On Reflection and Finally We Thank You!!

The Rickshaw Run By Numbers

• 14 Days constant driving.
• 10-16 Hours per Day
• 4689Km in total
• Average speed 35-40Km
• 70kmph - Our top speed. once only
• £4690 Raised for the Alzheimer's Society and the Frank Water Project by our team alone
• 0 Casualties - on our team
• 23 mosquito bites
• 75 Strong bottles of Kingfisher
• 84 Curries 
• 2 Clutch cables
• 5 complete brake failures
• 2 spark plugs
• 1600 unique blog views
• 1507 photographs
• 2 hours of video
• 5 flights
• 5 in flight movies
• 1 arrest on board flight at arrival at Heathrow. not us
• 50,000 people at immigration on our return
• 9 English cans of 9% Super Skol in homage to India
• 2 very inspired young men

With the rally now 2 weeks behind us it's hard to comprehend what we actually achieved in such little time. Its even harder to think it only finished 14 days ago.
We have both had a our well deserved break from the chaos that was India, jet lag maybe but we know it was more sheer and utter exhaustion.  There is no way to train for that kind of punishment, in fact, if it wasn't for India being such a marvelous, diverse and interesting country i doubt we would have had the commitment to get out of bed so early morning after morning just to slave over the roads every day. The reality is it was such a wonderful, glorious and colourful experience that no tiredness couldn't have marred this experience, even when Lloyd was asleep in the back of the Rickshaw and James was doubled over in a truck stop toilet they still had little bad to say about the beauty that is India.


What did shock and perturb us was actually the reason we were there. The FRANK WATER PROJECTS was the charity chosen in India to receive our donations. Each team had to raise a minimum £1000 for charity, £500 of which would go to Frank Water. (Albeit to date we actually raised £1020 for FW alone) As most of you know we also chose the Alzheimer's society as our main charity receiver. We would not change that for the world. The guys at the Alzheimer's Society do a splendid job and they deserve all the money they can get. (to date - £3600+)
But what we did become aware of was how much help India still needs. The water situation out there is still dire. the quality of the water, the origins of the water and the amount of times the water is recycled without being cleaned or filtered is really depressing. People are still dying in India as a result of contaminated water.
It was common to see what we thought were albinos but they were not, they had in fact been poisoned and their skin disorder is actually a result of metal poisoning due to mining and or poor quality water abstraction. All we know is that when we told people in India what we were doing and why we were doing it they rejoiced and tried to hand us money, it wasn't until we arrived in Darjeeling one man in particular shook each of our hands and tried to thrust 100 Rupees in our pockets, his words of thanks literally brought tears to our eyes. He could not comprehend why someone from one country would want to raise money and travel to another mans country to help out people we didn't know or would have no direct benefit from. He compared us to latter day saints. Far from what our mothers call us, of this you can be sure, but at that moment we promised each other that we would champion the Frank Water Project as their efforts have such a hugh impact on the lives of people in India. - please click read more

End of days

We left via Shillong Airport which apparently is a an adventure in it own right, due to its mountain location the weather is hugely variable and most flights are cancelled. All i know is the security at this tiny hill side aerodrome is tighter than USA, Russia and China all rolled into one. Lloyd must of had his hand luggage scanned 5 times each time emptying and repacking to point his disapproval must of become visible as the senior guard went thought it with a fine tooth comb just make a point. That aside the flight actually left 30 minutes early and we arrived to hot and humid Kolkatta in 90 minutes. 

Given our flight to Dubai was at 9am the next morning we questioned an airport based hotel with a pool and wifi, or getting involved in the centre and head out to consume the old capital city of India in just one evening. As we arrived early there was no real decision, we jumped straight into a taxi, everyone at every point trying to do something for you to warrant a tip, we managed to get away from the airport more or less intact. Gazing out the window we were whisked down side road after alley, scraping arses of cows and vendors alike we pulled up on Sudder St. Our chosen hotel was The Fairlawn, a 3* with good reviews and sensible price to boot. The place was amazing, the colonial walls adorned with photos of celebrities, guests, the entire royal family, and tat, one persons life time collection of knik-knacks, antiques and colonial left overs, it was truly fascinating if not overwhelming. Our room was hugh and had a big free standing bath, one i wish id actually used, But the streets were calling. 

