Desha drives us from the Dumbulla Caves to our new hotel.

It is FABULOUS!

The grounds are huge and have man-made lakes and canals laid out in perfect symmetry, with walking paths in between.

The lakes are full of fish, and one even has a small crocodile that likes to be fed from the restaurant! Birds are everywhere, we even saw a fish eagle, but it is the peacocks that steal the show. There are 200 hundred of them!

One is there to greet us when we arrive

And so is our Butler. You can forget any image you may have of a stuffy old English butler in a morning suit, or an Indian Butler on the cruise ships in a dinner jacket. This Butler is 25 years old, tall. slim and handsome in a colourful shirt and slim khakis. He speaks perfect English but somehow has acquired a French accent. He is utterly charming. I am loving it here already.

The villas are spread out all over the grounds and he drives us to ours in a buggy.

Perfect.

And just what we needed after another long drive with Desha. We are discovering that the problem with Desha is that he is a tour guide not a driver, and he wants everything planned, and timed to the nearest minute. That is not what we have in mind at all. Yes, we like to have an idea of what we are doing tomorrow, but no, we do not need a timetable. Desha tells us that his working hours are from 6am to 6pm. That is a long day, but it is not our day! Ours is 10am to 10pm! We have but two rules. We are not rushing, and we do not leave the hotel until 10am at the earliest.

Tomorrow we are climbing the Lion Rock, or hope to. That might not sound impressive to you, but believe me, if we make it, it will be! Just to give you an idea of what that involves:

Desha tells us he will pick us up at 4am! He doesn’t ask, he tells. What is it that he doesn’t understand about 10 am. He tells us that it is important to start before the heat of the day, and that we need to be on top of the rock to see the sunrise.

We assure him that we have seen a sunrise before, and we do not need to see another one.

He pushes for 4am.

We settle on 6am.

I can’t believe that we have to negotiate a time to start our day with our driver.

We tell our charming butler that we need a call at 5am.

We tell him why

He tells us that we are crazy and asks if we really need to see another sunrise. See how perfect he is! He tells us that if we leave at 7 we will be done before it gets too hot.

We call Desha.

Desha is not happy, It is becoming a permanent state of affairs.

He picks us up at seven.

On the way, we learn that he intends to climb the rock with us. He is our guide after all. We thank him profusely and tell him there is no need.

He argues again

Now we have to negotiate whether he comes with us or not. This is getting ridiculous.

We tell him we are going on our own. End of discussion

Desha is not happy.

Tell me something new.

Climbing the Sigiriya Lion Rock is the one thing you must do when in Sri Lanka. We have come to this island for many reasons. but this is the main one. Right on top of the Rock are the ruins of King Kasyapa’s impressive palace which he built in 477 AE.

It was accessible only through the mouth of an enormous carved lion which used to sit on a small plateau half way up the rock.

Today, only the feet are still there

The only drawback to climbing Lions Rock is that there are well over 1,200 steps, most of them up a cliff wall. That would be daunting in the best of circumstances, but with my strained achilles it is more than daunting. Desha has already made it clear that he thinks neither Gordon nor I will make it. That does nothing to endear him to us. I know Gordon will do it without a problem, but I am not sure I will. But now, with Desha’s comment, there is no way I am not going to get there.

Desha drops us off at the car park, and for the first time we get a view of exactly what the challenge is.

We can see why Desha has his doubts.

It is impossible to believe that sixteen hundred years ago a palace and small kingdom was built on top if it. Imagine the workers climbing up and down all day carrying whatever they needed to the top. It is even more mind-boggling when you see the steps they had to use. They don’t look too bad at the bottom of the rock

But as you get higher and the cliff becomes steeper, they look terrifying

It is hard to imagine a King with his crown and robes, ever getting up there. If I were King, I would demand some sort of lift so that my subjects could heave me up. And once up there, I would never come down.

And if I get up there today……………well lets not think about coming down just yet.

Before we even get close to the rock there is a long walk through three magnificent gardens that the King laid out . The first is the water gardens where the path is flanked by two long, narrow pools, the water supplied by nearby streams (see above). Circular limestone fountains were fed by an underground aqueduct system. Sixteen hundred years later the fountains still work beautifully.

Next come the boulder gardens,

and finally the terraced gardens where we encounter the first 100 or so steps

And then the climb begins. At this point the steps are made of stone, sometimes carved out of the actual rock, sometimes made with rocks. The steps are uneven in height and far from level. We have to tread carefully and watch where we are going. But then I look at what they had to contend with in the 5th century and decide not to complain. Well, maybe just a little! Gordon is up them like a gazelle, I am more like a limping lumbering elephant. It is an arduous climb, but eventually we reach the small plateau, where we and everyone else can take a rest.

Ahead of us lies the entrance through what remains of the lion statue

From here there is a huge vertical rock face. The way up is made possible by a metal staircase zigzagging its way to the top. It doesn’t look so bad from down here.

but from up there ………………………………………………………to be continued