Most Inspirational Moment
Citadel Sigariya
Thoughts on Group Leader
very good
Advice for Potential Travellers
the cycle ride described as very challenging lives up to its name - it is a long day of climbing
Reviews
Your Words – We tell it like it is! Holiday Reviews by previous Exodus travellers
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Reviews
CYCLE THE BACKROADS OF SRI LANKA
an excellent trip – well organised and thought through – it would take three times as long to see the same things and have the same experience if you were an individual traveller
CYCLE THE BACKROADS OF SRI LANKA
This is an outstanding trip – from the quality of the hotels, variety of the experience, and country you are travelling through I simply cant recommend it highly enough.
Most Inspirational Moment
For me the best moments came after the longest days in the saddle. I loved the feeling of achievement after a long hill climb. The down hill runs afterwards were great fun too!
Thoughts on Group Leader
Our group leader was an absolute star. Knowledgeable, approachable, and a can do attitude were everything your could have wanted or expected from someone leading the tour. I'd add that the conduc of the three support staff who were on the trip we similarly noteworthy.
Advice for Potential Travellers
It sounds an obvious thing to say but this is a trip for people who have good fitness. If you dont, you wont enjoy it.
CYCLE THE BACKROADS OF SRI LANKA
Great trip, great tour leader
Most Inspirational Moment
Seeing the orphaned elephants,cycling to the Hill club, Yala NP
Thoughts on Group Leader
Excellent, Sureesh could not do enough for us.
Advice for Potential Travellers
Enjoy the trip, but be prepared for cycling in very hot conditions.
CYCLE THE BACKROADS OF SRI LANKA
Sri Lanka is a country with beautiful scenery, delicious food, lovely weather and friendly people. What better way to see it than by bike? The cycling was just as described, moderate to challenging and the 3 days in the middle of the holiday are certainly on the challenging side and very rewarding as a result.
Most Inspirational Moment
Completing the 100km ride from Kandy to Nuwara Elia up a 2000m climb. As I’m not much of a cyclist it was much longer and steeper than I ever imagined. Also being about 10m away from a wild leopard when we went on the safari. This apparently was a very unusual sight. Also, climbing to the top of Sigiriya Rock. This rewarded us with spectacular views of the surrounding countryside.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Suresh was always very helpful and put our comfort and safety above everything else.
Advice for Potential Travellers
The quality of the hotels we stayed at varied greatly from lovely to rather poor. Also everything seemed to close at 10.30pm, even the bars/restaurants/hotels, so if you want to eat and drink go early or go hungry and thirsty. Not such a bad thing when there are many 6am starts.
Sri Lanka - a land of beauty, rain, dogs andlovely food!
A great trip offering good cyling, great people. lovely food and wonderful culture.
Most Inspirational Moment
I have done a few cycling trips now and in Asia I am always amazed by the friendliness of the people and the children who all come out to see you and call out "Bye!!" I was also impressed by how clean Sri Lanka is. I loved the temples - we certainly saw a lot of them! Also thoroughly enjoyed the visit to the Elephant Orphanage. We just sat and watched them for a couple of hours playing in the river. Getting to the top of that Hill!! Think of it in stages. We had a stop every 20k so all I thought about was doing the next 20k and it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be. If you have any hesitation just do it! You can always get on the bus for a stage.At the end of the trip I went on an optional Whale watching trip. This was excellent - we saw lots of whales and dolphins.
Thoughts on Group Leader
We had Suresh. Initially I was disappointed as I was expecting to have Peter lead our trip. However Suresh could not do enough for us. Suresh's love for his country (and temples) was very evident. I believe this enriched our whole trip. There is a lot to be said for having a guide who is a native of the country you are touring. Suresh's laugh just put everyone in a good mood. He also loved a good bargain and was always negotiating for us to get the best price. Upali was our driver - lovely man who could talk for Sri Lanka! AJ was our front man - catch him if you can. Then we had the gorgeous Chamara as our back man and mechanic. Great team but AJ please slow down at the front .......
Advice for Potential Travellers
Take an umbrella! No country is ever this green and verdant without plentiful rain! Also a torch is useful. If you go to the elephant orphanage try and buy some bananas on your way. You can get them there but you will want a lot. Remember this is not a race. Every trip will have people on it who wish to get to the destination as fast as they can but that doesn't mean we all have to. We were always at our destination well ahead of schedule and I now wish I had stopped more, taken more photos and generally not rushed through everything. This does tend to happen a lot on cycling holidays so stand your ground. Tell the leader you would like more "regrouping" so that you can stop and take photos and generally enjoy the scenery. When you get the opportunity use the local transport - it really is an experience! We got a bus back from Galle and a series of vendors trooped on and off the bus selling nuts, oranges and other wares. The amount of people they manage to get on a bus! Was pleased we were on it first and got seats.
