Greater London, UK

Getting ready with final packing arrangements......

 

That there is a picture of my wife, the team namesake, and, despite our moniker, she's been fantastic and is waving us good luck on our way. Will miss her but, here goes.... sending you all my love and see you soon darling! x

Jaisalmer and a great finish!

So, at 18.36 on 22nd September, Don't Tell Reena and Rickshaw Royale jointly finished the rally in 4th place (well, I say jointly but Don't Tell really came in before Royale.....)!

It's a proud moment and we were very excited! Over 3000km, almost entirely (except for 100km when we had little choice but to truck the rickshaws) done by Bajaj rickshaw, with no back up and absolute self sufficience! It's been a challenge and we're all very proud of ourselves. We did, of course, celebrate in style with 9 beers for Duncan, Scot and Simon, and a coke and tea for me. Unfortunately, my stomach was not yet set for anything stronger at that point.

The teams that got in before us seemed to be a mish mash of one that viewed it as a proper race, despite no pressing need to get back to the UK, and another 2 that may, or may not, have done the rally properly (I am not alleging anything, it's just that the story wasn't very clear).

I was starting to feel better in the morning, thanks to some antibiotics and paracetamol, along with a good rest. The guys were happy to start a bit later in the morning, despite it being another 320km drive from Bikaner to Jaisalmer.

However, the roads were very good, with very little traffic, and I was feeling well enough in the afternoon to start doing some driving stints again. I am very proud to say that I even did the finishing stint to bring us over the line!

The landscape has become very scrubby desert around us and Jaisalmer sits in the middle of it, some 120km from the Pakistan border. Apparently there is more vegetation than usual because of the heavy rains this year. There are large wind farms around and a large military airbase where you can see and here jets taking off for drills.

Jaisalmer itself has an old medieval town in the fort on the hill with another, still old,  market area where our hotel is. The town has amazing architecture and is very interesting but it is rather a tourist trap and, much like many other Indian cities, still constantly stinks and is covered in animal faeces. Our hotel is quite nice, with a great terrace on the restaurant. It is apparently a place that was built by one of the Maharajahs back in the late 1800s for his son and daughter. It turns out that the current Maharajah still lives in the front part of the building

I am now feeling better as well, which means that I can now eat a bit again and have been able to enjoy the day and a half rest we have in Jaisalmer. I'm very pleased to say that it is hot and sunny here, with no sign of rain! Believe me, we are all very sick of being wet all - the - time.

Later today we start our journey home. It will be train to Jodhpur where we will stay overnight before making a flight to Delhi tomorrow. Then we leave India, more accomplished and better, well rounded (and I'm not talking girth) men, on the 26th to head back to good old Blighty!

I for one am ready for home now and can't wait. Night, night.

Bikaner, Rajasthan, India

We reached Bikaner after a hellish day on the road on 21st September. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to update the blog as I was very unwell that day and the following one. Sputtering from the pretty end was definitely the order of the day (and the not so pretty end) and I was unlucky enough to be unwell on the night that we splashed out and stayed in a former Maharajah's palace (built in the early 1900s). I had a look around the following morning and it was nice!

The journey to Bikaner was pretty horrendous. It was a 320km drive from Jaipur and we got hit badly by the monsoon rains. Starting early at 5.30 am again, we got delayed by a shorting ignition coil and a loose exhaust pipe again. We fixed these but then had to make a couple of stops for me to clear some of the 'toxins'.

The killer momen for us, however, came when the throttle cable on Royale, which was already somewhat frayed, snapped and we lost all drive. We had no spare on us. However, we were about 10km out from a town called Sikar and we eventually bartered a man with a truck into towing us there, with Don't Tell following behind, and to a mechanic he knew. Unfortunately, his friend didn't work on rickshwas so wouldn't help. The next friend did work on rickshaws but worked for an authorised Piaggio dealer. Hence, his manager would not let him work on our Bajaj models.

With the rain now pelting down, he proceed to tow us around blindly down some back alleys, clearly lost as to where to find another mechanic. The streets (the town sits on a slope) were starting to flood and we ended up stuck down a tiny back road. Eventually, with the help of a local mechanic we eventually found, half the team went off to find throttle  cables (lots of to-ing and fro-ing with cables of the wrong length, despite our insistence that they weren't long enough). Myself and Duncan waited withthe rickshaws where we seemed to bring out the whole street to stare at us. They were nice enough and made us chai.

Eventually we did get the cable fitted and were ready to get moving again. However, the rains were the worst we'd seen and the town was now pretty flooded on a lot of our exit roads. We ended up thigh deep in flood water (and remember, in India, there is no proper sewage in these towns, there are lots of animal just out in the streets, and people throw their slops out of the front door), wading through all sortsof horrid cholera and typhoid infested filth, pushing the rickshaws out of the centre of the town. Oddly, they floated like boats once the water was deep enough. We eventually got them to shallower water but the engine on Don't Tell was now water-logged. I had to remove and dry out the spark plug before getting it started but we still had to get all the water out of the exhaust system. A local mechanic and some friends by the roadside helped us lift the front up so that we coudl force the fluid out and we finally got moving out of Sikar.

The rain was still horrendous but after another 2 1/2 hours, things started to dry up a bit as the landscape started to become more desert like. We saw more camels and drivers, more large rolling sand dunes with scrub like growth all over them.

This, unfortunately, coincided with the longest stretch of road (about 110km) we saw without any amenities and I needed to use the loo again. Having D+V in the Indian bush - I wouldn't recommend it.

