After 8 hours rattling along on the train, we arrived in Colombo. Colombo is a crazy place – frenetic, colourful, noisy and muggy.   By the time we got to our hotel we were feeling hot and tired so opted for a quick dip in the pool and had dinner in.  We were up early to go and arrange a Sri Lankan motorbike licence which we need to hire a Royal Enfield – the bike Ian had set his heart on.  Everything went according to plan with the paperwork filled out,  the forms provided and a couple of patient hours waiting in the queue. Just as they were about to have our licence granted they noticed – continue reading…>

It took 5 days and to reach the shores of Sri Lanka from the Andamans. We had fabulous winds for the journey, flying the spinnaker for some of the time and even hit 12.3 knots.  We pulled into the entry to Trincomalee (Trinco to the locals) early in the morning and contacted Port Control to let them know we were heading in but were refused permission to enter the inner harbour. A naval vessel came alongside and told us that we were not expected for a couple of days so could we please contact our agent to get them to organise the paperwork for entry this day.  We had no way of contacting them, -continue reading …>