DAY 8 Shimoga to Kalasa, Silent Valley Resort 180km

Sent to my family in the UK:

DAY 8

Herbie, Terry, Cliff and Andy

I LOVE INDIA. The sights and sounds here are amazing. The countryside is so lush. Remembering back to pictures of farming in India as a child and thinking even then it looked as it would 100 years ago, here nearly 50 years on it is still the same. Today was only 180km which is less than the distance of the last two days but around 100km was off-road or on roads so bad that the depth and width of a pothole was big enough to bury an average size dog. We also now have to avoid monkeys and chickens as well as the cows and dogs. We were warned today that there are usually a lot of 'offs' (crashes) on this route due to the terrain. They were not wrong..... The ride was beautiful through lush farmland with crop field’s rich green in colour. There was a climb up a mountain with drops beside the road edge. Terry managed to miss judge a left hand bend and managed a sort of jump off the bike followed by a somersault. Alan who we roomed with on the first two nights tried to overtake an ambulance but the ambulance had to avoid a rock. Alan went over the edge, after about 20ft the foot peg dragged in the dirt and a large shrub stopped him and the bike. Colin pulled the bike off him and it took 8 guys to get the bike back up on to the road. A big crowbar straightened out the foot pegs. Joe the American firefighter ended up with his arm in a sling and one guy took a smack to his body armour in the chest and they thought he was having a heart attack. Luck had it that a cardiac specialist on the Enduro was close by and went to hospital with him. He is now OK. There were numerous other offs which made it a very long day. We reached Silent valley at dusk. Tonight I share a dorm with 18 other guys we each have a two inch thick mattress on the floor. Just one loo and one shower. I decide not to even bother taking my kit off and go to drink and eat. With any luck the beer will kill the pain of the day and help me sleep. I stayed out until most were in 'bed'. I took a sleeping pill and pain killers and jumped into my sleeping bag liner with my pillow. I passed out real quick. I have lost  my voice today due to dust inhalation and my ribs are thought to be cracked/broken following my "off" 2 days ago.  Up at 5am, another night of 4 hours sleep and 250km ahead of me. The funniest story of today’s ride was about a guy who rode through a town where there was a cow with a long rope around its neck. The cow had wandered over the road and the guy had rode over the rope without realizing it was attached to a cow and that it was caught on the bike and he was dragging a very reluctant cow down the main street. He noticed an old farmer looking very angry with a big stick (weapon of choice in India) chasing him when he looked in his mirror but had still not realized about the cow there was no way he was going to stop...someday this rally is like a moving circus. The most touching moments of this trip is seeing the children, they don't have much at all but are smart and clean for school, always smiling and exciting. Another very small girl blew me a kiss today, I blew one back and she went shy. This time I shed a tear........

thank you for all recent donations, very much appreciated :D

My 3rd Day

Sent to my family in the UK:

25th January

I slept well and awoke to see a red sun rise over the Gateway to India. Spent ages repacking my bags as they had to weigh 35kg in total on the next flight from Mumbai to Goa. Ended up with 38.5 after filling my carry on backpack. Guess I will have to take my chances with excess baggage charges as it is unlikely that charm will work. Another hair raising trip of near misses to the airport.

The rest of the riders had arrived on the overnight from London by the time I arrived, and due to the number of us some had already caught the earlier flight to Goa. At the check in counter a baggage handler insisted on putting my bags on the belt and insisted my crash helmet go on as well. I told him that would definitely not happen. And stood my ground. Due to this distraction the bags went on with no mention of excess charge. I left the counter with him glaring at me...one small victory!!! I meet a couple of other riders in the lounge and soon boarded the flight for the short hop to Goa. All bags turned up which was a relief for all as everyone had all their boots and bodyarmour entrusted to the airline. Packed onto a very old a decrepit bus the trip of over an hour to our first overnight hotel was not too comfortable although the scenery was great and somewhat similar to coastal trips I have taken in Jamaica.

We eventually arrived after stopping more than once so the driver could spray his brakes with water as they were too hot to work correctly! As we dragged our bags down a dusty lane we saw the bikes for the first time, over 100 Royal Enfield Bullet 350's in neat rows. We waited in line to be allocated our rooms which would be for the next two nights. In almost all cases it was three to a room. I stood next to a guy called Alan who by coincidence was to be one of my roommates. As we entered the room I was not surprised that it bore no resemblance to the pictures we had downloaded to this blog from their website. There was a double bed and a double mattress on the floor, we both looked at each other and immediately decided to discuss sleeping arrangements later! We eventually found the 'third man', Andy, in the bar. We joined the table of guys he was with.

The ages of riders range up to age 71 with most of us being over 40. A spirit of camaraderie did not take long. We had a welcome meeting and were allocated our teams for the trip as well as a team leader from the orgainising road crew. The timings to start on the first day were to be staggered from 8am onwards with my 'Team Purple' scheduled for a 10.30 start. After a buffet style dinner we all sat around talking and drinking before retiring to our rooms.

I would also like to say a huge thank-you to everybody who has donated recently towards the charities, much appreciated.