Our final driving day and an early 6am start, despite only a distance of 175kms to cover. We took this to mean that either we had some tricky obstacles to overcome en-route or the Karma Enduro team had planned an exciting surprise for us.

We decided that it was likely to be a ‘hairy run’ to the finish line in Cochin and so planned to travel mid to back of the fleet to avoid the ‘testosterone push’ to be first. That said, we had completely forgotten about the ‘last in (the night before) first out’ rule, meaning that we had accidently picked up pole position. With the unusual combination of a 2 litre car and tread on our tyres (a number of cars running on bald tyres!) we cruised the early mountainous routes, enjoying the view of our tame German racing-driver friend picking his way through the cars into second position, but alas he was unable to keep up. Apparently, it was still the car that was the problem!

Periodically we would salute with opening our doors whilst driving, which is something that Fritz had become famous for to cool the inside of his car down. Like many of the others, it does have air conditioning, but to use it reduces the cars power by about a third! The gradient and steepness of hairpin bends was already necessitating 1st gear climbing in parts and so losing a third of power output was just not an option!

At our first stop it became clear that there was a problem, and eventually news filtered through that two good friends (a father and son-in law team from Southern England) had been hit by a lorry and written their car off in a ditch! They had been given a car without seat belts, and so it was a huge relief to see that they were ok (just very shaken up), even if the car wasn’t! Such was the relief to see them walking and ok when they were eventually transported to the main, (group minus their car) that they were given a round of applause. It was time for a medicinal chai, and then back on the road.

By the first scheduled stop at a large dam Fritz was determined to take the lead and so discretely removed our keys from the ignition. We managed to locate them in time to see his car go speeding by. With some clever manoeuvring we did manage to regain our rightful place and then the fun began. The rest of the journey became a war of attrition between us, Fritz and Marcus with the lead regularly changing place between those three cars. Whatever Marcus or Fritz may have lacked in engine power, they more than made up for in creative and tactical manoeuvring. Roy meanwhile was driving like a man possessed, which was pretty scary at times for all concerned!

Our next stop was right on the side of the main road into Cochin. Imagine if you will 32 cars all parked on the edge of a major and very busy road waiting for a police car to lead us in to the finish line which was at our hotel less than 2km away. 2,000km across Southern India (in terms of intensity – probably the equivalent of 8,000km – 10,000km across Europe!) and then we spend nearly an hour waiting to complete the final 2kms.

The police car didn’t arrive and we were growing restless and desperate to get to the hotel and into a cold shower that we just drove off in the end to find the hotel ourselves. Three other cars followed, but it spurred the Karma team to take the initiative and bring in the rest of the group. This was one unnecessary stop too many. Needless to say there were no cheering crowds for our finish, nor any great displays of emotion as all of the waiting around had created a slight sense of anti-climax for many, although we did later receive an apology for the poor organisation and communication from the organising party.

That slight disappointment aside there memorable factors that really did stand out for us about our adventure, which were:

• What a truly beautiful country India is, and what beautiful people it breeds
• That the main currency is a smile here and is used often!
• How tough and challenging it is to drive on India’s roads
• What a wonderful group of people had participated in the challenge – kindred spirits, bonded by their love of adventure and desire to leave the world a better place than they found it
• What a genuine privilege it is to be alive and in a position to help others

I am extremely grateful to have had such a rich experience and would like to thank my good friend, driving partner, and charitable trust co-founder, Roy and also my wife Karen, for not just taking care of the home and of our two young children, Charlotte and Samuel and dog Yogi whilst I’ve been away, but for also understanding my desire to make a difference.

Thanks to you too for reading these blogs – it’s been wonderful to share just a part of this whole experience with you, and thank you in anticipation for your help and support with The Global Children’s Trust!

After breakfast, I went out of the hotel to get some fresh air. Immediately out of the hotel I was lost in a mass of hustle, bustle and friendly people. It was a glorious morning and so there were a few other drivers out doing the same thing, and so great to say hello and catch up.

