No Fixed Abode: Double Trouble

Wed 26 Apr 2016 - Horton’s Plain National Park and World’s End

As we had a long journey to Horton’s Plain NP and then a couple of hours of walking and the fact we’d read you needed to be at the World’s End cliff before 9am to enable you to see across the valleys before the clouds roll in and totally obscure the views, we were in the tuk tuk at 05.30am. Yes, both of us. The hotel had kindly arranged a breakfast goody bag for us, however, although it was visible from outside the hotel all the internal doors were locked making it inaccessible. Before we left our young tuk tuk driver tried phoning the hotel staff to get things moving without any luck, therefore we decided to head off and not waste any time.

The road out of town was empty and as we ascended to the mountain road we were met by a couple of tuk tuks and overtaken by a few tourist mini buses. The journey in the tuk tuk was chilly and we both sat huddled on our hands trying to keep warm even though we were wearing extra layers.

Passing through villages the scenery soon changed to hills with rolling mists and the air was damp and cool and the grasses were covered in dew. We left the well made road passing the park entrance and the road turned torturously bumpy throwing us about in the tuk tuk. More mini buses overtook us and Yvonne was wondering why we hadn’t thought this journey through a little more and envied those passing by in a comfortable and heated vehicle.

The road wound its way up the hill and several hairpin bends gave us beautiful sunrise vistas with the morning set for a good day of walking ahead. Glenn then let out a few expletives to quietly admit he’d left all our money in the hotel room. Not to worry, we’ll work something out even if it means we turn back down the hill and return again tomorrow. Arriving at the visitor payment building we were confronted with dozens of tuk tuks, cars and mini buses all jostling for a space to park whilst their tourists ran back and forth to pay their entrance fees, and their drivers setting off before the doors were shut to make it to the main car park. Basically we were in the rush hour up here. As we pulled up our tuk tuk driver gestured to go over quickly to pay and we then had to come clean about our situation. His wobbling head told a story as we explained we had a small problem and asked if could he possibly help. Our young driver then paid for our entry fee and, although a few thousand rupees short, the officers in charge let us in, with a promise to pay the balance on his next trip up.

Thanking him profusely, we headed up to the main car park passing many parked cars along the roadside. We naively thought this would be a quiet place with a peaceful walk. How wrong we were. We joined a noisy queue to get our backpacks searched, no plastic bags allowed here, (pity they don’t enforce that across the rest of the country), followed the steps and the many Chinese down to a well worn walking path. As we overtook the selfie wielders we were soon able to find a track which took us around the loop backwards and we enjoyed a relatively peaceful amble with the valley mist lifting through the sun’s rays and listened to the birds and soporific chirrup of the frogs, which sounded like a pizzicato pluck of the highest violin note.

World’s end is a dramatic cliff that drops over 800m to form the edge of the Horton’s Plain plateau that affords spectacular views over the southern lowlands - when the clouds aren’t there, which today they weren’t. Inevitably on reaching the viewing point it was mobbed with youngsters taking ‘v’ sign selfies or portraits pouting with far away looks being taken by boyfriends/husbands and we endeavoured to find a spot near the cliff edge to admire the views. With their short attention spans, the crowds soon dispersed and we sat quietly just looking and warming up with the sun on us.

Some time later we made a move to take the return loop which passes by Baker’s Falls, which we popped down to see, passing wheezing and puffing youngsters as they made their way back up. The final leg was back was through similar countryside to the Lakes and Dales back in England and we appreciated why the English loved this place so much.

Finding our tuk tuk driver we bumped our way back to the hotel, where we were greeted by a most apologetic manager who was immediately ready to prepare a full breakfast for us. We settled up with our driver giving him a hefty tip and he didn’t miss the opportunity to ensure we confirmed we’d use him for any other excursions we need a tuk tuk for.

The hotel manager was very apologetic for the breakfast mix up and swiftly prepared us a filling brunch, which we gratefully devoured then sat in the garden drinking afternoon tea in the sunshine. After a quick refresh we called on the tuk tuk to take us to the Pedro Tea Estate where we joined a factory tour explaining the tea leaf making process from plucking to selling it’s unusually light teas. We donned aprons, joined the tail end of German tour group then followed the tour guide through the factory. The Lonely Planet states that as the tea is made at night there is not much to see and we thought this whistle stop tour through the various static machines was all we were going to see, however, it soon became clear that we had merely made our way to the upper level where the green leaves are delivered. Thereafter our tour guide lead us through the process of: withering initial drying; rolling, to break the leaves into small parts (this is the only stage done in the cool of the night); fermentation, the beginning of the leaves turning black; drying, to turn the small parts in the familiar black we know and love; grading, to filter the leaves into different sizes; and finally packaging. At each stage she powered on any machines so we could watch them in action. It was fascinating and we learned a lot, not least that the major suppliers buy their tea in a wholesale market so the packaged product we buy can come from any of the estates in Sri Lanka.

During the tour the customary afternoon rain fell and stopped just as we made our way back to the hotel.

Another evening meal of curry and rice, which we haven’t tired of during these past two weeks.