Left Goa on the coast road.

Stopped by road side police who wanted to see ID and papers. Despite making a number of requests to arrest Matt for improper behaviour, the officer gave Matt a meaningful spank on his arse. This delightful surprise brought the biggest smile from Matt who responded by saying ..ooh, I like men in uniforms...need I say more?

Does any one know the meaning behind a Road WARNING sign “DO NOT SPILL DIRTY FISH WATER”?

We found a remote beach bar but the beer must have had a profound effect on Alex - firstly we lost the Jungle track and then life  became even more exciting when we asked him to undertake a 3 point turn. Will we ever survive this ??

Refuge.scattered.terraces

The Western Ghats Mountain Range stands between us and tonight’s destination,.. but as we climb higher and higher - a dense white mist closes in - made worse by deteriorating Daylight. Deep potholes indicate a long tough haul, needing drivers skills & experience to match the changing conditions. I express the need to plan ahead to address issues of Hunger/ Cold/ Wet - all of which we are individually suffering and all of which are  likely to be the biggest threat to the human spirit - if inot addressed properly. Sailing / previous physical challenges in hostile conditions has provided me with survival techniques & knowledge , buts its very hard getting my logic over. Matt pulls up a bit sharp and gets out. Through stress he’s misinterpreted my message but he kindly lends me his trousers and fleece to keep warm, but then gives me a grumpy warning to keep them clean!  Ice Man  Alex fixes the side  shield to prevent rain slashing thru the opening. Matt sits next to me while Alex takes a turn to fight the hostile conditions & manoeuvre round the potholes one by one. In my survival bag are some peanuts which are handed to Matt - it the first food that he’s been able to eat for most of the day. Threatening issues of Cold, hunger and wet have now been ably sorted and we’re ready to face the next few hours in much better mental and physical shape. But minute by minute, conditions were becoming more and more unbearable.

A combination of Darkness, thick mist and carpet bombed potholes makes driving conditions seemingly impossible. The damp air has penetrated the engine which now needs heavy riding on the clutch to prevent constant stalling. It needs a whole different level of driving experience and our youthful American companion Alex looks massively relieved when we switch drivers. We work out that the engine is less likely to stall if the LIGHTS ARE SWITCHED OFF.  Imagine the scene. Driving in torrential rain, no windscreen wiper, thick white mist and  being directed BLIND  by torch light on a rough narrow Mountain track. There’s a deep lake on one side and a shear drop off the other. Blind driving now and the instruction to my wing men to shout loudly  “TOO CLOSE” if I drove with 50cm to either edge. 

The occasional bike drove by and I drove  as wrecklessly as possible to keep up with the red tail light just to provide some form of direction in which to steer.

On one occasion when stalled, we bump started it.. this was a first for Alex who had never known bump starting was possible. 

. I was becoming mesmerised peering into the white out mist and all sorts of dark thoughts entered our minds. What if...?? 

After what seemed like half the night, a neon light gradually appeared out from the mist and our hearts pumped energy through our sole. Barking dogs didn’t deter from waking the occupants, begging for overnight refuge in their mountain shack. We didn’t really care that it was a very damp room with hundreds of globes of garlic globes stored under the bed - it was  somewhere safe where we could rest our weiry  bodies. Before closing my eyes, Matt said goodnight and with a cheeky grin commented that I should have agreed with him to stay in Kolhapur  to enable more socialising with other Rickshaws - and none of this would have happened!! I smiled and reminded him that all I was doing was trying to make the very best of a very bad situation!  Matt turned over to inhale the stench of damp eminating from the stone walll. 

We all fell asleep very proud to have survived such hostile conditions of the Ghats Mountain despite a very sick engine and extreme conditions that beckoned us to fail. No wonder this challenge is aptly called THE BEAST 

Day 6

Area near Daund we hear throbbing bass and drum - heck it’s a Wedding party- we join in the dancing and awkwardly find ourselves upstaging the bride and groom for attention. We’re tempted to accept their kind invitation to eat but our popularity is becoming Beatle’esq and decide to hit the road truly enlightened by our unexpected and amazing guest appearance.

Throwing discarded banana skins into Royal Flush Rick amuses us until more serious issues present.

Plans go pear shape early evening after entering busy city of Kolhapur.  Driver X says he’s so way ahead of Royal flush he thinks we’ve lost them. Yikes - traffic & roads are manic & options limited. 

Marvin calls up saying they’ve turned off towards the city centre- the slower Rd. To make matters even more complicated Matt has been in touch with other Rickshaw teams & arrangements are tentively  made to meet up & socialise tonight in this town. I relay to Royal Flush our split vote but their captain decides to push on and asks me for rendezvous point between the 3 seperate routes we’re now on. Kankavli is the nearest waypoint and off we set. Another problem immediately presents. Two different distances are revealed to Rendevous. One as the crow flies and the other being the actual road distance. The latter  is significantly further. It’s going too mean night driving estimated 8pm / but ....

HELP - Matt declares he’s not eaten all day due to Dehli Bellly and by heck, he’s getting grumpy. .. says he won’t stop for food as he ‘just wants to get there’. ... not a logical survival solution.  Situation getting more tense as Matt manoeuvres into opposite lane & starts overtaking truck on a steep upward hill ... an oncoming  motorbike is flashing ‘Help’ - not enough room for both of us’ !!! At last moment Matt decides to pull back & leaves enough space for  the vulnerable biker to love another day. .. But what happened next will be written in to folklore.

Leaving Aurangabad we faced a large Monkey running at speed heading  straight before us, followed minutes later by a cow & a double decker bus

Brunch stop beside a bubbling sewage swamp, Matt discovered the source of a worrying noise - our rear wheel was falling off! A tightening of all wheel nuts ensured continued survival.

Team Royal flush (a buddy Rick) had to stop , - too much bang pop and fizz. Matt had another grope with thier engine & really surpassed his mechanical genius by trialing one of our sparkplugs instead of theirs. By heck , it worked... happy at last.

Malvin - Brother of Racing Cars frontman reminds me of thier hit ‘They shoot horses don’t they’. 

PM - AMAZING landscape- reminded me of Namibia but here a green covering makes this very special.

Matt still suffering from Dheli Belly couldn’t face  lunch and didn’t eat most of the day.

A pleasure to find tarmac & so relieve tumble drying motion. Only see 1 other Rickshaw over last 4 days so seeing 3 x others today is welcoming as we funnel in towards Goa.. but trouble is just around the next corner...

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