“Five thousand two hundred steps, is that all?”…. I was of course joking. Sitting comfortably in the taxi with Steve, Maureen and Ant we could see Adams Peak looming in the distance, towering over the other mountains. This is what we were coming to conquer…. Maureen and I looked at each other with a slight grimace. “Are we supposed to be looking forward to this?” I asked the others but also to myself.
This holy mountain is the bearer of several legends. Adams Peak is named this because it is believed that this is where Adam first set foot on earth after being cast out of heaven. Then the name Sri Pada meaning sacred footprint which is believed to be left by Buddha. Then you have my favourite, Samanalakande (though typically the only one I cant say…) which means butterfly mountain, sounds lovely until I read further and it said that this is the place that they come to die. Ahhh. Now apparently there is a huge footprint at the top, again believed to belong to either St Thomas (apostle of India) of Lord Shiva, I must say that I didn’t see it, a little disappointing but that doesn’t mean to say that it doesn’t exist. What it comes down to is what you choose to believe.
Arriving on a Saturday we sat and discussed the leaving time for our trek, reading through the book Maureen was getting a bit anxious, “the book says leave at two, the hotel guy says half past so Steve I think we should leave at one…..just in case…..so I think I will go to bed at four” she said. Ant and I tried to explain that they didn’t need to leave that early but it didn’t work and so we planned on setting off at half two in the morning, not because we are any fitter more the fact that we didn’t want to get up so early! So I sat there working out when I needed to go to bed…..zzzz time is very important to me!
Walking into the small town of Dalhouise we were surprised at the amount of people surging through the streets, young and old alike. The town was certainly bustling, it took on the appearance of a fairground but without the rides, endless stalls were set up selling all sorts of things, offerings to take up to the gods, chair sized simply awful dog money boxes, fleeces, hats, blocks of jelly looking sweets and fluorescent plastic flowers plus a load of tat thrown in for good measure. Seeing the mass of people we asked the locals about our choice of leaving on that night/early morning (depending on which way you chose to look at it) and quickly we came to the conclusion that we would give it a miss that night, pro-long it for one more day…..! Along with Poya (holiday) days pilgrims travel from far and wide to make the journey up the steps on a Sunday morning. I could envisage us cramming up with the masses step by step…..very slowly. I had also come across several groups of young men, voices and comments loud and brash, their words irrelevant, something I didn’t want to have to put up with for the whole climb! Sitting at breakfast the next morning we spoke to some other tourists who had decided to do the climb the previous morning and as we had predicted it was a bit of a nightmare for them. The climb that takes anything from two – four hours (maximum) ended up taking them six! Lots of pushing and shoving as well. I was certainly glad we had put it back a day!
So with the day free we all went for a ‘warm up’ stroll, a walk through the hills to the lake. High up on the road we decided to get closer and followed a sandy path to the water. Miss judging a step I planted both feet in orange tainted oozing mud! This was just the start…. I was to almost die of blood loss…. (Maybe a small exaggeration!) What we wanted to do was follow the waters edge around the lake….but what we wanted and what was possible were two different things! Soon we were scrambling through the bush, trying to follow the faint path and then it disappeared altogether! Following behind Maureen I was presented with her bum in my face as she slipped and skidded up the hill, occasionally giving her a helpful shove. At one point she shouted down “watch out, rocks”, I sidestepped as a dislodged rock came tumbling down. Then she stopped and calmly said, “leech”. Oh no, my heart sank. I looked down to my feet barely protected in flip-flops and that’s when I saw it…the bloodsucking leech attached to my foot. Ahhh I am going to die of blood loss!!! “Ant” I screeched, “Get….it….off….me!!!!!”. My knight in shining Armour was too far ahead to save me though. So Mr Knight two (Steve) stepped in with his cigarette shaped sword, swiped and saved Maureen and I practically stripped there and then in the search for anymore blood suckers, relieved we found none. So our relaxing morning stroll turned into something more energetic than we had all anticipated!
It was to be an early night for all of us, Maureen and Steve taking the lead by wishing their goodnights at about five, at seven I was thinking about bed when I saw Steve quietly creeping out of his room, a glass of whisky in his hand. The early to bed tactic obviously hadn’t worked! I left him on the patio nursing his drink and cigarette as I tried to convince myself to go to bed. At eight I was still reading….the only thing to do was turn off the light and wait for sleep.
‘Trill, trill, trill” the alarm blasted in my ear signaling the two am start, by half past we were ready. Thermals on, hat, coat and boots. I actually felt quite refreshed but still not quite ready for all those steps, have I mentioned there are five thousand two hundred of them? A gentle start along a dirt path led us past pilgrims finishing their journey some being helped down, umm this didn’t bode too well. Then we met a monk who blessed us whilst tying a multi-coloured shoelace round our wrists. Was this going to get me up and down? This is what he led me to believe….
One, two, miss a few ninety-nine, one hundred…if only it was that easy. In this modern day and age why hasn’t an escalator been installed? Ant and I took it easy, a nice leisurely pace; even so I was soon shedding my layers as sweat started pouring down my face. About the a third of the way we stopped for a tea break and a ciggie, of course being tourists we were ripped off. We realised when I asked a local what we should have paid, this infuriated a tired Ant…”its about the principle” he muttered as he went over to speak to the guy. Red faced and cross, Ant told him what he thought,”I am going to close this shop, you’re a thief, ” and in the words of Arnie “I will be back”. That told him…as we walked on I tried to stifle my giggles!
The path was lit, (thank goodness for small mercies!) so we could see the steps, we were going to have to wait until sunrise to see what actually surrounded us. Resting again I looked down the mountain, the path that we had already completed surprised me, all the lights twinkling and snaking round seemed further than what I thought we had done. It looked so pretty, it also meant that we weren’t far off. The gradual steps soon got steeper luckily there were railings, a safety device or a way of hauling yourself up?
We made it to the top well before sunrise meeting up with Maureen and Steve who had exceeded their own estimations, together we sat and waited for sunrise. Visiting the monastery at the top at 2243 meters we went and toiled the bell once, this was letting all and sundry know this was our first visit. As the sun slowly rose it bobbed up and down giving the appearance of it rising three times, getting brighter, illuminating the mountains surrounding us. It was wonderful to be up there and watch the beautiful world open before our eyes.
Now, the way down…..it seemed like a totally new route, the scenery was stunning but my knees and legs didn’t think much of it at all! It was worse than the up, wobbly, aching, jelly legs is what we had to contend with…..it was a case of just keep on going. We reached the bottom at nine, turning around we could see what we had accomplished, we could see our achievement and it felt good. The next day our inability to walk testified to the amount of steps we had done, it had certainly had left an impression on us!