On my way back to the hotel Steve came passed the other way in a tuc-tuc and asked if I wanted a lift into the main town. I was planning on coming back to my room to write up an load up our blogs, but it seemed to good an opportunity to miss and so we travelled into town listening to Indian music from the tuc-tuc’s stereo system!

The town was like a huge market and the air alive with so many different scents and smells. I don’t normally do shops, but this was an experience not to be missed. My only purchase however was a net of 6 footballs to hand out to children on our next stage.

The morning’s briefing confirmed a short 120km hop to our next destination, which was great news after such a long run the day before. We were encouraged to take our time, travel at our own pace and take in the sights and photo opportunities as we drove through the extensive team plantations. We could have never imagined that tea plantations could be so large or so beautiful.

Could this be the first time that we will actually be left to our won devices, without a series of all too frequent and very lengthy re-grouping stops? Absolutely not – as proven with a 50 minute wait on a roadside after just 10kms! The only saving grace was the beauty of the landscape as that we drove through of high altitude tea plantations – which was simply stunning!

In an attempt to continue our theme of lunchtime thalis in local restaurants, we stopped at an extremely ‘local one’ that had a very limited menu, but seemed both friendly and open that we ordered a mutton dish that was prepared fresh. It was extremely tasty, although Roy’s insides still continue to flush with worrying regularity and consistency. Once again, we fast became the attraction as the only ‘white faces in town’ and a chance to practice broken English. Still – their broken English was far outweighed our mastery of Hindi and so we were only too happy to oblige. An expensive one this time at £1.50 per head with drinks!

Surprisingly, even after a lunch stop we were still not at the back of the pack, and so we chose to amble! This gave us more opportunity than usual to stop and interact with the children and parents en-route.

The funniest of these interactions came when we spotted a small boy who was quite scruffily dressed. We stopped and gave him a large orange football, which was almost his size. He seized it and ran off, just in case we took it back off him! Eventually he cam back passed whilst Roy was taking some pictures with a grin still running from ear to ear! At this point three men emerged from a house that we had parked\abandoned our car outside. With my UK head on I prepared for confrontation. This is India, and so instead they wanted to know all about us (where we were from? where we were going? how did we like India? what did we think of Kerala? etc.) Next came the killer question that completely caught me off guard half way up a mountain side – did we want to come in for a coffee?

‘Of course, yes please!’ I replied and so off we went. I think Roy thought I was mad, but bless him – he went along with it and we enjoyed one of the best cups of fresh coffee I have ever tasted! We covered a huge amount of ground in pigeon English and were having a ball as the last of the Karma cars drove passed. Next thing we knew was that Karma Enduro’s ambulance pulled up behind our car. It’s crew’s job is to stay behind the last car and bring up the rear. As this was such an unusual place for us to be that we had not even seen the ambulance before, never mind be followed by it! To make amends for holding them up whilst we were finishing up our coffee, we invited the crew to join us, which they gratefully did! We in the meantime finished up and set back on our way after 10 minutes of heart-felt goodbyes.

Loving this country and its people!!

Despite the inaccuracies and vagueness of the directions we made it to Thekaddy, our final destination for the day, in last place. Without realising it, by arriving last we had inadvertently put ourselves into pole position for the next and final driving day!

A nice resort, but a huge climb up many, many steps to our room!

We took a wander into town before dinner to check out purchasing some gifts for home and to see what was going on. I discovered an Ayurvedic massage specialist (a system of traditional medicine native to the Indian Subcontinent) and booked in for later that evening. Whilst invigorating and energising, it proved to be a very naked experience in the company of two male masseurs! Fortunately, my ‘oh shit’ reaction was not justified and I was not treated to any unscheduled ‘extras!’

I gratefully rejoined our group for dinner and drinks on outdoor roof terrace. This was the evening before our final drive and a great opportunity to reflect upon the colour and diversity of the people, countryside and driving styles of India.

