Positivity abound after a good nights sleep (the 5.30am wake up call from the mosque next door being the only blip) we found ourselves on relatively good roads with a bit of a deadline to meet up with Tuk Norris for a night on a houseboat.. Alapuzha is actually 60km past the finish line, but we decided that as we were being pretty negative about the whole roads/trucks/buses bit that we'd have to give them as much chance to redeem themselves as possible. So after a relatively trouble free trip (roof racks snapped again – same ordeal, only this time Shad had to actually hold them together while we dodged the now notorious trucks and busses for 20 min attempting to track down another Health and Safety fanatic - starting to think we've been a little top heavy all along now..), we ended up getting to the backwaters before Tuk Norris who were having a bit of a mare of their own.. As it turns out last night at about 10km from the finish line, amid much backslapping and revelry, their little old lady point blank refused to go any further. After various attempts to restart/push/kick the old heap, they were ably assisted by 6 local gentlemen to lift her off the road onto the pavement so as to investigate further. On assessment she was cold and apprehensive, but only once her back left had been removed was the scale of the damage revealed.. Tuk Norris had somehow managed to completely shear the wheel shaft (mechanics/engineers please feel free to correct my terminology) rendering any further progress impossible until the next day. So as it stands, every tuk coming over the bridge into the finish line will see their pink pack horse up on 2 wheels, abandoned and desperately in need of attention..
After settling in we waited over a couple of cold ones for their arrival. Once they arrived and regaled us with their previous night’s tale, we set off on the house bout for a well deserved rest!
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