Day 13 - Payynnur to Kodungallur via a spin on the beach (280km)
Today was our last big slog, we made it no issues, had a small sleep in, ate some crappy breakfast buffet at Hotel Juju, After breakfast we headed for the beach called Muzhappilangad Drive In Beach, it runs parrell to route 66, its about 5.5km long, many rickshaw teams have used this for some cool photos, as we pulled on to beach i noticed some kiwi teams and in typical bro fashion invited us for a small drag, although our old girl isnt the fastest I still managed 3rd outta 5 I think so pretty happy.
After our quick drag we noticed Tim G from Mad Gungas had broken down, as the silly yank drove his aircooled rickshaw into the water haha. After pulling everything out and carbi included and letting it dry he managed to start it again.
I wasnt keen on droning as we had many km to travel today but i did some filming with Osmo, I hope to drone tomorrow before the finish line, I have found a small ferry crossing I think that will be cool and some secluded beach roads before Vypin and when we get to Kochin.
After the beach we followed Tim and J out to hwy 66 shorty after this they stopped as they had very wobbly rickshaw, I instantly thought they may have broken their “Engine Mount” so I moved the engine by pushing on exhaust pipe and yes they had cleaned snapped it. Being sunday and no auto shops open we used his compression strap to hold the motor to chasis rail. Same thing me and Griffo did in 2012.
We then all powered to this hotel we arrived by 645pm just as sun was gone and lucky as my LED werent working properly for once.
Hotel : Hotel Seashore Residency (5500 inr) NO HOTWATER WTF.
Day 12 - Murdeshwar to Payyanur (262 km)
We started day off late leaving by 9am as Moki has been struggling with his cards as his stupid US bank has locked him out haha so he wanted to make some calls and we all needed a sleep in to get off this fever and gastro bug.
After breakie we hit the road for what we though was going to be a long day but we made good time landing in at 540pm to this hotel Tim and J found, we came across 2 teams Flying Chihuahuas about 10km out of town and they happily followed to this room.
We all checked in to our Deluxe AC rooms pretty nice for only 2000 rups plus 400 for extra bed. I showered and went off to find me a barber and i got one of best cut throats of this trip 60 rupees or $1.20 AUD, you cant even buy a razor back home that cheap.
No breakdowns but we found a nice tyre shop along highway to get our spare fixed as we had to change it a few days back so we figured we should get the puncture fixed, again only like 100rupee or maybe $2.10 of course we tipped the man triple that.
Ok i will add photos to all post when home when i get real WIFI i cant upload shit on this sorry excuse of 4G. Tomorrow we plan to smash out another 250km leaving us about 20km from Cochin finish line on last day, hope to find some beach hotel and maybe catch a ferry as well.
Hotel : Juju International (2400 inr)
Day 11 - Agonda to Murdeshwar (162km)
After a pretty late start since both Moki and Jahnavi were also now sick we left this nice beach paradise to find a hotel with hot water and air conditioning. We stumbled upon Murdeshwar Temple and Beach amazing place photos to follow. This was a pretty simple drive highway 66 south has been pretty good, very much under repair but not to much gravel or dirt so bareable.
We found nice hotel under the Shiva temple called RNS Residency. We ate dinner with the i think 6 teams from UK & and 1 dude from Kenya called Bharat Express. Feeling alot better after another sleep in we were last team to leave in the morning.
Hotel : RNS Residency - Twin Room (4130 inr)
Day 9 to 10 - Goa Rest Day and Laundry then Ajuna to Agonda (90km)
Today hang out at Antares beach resort after last 9 days of driving across India and back and forth across some mountain ranges in our powered lawnmower. We thought it wise to rest by the Pool, however Moki, Tim G and Jahnavi decided to get Royal Enfield motorbikes and head off exploring Anjuna area. After their day exploring we all met up for dinner at Ciao Bella a nice French / Italian Resturant.
Now i dont know what we ate if it was there or not but 3 of us got really bad gastro within 24hrs of this place. Some say it could have been my pork ribs for lunch but i say food poisoning works 4hrs after you eat not 12hrs. But i was up all night long being sick, this lead me to getting a taxi to Agonda for the Goa Party which i missed as i was in bed with a mild fever all day.
Thankfully my team took the Rickshaw for me and i was able to sit more comfortably in a Taxi for 3000inr it took much less time and was airconditioned. The next day Moki and Jahnavi also took a taxi haha.
We all met up at Monsoons Beach Huts this is a place i visted 6 years with Brendan on my first rickshaw run, i highly recommend it to disconnect as the WIFI sucks and no phone reception sorry Christel i promise im alive.
Sarah, Tim G & Moki heading to Goa Party to see other teams and party, but Moki got the bug as well poor guy.