Even within our group it has also been a genuine pleasure to meet such great group of people. Again such a mixture, but in essence kindred spirits who enjoy adventure and genuinely want to contribute to making the world a better place – so thank you to all of the wonderful people we have met this trip – you have helped make the experience fun and special

Orphanage1

Despite having a rest day, we left at 7am on a safari trip. We set of in eager anticipation of seeing some of the tigers that live wild around here, but sadly it wasn’t meant to be. Instead we did see some deer, elephants and huge bison.

We were starving by the time we arrived back and settled in to a gorgeous breakfast which included eggs and bacon – yum! Some great conversations ensued over breakfast. We have arranged to visit a local orphanage this afternoon, and several of the group have asked to come with us. Some have even brought clothes with them to donate.

We’re getting to know the other members of our group much better now as we finally have some time together, and what an interesting mix of people from some incredibly diverse and exciting backgrounds, all with a love of driving and curiosity about India at heart.

This afternoon I had arranged for Roy and I to visit a local orphanage about 30 minutes away from where we are staying and was delighted when 3 other people asked to come along. One even gave up his safari trip to join us which was a generous gesture – but this is a guy who is completely energised by being around children, and such a pleasure to see!

The orphanage was a great experience – such a lovely place to see. Considering that we turned up unannounced, the place was so clean and the children so beautifully cared for and respected, which was reflected in how they treated us and each other. We had such fun with Stef organising singing with the girls and the boys playing cricket and with cameras we all had so much fun!

We left Grace (the lady who runs Happy House) with lots of goodies for the children and a promise to look into funding the building of a large climbing frame and tree house for the boys to play and beds for the kids to sleep on to supplement those already there. We’d also like to fund someone to go in an decorate the whole place in fun pictures and paintings too. We will be speaking with the trustees in a few days to find out what else would make a difference, and so watch this space.

I have been genuinely humbled by the number of people on this trip that would like to donate to or become involved with the work that we are doing with the Global Children’s Trust. Thank you to all of you, including those of you back home

Just a short drive today, and so we were gifted a lie in and late breakfast, which was wonderful!

Following another gorgeous local thali en-route through rural India (£2 for both of us this time!), we were pleased to make our destination by 3.30pm with the promise of a day off tomorrow and so chance to relax, recharge and spend time with the rest of the group. We’re all pretty weary by this stage of the journey.

What a great place to stay. It’s a jungle retreat called Jungle Hut, run by the ex-Indian National Rally champion Vikram Mathias, just inside the region of Tamil Nadu

I treated myself to a massage before dinner (£12) which was a relaxing way to start the evening. Dinner had a hint of familiar foods which was great. The food over here has been wonderful, but I never thought that I would be so pleased to see broccoli, potatoes and garlic bread amongst the curry dishes!

With all the adversity of the day before there was an incredible chatter over breakfast this morning, akin to that of jungle chatter, which was very fitting given that we were at a jungle retreat called Silent Valley.

It transpires that the mechanics had spent most of the night up on the mountain side trying to fix and recover the damaged cars. They eventually arrived back at 5.15am, with having had to tow two of the cars back.

Rain had moved in during the night. Given that this was the first rain in a long time over here, the roads were going to be pretty slippy, which was going to make for a treacherous drive down the mountain side for those cars with bald tyres, and even more treacherous for the car without working windscreen wipers, which ironically belongs to the Chief Exec of Unicef, one of Karma Enduro’s main charitable sponsors\beneficiaries. The money that we have raised for Unicef as part of this trip (approx. £75,000) is going directly to supporting aids relief and prevention for the children along the route which we are driving, which is extremely poignant, but it would appear that David and his daughter Katie have been given a greater endurance challenge than most of us. Their 13 year old car went on to break down 5 times today, once cutting out in the middle of the road. The also experienced two punctures the day before – definitely a test for the most patient of personalities!

Our drive down was spectacular from a scenic and enjoyment perspective, through the coffee and tea plantations once more. In particular watching the people harvest on near vertical mountain slops was little short of incredible. India is most definitely a land of versatile and resourceful people.