We heading out to change up some pounds, we hadn't seen an exchange bureau since Cochin and there were markets galore to be explored and not much time. first stop the pub. 2 freezing bottles of Kingfisher strong, a selection of local tandori kebabs and we where gone, the markets bustled with thousands of sellers and buyers bartering for fish, meat, textiles, spices everything, everything you could ever imagine was thrust into the this one giant indoor market. if you look at anything for anyone for too long everyone in spitting distance would try and sell you something. regardless of weather it was their shop or not. buying a shirt involved 10 salesman, buying tea involved 12. the price defiantly goes up at these times!

 the distance in smiles

 Being pulled in a engineless rickshaw! our final tribute to the humble rickshaw walla

We managed to purchase shirts, trousers, tea and could have had anything else we desired but we wondered for an hour or two, sank a few more beers and went to bed. . . For all of 50 minutes before deciding we had in no way seen enough of this great city and tried to get a cab to take us somewhere, anywhere. The cabs were rare,  in fact nothing at all was open. the place was a ghost town but the security guard of the hotel woke up his friend to take us around the city at 1pm. he however knew a late night food joint, the only thing open in the city it seemed.  As this was to be our last meal in india we ordered big and with naan, tandoori chicken, salad and cola underarm scuttled back to the cab to eat our way round the great city. or back to the hotel it seemed.  3pm saw the curtains draw on this epic and most amazing adventure.

Day 15 - totally tuked

Day 15 The morning after the night before. Too used to rising early saw us miss a lay in, breakfast was calling and hair of the dog was coffee blessed with jack Daniels. The resort had been decimated by what could easily have be a cyclone, unfortunately the mess seemed limited to the dancer floor, bar and BBQ areas. There was a large number of odd flip flops littering the ground, together with possible 700 bottles of beer. We spend the morning clearing out and cleaning up Ezme, while the hotel staff did their best for tonight's second party. It was sad times to think our home and ride was about to be taken away for good. We knew every inch of her by now and it's never easy to say good bye to someone you love. Yes, we had actually grown to love Ezmarelda, bless her little rubber socks. The day pasted in in a hazy flash, the swimming pool was well used, we know that because Lloyd has the sun burn to prove it. Many left today, but more new arrivals trickled in with new and amazing stories of their own. Each arrival saw another beer raised. No sooner than we started drinking it seemed the second party had started around us, the music fired up, BBQ was lit once again and warm beer flowed flowed down parched throats. There was a bout of prize giving and much to our surprise were beckoned on stage to accept the award for most KM's. A spray canned gold bamboo chalice was filled and drunk by us both. Recognition of our effort was greatly received and to be highlighted was indeed our own highlight, albeit a very small highlight after the past 3 weeks. Good times.

Day 14 - the final push

Day 14 Woke up surrounded by curry, cockroaches and maps. Left at 0545 for the final push to Shillong. It was with in 170km and if the roads were good we could arrive by mid afternoon. The treasure of information given to us by the saviour of last night was to use the southern road to Gurhwati which was apparently well paved and would save not only time but most importantly our ride. He was right, the road was fairly new and we flew along the engine keeping rhythm with the house music pumping out of the sound system. As we headed into the city it got busier and there were a couple of occasions that reminded us about the severe lack of brakes. It was hard to comprehend that this would be our last day, time had flown and the routine was now so in set that waking up at 5am had become the norm. It was a concoction of adrenalin, excitement and disappointment that gave us the power and concentration to thunder the reminder of the route with mile eating determination, as we left the city behind us the road started to climb leading us on to the plateau that Shilling sits. Each corner brought new road works, more broken and crashed trucks strewn all over the carriage way. We were halted twice to allow dynamite rock clearing of the steep ever widening Tarmac veins of roads. It was 230pm when we climbed over 1570 meters and saw the turquoise water of what we thought was lake Orchid, where the finish line and all the other finishers were waiting hopefully drink in hand. As we turned to cross the lake on one of its many bridges which spans the valley contributing to it fill, we saw a government signpost for the resort, excitement took over as we scrambled to find an appropriate song to blast for our well timed arrival. We had pushed Ezme to the limit and time wise we couldn't have done it better. We arrived as one of the last teams before the finish party, so we had more adventure than those before, yet arrived to the greatest welcome and still the evenings blow out to celebrate our efforts. As we arrived in Barapani we saw the official Rickshaw run finnish line banners, as we pulled into the resort complex foyer 50+ fellow drivers cheers and whistled greeting us with hugs and beers, it was a relief to finally be here with so many familiar faces, some of whom we met at the start, some of whom we met on route, some of whom will be mates for life. There were 45 out of 68 teams now back save and some even sound. We parked up, found there were no rooms left, no mattresses either but apparently there was floor space we could bed down on. Finally a chance to use our hammocks I thought. Until Josh and Vicky the honeymooning couple offered us their spare room, a box room with just a sofa and table. We jumped at the chance and chuckled about ruining their honeymoon. What a great couple! The party seemed to start immediately for us although it didn't actually start till 2000, it was a fitting party for 130+ crazy fools who view life clearly slightly different to others. There were people dancing in the rafters of the temporary bamboo marquee. Bonfires lit in the car park, stereo's, speakers, clothes, anything that would burn and many things that would not, plenty of petrol hanging around may have caused the hotel manager to attempt to cull the fire using a powder extinguisher, this did little, but his clear annoyance soon displayed the rowdy group. This was the party to end all parties. Tomorrow would be our first lay in on over 15 days.