It was a relief to finally make Bikaner but I was virtually fainting, in sweats and dehydrated by the time we arrived so it was straight to bed for me. The Laagargh Palace Hotel, where we stayed, seemed nice though. The others had dinner and played snooker in a room full of photos of empire era Maharajahs on animal hunts. Very colonial! Vring on the G+Ts I say.

Rajasthan, India

So, we are now in Jaipur and it is very early in the morning. We are just about to hit the road to Bikaner. Simon is currently in the bathroom sputtering away (sorry Simon's mum) and Duncan and Scot are next door inhaling their breakfasts. Yes, it's twin rooms almost all the way - really helps the team to bond don't you think? Jaipur has an old town that is still surrounded by red/pink fort walls from the time of the moghuls. We got a glimpse of this but nothing else as we only got to our hotel at 8pm and didn't have the chance to get out of our suburb hotel. I'm sure it's beautiful? We were pleasantly surprised by our hotel though. It had nice rooms, got showers, swimming pools and balconies for evening gin and tonics. How very colonial of us. Jaipur appears quite well to do with some big gated houses, Audi dealers, lots of jewellers. Anyway, got to dash and drive a rickshaw

Uttar Pradesh, India

Interesting fact - the number of breakdowns we have suffered on our rickshaws so far: 4 punctures, 5 ignition coil/spark plug failures, 5 electrical problems, 1 battery acid melting main electric circuit, 1 blocked carburretor, 2 engine overheats/seize ups. That's a running total of 18 breakdowns that have brought our progress to a stop to date. That is over 1800 km and 7 days of driving. And that's not including the 2 major findings at the servicing we had in Lucknow - a blown head gasket and chipped engine block and a hole in one of the exhausts. Getting the engine rebuilt meant we lost an extra day in Lucknow and only got to Agra today. Reliability clearly has not been good and theses's still over 1200 km to go...

Uttar Pradesh, India

we're finally in Agra tonight. It's not the nicest of cities but it's well set up for tourists what with all the sights. Most famous of all is of course the Taj Mahal but we were too late to see it today due to the usual challenges of planning logistics in India. You know the sort of thing - getting the right number of the right kind of hotel room in the right hotel that you booked. It's as if India runs it's day to day life through a giant improbability engine which is driven to answer things like 'will I get my breakfast on time?' (highly improbable), 'will I get the breakfast I ordered for 2 people only, rather than enough dishes for 3?' (deeply improbable), and 'will I only have to fill in one form in triplicate to obtain my breakfast?' (supremely improbable). Still, we leave for Jaipur a bit later than usual in the morning so might get to do some sightseeing then!

Uttar Pradesh, India

part 3. We couldn't find a service centre in Faizabhad and staying there would cost up BM extra day. Driving, soaking and tired, for the last 100km in a potentially unreliable rickshaw on those roads at night was looking more and more unviable and potentially unsafe. We managed to find a trucker who loaded us and the rickshaws up and drove us the last 100km to Lucknow for 3000 rupees. The process of loading and unloading the vehicles was hair-raising but we did make it. A long hotel finding debacle followed and we finally got to bed at 1.30 this morning. It did rain overnight but it looks warm and sunny today. We are finally managing to dry everything out. Hopefully we're past the worst of the rains and the roads will be better heading to Agra today. The rickshaws are currently being serviced so will hopefully be reliable for the remaining 2000 km! Next update from Agra

Uttar Pradesh, India

part 2. We hoped for good conditions on the road to Lucknow yesterday and so that we could finally dry out our clothes to get changed. Alas, the road was a horrendous mix of unfinished dual carriageway mixed with stretches of off road rubble. The rain was relentless and the worst we've had so far. Everything was drenched, including the rickshaws and the road was full off deep pond like pot holes. Then we lost all power to one of the engines. We were nowhere near a mechanic so we had to strip out and clean the carburretor in the pouring rain. This is one of the few times Simon can claim to have taken photos of me lying on my back and covered in grease! Another puncture followed.... We finally got to Faizabhad but our repair was not showing good signs for the last stretch. Unsurprisingly, after the abuse we have given them over the past 1500km, the rickshaws need a service

Uttar Pradesh, India

part 1 of 2. No update for a couple of days as we've been hit hard by the monsoon rains and serial breakdowns. Thursday saw us make our way out of Nepal, via the border near Butwal. There was great scenery and the road was fine up to the border. However, melting electrics on our Rickshaw delayed our progress. The bracket holding our battery in place had broken and the battery had tipped off onto the engine mounts. The acid pouring out had melted most of the wiring and we last our lights, wiper and horn. To drive in India, particularly on winding roads, the latter is essential (lets everyone around know you are there) so we stopped in at a mechanic to get it repaired. Once we got across the border the roads were much worse and progress slowed down. We managed to get to Gorakhpur to stay overnight in another awful hotel and with all our stuff still soaking.

Central Region, Nepal

part 2. I even had the scary experience of being woken at 4am yesterday by some large wild animal bashing and scratching against my door! We had the chance to bathe with the lodge elephants (sounds disgusting at first but refreshing fun) and to do some quick elephant safari. We saw some deer, and found rhino tracks, but the rain made seeing much else almost impossible. Shame, as it would have been great to see a rhino, leopard or tiger. Speaking of tigers, some of you may know that we pimped our rickshaws with our own paintjobs and decoration. Ours are painted like 2 magnificent Bengal tigers and the faces are quite lifelike. Other teams have maybe put in more effort with elaborate designs (e.g. a pirate ship with parrot and rope ladder, Thunderbird 2) but our jungle acts really seem to resonate with the locals. They recognise the image and we get lots of smiles, cheers and waves!