Sunday 5 September

Greetings and bear hugs.

Today was tea day. Being in the centre of Sri Lanka's tea industry it was strangely appropriate. As to the route, first we climbed to one of the highest points on the island then downhill to Kandy, the old capital.

Ready for the off

En route we had to persuade some tea factory workers to give us samples which we were NOT allowed to purchase, and we had to find our way to a tea factory in the very back of the back of beyond in order to have a tea-tasting session and answer some questions on the differences between BOP, FBOP and OP teas. Go Google it, my guys have already forgotten.

Tea samples about to be handed over

Getting from the main road to the tea factory involved one of the longest and roughest off-roads of the challenge. J did NOT drive. Let's leave it at that. Some spectacular scenery and, of course, constant waving from the children as we weaved, bumped and jumped our way around the backroads.

Finally, into Kandy, the home of the Temple of the Tooth. This is Buddha's tooth, not a palace glorifying dentists. Here, we had to find a particular merchant in the fruit and veg market, which covers three chaotic floors, and get our final task from him.

J at Kandy market

The task was to was buy 400 rupees of vegetables (£2.40) then, wait for it, get on a local bus and sell the produce to the passengers - at a profit. This sounded so much fun that, naturally, that our senior heroes dug their heels in and decided to go straight to the hotel. Wimps.

Lurvely hotel. Amaya Hills, overlooking Kandy. I immediately made myself comfy and left them to get on with whatever - which would probably involve beer and/or G&Ts.

Me settling in

And did it ever. Not only were G&Ts apparently obligatory, so was going to the hotel disco until some appalling hour of the morning and then coming in and waking me up. Thanks, guys. (J & N blamed H.)

One more thing for Khan, Jenny et al's friends. They want to show you how hard they are working. So here's four of them arriving at the hotel.

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And here's the six of them striking unusual poses.

Tomorrow, a rest day. Rest? It's time all of them did some work, believe a bear. Tuesday we drive to Colombo arriving in, we hope, fine convoy style at the hotel.

Must go to bed now.

O