On the Roads of Ceylon (Sri Lanka)

Eleven nights and around 845 miles in a loop from Negombo on a Royal Enfield, running coast to highlands and back, and taking in most of what makes the island worth riding.

Negombo opens it at the fishing port, where the traditional oruwa outriggers still work, then the Kalpitiya peninsula through coconut plantations and shrimp farms on a strip between lagoon and ocean. Sigiriya follows with a detour to Yapahuwa, a short-lived thirteenth-century capital, and then the dawn climb of Lion Rock itself, a palace and fortress built on top of a granite plug 200 metres above the plain, with the painted caves at Dambulla nearby.

Trincomalee comes next on one of the finest natural harbours in the world, which is why the Portuguese, Dutch, French and British all fought over it, then Maduru Oya across the eastern plains and its national park. The Knuckles range follows, with tea plantations above 1,000 metres, and Nuwara Eliya at around 2,000 metres, the highest town in the country and still visibly the hill station the British built.

Ella is next in tea country on a plateau that invites comparison with New Zealand, then Udawalawe by way of Diyaluma Falls, the third highest in Sri Lanka, and the carved Buddhas at Buduruwagala, with an elephant safari in the national park. Galle closes the trip inside the old Dutch fort and its ramparts. Bike rental is included and the price is quoted per person. Sri Lanka is small enough that eleven nights covers it properly rather than merely sampling it.