I followed the coast road South with the intention of staying a night in Negombo. I had pre-booked the Colombo homestay from which I had started my tour for the next and final night in Sri Lanka.
Once again the skies were clear and it was very hot. It seemed like a change in the air and wondered if this was the first sign of the hot season. The coast road South was very pleasant and quite different from the chaos of Colombo despite being relatively close. As the road turned in towards Negombo I saw another grand looking Hindu shrine with a large reclining Goddess. I sneaked a few prohibited pictures.. some from a petrol station next door and outside the temple grounds.

Further along the road and a large Buddha statue sat in a typical Sri Lankan setting.

Over the bridge into Negombo I negotiated the centre and bus station to find the old Colombo coast road. It is remarkably quiet in comparison to the main road which I had used on arrival.

I stopped on a beach to eat a ‘lunch packet’ of rice, meat and vegetables. A little further and some ‘plain tea’ at a stall. I then took a little time out to sunbathe on a beach. It occurred to me that it was not so far to Colombo and rang to see if I could book that night to stay too. It was fine. So I no longer had the stress of trying to find yet another place to stay and could get myself well prepared for the flight out of Sri Lanka.

The old road to Colombo follows a canal before finally crossing via a bridge into the crazy world of Colombo

Once back at the homestay in Mount Lavinia I felt a great sense of relief. I had cycled all over Sri Lanka and it was like arriving home again. I even had the same room. In fact the homestay at Mount Lavinia was the best place I had stayed (4 nights in total) during my entire visit to the island. The next day I cycled into the open market area of central Colombo to buy half a chicken, potatoes, ginger, onions and one last juicy Sri Lankan pineapple. I had tea at the main taxi drivers hang out close to the prison and then got more than a little lost on the way back to the hostel.  I ended up on the Kandy road heading out of the city. Finally I found my way and curved back in towards the city to find myself once again on the old Galle road by the sea. Before cooking dinner I revisited Galle Road to buy a few things to post home to the UK.

On the approach to the outskirts of the Western Coastal town of Chillaw I visited the impressive Hindu shrine at Kuddirupu. It is surrounded by a multitude of stalls selling offerings of flowers, fruits and cheap knick knacks. The temple itself is magnificent. I was treated to some pineapple by one stall holder and a devotee leaving the temple gave out fruit from a large platter and  I  gratefully accepted a pineapple before hopping back on to my bike.

With great joy I cycled into Chilaw and onto the beach road. The receptionist at an up market hotel put me in the direction of a government rest house. It was set on the beach and a stones throw from the town centre. I was given a superb room looking out onto the beach with easy accessibility for my bicycle via a door leading out onto the hotel driveway. This was great!

Following a good nights rest I thanked the staff at the hostel and took a little ride around Chilaw. The East coast has many catholic churches and schools. Christianity, as the dominant religion, has  a major impact on lifestyle in Chilaw. I cycled the block around St Mary’s church as hundreds of students were arriving to start their school day..