Day 13 - into Assam

After a days rest bite we left the cliff clinging town of Darjeeling to traverse back down the mountain heading east, the road down was a well earned rest on the engine, the brakes were no way near as lucky. We must have dropped over 2000m in under 2 hours. We had to stop a number of times during the decent to pee on the brake drums. A rancid bellow of steam rising and dissipating as quickly as it has appeared. While we waited for the cooling effect Lloyd got caught short by a team of tea pickers also making their way down to the field for the day. (It may be wise to avoid tea from darjeeling for a couple months unless you want to feel slightly closer to Lloyd.) At the bottom of the mountain we stopped again to relieve ourselves and the brakes, stopping just sort of a rickety old wooden bridge, while we sat there in the sun a young man approached us and after noticing our fishing decals pointed to the river and said the magic words we had been longing to hear for the last 9 months, "GOLDEN MAHSEER" we beckoned him into Ezme and he pointed us round the feet of 3 adjoining mountain valleys to a point where the two rivers flowed into each other, a dedicated but empty fishing lodge sat nestled on the beach of pebbles washed down stream by millennia of erosion. Apparently it was built by a wealthy disillusioned mayor who expected it to be a tourist/fishing hot spot, alas it was neither, had we of known about it the night before we would have undoubtably used the hammocks and camped here. The locals were very helpful, they pointed to the slack water where the two body's met and said "plugs and spinners." We scrabbled to tackle up as quickly as possible and waded into the torrid water, it was only 0930 so we agreed in 2 hours of feather flicking. They had never seen a fly rod and took great delight in watching lloyd attempt to cast directly into a 35km headwind. 

Lloyd fly fishing for rare and beautiful Golden Mahseer..

 Several snags and hook ups later lloyd put down the fly rod and picked up a 13ft beach rod, maybe slightly over cocked compared to the locals fibre glass rods, but I was expecting to lock on to 30kg+ Mahseer, easily capable of snapping such a lesser rod in water as fast as this. We took solace and were also slightly disappointed to hear that no Mahseer had been caught this season, and in fact only one fish had been taken in the last 24 hours, by a chap using bottom bait of paneer at 0300. We are never disappointed to blank during a fishing adventure as fishing is a state of mind, today it was the fish who won. It truly was one of the most impressive and powerful places we have ever had the fortune to fish and if the pollution decreases and damming is halted one day we agreed to return here and tame the dream fish. 

We didnt get to meet the Mahseer but what a location...!

One of the fishermen worked for immigration and he kindly requested we let him have our passport and visa details so as to monitor tourism and just in case no one knew where we were and we vanished. This was slightly perturbing as it insinuated us not being seen again. He was actually very well educated and we spoke about many things before parting, he'll be our guide on our return one day. Thank you sir for all your help. Back on the road and our brakes had literally vanished, pumping 3/4 times saw us slow to walking space. Eventually. This continued for almost the entire day until we decided we must be able to improve the situation as set about fiddling, it was a choice between no brakes and top speed or losing 15 kph on flats. Speed was of the essence so caution was paramount and the amount of attention required was demanding enough with out lacking the facility to emergency stop. Used daily until today. The road for the next 8 hours was fairly good, as we drive through tiger and bird reserves we managed a constant speed of 60 kph. As darkness drew in we were 100km from our target town of Bongonaon. The road immediately changed for the worse, similar I'd imagine to driving over the giants causeway. Each pot hole just blended into the next no wonder the exhaust had once again rattled its self lose, we preferred the shrill husky bellow of the wincing 2 stroke to bother to attempt to fix it again, plus we calculated it was only 14 hours drive to the finish line. I started the night driving and after a few hours handed over to james, we were both almost delirious by this stage, we have been driving for 15 hours straight and the brick wall was approaching fast. I somehow managed to get a couple hours sleep on the worse we had driven during the last 2 weeks. James powered on in to the night making only 25km per hour at times. The night literally eating our poor and dimming lights, the drain on the battery was greater than the power being put back in and slowly all the lights dimmed to almost nothing, James managed to flag down as passing car and convinced him to slow down and allow us to follow closely behind him using his lights as ours. 30km still from our destination and the road was still not showing any mercy but now we were also on the reserve tank. We had not yet established the distance achievable on reserve as it seemed to change every time, between 40 and 10km had been recorded. What was certain was we had no spare fuel, there hadn't been a petrol station for at least an hour and the ones we had gone past previously had been closed. It was not looking good at all. Our prayer was answered after 30 horrible minutes and we saw a gas stop. As our lead car pulled in the attendant was securing a padlock to the pump and had a already turned off the fuel supply. Our salvation stepped forwards and spoke in Hindu to the attendant who preceded to unlock and reopen the pump for his and our last refill for the night. The lead car turned off 5km shy of the town and he gave us directions for the best hotel to rest our wiry and frustrated heads. But true to form we missed the turn by some distance. Pulling over a local rickshaw taxi James offered to pay for a lift in to the hotel, 5 minutes he said while I drop off my passengers then I'll take you, we though he suggested. 25 minutes later he returns and we clarify where we want to go. He takes us to his lock up to try and repair the exhaust pipe we had decide no to. This is not what you want to be doing 2235 at night after a 15 hour drive. We said again the hotel name and it all got a little weird and sinister, we literally demanded he take us to the hotel or he should "do one!". He scuttled back and sped off, us not sure to follow or not. 20 minutes later we arrive at Hotel Konstani, a true sight for sore eyes. We checked in, ordered dinner, ate little of it both passed out shattered minuets later. Day 14 to follow shortly



