Day 4 11 February 2026 Sri Lanka – Galle

We woke a little rushed at 6:10am, we were meeting Hiru, our guide, at 6:30 to go bike riding through the paddy fields.
We got to “Idle Bikes” at about 6:50 and we’re off on the road by 6:55am with our guide Isuru. It wasn’t long before we were heading into the fields along narrow pathways shared with pedestrians, motor scooters/bikes and of course tuk-tuks (the paths weren’t much wider than the tuk-tuks, but it all seemed to work). Its been years since either of us had been on a bike. So for self preservation and our enjoyment we opted to take the shorter trail rather than the long one, a win for sanity! 🙂
On the ride we saw the paddy fields in almost all stages of growth, from freshly planted to ready for harvest. From the lush green of the newly planted to the golden colours of the plants ready for harvest, interesting to see all the lifecycle on one day. We alsosaw old Dutch canals that run through the area. They were usedfor transporting goods from the farms inland down to the Port of Galle In the fields we saw a variety of birds, colourful king fishers, pea hens with chicks and pea cocks strutting their stuff. In amongst them were the odd water buffalo. So much life, and calmness, it was really good to get away from the constant noise of horns blowing. We finished the ride at about 8:15, and had our hotel packed breakfast at the bike place.
We drove back to the hotel, arriving around at 8:45am for a short break and freshen up.
During the drive back Hiru had our driver stop, and he hopped out and picked a small branch off a tree. He got back in and told us it was from a cinnamon tree. He crush a leaf and gave it to us to smell. It was so fresh and unmistakably cinnamon. He asked us to bite off the end stalk part of the leaf and to chew it, it was a delicious soft cinnamon flavour. He explained that cinnamon oil is derived from the leaves and cinnamon sticks/quills come from the inner bark.
As we got close to our hotel I saw a street name sign for the street our hotel is on, rather than Peddler as I thought yesterday it is actually Pedlar St (the difference in meaning is quite stark,  )
Around 11am we were picked up for our days tour. Hiru out did himself! Our first stop was the Galle Cricket Club, Hiru organised for us to go into the members area and we had a delightful GCC staff member show us around and take a few photos for us. The view from the members pavilion was special, the ground is much bigger (wider than Adelaide oval) and to see back to the fort and all the things you’ve seen on TV, very special. We almost had a drink at the members bar but instead we sat at the bar and played the part!
From there we headed east along the coast to Weligama Beach for lunch at the Koi Beach Club.
Along the way we stopped at Galle Harbour and watched as the locals hauled in a very long fishing net by hand. Hiru said the fishing nets can legally go up to 3km out to sea (illegally they go out to about 5km) and usually hand hauled back in, sometimes use a tractor. Rocks tied into the next mark the length of the net, looked like every 10m
Help haul the net for 30 to 60 mins and share in the catch. Tuna is the main catch (Skipjack and yellowfin) and other fish such as Spanish Mackeral, shark, trevally and wahoo are caught. Anyone who puts in 30 to 60 mins or more helping to bring the net in is given a share of the catch.The 2004 tsunami that hit Galle caused many things like cars and buses to be washed out to see, these now cause big problems for net fishing, with lots of snags and tears.
We have been told the Tsunami wreaked destruction in Galle, we were told that waves of up to 40ft swept through the town, it was actually 2 waves coming from different directions. That caused many people who were trying to escape one wave to be caught by the other. The loss of life and property was devastating. Several thousand lives were lost in Galle.
After watching the net hauling for a while we headed off to Jayasiri Place to have a look at the “Stilt Fishermen”. In reality it is a very sad looking tourist trap. There were 4 men sitting on the poles trying to look interested and fishing. One of them had a small fish on the end of his line that looked like it had been there all morning. Originally, the pole fishermen were farmers that came to the beach after working their rice fields, they used the poles to avoid the sharp corals in the sand, they would catch 3 or 4 fish and then go home with the days protein for their family
Welingama Beach for lunch at the Koi Beach Club. We were easily the oldest at the “venue”. The area is very much a young persons spot, with sunbaking and surfing, or learning to surf to main attractions, as well as the party atmosphere. We knew it would get loud when the DJ board was set up opposite the pool and the bass heavy speakers set up to blast towards the beach. We were pretty sure it would be party central by mid afternoon. After lunch we had a short walk on the beach and then we headed back to Galle.
On the way back we stopped at a marina for commercial fishing boats. They were all very colourful, they looked like they had minimum amenities on board and basic fishing equipment. Hiru said the go out for two to three weeks in search of a catch.
We then headed back to our hotel for an afternoon breather. Dinner tonight was at the Galle Fort Hotel. We both started with Galle Mutton Broth, and then Deb had “Galle Things Local” and I had “Negombo Sunday Lunch” from the Ropewalk Experiences menu. Both our meals were amazing, every mouthful was so good.
Tomorrow we go to Ella, a the start of our exploration in the highlands