Getting fatted up!

kerry Colleton
Of Holy Beef
On the The Rickshaw Run Winter 2011 16:08 UTC 1st February 2011

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Papaya shake....

kerry Colleton
Of Holy Beef
On the The Rickshaw Run Winter 2011 16:01 UTC 1st February 2011

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The Finishline Cuban

Mark Hewitt
Of Holy Beef
On the The Rickshaw Run Winter 2011 04:34 UTC 18th January 2011

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End of the road....for now

Day 18 - Fort Kochi and finish line party. When man created the concept of an overland journey, he simultaneously created the concept of the finish line. Although, anti-climatically, we had crossed the finish line the previous day, the moment of realisation that our epic struggle against road markings and bitumen had come to a final and triumphant end. The last day of the tour and potentially the blog, the beefsters are all tiring of having to creatively write our memoires at the end of each day, although we're glad that we have documented some of the craziest days of our lives. The plan was to take a boat trip on the much hyped 'Keralan backwaters' - this conjures up images of local riverside villagers going about their everyday lives in the intense heat with the boat drifting along past lurid green vegetation. The reality was a tacky tour that wouldn't have looked out of place on 'Coachtrip'. Brendan (Tom) was unable to make the tour as his once-hardened stomach has been reduced to a quivering wreck by the roadside cafes and 12 hour driving days. The remaining team members left early pretending they had only booked a half-day tour. After returning to our now much-loved accomodation Tom was found in a slightly better state, having dabbled in a concoction of drugs, well, imodium and ibuprofen. We all decided it was time to reintroduce our little Rick to his friends and took the little beaut back to the parade ground where the other 44 rickshaws were lined up, this signified that we had come in 45th place out of 65. To race ahead was not the point for any team however, and to do so would have been completely missing the whole idea behind the event, i.e seeing the real India at 30 miles an hour.Â At the finish line we signed the board and made a comment. Many of the other adventurists mimicked our thoughts of the trip in their comments...'Left is Right, today is yesterday, police don't take bribes' (hmmm...well at least the one we saw gave it back while we were still around). Beforehand we had taken one last drive with Mark at the helm and behaving like a typical Indian driver. Unfortunately one without the required skills. After 2700km (ish) of deadly bus drivers and a cacophony of horns he nearly ended it all in a quiet backstreet. We then headed for lunch and found the first truly good coffee for a loooong time. With Kerry beaming from ear to ear at this little gem we were off to get ready for the finish party. Arriving at the tourist dock doled up in out finest indian garb we boarded our vessel bound for Bolghatty Island and the Palace Hotel. The boat was rammed with Runners admiring the beautiful night scenery, looks of relief and reckless abandon etched upon many a face. The drinking and festivities began with a traditional Keralan martial arts show. Featuring many different weapons and choreographed moves this was mildly interesting and the smell of petrol from the fire eaters filled the air like the smell of a roadside filling station for minutes afterwards. The finale however involved more petrol being spat from mouths than we had purchased on our entire trip! Now this was massively impressive! Especially in the dark of the night with duets of fireballs rising 15ft into the air and backflips while breathing fire leaving everyone astonished.Â The party continued interspersed with awards for ingenuity of rickshaw pimping, fancy dress costumes and the most disasterous run award. This one was well deserved...one rickshaw burned to a crisp after welding with the fuel tank in place...this before the run had even started. The second ended in a ditch with a resultant hospital visit. One of the teams were deservedly rewarded for determination beyond the call of duty. Having to push their steed the last 10km following a run in with a lorry. Many other injuries had clearly been sustained and we all felt slightly blessed to be in such good health. Discounting, of course, the slightly odd behaviour of stomachs and intestinal tracts here and there.Â We left the party early and in true holy beef style we turned the return boat into a better party than the one held at the five star hotel behind us. One of the deckhands played us some 70's classics on the boat's sound system while we danced stupidly around like we were at a Keralan carnival on diesel filmed water. The resident occasional DJ gave us all a bizarre kiss as we docked up at Fort Kochi and we felt we had made his year let alone his night. Matheo from Venezuela/Colombia/New York joined for a night cap at the Tree House bar which was closed but we woke up the owner and stayed for a while. Morgan was touched by the comments of the bar owner that he had 'no money but great friends' with us all there with him. At this point, Morgan felt that the 'secret millionnaire' plan had to be put into action and left an astromical tip, at least by Indian standards. It was greatly received and a complete surprise to the owner. We all left to huge hugs. It was Morgan's final goodbye to the rickshaw run and India. We all went to bed with big imodium assisted smiles. Â

kerry Colleton
Of Holy Beef
On the The Rickshaw Run Winter 2011 15:21 UTC 16th January 2011

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Bargain bucket

kerry Colleton
Of Holy Beef
On the The Rickshaw Run Winter 2011 15:20 UTC 16th January 2011

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Holy Beef HQ

kerry Colleton
Of Holy Beef
On the The Rickshaw Run Winter 2011 15:19 UTC 16th January 2011

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Palaces n s**t

kerry Colleton
Of Holy Beef
On the The Rickshaw Run Winter 2011 15:17 UTC 16th January 2011

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Release the Midder

Mark Hewitt
Of Holy Beef
On the The Rickshaw Run Winter 2011 13:05 UTC 15th January 2011

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The final cut.