 

We finished and are safe and well.

We arrived in Shillong at 1430 on saturday. Covered 4689km in 14days and 3.5 hours. Arrived 46/70 teams. It's not about finishing first, it about all the road!! Our rickshaw is in a poor way but got us here and further than any other team. No injury's, but there were a few broken bones in other teams. Mai blog to follow. Just wanted you all to know we arrived. Full report to follow very soon. Lloyd and James signing off.

Day 12 - day of rest, washing and sightseeing

Nightlife in Darjeeling is fantastic, street stalls, bazaars, food vendors you name it it's here. Fake everything is available. We meet more teams here last night and woke at 0400 this morning at find 7 rickshaws outside our hotel. we ha d a taxi collect us this morning and take us to Tiger Hill to watch the sun rise over the 3rd highest mountain in the world. It was with out doubt th best sunrise we have ever seen dispute having to share our viewing platform with 2000 other eager tourists. We have decided to stay here for one more night. Taking in the smells, sights and food before descending down only a little and heading east for 2 days to our final goal Shillong. Hopefully today we can find a pace to upload some of our massive photo and video collection. Have a good day y'all. Lloyd and James

Day 11, the epic climb

As teams moved closer to us all the time from different routes toward the bottle neck to north east india between Bhutan and Bangladesh, we decide to leave hotel Embassy at 0500 and headed due north to Darjeeling, some 250km away and a climb of over 2500 meters. The day started well with just the normal worst roads imaginable, but 111am we had arrived in Shiliguri the last post before climbing into the Himalayers. After work the main road was blocked by a land slide, we diverted via an army base and began the initial slow climb. With in 30 minutes we were climbing almost 100meters every 10 minutes. I've driven the Andes and can confirm that while the Andes are generally higher than the mounts to Darjeeling, the sheer incline was hard even to walk up, let alone push a rickshaw up. Which we inevitably did. Started with one man out to help with weight, then with a push, then with 2 men out and pushing while keeping the throttle on full, when we reached 2000 meters it was just to much for poor Ezme. We pulled out the tow rope in hope a passing 4x4 may show mercy on us. No such luck, but little did we actually ask. After a 20 minute break we climbed to see how much further to go and found solace in a restaurant some 500meters ahead the worst was now behind us. We made the final push and rolled into the most obscure but welcoming restaurant where all the staff spoke impeccable English, who hurriedly brought fresh tea, a Darjeeling and Assam blend. It was truly delightful, this,followed shortly but a feast of vegetarian dishes all wonderful and so colourful. With in formation in hand that the worst was indeed o behind us we pushed on to Darjeeling some 20km higher into the mountains. The roads weren't steeper,s promised but the condition was poor very poor. Ezme seemed to love it though and she flew up mostly in 3rd gear. 2 hours later saw us breach the walls of the city. It's a magical place, the people are a blend of Tibetan, Chinese, Bhutanese, Nepalese and Indian. Fairer skin, bigger smiles and very welcoming, each bends sees the locals actually cheering us on. Words cannot explain this hill side town, it has many similarities to south America and towns like Cusco and La Paz, The people look almost identical, the clothes are the same, all the tourist toot is the same yet they are worlds apart. This thriving city certainly deserves more time!! Found a hotel next to the tea planters club which was built by the English in 1876, and was a meeting place for plantation owners to relax, discuss and set tea prices globally. The hotel is not quite to grand but will serve us well I'm sure.

Day 10, was that your toe james?