During our morning chai stop we came across a group of 7 children and so kicked off a game of cricket once more. Within 5 minutes the number of children had multiplied to over 50 as word got around about the rally in town, and the game of cricket being played by the roadside! I forget how many hands we shook and how many times we introduced ourselves, but what a pleasure …

We also had opportunity to stop off at the Belur Temple, which was constructed nearly 1000 years ago, and still in pristine condition, and design with such intricacy. Roy and I had an appointment with a charity in Mysore, our next destination and so quickly grabbed a quick Thali at a restaurant recommended by the locals. We counted 13 different dishes. The bill came to a staggering £4 for both of us including drinks! Spurred on by the experience, we put our foot down and headed the remaining 200km to Mysore.

Having cleared with the rally leader that we would be travelling directly there ahead of the group, we gave them a toot on the horn and flew solo all the way into the city an were greeted by a spectacular Indian 5* hotel (3* in European standards, but feeling like 5* after many of the places we had been staying thus far!

Billie, our travelling Indian guide had very kindly organised another trip, this time to see the old Maharaja’s Palace. On a Sunday evening between 7pm and 8pm it is lit up with over 99,000 light bulbs, and looks incredible – think Harrods at night with more lights and 6 times the size and in the shape of a palace and you should et somewhere close to the spectacle that we were treated to, before a 40 minute detour from our tuc-tuc driver as he tried to introduce us to the shops of various family members, followed by a lovely dinner in the hotel.

We left the business of Shimoga for the peace and tranquillity of the coffee and tea plantations, before reaching the jungle – or so we thought!

Driving through the plantations was wonderful, so peaceful and colourful and lovely warm, trusting people en-route, which hopefully comes through in some of today’s pictures. Several time we were able to stop and play cricket with the local children. The bats and balls seem to be going down well and will hopefully get well utilised over the comings months.

Today saw us climbing to over 1000 metres, via the inevitable hair-pin bends twice, but in between we had a wonderful drive along the edge of the Ghat mountains with the cars spread out and visible for several kms. As we are now all pretty comfortable with the hill climbs and this is India – there was another surprise that caught us all off guard, and that was approx 10kms of extremely narrow and very deep pot-holed roads – a huge test of anyone’s skill and reaction as a driver.

As the pot holes were much deeper and more frequent than experienced to date (on the edge of a vertical mountain-side drop!). In fact, they were now approx 40 per 10metre stretch of road – it’s similar to some kind of endurance puzzle that you have to weave through just to get down the mountain! This stage took about 3 hours to cover because of the intensity and slow speeds involved, and saw 4 cars lose their sumps completely and the mechanics had to work overtime. Sadly one car had its sump replaced and became mobile again, but because they had to collect another 2 passengers and their baggage (who had lost their sump too) they caught another big pot hole and broke another.

Losing a sump means that the oil leaks from your engine (usually at an alarming rate) and until empty and then if still driven the engine will seize completely. Imagine losing your car up a mountain in a foreign country.

We also saw one car go off into a steep and deep ditch which looked quite scary. To make matters worse the co-driver was bitten by two leaches. We stopped en-route for a fluid level adjustment later and headed off into the trees, only to come back with a leach of our own which was quickly ejected!

Eventually, we made it close to our destination in the dark, but once again the directions were incorrect – so wishing that the organisers would give us a map as it’s pretty tough to navigate at night on a mountain side with inaccurate directions. The funny thing is that it has become clear that they don’t have a map either which is nothing short of irresponsible, and something to be picked up on our return with the other health and safety issues. Again, we have been lucky with our car, but many of the others have been running on bald tyres and without seat belts since day one.

It appears that everyone got lost because of the directions, but eventually managed to make it to the jungle camp by asking directions. Great to meet the huge spiders that chose to share our room! They were huge! Still at least we weren’t in the room with the scorpions which weren’t discovered until the morning!