaruwa in the dry zone of Sri Lanka
Polonnaruwa is hot: very very hot. I wrote a bit about the history of this ancient city in my planning blog over 2 years ago so won’t repeat that here. If interested in some of …
Continue readingBlog 6 – A visit to a Veddah community – the indigenous peoples of Sri Lanka
Today was all about visiting an indigenous community in Dambana, eastern central Sri Lanka. A highlight was a personal meeting with the Veddah Chief, Uruwarige Wanniyalaeto, which had been arranged for us as part of …
Continue readingBlog 5 – Spotlight on our elephant safari
Wasgamuwa National Park Our late afternoon Wasgamuwa elephant safari turned out to be a bit more of an adventure than we’d expected. We’d hoped to spot a few of Sri Lanka’s Asian elephants in their …
Continue readingBlog 4 – day 2 of trek
Descent from Medakallie village Left Medakallie village for our 2 hour descent to a bus stop where we got picked up and taken to the nearest town. The wiggly path we trekked down, the villagers’ …
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