When do you get a holiday within a holiday? The answer is when you get a 9am start on a CyclePower trip, when the normal start time is 8am or even earlier!

That extra hour in the morning is like gold, especially when you’re staying at a beachside hotel. And when sharing with Annette, there is little choice – off to the beach.

Local fishermen, hauling in nets, beckon for help. Annette and I jump in and make a few token pulls on the salty wet rope, then leave the pros to it and head for the water.

Red flags up are up: the resort hotel’s indication that the water may not be safe, but Annette gives the waves an experienced look over, dismisses the warnings and dives in. We bob around in the water, pummelled by occasional waves, just enjoying an hour or so of unscheduled freedom.

Soon enough it’s time to hit the road. Our guides decide the main Galle road is too busy, and bus us the first 7km to where our bikes wait at a seemingly random place on a side street. We saddle up and hit the worst, rutted, pot-holed, muddy road we’ve met on this trip. For those of us on mountain bikes it’s not too bad, but the handcyclists – being much lower to the ground, and with skinnier tyres – feel every bump intensely. There’s plenty of roadworks – I feel like I am back in my home state of Victoria where our government is in the midst of a roadwork frenzy.

After a very muddy stretch, we stop at a school for lunch. The children are sitting at desks under a verandah when we arrive, but they quickly pack up and hightail it upstairs, crowding onto a balcony to watch in safety. We eat lunch under the watchful eyes of a couple of dozen smiling, laughing children.

After lunch we ride through rubber plantations. I ride on my own for quite a while, enjoying the relative peace, before we all regroup in a town.

The highlight of the day is a rope pull ferry across. We all assemble at the ferry landing point and wait, with locals for the ferry to cross. They crowd us onto the ferry. Just when we all think the ferry is full, we are herded up, like Japanese businessmen on a train, to let more and more people on. It’s lucky the trip across the river is short as I am bent uncomfortably around my bike and neighbours for the duration.

After the ferry crossing it is a race for home. The sky grumbles like a tourist’s stomach after drinking from the river. We are about 15km from today’s end, and we all just focus on getting there.

I find myself once again riding with Paul. We speak very little, but just offer each other quiet and supportive company on this last stretch, occasionally looking at the sky, and wincing with each grumble.

Often the last part of a day’s ride feels endless, and today is one of those days.

We arrive at at T-intersection in Ahungalla. Always, during this trip, there is somebody waiting at each intersection, ready to point the way with a smile and a wave. Except at this one. There are two choices – left and right – and no indication of which way to go. With the sky still grumbling, this is no time to make a mistake.

To the locals, our group must seem like a bit of a circus. It doesn’t take long until somebody approaches us and points to the left. We’re a little leery of strangers pointing the way, but after another, and then another person gives us the same direction, we jump on the bikes and ride that way. Sure enough, a short distance down the road Hotel Riu looms and we swing into the entrance, grateful to have beaten the storm.

We hang about for the whole group to arrive and then check in. This place is a huge resort hotel, and a bit more posh than we are used to. It is an ‘all inclusive’ resort, and we are tagged with an orange wristband. This is our key to all food and drink (yep, all drink) for the duration of our stay. Wahoo!

Some of the group head immediately to the bar to test the orange bands. Annette and I dump our stuff in the room and head straight for the beach. The red flags are up but we figure it is just a precaution so they don’t lose tourists who can’t swim. Still wearing our cycling gear, we head straight into the water, and spend an hour or so being flung around in the surf. Imagine if we had this disrespect for the flags on an Australian beach!

We rinse off, and then join a group of French people in a water volleyball game, which is great fun, even when one of the French guys knocks out part of his dental bridge. As the sky darkens we head back to our rooms to clean up, and then join the rest of the group at the bar, where the orange bands are working a treat.

Dinner is a festive affair tonight. It may be the bottomless bottle of red wine we share, or maybe it is just that it feels like then end of the ride. It isn’t the end yet though … we still have to get to Galle tomorrow morning.

Stats for today:

• Distance: 72.6km
• Climb: 357m
• Average speed: 17.8km/h
• Average temperature: 31C
• Moving time: 4:04:05
• See our ride on Strava

Along the way today: