THE END!!
Well, we finally made it to the finish line at Gangtok.....just! The final day was another rollercoaster of emotion. What should have been plain sailing turned into anything but. With the dodgy roads of West Bengal and Sikkim slowing us down, we inexplicably ran out of petrol 25km from the end - errr, stupid! I had to hitchhike to the petrol station as we had left none in the jerry can. If that wasn't enough, Rita started giving up the ghost on Sikkim's ridiculously steep roads, she just didn't fancy it and conked out every 2 km or so. So I was hard on the gas when a tight hairpin came up, and in a blur we had completely stacked it on the corner - SMASH!! Rita was in a bit of a state, but luckily Vicks and I escaped with just cuts and some painful bruises. Thankfully the Wrong Way Up guys Goochy and Bil were on hand to help us on our way. We struggled over the finish line and did a big high five...of RELIEF! We made it! We signed in the arrivals board (48th) and then set about getting ridiculously drunk at the finish party - which we achieved!
It was an amazing experience, the most intense thing I've ever done. So many memories that I'll never forget - India, incredible India. Thanks to all our fantastic new friends who I can't wait to meet up with on the next event....Mongol rally anyone??
 Sads
SMS Update
final day= incident packed-ran out of petrol &hitchhiked &crashed on bend,toppling the shaw over,lucky no serious injuries! We're there,beer time!
SMS Update
Long but successful day,300+km getting up NH34 means we're within spitting distance tonight.60km of twisty roads to go. I can taste that cold beer!
SMS Update
Stinker of a day progress-wise,lost 8hours to seized piston&oil seal change,she's running sweet now though!Got to Malda,need big day tomorrow.
SMS Update
Pretty good day,over 300km under our belt,including an off road diversion after a lorry crashed into bridge right in front of us.Got to Baharampur!
SMS Update
Comedy off road action from Vix going through West Bengal border helped us avoid trucker tailback! More running repairs here in Midinipur,chug chug
SMS Update
The 'this is a joke' NH6 made for tough driving,but at least we haven't encountered any Maoist rebels. In a hotel room bigger than my house.
SMS Update
Finally made it to Sambalpur,but Rita was running like a dog today. Suspension clearly wasn't repaired properly,bone shaking 277km. Knackered!
SMS Update
Despite the repairs yesterday, Rita struggled again today,transmission&exhaust problems. Tiring day,just got to Raipur at 10.30pm.
The Road to Hell: Vijayawada-Jagdalpur
All was going well on day 6 as we headed from Vijayawada north towards Chhattisgarh province. We had about 380km planned for the day to get to Jagdalpur, but that soon went out of the window when a fuel stop cock up meant the attendant put the oil in first (its a 2 stroke engine) and we chugged to stop a few metres down the road. A friendly local towed us to the next town and we soon found out the carburretor was clogged. The mechanic we found dropped his work and helped us straight away, much to the pleasure of the ever growing crowd! The kids here are brilliant, all smiles and just love getting in a photo! He got the old girl (Rita we named her) going after an hour and we were on the road again. A navigational mishap meant we missed a turning (my fault,was too busy chatting) and wasted an hour and a half going the wrong way - bugger. Our cause wan't heped by the ever bumpy road which snapped our roof rack and battery compartment clamp. We stopped to get those repaired (a bargain 70p) but by now it was 5.30pm and we still had 250km to cover.Â
We decided to soldier on, and things just got worse. The 'national highway' 221 (which looked a big road on the map), suddenly turned to a single road, first tarmac, then dirt/rubble as night decended. Mmm, more than a challenge with huge lorries coming the other way. At some points we could only manage 10 kmph and it looked liked we'd be driving all night. I was getting annoyed and Vicks was panicking with the p*ss poor headlights of the tuk-tuk not really doing the job. By 10pm we were still 150km away, but were abruptly stopped.....by armed teenagers. All righty then. We were absolutely bricking it at this point and had an hours interrogation while our bags were searched. What were 2 foreigners doing in the middle of nowhere in a purple rickshaw??! We were asking ourselves the same question. I was beginning to wonder if Hiscox had an employees Kidnam & Ransom policy as it looked really bad for us.Â
Along came a senior man,who told us he was the local head of the Special Security Bureau (basically super-police). He said we should not be in this area as it was not safe and the local Naxalite bandits were active at night - he actually told us people had been killed in explosions on this very road this year. We had reseached out route beforehand and found nothing of note, so this was all news to us. Still, we felt like berks, I can tell you. Everyone relaxed a bit, including me, after they brought our chai and biscuits - it really was a very surreal moment I can tell you. He then said we should stay with them in the compund for the night and proceeded to turn his own office into a bedroom for us - what a legend! Vicks and I had to laugh in relief after they finally left us to sleep. WHAT A DAY!
We finally made it to Jagdalpur today, but our beloved Rita is almost dead. We took her to the mechanic for a service and also to repair the roof rack (cracked again), the exhaust (hanging by a thread), replace all three shocks (shot to bits) and last but not least, replace a piston which had bust the engine. All in all, we'd done a pretty good job of ruining our little beast. We await the result tomorrow, but a 3,500 rupee (GBP 50) bill should see everything back to normal....