Woke at 0430, left the hotel by 0500 and again heading north to put some early morning miles down. It was noticeable that our clutch again was suffering, and the breaks seemed slightly less effective in the fact we didn't have any at all. Seemed to work at low speed but completely non existent at high speed. This lead us to pull over in a town called Malda. We instantly found a mechanic although in hindsight he wasn't the greatest. Quoted 500Rbs(£6) we sent him off to get the parts of the new brake seals. 2 hour round trip allowed time for 10 cups of tea, fitted thrice as it didn't fix the first or second time, then James noticed they hadnt actually used the new parts. Half hour later it seemed better, hey managed to flease us for another 500Rns before we left, but we were just glad to leave. Stopping for street food is highly recommended in India, each region has it own delicacies and each is better than the last. All are vegetarian. Most are fried, so cheap and so so dam good. We soon crossed the marvelous River Ganga (Ganges) nearly getting our camera conviscated but armed india guards who insisted I delete all pictures of the bridge and river. Don't worry, some to come. The water was a light blue colour, not sure its sea water making it that blue or washing powder coming down the hills from the many cities it lows through. Pretty nether the less. What is most noticeable about West Bengal is the way they great us, they dont seem to have had the same English based eduction as the southern states of india. Being very general, education seems low in the list too things to do here. This transcribes as people just staring in disbelief unable to comment or communicate, almost in a rude fashion unless you knew better. Dusk saw us roll into Rajgangj, stayed at hotel Embassy which according to rumour has the bast bar in town. All I now is Id hate to go to the worst. Dinner was surprisingly good and the room comfortable. Mosquitos bites - 5 Cockroaches - 0

Day 9, the road to Siuri

After leaving so early we managed to get a good number of miles on the speedo. Hindered only by road surfaces, we wound our way through valley after valley, each dryer than the last, the very impressive irrigation that the farmers work so hard to construct do very little when there simply isn't enough rain to fill thier resivour ponds and lakes, the locals are literally washing in stagnant water, washing their clothes seems almost a waste of time. There are others who came down just to go to the toilet in the pond and crap in it. Crap dozenst even come close to the state of the roads today though. We crossed 2 diggers who were chipping away at the top layer of concrete in order It seems to avoid having to import hardcore for the next layer they simply leave the rubble on the road and allow poor folk like us to road roll it in. There must have been 8-9km of hardcore on the road, rendering our Tuktuk with a slight disability over the lorries and 4x4s, the only other vehicles to chance it. The Road into Siuri was small, poorly laid and had a keeper, he lept in front of us demanding 10Rbs(8p) which we paid with out question seeing as the local cars in front did the same. Just 500m into the village and we fell upon a glass clad building resembling a hotel, which as luck would have it was in fact a hotel. But to us it more than a hotel, it had a super clean reception the rooms were large, clean and even had gratis flipflops to use. (which james still has) the beer was served super cool and the food menu looked delightful. Not long out of the shower and 2 more teams had found our MGM grand and we now had 3 beautiful tuktuks displayed outside the hotel as a calling card. The food was just as good as the menu.the best chilly chicken and chicken tikka I've ever eaten. All for under £15. Including accommodation and beers. Thank you Bequest Hotel, may your chain spread far and wide through india.

Day 8, Chandipur-on-sea

We woke by a knock at the door at 0600, a welcome cup of chi and a voucher for complimentary breakfast went down well. Pulling back on the road at 0645, there were many diversions taking us off the main road and onto beaten up roads that you wouldn't wish on your neighbouring town. After thundering for 10 hours we saw a beach, at a town called Chandipur, not too far from the road and decided to stay over here. It was in fact owned by the same company who put us up last night, unfortunately for us it was in the same condition. We rolled up just as 3 other teams also decided to take the plunge. Asking for the best room in the house, doesn't always get you it. Led by 70yo skinny Lurch lookalike we trekked probably a Km through the grounds of India's Butlins to the furthest room from any facilities. Pleasantly surprised we opened all the windows to allow he sea breaze to act as air con. (something in hind sight we wish had paid for) there wasn't a single bug or dead fly in the room and thought it a good call to leave the windows open while we slept. Error. Despite a net clearly covering every innch of bed, I woke to fin more life inside the net than outside. Including Giant ants, possibly the biggest cockroach I have ever seen and enough mosquitos to infect a small country. Each one I killed had litres of my own blood now caking my hands. Back in its rightful place at least. This and James inessential snoring made us get up at 0400 and run for the main road. I would not recommend this hotel to anyone, didn't even get to see the beach. Apparently it's only 1ft deep for near on 1km out so fishing would have been out of the question. On the up side , our diet consists mostly of vegetarian meals now. That seems to be keeping things solid.. Insect count unmanageable.

