gravel travel

An early start to commence a long arduous day. 451 kms.

It turned out to be so.

We had to backtrack from the resort to the main road along a broken road that consisted of river stones interspersed with bumps and potholes. We woke at 5 to allow time for breakfast and to get the car ready. It was to take 45 mins back to the main road.

Early morning and the dust was still moist and it lay low.

Once underway it looked as though it would be an easy run but in a short while the road deteriorated and the trucks cars and people increased. Straight roads to start with, then onto the hills with long winding roads into the hills. And so it continued. On and on. The roads got worse, potholed tarmac with the edges hard and sharp. It tore at the tires and shook the car and it’s occupants severely. It’s not that you can just slow down. There is a time check to meet with loss of points if late. Denise didn’t complain though you could feel the pain. It was just atrocious.

On we rode through these conditions. Hot and dry then wet.

Dusk came early and we were expecting to come in at 17.35 hrs. We just couldn’t make it. There is 60 mins grace with 30 mins without penalty. We got in without the penalty.

Boy we were whacked. Dust covered dry and just stuffed. It’s not a straight 451 km ride. It’s endurance coupled with wit and quick thinking. Looking always for the best way through the road maze and ensuring that we were always on track. Mentally and physically exhausting.

There was no time to take photos as we sped though the winding roads and villages looking always to ensure we didn’t miss a turn.

That’s our intro to Nepal.

We are looking forward to seeing what we really came for.

To Bardia Park, the route instructions said that after a short stint of hairpin bends, that the road would be straight for 500kms.

They were true to their word. Except, that surface would not be flat!

There were few photos to be taken as the scenes were the same wherever we went. Lots of agriculture and hard working people working the land. Hardly photographic material. Miles of it. Townships interspersed were bustling and the traffic chaos the same.

Then into the immigration office at the India border. 500 meters from the Nepal border.

Immigration office and Nepal Border

Passport stamping and recording then another office for the carnage de passage to allow the car to exit-and to enter the respective countries. What a mess in respect of the office and the surrounding areas. Could be the worst place that you’ve ever visited. Rubbish, dust and heat. We had to endure some two hours going through the officialdom.

Bah!

Then onward over the straights of Nepal. Much better roads through lush countryside. Tropical. Not what I had ever thought.

The people look slightly different and the attitude much better. Lots of smiles and waves. Not something you can take a photo of whilst travelling.

But the driving? Not the same , likely worse.

A number of our team had altercations with other vehicles. Bumps, dents , broken mirrors and doors an fenders damaged.

Our hotel was at a place called Tiger resort in Bardia. Late dusty and hot. Really cheap and simple. Hard beds and cold water. The only saving grace, aircon.

At Tiger Resort.

Dinner. guess?

Early to bed then, don’t remember.

 

It’s the last night in India before we cross the border into Nepal.

Both of us had a good nights sleep.

Breakfast was very basic. The rally began at 9.00am. Too late in my view, but for some who celebrated cheerfully into the evening it was probably a godsend. The hotel is a dry pub so knowingly some members stocked up at a previous location and consumed their booty at this place. They drank with great gusto, more than if it had been available. So they became very happy very quickly. Warm beer? Yuk.

We had no intention of drinking especially because we were tired from the concentration of driving but also that the next day required the same diligence. It’s too dangerous in our view to get onto the roads with a distorted mindset.

Anyway we got underway on a better road surface but a boring route. There was no time for looking out of the window with interval driving instruction almost every 1 to 2 kms. Couldn’t/didn’t take any photos. Besides there being not much to look at or see.

The first regulatory of the day was cancelled and the instructions to get to our accommodation was flawed so we received new route guidance.

We got to the hotel absolutely stuffed. We drive like crazy (not stupidly) only to be told that the time for getting in had been extended by 30 minutes. Even this was only just enough for us to get in before time.

Stressful and draining!

When we get to the hotel our room is some distance away and about down 110 steps. Doesn’t sound much but boy, after a hard day?

 

The travel today was 160kms.

So because it was a short ride (yeah right) we commenced the journey @ ten o’clock.

We had difficulty getting to the accommodation last night i.e. we got lost, but we found the digs a little disappointing but the food was good..

It was said the night before that the roads would be better today, but they tell lies. It was again a terribly rough road for most of the way.

A regularity section was first up with two speed changes. It’s difficult as the roads are public roads and not closed and changing speeds is in itself difficult to monitor.

We got in early by twelve seconds, too fast.

Good ride though.

Then on to the end of that section and took the roughest road they could find.

Still we headed onward and made the trip more interesting by pushing the limits and driving like they do. The horn if used often and for long periods did the trick of moving the traffic, play hardball and front up to these crazy drivers.

It was an enjoyable ride and Denise purred along not complaining at all. She bounced and jumped all over but reacted positively to driver demands.

Scenes of the Ganges and surrounds.

Rough, but we passed everyone on the roads including the rally teams, buses and trucks.