Hotel - Agonda - Monsoon Beach Hut (4500 inr)
Day 8 - Pune to Goa via Amboli Ghats (700m ahd) (194km)
This was another good day bit slow across the mountains we got a puncture in the morning but we made it and even had time for some droning. Hope I can use some of photos, it was very bright. It’s a bit risky as drones are banned in India so you need to be careful where and when you choose to fly them. After stopping at the summit for a team photo with 4 teams we had a quick lunch more VadaPav my favourite highway food and photo with small Amboli waterfall we were off down the very steep road to Goa.
Hotel : Antares Beach Resort and Resturant ( 4000 inr)
Day 7 - Pune to Kolhapur (237km)
We left Pune soon after our free buffet breakfast and hit the hwy. Today was pretty uneventful we made it to Kolhapur in pretty good time, decided to corridnate a bit of catch up at Hotel Atria.
Once we got to hotel there was already 3 teams here and more arrived soon. I went and found a barber and had a shave and head massage so good only 150rupee or $3 I tipped him $6 as it was nearly hour long and best shave I’ve had while in India.
For dinner we headed to this bar behind Hotel Tourist next door it was prett my good.
Hotel : Hotel Atria (approx 2500 inr)
Day 6 - Nashik to Pune via Pandavleni Caves (213km)
So today was a sleep in then visit caves built into side of mountain in 200ad, however we snapped our clutch cable while driving through town. Moki managed to cruise to a stop near some Auto taxis so after I did some hand gestures and a head wobble.they said ok no problem and hopped in our rickshaw and drove it round the cnr to a mechanics, then after they took me to a shop to buy a new cable for only 10rupee might I say, they made me buy 2 , 1 spare. After a quick 10min we had clutch dialed in and we were off on road repair 200rupees.
We made it to caves, padlocked all our stuff down using my cables thanks Dad and off we went to explore. These were some pretty amazing sculptures and carvings some were nearly 10m high and over 30m deep into solid stone. After looking around for a while and taking numerous selfies with everyone as they love white people as much as history. I waited for Moki and Sarah who had wondered off to hike the summit, no wonder I couldn’t find them, by 1230 they had returned and we headed for rickshaw.
We repacked then rickshaw and headed for a quite ambitious day making it to Pune, this did happen but we had to drive well into the dark again. No issue on road just lots of driving.
We had planned to meet other teams for dinner and drinks but since we arrived to late we stayed at our hotel and ate a bar called Funky Monkey it was actually pretty nice just very loud playing old retro songs.
Hotel : E-Square (4000 inr)
Day 5 - Navsari to Nashik (220km)
Sorry for the delay, last 5 days terrible reception so I’m sitting here in a hotel on day 11 now writing this update. Today was meant to be a an easy day so we plugged into google Nashik to visit the caves but I must have had travel on worst road across the mountains as possible as this road was very questionable. At one stage it was just rocks and small motorbike. It took us about 5hrs to travel 50km over these very impassable mountains. We finally made it to the 848 hwy by nightfall but it wasn’t even a real hwy it was just diversion after diversion but it made for a fun day out after 4 days of good driving we finally got to experience some rural India all this for a shortcut to the caves.
Finally I think we arrived into town by 8pm after some questionable night driving, thankful for my spot lights. We decided to find first nice hotel after my original choice looked shutdown. Greatlful for hotwater..
Hotel : Hotel Panchavad Pride (4130 inr) Suite Room.
Day 4 - Modasa to Navsari (355km)
Massive day 6am start on the road, we noticed we lost one screw off the Carbi again so Moki fixed it by borrowing a screw off something else, lets hope we didnt need it haha.
I decided to pull over in some small town and try and find a new fuel cap as i couldnt keep using our jerry can fuel cap, I found the first motorbike mechanic that had a Bajaj logo but they couldnt help so some stranger took over our rickshaw and drove us to a Rickshaw mechanic in a back alley kinda suss, but they didnt charge us for a cap. Then after over 13hrs of driving we made to a nice hotel in Navsari.
Day 3 - Udaipur to Modasa (161km)
Not a big day however we started the morning going to Animal Aid India, this is a not for profit Animal Rescue in Udaipur, I have been following them for over 7 years on YouTube. They have rescued in excess of 75k animals in Udaipur, they. Also care for over 100 paralysed street dogs as they can not be released to street. We got back on the road by 1230pm after a quick loop of the lake.
However after lunch at some hotel, Moki refueled the rickshaw he accidentally left the fuel cap on top of Rickshaw and we drove away. When it was my turn to drive, I was hurtling down the hwy, I noticed the engine was starting to lose pressure and then it stopped so we pulled over and tried to see what was wrong with it, i noticed after a few minutes the Carbi was actually starting to fall off. Some locals offered to help but we managed to sort this out by borrowing some nuts off the exhaust pipe.
Hotel - Stay Inn Modasa (1300 inr)