Day 7 - Srikakulam to Lake Chilika

As promised we up'd and out'd by 0500 so as to not miss the dawn sun rise at the sun temple. It was interesting to say the least, no miricles as expected but we fed half a coconut to a God, drank 4 herby holy concoqutions and walked out with white chalk on our foreheads And 20rbs lighter. It turns out its open all day and the doesnt cause any miraculous light explosions or anything vaguely similar but more an insight into Hinduism. Still in convoy, we Keep team Waffles company who have issues with thier engine and sure enough with in 2 hours of driving they had busted a coin sized hole in the piston, as gentleman drivers we stopped and tried to offer support, the fact we didn't have a clue what was wrong didn't help much but ezmerelda provided us with excellent entertainment in the shape of Lloyds iPad, our built in surround sound and hangover 2, it was cosy but quite good fun, you can imagine the locals loved the specitcle..... a proper cinema! As time went on the g and t racers got itchy feet, we simply had to get some miles on the clock, so the time came to say our fair wells and hit the road, young ezzy showing the waffles mobile how it's done. Sprisingly enough we headed north, spotting a large body of water on the map that looked achievable, Lake Chilka became our destination. Some 260 Kms later we approached the lake, Lloyd's keen eye spotting a sign that couldnt have read better - House Boats, lodging, restaurant, bar, boat hire, not to mention the 1000 acres of fresh water to explore, we pointed our trusty steed and went to enquire. Imagine a 1970s uk holiday camp, give it 40 degree heat, fill it with Mosquitos and cockroaches and age it 50 years with out even a simple wipe clean, welcome to Lake Chilka. It was all we needed and actually worked out pretty well. We managed to get a good 40 mins fishing in, I say good, we caught approx 20 locals and that was it. The locals were very pleased to see us, wizzing us to the choice spot on their motorbikes, one of them let lloyd have a go. The lake was in fact lovely and given a day on a boat exploring would have been good. We met a couple of teams and as always hit the bar for the usual 3x 8% kingfisher strong, that usually makes for a good night sleep. The room was ghastly, dirty, completely infested with every thing you don't want in your bed, lloyd took out his trusty mozzy net and in we climbed, what we didn't realise was that we had managed to trap a number of creepy crawleys in the net. It is safe to say that the strong lager did not work on his occasion. Mosquito bits - 2 Cockroaches - 15 Crickets - approx 40

Day 6 - AA membership anyone?

Day 6 saw us leave Bhimavaram on a mammoth 420km session to Srikakulam. We started at 0630 but left with what sounded like a loose exhaust. We tried to tighten the mount bolts but bolt had sheared so we wired it in place and cable tied it just be sure. We hit the road and by midday had coverd over 250km. We ran our reserved tank out of fuel and had to break open the jerry can. This caused the filter to block as we must have had dirt in the tank. After a testing half hour we had her purring once again. Midday afternoon saw us happen upon a convoy of 4 Rickshaw Runners, berdoning them with our company 5 rickshaws all rolled into the town of Srikakulam. One of our now 10 strong group spoke Hindi which saw every happen in doble quick time. No wonder their convoy was so big! A great night we shared, till the locals in the bar started to get drunk and annoying uncontrolable. The bank manager of the city took a massive dislike to one of the girls in our group bringing her drink outside while she smoked. James turned this chap on a six pence nd had him almost eatingn out of this hand. He insisted in ruining our evening anyway so we headed for bed early so we may visit the Sun temple, of which there are only 2 and this was apparently here best. and it was insisted its best to go at dawn (5am) when the sun aligns with one of the gods... We'll see Mosquito bites - 2 Cockroaches - 1

Our first fellow racers seen for 7 days

pulled over by an entire collage of students

over whelming to say the least

they took a massive shine to Zoe the teacher

this reminds me of a Benny Hill scene

Day 5, low speed chases.

Hydrabad was the worst decision we made and the only route to go was to literally double back on ourselves and head back to the road we had left the day before, a round trip of over 500km, not entirely wasted as every mile brings new adventure but none like the extrimaly low speed chase we had over 45km! The mood turned a little more sinister after we stopped to check a fault on Ezme, she wasn't happy so we decided to pull over and go give her some love, we were quickly mobbed by local workers eager to show thier mechanical prowess, It wasn't long before one of the guys has started and was reving the engine beyond healthy, after Lloyd asking once, shouting once then slapping his hand away, a not messing around fasion but with out being to over th top, for the UK anyway), james (also feeling the mood turn) jumped in and we sped off at high speed to elude angry/annoying mob. 25 minutes later we hear a persistent and overwhelming horn to our rear, popping my head out I notice a motorbike, on the rear is he guys who's hand I've slapped and a slightly older driver, while age was clearly on our side it see,s like he was pretty pissed. They were trying to flag us down, thinking that I had unleashed hells fury by maybe crossing the line and showming massive disrespect the idea of actually pulling over wasn't to attractive so I shouted to James not to stop under any circumstance. These guys were particularly annoyed and had other vehicles try and stop us, a bus almost T-boned us than another motorbike with two young guys pulled up, whilst still doing 60kmph, and signalled to pull over, at which point we concurred it maybe best to stop. Both of us rising pigeon chested from Ezme, he boys preceded to tell how we had just driven off with the slapped guys wedding cards, for the wedding he was ment to be at. Little did we know the cards had been on the seat he whole time and neither james nor I had noticed. It was made worse when the driver declared "he was only trying to help you!"

