Muvattapuzha to Cochin

Last day. 47 km to go. Relaxed start. Played some cards before we checked out. It took just over 2 hours to get to Cochin. No problems. Checked into our hotel and dropped our luggage then headed to the finish line. Job done. Feels good but slightly anticlimactic to hand over the keys. Watched some of the other people play a game of kabaddi. Hilarious. Then a short cricket game against an Indian team. Back to the hotel for a shower then off to the party. A few beers. Good yarns. Terrible DJ. Good night.

Photo of kabaddi. 

Marayoor to Muvattapuzha

Relaxed start this morning. Sat on the balcony for a while. The scenery and temperature are both better at this higher altitude. Crawled up to Munnar peaking at about 1700m. The rickshaw is not a great hill climber. Pleasant drive nonetheless, through many tea plantations. Stopped for breakfast at Munnar. Must be a tourist spot. This is the first time I have seen toast on a menu. Proceeded down the hill in the direction of Cochin. Stopped at some waterfalls. By about 3pm we were off the hill and decided to find some accommodation somewhere. Noog and Andrew were keen to watch the cricket at 4pm so we headed for the nearest town, Muvattapuzha. Found a hotel. First time we have had a fridge in our room. Score. Off to get some beer.

Photo of a tea plantation. 

Salem to Marayoor

Noog was tremendously hungover this morning but we still managed to get away by 6am. Intended to get to Munnar today but 3 hours in our engine died and we couldn't start it. Seemed to have seized up. Fortunately, where we stopped was right outside a mechanic so once we got one of the locals to call him and get him down and we managed to convey what the problem was, he opened it up and had a look. Turned out bits of the piston had broken off and jammed it. So off went Noog with an Indian guy to some town to get a replacement head, piston and gaskets. 3 hours later and we were back on the road. I don't think the engine has ever been so quiet. At this point we had resigned ourselves to the fact that we wouldn't make it to Munnar but headed in that direction to see how far we could get. Passed through a wildlife reserve. Apparently there are elephants, tigers, and panthers in here. Not allows to stop. Hoping the new engine parts hold out. All we saw was monkeys and squirrels. At 5pm we came across Marayoor and found a hotel.

Another rickshaw driver dismantling our engine as the mechanic seemed to have no idea what he was doing. 

Tirupati to Salem

Everyone was better this morning so had an early start and got in a good 9hrs of driving to Salem. No problems. There were a few other teams staying at a hotel across the road so we meet up with them for dinner and a drink, although neither Andrew nor I were up to drinking.

Landscape photo. Nice to see some hills for a change. 

My Three Suns

Successfully picked up Andrew after wasting a day doing nothing in Visakhaptnam. It was a good introduction to the rickshaw run for Andrew the next day. After about an hour and a bit a tire blew. Got that fixed only to find that the tie blowing fustigated the wheel bearing. Got that fixed after 3 or so hours.  Little did we know that the fix involved butchering our breaks. Didn't realise this till about 50kms later. Still with another 68 kms to go to our destination without effective breaks. To be fair, the breaks did something, but changing down gears did a lot more. Not something I would want to repeat. But we made it (and got them fixed). Today was a short day due to the plague. But less than 700kms to go to the finish and still four days left, so I'm feeling cautiously optimistic.

Nellore to Tirupati

Late start this morning (8am) due to Andrews illness. Short (4hr) drive to Tirupati. Had to stop once for Andrew to spew. Saw some monkeys. Unproductive afternoon in Tirupati. Both Andrew and I were unwell and didn't leave the hotel room. Except when we had to change rooms because they were breaking holes in our bathroom wall to fix a leak.

Here is a monkey sitting on the motorway barrier. 

Rajahmundry to Nellore

Trying to make up for lost time today following our many breakdowns yesterday, we are heading for Nellore which is about 430km. Big highways all the way, hot dry weather like being in a fan oven but we succeeded in about 12 hours. Solid day. The rickshaw was running like a dream this morning, but at about 10am we started to suffer the power loss again. Had to push start a couple of times. Probably not bad enough to try and get it fixed and risk breaking something else. We will just wait until it is a catastrophe.

Phone ran flat this morning so no photos from today but here is one from yesterday. Highway to the danger zone. 

Visakapatnam to Rajahmundry

This is the first time we have needed the roof rack now that we have Andrew and also Noog's luggage. Our intention was to get to Eluru today but after an hour and a half on the road we had our first flat tyre. We put the spare on and headed up the road to get the punctured one repaired. Half an hour later we were back on the road. Shortly thereafter a guy pulled up next to us shouting and pointing at our wheel so we stopped and found the wheel was wobbling as it turned. The guy lead us to a mechanic who replaced the bearing for us. Another couple of hours later we were back on the road again. We then discovered we had (almost) no brakes. We ran out of fuel. Filled up couldn't get started again. Checked all the usual things, found nothing, but managed to push start it. Now for some reason we have lost some power. We carried on to Rajahmundry, well short of our planned destination, and got the brakes fixed. We intended to get the engine looked at too but ran out of time. Definitely our worst day for breakdowns so far and a tremendous introduction for Andrew.

This is the guy who did our wheel bearing. 

Visakapatnam

Rest day today. Andrew flies in tonight. Managed to find a place for a decent coffee. Was intending to get a service done but decided to wait for a smaller town. People here seem to be more into fleecing tourists. Checked the oil and air filter anyway. Oil was fine but the guy who did our last service made a shit job of putting the air filter back in so that will have been filtering bugger all for the last three days. Oh well. On the plus side, Noog's luggage turned up which neither of us expected.

Here is a photo of some roadside shrine or something. 

Brahmapur to Visakapatnam

Fueled up before we left this morning. Had a pretty good run for a while then ran out of gas sooner than we should have. Put a bit in the tank and checked the engine. Fuel is pissing out of the carburetor. Pulled it out, cleaned the seals, reassembled it. All good. Back on the road just before it started raining. Good roads today but it rained for the rest of the trip. This is the most consistent rain we have had so far. The accomodation we have is pretty close to a mall. Must be a bigger city than we have seen so far. Managed to get a replacement battery for my phone there. This is quite something as every other time we have needed something it has been nigh on impossible to find. Quite a few teams in town tonight so one of them has organized a bit of a party in a conference room at their hotel. Well played The 1595ers.

Didn't get a battery until later in the day so no photos from today. Here is one from Puri of Planet Express Ship and Te Awamutu Fury from our hotel rooftop.