DAY 13 - THURSDAY

Day 13 Thursday 4/2/2010

Kodaikanal to Thekady – 290 Km

Up at 5.30 (again) and another early start. We had to go back over the mountain range that we had used to get to Kodaikanal. Again we were up very high, with some sheer drops and some drops which although were severe were not an immediate plummet to the bottom. One guy did go too fast and locked his back brake trying to stop. He went through the gap in the barriers and definitely got ‘air’ between his bike and the ground. He sailed through a tree he tried to grab to save him and did not land until he was 50ft or more down the side of the mountain, his bike going too. That man must have lost one of his 9 lives that day. In another part of the road he would have killed himself. I found the concentration required on mountain sections mentally tiring as an ‘off’ there could be far worse than just chucking the bike down the road with you following it on flat roads without drops! The highlight of the day was riding through the tea plantations of Munnar. Absolute beauty of nature with natural streams pouring down the sides of the hills around and the tea being picked as it has been for centuries. By late afternoon we were on more forgiving roads. Coming towards a bend one of the Enduro Team was flagging us to slow down, obviously an accident had happened. I saw the road was extremely wet and at the side a guy was being fitted with a neck brace. Later we were to learn the brace was a precaution until he could be examined in more detail. Just a broken collar bone, the rally was over for him. We had various delays that day waiting of ‘offs’ to be recovered and so forth. The front riders would stop the rally at various points so the back riders and support could catch up. We could not have too much distance between the front and back of the rally so that support was always not too far away. At around 6pm Herbies throttle cable snapped and we had to wait for a mechanic. By the time we entered the Park Ferme at 7pm it was dark. No fun on these roads after dark as not all locals consider it to be necessary to use their vehicle lights at night!!