The wedding cards ->

The last 7 days.... EPIC!

It's been a week since our last blog, the Internet and mobile connections are few and far between, especially when your pounding the road less travelled. Mileage breakdown Start - Cochin, Kerala - 10220 End of day 1, Kumily - 10449 Day 2, Pondacherry - 10950 Day 3, Ongole - 11458 Day 4, Hydrabad - 11834 Day 5, Bhimavaram - 12269 Day 6, Srikakulam - 12687 Day 7, Lake Chilika - 12945 Day 8, Chandipur(on-sea) - 13291 Day 9, Siuri - 13682 Day 10, Raiganj - 13940 Day 11, Darjeeling - 14190 Event Log Day 4, Ongole to Hydrabad We had a great start, a good breakfast and a easy exit on to the highway to head north, we thought. Till we found we had passed the turning and were now on route for Hydrabad, some 280+km all on white roads, which on our map means dirt tracks. It was a slow arduous task, the route littered with potholes and broken Tarmac which made progress extremely slow. The upside was this route was real back country india, just like many areas we passed I doubt they had seen tourists let alone 2 English boys driving a white rickshaw with 2 Marlin painted on the front and james 2 step dance noise blasting from the back. It must have been a site to behold because everyone and thier dog came out to see us pass. Conversing was another story, the literacy rate was noticeably lower and the general health also seemed lower than the towns we had previously stayed. As we drew closer to the Dam at Nagarjunakonda

we rose through the hills and suddenly dropped down to the bridge on the dammed side of the water, vendors of fresh green orange juice and nuts of every variety stood like trolls at each end of the bridge. It was welcome refreshment after the last 5 hours.

We are alive and well. Almost!

The start saw us accidentally heading south rather than north for some distance, this however lead us into rural back country of Kerala which was without doubt the best accident ever. We drove only 122km on day 1 over 7 hours, we headed due east through the Cardamon Hills climbing from sea level to over 1800m, as dark fell upon us we had no hotel, no idea of true location and more importantly vision. The tuktuks lights are poo at best. (poo was a typo of poor but on reflection it's more fitting) we managed to find a hill top hotel but turned it down as it was £15, thinking this excessive we carried on, to our peril. Darkness set in and we had to illuminate the world with head torches. Ended up in a small town called Kumily with a room twice the price, rubbish view, kids disco on till 11pm in the car park outside our room, no food and to add insult to injury the beer was warm! Day two saw us set off from Kumily at 0600, early hey! Within an hour we had crossed into Tamil Nadu where everything changed rapidly. The Tamil region of india speaks its own dialect, totally unique, they even look different, most of the men seem to have korma smeared over their eyebrows. The religion is Hindu, their temples are on the highest mountains, the lowest valleys and anywhere else you would care to look. They seem more intrigued by us than in the Kerala region where tourists are ten a penny. We managed to cover nearly 500km by end of day two, and had safely and expertly driven by James entered and left the city of Dindigul, I've driven some busy cities but this was like no other, our nerve and the tuktuk both held up well. As all ways we had planned where and when to stop but the all went to pot when we missed our turning, got lost and again ended up diving after dark, (which we promised each other not to do again) rather than being 30km above Pondicherry, we rolled into Pondicherry after 730pm, managed to find a local hotel aptly named the Hotel D'Europe where they rapped us gently for 1500 rupees only for us to take a taxi to the beach front to eat a local meal and spend the same amount again in Pizza Hut. Home from home. At least James belly is slightly happier now. We ate pizza for breakfast on the road, while Lloyd polished off the 8% kingfisher larger all before 7am. But 9 we had again missed our turning and found our ride, now named Esmerelda entering Chennaiand stuck In heavy traffic, road after road was gridlocked, all roads headed every direction then the magical north east we desired. 2.5hours, many u turns, one mechanic, hundreds of hand shakes and a few rupees lighter we got back on track and planned to drive to just north of Kavali and head east to try and catch the coast road/track and may be fish and camp in the wilderness. Planning again proved our downfall, what started off as the most amazing experience heading off the beaten track through villages that undoubtably had never seen white folk, nor owned tv's, children running after us down the street, the women seemed to especially welcome us, turned out to be pretty sinister, or so it felt, we were dead ended and not to confident for our safety so doubled back, only for our new friends/cannibals to chuckle wildly and grin through red stained mouths. After another 2 hours of night driving we are now in Ongole, a very small town on the east coast. No planning tomorrow! May be fishing though.. NB, sorry for no photos yet, can't upload to the iPad and haven't seem and Internet cafe since Fort Cochin. Plenty to come don't worry.