CYCLE THE BACKROADS OF SRI LANKA
A really well balanced trip which gives a great insight into Sri Lanka ‘on the saddle’. A pleasant lack of interminable bus transfers which plague some trips and visits to temples were thankfully kept to a minimum.
Most Inspirational Moment
Eating street food from roadside vendors during each day.
Advice for Potential Travellers
Don't bother with a la carte dinner options. Whilst the omnipresent buffet might become predictable it is by far the best food available.Watch out for predatory monkeys in Kandy!Bring wine and spirits unless you can cope with non-stop beer!!
CYCLE THE BACKROADS OF SRI LANKA
See the real Sri Lanka as well as many of the key tourist sights. The back roads take you through villages and countryside that would be missed travelling any other way. There is one challenging long ride with a steep climb but a train option provides a cultural alternative. A surprising experience providing fantastic views of the hill country. Travel through the heart of Sri Lanka, from low land wild life parks to the more temperate tea hills.
Most Inspirational Moment
Seeing how rural Sri Lankans live - they all seemed so happy despite often difficult conditions.
Thoughts on Group Leader
A big hearted Sri Lankan who worked tirelessly to make everyone on the trip happy.
Advice for Potential Travellers
Consider the train ride if you don't think you want to complete the long uphill cycle. It is an experience you will remember. In Kandy, climb the hill (or get a tuk tuk) to the Buddha temple on the hill. The views over Kandy are worth the trip.
CYCLE THE BACKROADS OF SRI LANKA
Done a few cycling trips to date, Vietnam, Morocco and Costa Rica (and about 15 other group trips), and this trip rates at/near the top. We stayed off main roads where possible, and generally used a combination of minor roads/tracks, etc (occasional transfers later in trip). The route is very well planned, and route maps given out each day were excellent. (having a bike odometer certainly helps !) Meals were good, accomodation generally very good, and backup vehicles, etc were very well organised.Average spending money in group seemed to be about 250GBP p.p., best change 200GBP on arrival and change later if needed. (GBP or USD seemed to be preferred) Guide hooked me up with a dive centre for 2 excellent dives near Galle (incl wreck dive), highly recommended.I took my own bike with semi slicks, easy on group flight (need to keep within 30kg total limit) I managed to avoid doing washing, but I took 20 t-shirts, etc ! Only issue was that we seemed to start 20-40 minutes late every day, so a number of hours in total were spent waiting in the hotel car parks, I have suggested a plan be made in this regard.
CYCLE THE BACKROADS OF SRI LANKA
Sri Lanka was definitely my best cycling adventure so far, having done Cuba with Exodus last year and many self planned trips in France, Wales and Scotland throughout the years. Thr trip was generally well planned giving a fantastic variety of cycling in beautiful surroundings, a real insight into local culture and great food, without the need for daily transfers by bus.
Most Inspirational Moment
The walk (climb really) up Sirigyra rock and the views. Making it through Day No 8 total ascent of 2100m. I was not sure I could do this beforehand.The architectural accomplishments of early Sri Lankan civilisation.Seeing the crocodiles moving a floating carcass around in one of the lakes on the game reserve.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Suresh is a competent and conscientious guy. He also has a keen interest in local cuisine which ensured we had plenty of tasty snacks and black tea throughout our cycling days.
Advice for Potential Travellers
Take a sarong or buy one in Sri Lanka. It is the ideal evening garment to give those nether regions of the body a well deserved break from close confinement. I took too much clothing generally, however we were blessed with no rain for the fortnight.
CYCLE THE BACKROADS OF SRI LANKA
This was a fantastic trip with a huge variety of scenery and challenges. As a reasonable cyclist however not a true fanatic I really enjoyed this holiday. Having been with Peter our guide in Kerala, I travelled again with 2 friends who also had a great time. Our group was good fun and supportive of each others abilities.
Most Inspirational Moment
Lots of great days and whilst I chose to go on the train to Nuara Elia we enjoyed a fantastic experience with the locals. I was delighted to be there to welcome many of the group back from an amazing challenge.There are many other fab cycling days including the down hill day of supreb views from Ella, to make in time to watch the Rugby World Cup final over a few beers!! Chasing home from mad rainstorm, along the lakeside was also a great experience! Whale watching trip is also a must!!
Thoughts on Group Leader
Peter and his team ( AK and Kasun) were excellent and extremely supportive.At no point do you need to ask for anything as we were always well catered for.Having been with Peter in Kerela, I would recommend any trip that he and his team guide, as we have had 2 very good experiences.
Advice for Potential Travellers
You do need rain gear, though it was a lot of fun in the muddy back lanes!