Day 17 - Kannur to Fort Cochi (280km) We packed and mounted our trusty steed for the final long journey, our confidence in her sky high now we had experienced several days of good running. What do you know...30km up the road and we seem to experience the old problem again. Resigned to a day of constant stopping we soldier on. It soon becomes apparent however that sure Rick was only taking the piss and she's running as sweet as ever. The journey goes well and we have few stops...only to fill Sure rick and to stop for a KFC or EFC as its locally known - European fried chicken???! Again everybody is astounded by the nature of our trip and we are greeted warmly. On entry into Kerala from Karnataka we are met with the sight of the sea just off the road. In bouyant mood we stop briefly to take in one of the best views of the trip so far. Sea one side and and a beautiful lagoon the other. A blissful place which, yet again, we were unable to do justice to by spending some time there. This has been a serious frustration during our trip...had we started with a working rickshaw the time spent stopping in random locations would have increased dramatically. On the cruise down the coast we ended up in convoy with 4 other rickshaws and it was comforting to know we were back in the thick of the action. We also learned that the finish party was not actually today but tomorrow, Doh!. All that complaining about not being able to stop. Again disorganisation strikes at our hearts! Still....thats us. The approach to Cochi was rather a shock to us. Naively expecting to turn up in the city centre and not hit the traffic. Its unbelieveable that we have learn't nothing in our two weeks of travel. Heading for Fort Cochi we came to a halt numerous times and began to get used to breathing fumes instead of air again. Arriving in the Fort area at sunset we set about trying to find some accomodation. After a couple of viewings and pricings we settled on a lovely home stay (b&b) place with a delightfully charming host named Abbu 'Honolulu Homestay' if you need a recommendation. After tuk-tuking to the seagull for drinkies and dinner we meandered randomly through the streets looking for a driver. The genius of this was that we found a lovely little place called 'Bob Marleys Cafe' for a nightcap. One of the customers there seemed to be enjoying himself a great deal and hence you may find us somewhere on youtube going 'Meeep Meeep!'. We just prayed the guy got home. Off to bed fairly early for a backwater boat trip in the morning....Yay.

Mark Hewitt
Of Holy Beef
On the The Rickshaw Run Winter 2011 13:05 UTC 15th January 2011

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Record mileage

Day 16 - Gokarna (Om Beach) to Kannur (approx 400kms!!!!!!!) Why do something today when you can put it off for tomorrow? Today was a harsh lesson in why this proverb does not exist. Whilst idly enjoying the sun and abundance of palm trees the previous day, a niggling feeling of still having to complete 700 kilometres on roads of dubious quality had been eating away at Holybeef. Today we had to face it head on and started at half past the ridiculous hour of seven and sped noisily up hills and deep into potholes towards Mangalore.Â The occasional stop for refueling soon became every two hours as we tried little rick at his full speed of 60kmph. A pitstop at the hindu pilgrimage town of Udupi was slightly disappointing but it gave us a very acute realisation of the intensifying heat. We powered on and passed Mangalore by the early afternoon, 240kms under our belt and brimming with sunburnt confidence.Â Another pitstop at an 'Arabian Restaurant' opposite a mosque was our first real taste of Kerala as we had crossed the state border half an hour earlier. People stopped and stared in their usual way but the overall feeling was not as welcoming as we had come accustomed to. A tasty dish of chicken fried noodles tasted anything but Arabian but did the job and we were back on the road by 4pm.Â We said we wouldn't drive at night but we say a lot of things and once again we went against our own word. The driving got more difficult as the roads became steadily busier and more potholed. Mark took over as our resident night driver and we slowly made our way to Kannur, a journey of 100kms that took the best part of three and a half hours.Â We checked into the Malabar Residency and despite the cockroaches it was 'the first three star hotel in Kannur' - the excrutiatingly slow lift to the fourth floor led us to use the stairs instead. Morgan and Tom took a trip out to the seedy beer shop where they were surrounded by drunk Indians and a less than friendly barman. A meal in possibly the most sterile restaurant capped off a day of contrasts, ready for bed now, night night, love you, mean it, bye xxxxÂ

Team Holy Beef

Getting fatted up!

Papaya shake....

The Finishline Cuban

End of the road....for now

Bargain bucket

Holy Beef HQ

Palaces n s**t

Release the Midder

The final cut.

Record mileage