Readying the Rick

Ladies and gents, the start of our epic journey is close approaching, we have our rickshaw (we broke it on the first day) it is now in the process of being pimped and having a new clutch fitted its then off to the tuning guru, we only know him as Mr Shan - he is the man capable of getting these machines to a hair raising 60kmph (apparently).... Oh yes 60kmph on three wheels...! The heat is un bare able, the food amazing the people are awesome if not a bit eager to assist in every way possible. The roads are horrendous as is the driving, this ladies and gents is where the real adventure begins....!

HOT doesn't come close

After a 7 hour flight to Dubai, a 4 hour layover and a further 4 hours to Cochin we are now checked in at our budget hostel. Sharing with 3 guys from Seatle, USA who are also on the run who we meet at the airport. Fort Cochin is a peninsula dotted with may churches but it's most famous for its fishing nets. (pics to follow) the smell of fish in 35' weather could be better sampled upwind. Otherwise it's beautiful. Not found our rickshaw yet, but we're on it! Rice and peas. L&j

Thank you Zara and Jules. See you both in 3 weeks. x

THE FINAL COUNT DOWN

Just 24 hours till we take off from Heathrow Terminal 3 bound for India via Dubia.
We have packed, re packed, unpacked, washed and repacked again all our equipment, fishing tackle and clothes. We have booked our first few nights accommodation in Fort Cochin and will arrive in the early hours of 4th April.

We will then check in to the rally, get given our steed then we'll have a few days to pimp, paint, add lights, a pumping stereo and speakers and make ourselves as outlandish and noticeable as much as possible in the vain hope to stand out in the dark night that will with out doubt eat our lights leaving us in pitch black.
Our theory is if we can be heard and blind other drivers we have a pretty good chance of surviving the night roads. or well have one hell of a disco truck to dance around!!

We have stickers/decals and t shirts from our sponsors and we'll be donning these on route and taking plenty of snaps to make sure they get their monies worth.

If you havent donated yet, ITS NOT TOO LATE - just click here I want to help change the world

If you have any personal requests of things you would like us to to for your money just ASK!!
Our world is your oyster!!

Back to packing for now...

L

T- minus 24 hours

Lloyd' s equipment pack. coming in at under 11kg!! including fishing gear!

(1x10wt flyrod, 1x12ft beach rod and 1x6ft lure/jig rod, Plus reels and tackle)

      James' first pack. Equipment only. not including fishing rod and reel.

Just 13 days till we fly.
Last minute preparations occurring.
Plenty of wife beater vest being bought.
Still got travel insurance to buy.

and to scale down the fishing tackle...

Not too late to sponsor us though, we are still getting corporate sponsorship coming in and personal donations are still very welcomed and remember if you donate you name goes on our blog for all of time!!

20 Days till we leave for India. 
Plenty of time still to donate and pass on our blog details to all your friends so they can keep up to date with the mayhem live as it occurs.

The curry diet is coming on well, we've been eating solely curry for lunch and dinner for 5 days now... the question is, will the body be ready for the real deal!

The Indian Haynes Manual seems slightly thiner than expected.

PACKED

After weeks of scouring the internet, digging out old adventure kit and planning we now have a packed equipment bag.

First aid kit, Solar charger, bungee cords, mosquito spray, sting ease, security cables, travel safe, hammocks, rope, travel shower, fishing rods and tackle, maps, waterproof map case, Malarone malaria tablets, torches, chlorine tablets and a swiss army knife.

Suggestions of anything we may have forgotten are very welcome.

Any tips on taming Bengal Tigers also welcomed..

INJECTIONS TODAY

Its doctor time as we both go for our injections today to save us from uncertain death.
At least now we cant blame mosquitos, curry and the local water for our demise.
And what with driving skills like our, surely we'll come home in one piece. and not after being airlifted either!!

We now have our Visa's.
We have our injections booked. (the list is worrying)
Our first few nights accommodation in Cochin are booked.
Our research for fishing marks on the journey has started.
Maps, we are debating buying maps or the "just heading north!" technique.
Equipment buying has started. We'll both be using Hennessy Hammocks to sleep in.
Using solar power to power our devices using this sunlinq foldable solar panel. we have to charge our Video cameras, digital cameras, phones and ipad. this unit should cover it all and still allow us to charge the spare 12v battery incase we use all the power with out new (to be bought out there) sound system.

45 days to go....

a Massive thanks to James Gibson at Corder Gloves for his donation of £150.
Thank you so very much Mt Gibson Sir..
Lloyd and James

Every things is now live and all we need now is your money!!
Please click here to sponsor us
flights are booked and paid for, mosquito repellent, check. Hammock packed, Check. Diacalm tablets packed, Check. Dont forget cricket bat and bottles of gin. check check..
Maps thrown out make more room for gin. check.
frisbee packed to use as weapon/toy/dinner plate/pint holder/bartering tool.. check.

PACKED

What colour should we paint our steed?
ideas please..