If Saturday had seen a 6:15am rise for Emi and myself, then Sunday saw an even earlier one at 04:30am for Rennie and me.  Our plan was to climb Pidurangala, the large rock mentioned in the previous blog post, and see Sigiriya as soon after sunrise as we could make it.  The original idea had actually been to be there for sunrise itself but this would have meant climbing in the pitch dark; not good at the best of times given unfamiliar steep and rocky terrain and the presence of venomous snakes, but even less-so given heavy rain during the night making the surface slippery.  

With Sung joining us and the four children fast asleep in bed, we commenced the climb in the pre-dawn half light, accompanied by four dogs who left us alone but seemingly wanting to let us know that they knew the way!  Initially on steep stone steps and unmade footpath through the trees, the final part of the climb became even steeper as it gave way to squeezing and stretching between and over large boulders; at least we could fully see what we we doing as by now the sun had just climbed above the horizon. 

Concerned with not wanting to damage my pocket camera (and very pleased that I had taken the decision to leave a heavy and highly valuable rucksack of DSLR and lenses in the hotel room), I’d taken a final part of the route that was initially quite straightforward but where the ultimate move prior to the summit was further up than I could raise my leg to the nearest knob of rock to push on – and with an overhang that meant I couldn’t heave myself up without banging my head.  Rennie and Sung were already up, so after I had taken the photo shown above she reached down to take my camera whilst Sung came down another way and cupped his hands for me to push one foot on; I was then up, too.

Wow – what a magnificent sight bathed in soft pinky-orange light for half an hour or so until the intensity of the day set it.  Well worth an early start just for the view, never mind the adventure getting there and the spectacle of monkeys eating berries from the tree canopies that rise to the summit and having a stand-off argument with the dogs stood on it!  Other than this brief noisy interlude it was just lovely silence interspersed with birdsong.  Another mindfulness moment to treasure.

Hot, sweaty and in need for shower we were back in time to take exactly this and then breakfast with the children.  A perfect start to the day.

Steve