The Knuckles Hike

 

Feb. 19

            We got up super early to head out of Kandy to hike the knuckles range.  Bernard’s brother drove us the two hours to get there as he was busy with other jobs.  Even at this early hour, Kandy was already bustling.  Along the way we stopped for breakfast at a small place that just looked like another convenience store but had delicious curries and good buns to take away for later snacking.

             The road wound uphill through tea fields and got rougher and rougher until we had to park the car and start up a narrow path on foot.  Along the way we checked out the rental cabin run by a friend of Bernard’s which was quiet, rural and beautifully done inside.  If you were serious about doing this hike, you’d overnight there and then get an early start to avoid spending the most comfortable part of the day driving. 

             At the cabin we met our guide, a teenager, and Bernard’s brother also came with us.  The trail started out with wide footpaths that went by the park office where we got our permits.  Hikers are supposed to have a guide with them as lost tourists have been a problem along the unmarked trails but we met many visitors who were on their own over the course of the day.

            Once we left the wide path for a narrow trail through some bushes things got tougher.  Most of the trail was constantly elevating along dry streambeds.  You were tired from always going up and there were many loose rocks underfoot on top of some well-worn areas that were tricky to navigate.  We had breaks at a waterfall and when crossing a couple of streams but it was hard work on a day that was getting seriously hot. 

            Meg decided that she probably wasn’t going to make it and so went at a slower pace with Bernard’s brother while I went ahead with the younger guide.  I needed to stop every 15 minutes or so to catch my breath and was starting to feel pretty tired.  I asked my guide how much longer and he said 1 ½ hours and that was beyond me and so I said we would turn back.  Once we caught up with Bernard’s brother on the way back down he heard where we turned around and said that it was only 30 more minutes from there, which I probably would have tried for.  Apparently the view from the top is spectacular but we weren’t meant to see it.  Meg was glad for the company heading back and the young guide left us after a while, maybe because he realized that he gave me the wrong advice.

           We stopped on the way back while Bernard's brother hunted in the bush for a specific plant and got us some raw cardamom pods to chew on.  They were green, juicy and delicious - we had only ever had them dried before. It was still slow going back and we were glad to arrive at the main road and drained several pitchers of water after returning to the cabin.  The drive back was scenic and we were grateful for the air conditioning. 

            Back at our room, we showered and rested before heading down the hill to dine at Devi’s family’s place.  We picked up a cake on the way down and Meg grabbed it off of me halfway there.  I was doing the trick I used in India of swinging bags into any traffic that seemed to be getting too close.  Indian drivers didn’t care much about hitting people but wanted to avoid bags as they might contain something heavy.  Meg was more worried about the cake than our personal safety but we ended up arriving intact, both us and the cake.

            Their place is on a main road but set back far enough not to be noisy.  Her dad and sister live there and provided the typical (huge and delicious) multi-course Sri Lankan spread.  The food and conversation were all wonderful.

            Devi and John walked us part of the way back to out place, showing us a route where the tuktuks weren’t buzzing quite so close to us.  We said goodbye, as this would be the last time we would see them until our return to Canada, and walked the rest of the way back up to our place.