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Today was the best day of the trip so far. We woke up and had a delicious breakfast of fruit, banana pancakes and a Sri Lankan omelette. We both wanted to walk up Little Adam's Peak which is a similar shape to Adam's peak but smaller. Adam's peak was is a pilgrimage site where Muslims believe the footstep of Adam the first man is found. But Hindu's believe it is the footstep of Shiva... And yet it is a predominately Bhuddist religious site. Anyway we were heading for the smaller version with no footstep to disagree about.
We asked Bhuddi (owner of the guest house) for the best way. He gave us an excellent route which also included a tea factory and the nine arch bridge. He said it would take 3.5 hours.
I took my glasses so I could see the views in HD. We set off through the tea plantation. It was bright and hot. After standing for so many hours yesterday, I really felt like a good walk today. The walk was very reasonable but ended in a bit of a climb. At that moment it started to rain which was appreciated. Then it threw it down. The footpath became a bit slippy but we made it. There was a monument at the top and a Buddha. Two dogs were seeking shelter under the Buddha and another one was in a little hole by the side. I later learnt that that side dog is a famous local dog call An-nee who travels with the first guest to the top and stays in the same place asleep all day and travels with the last walker at the end of the day!
We went to a cafe that Bhuddi recommended and got two lime ice teas on a bean bag. In the tea factory, we learnt that the local area is for green tea. Both black and green come from the same plant but black tea has been oxidised. We enjoyed one of their green teas. Then we headed for the nine arch bridge. We got a little lost at this bit and a boy had to point us in the right direction. We slipped down the path and through the bushes on a mud path. It was a bit tricky after the rain but we did get to see a lizard.
Finally we landed on the railway tracks. The trains in Sri Lanka are very loud, slow (7 hours for 200 km) and infrequent so it's ok to walk on the sleepers over the bridge. The bridge was very impressive. A school trip of boys were nearby and asked us lots of questions 'what's your name? How are you? Where are you from? etc'
We walked all the way back to Ella station and then back home. 18600 steps in total.
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Sophia Stevens It sounds fantastic! So glad Charlie is keeping his steps up