River cruise by Five Schoolboys from St. Anthony’s College
Mahaweli River Cruise by 5 Antonians in the 1950s.
Shane took me to the mouth of the Mahaweli River after many years where our Great Mahaweli canoe Trip ended at MUTUR. The road & Bridge were not there & the memory of our final day is as vivid as ever. Five Schoolboys from St. Anthony’s College carried out & completed an adventure that was treated as the impossible.
I am ever grateful firstly to Our Wonderful Dad & Mum for allowing me to carry it out with friends Lynton Van Starrex, Andre Titus, Alec VanStarrex, Our Guardian, & Anton Beekmeyer.
I have detailed our Adventure in my Memoires & many thanks must go to the boatmen that guided the two joined timber canoes & us to our destination. The owner of the boats at Kandakadu refused to hire us the canoes unless we took the men. We argued for a few days & eventually took them with us & I thank God because The beautiful, serene Mahaweli had many traps & pitfalls & without the boatmen we would have perished on day one.
God bless All who helped us.
Winston Bayley
