ROAD TRIP PART 2: WORLD'S END

Day 3 of the trip saw us hiking across Horton's Plains to World's End. The increasingly dog-eared Lonely Planet guide suggested getting to World's End before 10am so that the view isn't obscured by clouds. Taking into consideration the obligatory hour-and-half drive on pot-holed roads and the fact that we would be hiking with children, we decided to leave the hotel at 5am. So off we set, all rugged up with our lunch packed in cardboard boxes, stopping once for cigarettes for the driver and again to take photos of the sunrise.

We arrived at Horton's Plains at 6:30am. The wind blowing through the thick morning mist was icy cold and we began to wonder what we had got ourselves in for. Fortunately the mist was soon to dissipate and it wasn't much longer until we were able to remove our jumpers and enjoy some glorious sunshine.

Driving through the park entrance to the carpark we were able to spot elk through the mist. It seemed a little strange that this was a snapshot of Sri Lanka. We left the car and began the 9.5 km walk that would lead us across Horton's plains, up to World's End, round to Baker's Falls and then back to where we started. It wasn't a difficult walk - the children had no trouble with it - and the scenery was beautiful. Across plains, along rocky paths through the forest and, at times, there's no path at all, just a forest trail. It would have been exciting to say we saw a leopard, but I'm actually more thankful that we didn't (they have been known to venture down and eat stray dogs on the outskirts of towns).

World's End (and mini World's End) were amazing views (although, because there's no guard rails - it's a little scary to do with two excitable boys). It turned out that we had a perfect day and the clouds did not come along to obscure our view. Apparently, the preceding days had been very cloudy so we were very pleased with the outcome. The land stretched out forever and it made me think that if this is how big a small island like Sri Lanka can look, imagine how large the world really is!!

From World's End we headed onwards to Baker's Falls, where the children had a little dip in the waters. Then we continued to hike onwards, back around to where the hike began. The hike is supposed to take about 3 hours. With children, we managed it in 4, so we were quite pleased with our efforts. Little Jay did start to complain towards the end that his legs were steaming but he did walk the whole way without needing to be carried (except for a short stint when he was piggy-backed after he fell off a ledge - only a little one!) so we were pretty proud of him.