Days 13 & 14 - The Finish!
A short 140km to get to Jaisalmer and the finish! We took Ginny for some off roading in the desert which she didn't enjoy as much as we did. Three wheels are not as good as four in deep sand.
The finish was at a royal palace just outside the fortified town of Jaisalmer. We had been instructed not to use Google maps to find it but that was 13 days ago and memories are short out here. The map led us down a narrow sand track in the middle of nowhere, an ideal spot for Ginny to cough and die. Luckily she was just out of fuel again, and after a heated discussion with a local in a 4x4 who refused to go off road around us we got going again. We realised something was wrong when we got to where the palace should be and drove through a restricted area sign and were stopped by a soldier with Kalashnikov who instructed us to pull over. We had arrived at a very active airforce base. To set the scene, we are in the last town before the Pakistan border and following a four day assault on an Indian air base by Pakistani militants where 10 soldiers were killed a couple of days ago, relations between the two countries are not entirely cordial. Fighters are constantly flying overhead and we have driven past dozens of tanks being moved to the border. The Captain reversed and promptly crashed straight into a soldier on a motorbike directly behind us. There didn't seem to be any damage but a now irate guard with his chums was very keen to pull us over, presumably to search Ginny, delete our photos etc. Feigning misunderstanding the Captain gallantly did a speedy u-turn and we disappeared in a cloud of two stroke smoke.
We found the Palace eventually and the Captain pulled his trademark stall on the ramp up to the podium. No better way to end our voyage! We were the 20th team to arrive, with some having arrived on the 10th- ludicrous.
Yesterday, (14th) there was a victory parade around the fort with the 70 out of 104 shaws that made it by the deadline. There have been two spectacular crashes, one on the first day where they lost a fight with a bus and actually turned it into a convertible and the other 300m from the finish. Amazingly all survived.
We were sad to see Ginny go but after well over 2,500km without a service she will need some attention (especially the clutch).
Thank you for reading our blogs and for your generous donations, so far we have raised £1,394 for Walking With The Wounded and £350 for Cool Earth. Please keep it coming!
We will be putting together a short film of our exploits in time for the dinner on 19th February so check back here afterwards to watch it.
For Quinine and Country!
Finished!
We crossed the finish line 24 hours early in 20th place despite an eventful last day involving a collision with a motorbike, fleeing an army checlpoint.. details to follow in the blog.
Day 12 blog
Leaving Ahmedabad for our final destination of Jaisalmer meant traversing the desert for a two day stretch.
Deserts are not the most interesting of places (despite what geography graduates would have you believe) but as a tip of the hat to those who studied colouring in, here are our top ten "facts we learnt at school today".
1. Dogs like sleeping in Ginny when we leave her in backwater trucker towns.
2. Deserts are pretty cold at 7am. Even ones with sand.
3. Desert roads are not always very good. Some look like they have been carved by ancient rivers, others by pepped-up truck drivers.
4. They make so-so Chai in deserts.
5. While cows in India do not care about traffic because they are sacred and people generally avoid hitting them, camels in India do not care because they are twice as tall as a man and pretty henched.
6. It's much more fun to smash through a checkpoint than pay the 20 rupee bribe. It's less fun to do it at the next checkpoint after the guards call ahead. But still quite fun.
7. Rajasthan has a flourishing hemp industry that is well maintained by stern looking men and protected by lots of brambles and razor wire. They must supply the Body Shop.
8. Night driving in the desert is very dangerous. Particularly when your headlight has been fitted on upside-down so what we thought was the dip actually elevated the lights to blind on coming pepped-up and crazy truckers.
9. There are stars in the desert. That you can see. Loads of them.
10. Sand gets everywhere and when coupled with 11 days of city pollution causes the condition we have affectionately named "Rickshaw Lung". Only known cure is two shots of neat East London Liquor Company gin, taken whenever you fancy, but no less than twice a day.
Next stop Jaisalmer Fort and certain victory. One day early. Let's do this!
Barmer- we can smell Jaisalmer!
Made it to Barker after 400km and a hairy night drive. Hopefully will be in Jaisalmer for lunch tomorrow a day ahead of schedule! Come on Ginny.. not long to go.
Day 11 blog
Another early 6am start. Ouch. Our goal is a monsterous 380km to Ahmedabad which sounds like it should be in Iran, let's hope it isn't. Pretty boring motorway driving but its quick and the scenery isn't that interesting so best to get the kms under our belt as quickly as possible.
We had just been saying how well Ginny was doing when she coughed and died on the highway. We managed to limp her to the edge before she gave up the ghost. After some technical mechanical investigations that I shaln't bore you with here, we deduced she was out of Ginny juice. We felt like terrible parents. We gave her more to drink, dicing with the traffic and we were back on track.
We heard from other teams that Rickshaws are prohibited on the National Expressway, which was fine as there was a highway alongside we could take. Indian signage, when used at all, is in 3 languages and pretty confusing. So it was no surprise to find ourselves on the Expressway. Our only indication that this was the case was an angry chap on the side of the road waggling a long stick at us and gesturing frantically for us to stop. He then instructed us to drive down the 6 lane motorway the wrong way into the oncoming traffic. We are now used to seeing this insanity and the generally accepted method for undertaking such a manoeuvre is to switch your headlights on (optional) and drive like the clappers. Which we reluctantly did. We eventually rejoined traffic flowing in a more harmonious direction and resumed our journey a little sweatier than before.
