Fort Cochin, India
Day 9 ... Well ... A longish day today - 300kms - finally made it in to the finishing line at The United Club in Fort Cochin. A fairly straightforward drive, with only the one small detour due to the Indian road signs (that's my excuse). Some terrible roads and a now a badly running rickshaw! And two grumpy travellers!! Its a good job we have completed the run - otherwise there may have been some sort of falling out! But the good news is that we 'may' have arrived first; this is to be confirmed by the event official (aka Matt). It has been a hard, tough journey - but we seem to have survived with only a few incidents. We wait to hear the stories from the other teams as they arrive over the next few days.
Kerala, India
Day 8 .. Completed over 360kms today in one long drive. The rickshaw behaved almost perfectly; although she is running very rough this evening (see if a new spark plug will solve her problems). Nearly lost the exhaust today, driving over some of the worst roads you can imagine - and these are what classes as an Indian National Highway (probably equivalent to a motorway in terms of importance). Got this fixed for the princely sum of Rs52 - about 75p including parts!! Tomorrow there is less than 300kms to the end - and we are planning this to be our last day on the road!
Kerala, India
Day 8 .. Completed over 360kms today in one long drive. The rickshaw behaved almost perfectly; although she is running very rough ** some text is missing **
Kerala, India
Day 8 .. Completed over 360kms today in one long drive. The rickshaw behaved almost perfectly; although she is running very rough ** some text is missing **
Kerala, India
Day 8 .. Completed over 360kms today in one long drive. The rickshaw behaved almost perfectly; although she is running very rough this evening (see if a new spark plug will solve her problems). Nearly lost the exhaust today, driving over some of the worst roads you can imagine - and these are what classes as an Indian National Highway (probably equivalent to a motorway in terms of importance). Got this fixed for the princely sum of Rs52 - about 75p including parts!! Tomorrow there is less than 300kms to the end - and we are planning this to be our last day on the road!
Karnataka, India
Day 7 ... After leaving Goa at 8:00 with just over 750 kms til the end, it was time to give the little girl a service (oil change) and we planned to do it before takling a few more hills and three days of fairly hard driving. As luck would have it, we found a Bajaj dealer who agreed to fit us in and at 9:30 they started draining the oil. At 10:30 the mechanic was nowhere to be seen. Turns out that he was not only an experienced mechanic, but also the chai boy and he had been making tea!! He eventually returned and the job was complete by 12:30!! 3 hours for an oil change, but only Rs260 (3 quid) .. but that put us about 100kms behind schedule - and a night in a very dodgy 4 quid hotel - and not good moods all round. So to bed and an earlier start tomorrow to see if we can make up some of lost time. Hoping to finish by end of day 9 - hoping the little girl hold out!!@
Goa, India
Day 6 ... We are now a whole day ahead of our schedule / plan. Made Goa by 4:30 today, so had a bit of time to find a hotel. Quality average, but a good evening to sit, chill, eat and drink - and has internet access so we can check our mail for the first time in nearly a week. As for today, again quite mundane. Baby (aka rickshaw) was quite well behaved, with only one breakdown in the mountains, that turned out to be a sparkplug that had given up the will to spark. She continues to drink copious amounts of petrol - about 15 litres a day (300 kms) - about 20 kpl ... Not sure how that compares to an efficient car, but it does seem high for the size of the little girl - but just so long as she keeps running, its a small downside. Tomorrow is a slightly shorter journey, to give the girl a breather!!
Goa, India
Day 6 ... We are now a whole day ahead of our schedule / plan. Made Goa by 4:30 today, so had a bit of time to find a hotel. Quality aver ** some text is missing **
Maharashtra, India
Day 5 ... An altogether much more succesful day. Left Manor at 7:30 after breakfast and the rickshaw was much better. Made Mumbai by 10 and seemed to navigate the city and our correct route out without too many problems. We have made now in the trip only 3 wrong turns - all of which were today! But within a few kms we realised and turned back (albeit with a bit of typical indian driving - ie against the traffic!!). So we reached Chiplun this evening at 6:30 which is a day ahead of our own schedule. The other milestones are that we have passed the halfway point, driven through Mumbai (my biggest fear) in the morning with no major hitch and the rickshaw has performed near faultlessly now she has received some TLC. So 350 kms completed today and another 300 planned for tomorrow with taked us to Panaji in Goa! Here's hoping for another simple day (little chance!).
Maharashtra, India
Day 5 ... An altogether much more succesful day. Left Manor at 7:30 after breakfast and the rickshaw was much better. Made Mumba ** some text is missing **
