It’s Annette’s birthday, and we are going to celebrate by riding sixty-something kilometres to Habarana. We’ve spent three nights in Anuradhapura and now it’s time to move on, turn south and head toward the hills.

Maybe Annette will get an elephant for her birthday!

This area is on an elephant migration route. They feed on one side of the road, and cross to the other side at night. I sit at the back of the group with Neville, the guide who is riding whip. He tells me that there are some 2000 elephants in the wild (seems a lot), that elephants are no longer captured and worked, that we may see elephants at our hotel tonight, but that you need to be up at four or five in the morning to see them.

I spend quite some time riding with Neville; he used to be a sailor and travelled all over the world for 15 years, but he’s now retired from that and studying tourism. He has a son in Melbourne, another in Columbo, and his wife lives in Saudi Arabia. They only see each other about once a year!

Tonight there is a full moon; it is a festival holiday, which explains the light traffic on the road. Tonight, if we are near a Buddhist temple, we can go in and watch the festivities.

Elephants and a full moon festival – not a bad day at all for our birthday girl, except that because of the holiday, we won’t be able to toast Annette with a Pina Colada, or anything else other than water or fruit juice: it’s a dry day here in Sri Lanka.

The riding is easy, along quiet country roads, with views to rocky mountains. It’s a gorgeous day; a little on the warm side, but you catch a breeze while riding so it’s not too bad. There are lots of beautiful fruit and vegie stalls along the roadside – selling local produce including types of gourds that this area is known for. This area seems more affluent than the country areas we passed through on the way to Anuradhapura; the houses are larger and more well kept, there’s less construction started and not finished, the people look better dressed,and there are less idle people standing watching the CyclePower parade (but that could be because it’s a holiday and they’ve got better things to do).

The plan today is to ride around 50km before lunch. Lunch is to be at a home, where we may be able to help prepare some of the dishes. Annette has been looking forward to this as a special birthday treat.

Overhead, heavy clouds gather. These past couple of days we’ve had a rain storm at around lunch time, and it looks like today will be the same. I hope and against hope that we will make lunch before the downpour, but keep an eye out for possible shelter as we pass through towns. Only a few kilometres short of lunch, the rain hits, and by the time it hits it is too late to find shelter. We are wet through, and just keep on riding. It pelts down for about ten or fifteen minute then eases and stops … and almost straight away we turn off the road at the lunch spot.

It turns out this is no house; it is a restaurant. There’s no helping out with the cooking – the table is set and they are ready to go as soon as everybody has arrived. Like our lunch on day 2, this is a buffet lunch, cooked on site by two lovely ladies who make a shy appearance.

There are at least fifteen dishes on the table: rice, red rice, jackfruit curry, a bitter gourd dish, pumpkin, salad of banana flour, some chicken and fish curries, and so much more that I just can’t remember. I have a little of everything (except the meat of course) and go back for seconds on my favourite, the bitter gourd (which isn’t bitter at all). I had concerns about food in Sri Lanka, but it sees everywhere we go to eat that is not set up for western tourists is magnificent, and largely vegetarian.

After lunch it is a quick 10km to Habarana. There are a couple of steep hills along the way, and our group spreads out so much that I end up riding alone through town. Before long I run out of town, and when I hit 63km, our supposed distance for the day I just stop and wait to see if anybody else comes along. After maybe 10 minutes Annette and Alex come along, with a guide, and we keep on going until we finally reach the hotel. We are at a resort right out of town; there won’t be a Buddhist temple visit in our near future.

The heat and humidity is playing havoc with some of us white skins – several of us have come out in heat rash on our legs. It is angry red and puffy and full of heat. The best place for it is in the pool, conveniently located on the doorstep of our room. It’s a lovely large pool, but the water is a bit green and murky, so it is heads out of water for a peaceful float.

Some of our group take up an offer to head into a nearby town for some shopping or a massage. Annette and I chose the lazing around at the hotel option. Those who went out come back with stories of a bull elephant they saw on the road, and the havoc it caused with traffic. I’m hoping an elephant comes around the hotel tonight.

Most of the group drop by our room before dinner. Paul brings along a bottle of scotch for pre dinner drinks. We eat at the hotel and of course there is a birthday cake for Annette.

A birthday well spent, I think.

Stats for the day

• Distance travelled: 65.3km
• Climb: 318m
• Moving time: 3:21:56
• Average speed: 19.4km/h
• Average temperature: 29C
• See our ride on Strava

Along the way today