Kerala, India
JOB DONE!! At 3:22pm yesterday we rolled victoriously across the finish line. It's actually quite a wonder we made it at all as rob and Ed were overcome with an all conquering need to thrash the rickshaws to destruction on the final leg of the journey. But sure enough baldrick II made it and became the first baldrick in history to make a finish line celebration. It was a sad time indeed when we had to hand the keys to our humble and honest steed back and once again became run of the mill tourists. However this feeling was quickly forgotten as we downed kingfisher after kingfisher until the wee small hours, and caught up with some teams we hadn't seen for quite some time. Tonight is the big finish line party so there's sure to be drunken shenanigans aplenty, although hopefully more teams turn up today as there was only about 18 that had finished as of last night! Thanks to everyone who's been following our blog and especially to those who donated their hard earned cash. The taj mahal'ics job may be done but the team will ride again. In fact we're already planning our adventure for 2013. We hear Siberia is nice in February..........@
Kerala, India
although we didn't leave the sweet hotel with the swim up bar till late 'cos the ausies had to pick up their tuk from the mechanic, we actually covered some good distance. 311km in fact which took us to mangalore for the night. The day passed by pretty incident free although we were lucky to not sustain some front end damage after hitting the mother of all pot holes at 50kph. However it did launch rob into a tirade of descriptive four letter words, although as much aimed at himself for not seeing it in time as at the Karnataka highways agency for their shit maintenance. Today we were on the road at 7am, but again the air was turned blue after baldrick II broke down 20km later. The problem was a fuel tap that was no longer allowing enough fuel through. So we bypassed it straight into the carb. However we didn't have a piece of pipe long enough to reach from the reserve section ** some text is missing **
, Palolem Beach, Goa
ok so the last couple of days have been very unproductive. We made the most of our scheduled day off in baga, although it was strange having lots of tourists around after so far being the centre of attention everywhere we went, and yesterday checked out with a view to covering some serious km towards cochin. However the ausies developed carburettor trouble due to we think a dirty batch of fuel and we had to keep stopping to clean it out. By 4pm we'd only covered 100km and had stopped for a drink when we realised we were at the exact turn off where tanner and rupert(two guys we hadn't seen since the launch) were staying. We took it as a sign and spent the evening, and indeed most of the night, sitting at the swim up bar and drinking Gin and tonic. Although some of us aren't feeling very supersonic this morning, we've now got to cover some decent ground today. The ausies found a mechanic to flush the fuel tank and fit an inline filter so hopefully our now three tuk convoy can hit the road drama free. Famous last words...
Goa, India
what a difference 48 hours can make! Two days after the day from hell we awoke with the whole team in good spirits and we'd also met back up with the Ausie team 'shah rukh khan't touch this' who we'd been convoying with for a few days but had to leave when they needed the assistance of a mechanic. Little did we know when we awoke that we were at the foot of what is considered by motorcyclists in india as one of the best driving roads in the country. And so with the crisp morning air pushing baldric II's power output from 7hp to maybe 7.1 hp we attacked a great stretch of road twisting and turning through stunning mountain vistas. If it wasn't for the odd Indian pothole repair job to keep you on your toes then this thing would be on a par with the best in the alps! After a few hours the quality of the roads deteriorated slightly but the scenery did not and in the end we covered about 300km and made it to malwan which is right on the coast and gave us the view of the Arabian sea that we'd pictured in our minds. Today we made the relatively short hop down to Goa, and again we have not been disappointed. What a stunning place! We have checked into a little villa with the ausies and are going to stay here another day for the full moon party tomorrow night. What a difference 48 hours can make, but that friends is what makes a trip like this so great - you don't know whats going to happen from day to day.
Maharashtra, India
let the record show that yesterday was hell on earth! It started badly at 2am when rob was hit with his second bout of Delhi belly and went downhill from there. At midday we braved checking out of the hotel and out into the tropical sun. But the heat in the rickshaw was mental and so as rob (severely dehidrated) sat there driving(between 'bathroom' breaks) Jenna would poor water over his head at well timed intervals from the back seat and Nic would hope that the lady gaga he was listening to would take him far away from the whole situation. We decided that we needed a short day but several wrong turns including one that took us onto what has to be the worst road in India through several crowded villages and railroad crossings meant that we found somewhere to stay just as the sun was setting. Today we faired a little better although we lost a bolt that holds our exhaust on, the clutch adjuster snapped and our roof rack lost some mountings. However these were fixed with little drama. still, onwards and upwards! We now reckon we can be in Goa in two days, and Jenna's found what looks like a cool place to stay tomorrow night. Although we've heard that before!! Oh one thing that we forgot to mention on a previous blog was that we made the local paper in Vadodara! It's all in Hindi so no idea what it says but a great souvenir none the less!
Daman and Diu, India
day 5 finds us nestled squarely in the tropics with banana trees and sugar cane fields abundant. The promise of booze after 2 days spent in the dry state of Gujarat has brought us to the tiny state of Daman and Diu where we have gotten our first (wholly unspectacular) glimpse of the Arabian Sea...Hoping the view from Goa will be a vast improvement! On the plus-side, the Kingfisher was, indeed, flowing (as was some shady whiskey) and so we remained in good spirits (pun fully intended)....are currently having ourselves a nice little lie in to recover, as we seem to be at the front of the pack and making good time! Off to brave the insanity on the outskirts of Mumbai this afternoon!
Gujarat, India
first of all thanks to matt at the Adventurists who found nic's passport and is taking it to the finish line in cochin. I guess that means we better make it then! Today we made our way down through the tropic of cancer and left behind the deserts of the north. The landscape is turning much greener now. The roads however are getting much more crowded and there are simply no words in the English language to describe how bad the driving in India is. However so far we're holding our own in our humble rickshaw baldrick II. We are treating him well and so far he is returning the favour. We're just trying to decide which way to head tomorrow as we've still got a long way to go and a short time to get there...@
Gujarat, India
well we've survived two days on the road. After leaving jaisalmer yesterday we headed south and spent the night in Barmer. Unfortunately we didn't arrive till after dark and our first experience of night driving was fairly hair raising. Oncoming massive lorries with full beam and people and animals in the road against our little headlight which cuts out when it feels like it! Today we covered a good 250km and are aiming to make it to vadadora tomorrow. One major problem is that nic's lost his passport which means we might have to brave the chaos of Mumbai to find the American embassy. If any teams have found a US passport by some stroke of magic then could they drop a text to this Indian mobile number +919587547639. Thanks a lot....
Jaisalmer, India
happy new year to all our followers! Today's the day. As we wake with fuzzy heads and try to figure out what went on last night, we must also prepare for the task at hand. At about 1pm we shall be flagged off and 50 pimped out rickshaws will try and find there way out of the city and then across the Indian subcontinent. If there's one thing we've learned from the couple of days test driving it's that a rickshaw is about as much good as an old pair of socks! Have we bitten off more than we can chew? Time will tell...