We made it into the cacophonous teeming mega city of Ahmedabad intact as it was getting dark after a whopping 400km day! We accidentally joined a funeral procession too. Next stop- somewhere in the Rajhastani desert.
Day 10 blog
Much wailing and gnashing of teeth greeted the residents of Nashik this morning as we discovered Ginny had been the victim of a robbery. Her fuel had been stolen. The outrage! To cheer her up we bought her a shiny new 10 litre jerry can which now lives on the roof. This is good news as we no longer have to inhale the vapours from our leaky old one in the rear, however makes us even more top heavy so no sharp turns!
It was a long drive along empty roads and tracks through the mountainous countryside. On one ascent a lorry swerved in front of us and then started to jack-knife which was exciting. Luckily for him, and us, he somehow recovered it and Ginny pancake was taken off the menu. Being so remote there was nowhere to eat so after a nourishing lunch of crisps and Bourbon biscuits (result) we got to Danam in the dry state of Gujarat.
We sped through the Gujarat State police checkpoint without realising and stopping, and with Ginny being too quick to chase, we made it in with our consignment of Gin and wines from the Sula vineyard. We were somewhat surprised to see that every third shop was an off licence and bars serving a dizzying array of drinks and came to the conclusion that Daman must have a special dispensation, explaining the police roadblocks entering and leaving the town. It transpires all you need to do to avoid them is leave early in the morning before the police get up.
We found a decent restaurant and ate most of the menu. We were told to use our indoor voices by some disgruntled mafia boss type nearby.
We were all expecting to return from India brown as a nut and thin as a bean however we are eating everything in sight on the understanding everyone gets the Rickshaw Runs and this has yet to really occur. We are also rather fetchingly half brown and half white from getting the sun from one direction the whole trip. Maybe we should drive in reverse for the last few days.
Daniel bought another suitcase so he can fill it with tourist tat. Yippee. Distance - 140km. Next stop Ahmedabad hopefully.
Day 10 in Daman
Made it to Damanin one piece! Blog to follow
Day 9 Blog
Since there was little reason to hang around in Narayangaon we opted for an early start and got on the road for 7:00. We aimed to be just west of Nashik by lunch with the intention of visiting one of the vineyards which the area is known for.
After a long and uneventful motorway journey we finally got to our destination, the Sula vineyard where we booked ourselves in for a tour and then sat down with some other Rickshaw runners for a cracking lunch.
We started the tour mid-afternoon and were taken through Sula's wine making process. We were also told by our tour guide that champagne is for celebration, white wine is for taste whilst red wine is for health, reaffirming what McGee has believed for years.
We then went onto the tasting which, if you haven't already had the pleasure of tasting Indian wines, I can tell you in a few years Hardy's better watch out!
We then went to the terrace to continue delighting our palates with their varied produce. Daniel also took the opportunity to buy us all branded ice buckets, so we are each the proud owner of these highly prized but bulky items.
Once the sun had gone we decided to head over to our hotel and finished the evening at its restaurant.
Day 9 in Nashik
Indian wine country!
Day 8
We were up at 6am for a marathon day of driving. Compared to the amphetamine fuelled Mario Kart experience driving into Pune, the roads were empty but jeepers it was cold!!! In shorts and flippers we were mightily unprepared for this. I was the first driver, shivering in front but the back gets all of the draught so even colder. Span, smelling vindication, pulled out the blasted towelling dressing gown we have been grudgingly carrying around and snuggled up underneath it. Turn coat Captain Clutch then did the same, almost justifying his decision to bring such a preposterous item of nightwear to India.
After the beautifully scenic drive through the mountains and national park yesterday, the area we drove through today was mainly agricultural, interspersed with very smoggy industrial towns. More Ox and carts to avoid plodding along the highway lugging bamboo or sugar cane.
Navigation has more than the usual element of guesswork as we have entered the realm where foreigners are the stuff of folklore and all signs are in Sanskrit. Wherever we stopped we were immediately surrounded by a gaggle of curious locals wanting photos with us, waggling heads, shaking hands and laughing when they realise what we are trying to achieve. One guy on a motorbike was so excited he drove alongside us for 5 minutes trying to pull us over for a photo. Eventually to save an accident we obligingly pulled over. A full photo shoot with half of the highway followed before we could make good our escape.
Captain Clutch has branched into sneak attack and practised it today by clipping a pedestrian with the wing mirror from behind. Sergeant Suicide gave us his daily near death experience in the chaos of Pune, along with every other driver, dog, pedestrian and cow. Remarkably Ginny emerged unscathed.
At half six, 310km later, we arrived at the charmingly industrial town of Narayangaon. Our map showed a hotel which turned out to be the hospital. Not fancying their entry requirements for a bed for the night we hunted around and found the hotel in question on the other side of town. Good ol' Indian maps. It would be boring if they showed where stuff actually is.
We went to a local dive bar for a well earned drink where Span made very good friends with a local who insisted on swapping numbers, taking photos of him and calling him beautiful. Catherine watch out! There was nowhere in town to eat so after an ice cream and samosa we hit the sack. Next stop- somewhere in Gujarat via some Indian wineries.