We were first in at the hotel. So we got a park right outside the door.

Dog tired. Concentration is paramount to a successful drive. Covered in dust and buggered.

Some photos of “the boys” on the Himalayan Challenge.

Steve gave the car a once over but all was well with her. We sat in the lobby for a while before heading to the room for a very welcome hot shower and clean up. Yesterday’s hotel had no hot water and was disappointing for room cleanliness.

This one was a lot better for cleanliness but old-fashioned. The TV for instance is one of those cathode ray tubes. But there is wifi.

Dinner tonight is accompanied by a “command performance”.

As it turned out many participant brought beer whiskey and gin with them. It’s a pub with no grog on this region so no drinks for us.

Early to bed and we’ll be fresh for a good start.

Again a seven o’clock in the morning. A clear blue sky so a sunny day for driving.

Views from our hotel at Mussoorie

Steve had Denise ready to leave and we retraced our route from the day before then up into the sky. We travelled up and up. The roads began to show greater deterioration.

The route went up for hours until the summit. The villages popped up on the way with their colourful shop fronts and the dogs, goats and cows.

I don’t know how they make a living but it must be said that these people who do work, work very hard. They physically break rocks with large sledge hammers, mix concrete and place rocks onto huge walls in gabion baskets. They are not inhibited by health and safety, nor the bureaucracy we find in NZ.

The roads that they build don’t have resource consents etc for the large roading projects.

The workers live along the sides of the roads where they camp with their families and their animals.

The views from the roadsides can be spectacular. Stunning.

Shots from the road and… the kings of the road.

As we headed through the back roads, chosen for the sights to be seen, the roads just got nearly impassable. Rough roads for 35 kms. The cars were being demolished.

Cows and how they still transport stones by Human Resources.

Before the last TC, time controls, we encountered a car accident involving Lars and Annette, having demolished a small 4-door car. Lars was hurt and shocked as was Annette. They were taken to hospital but they are well. They will head home tomorrow. The car must have been badly damaged too. We feel for them. It could have been anyone of us hitting a car cutting a corner. All cars in India do this. It was a matter of time. We wish them a speedy recovery.

Some hydro lake shots in the back of nowhere.

Onwards over more rough roads to our hotel. This hotel is situated on the Ganges River. The home for people of the Hindu faith.

We have not had a look around as it was getting dark when we arrived. I guess this is where they build pyres on the riverside and burn their dead, then dispose of the ashes in the river.

Some interesting construction and the labour camps along the road.

It has been a really tiring day for all of us.

Alcohol is not permitted here so it has been a dry argument.

The rooms are somewhat sub standard, with cold showers and unclean facilities. It’s for one night, so……

After a quick bite in the hotel restaurant, very nice too, we’re back in the pit.

Our start tomorrow is at 10.00. So a little more time to get some recovery.

 

Our morning began at 7.00. So up at 5.00 to prepare and breakfast then on the way at the allocated time, 7.13am.

The travel today had been changed due to a big rockfall on the original route.
This added 40kms to the overall mileage for the day. There were no regularities and we only stopped at the passage controls.

The road was relatively good on returning over the same route as led us to Shimla.
It was Sunday so most people were out and about. The driving was worse today than we had seen it before. They the Indians just don’t seem to care or they are just fearless. Some play chicken. They don’t move over until the very last moment or just stop.

It’s serious. Buses are the speedsters. And truck drivers it’s said that 70% are 18 years or under. The roads are so narrow and the road edge so close to the precipitous edge that the car can only move over to a certain degree. Buses are the worse. And trucks. We met one boisterous one who didn’t move just stayed stationary. We nearly squeezed past without damage but the drivers wing mirror was to be sacrificed. It’s a good telltale as if it was any closer Denise’s bodywork would have been damaged.

The landscape on the way was spectacular. Swathes of mountains covered in lush forest untouched probably never been trodden. Steep but fantastic.

On the land grew all sorts of pine species. Mexican pine, that’s what I know it as and lots of cedar and macracarpa. But no timber industry it seems and the hills are lush with beautiful stands of trees scattered over the hills and dales.

It’s difficult to take photographs en-route and one dares not stop or passing the vehicles in front has to occur again. Roads are very narrow though sealed albeit very roughly, by hand. It’s interesting to see these people are very industrious doing most building by hand.  Very little modem equipment. Holes for posts are dug by hand as is the concrete that’s put into them is mixed on the ground where it’s needed. White lines on the roads mean absolutely nothing.

We also need to get in to the MTC in time so we can’t waste any opportunity.

So the day went well after getting onto the straights. Steve powered his way through to a real great pace. He’s driving like the locals. It’s the only way for if you don’t play the game their way, you get left behind.

We got to the MTC at the hotel fourth to arrive. So our speed and persistence got us through.

A nice hotel set in a great setting. A nice room and a shower to cool us and wash the dust off.

A quick beer and then a meal. Bed. Dead to the world.

You will have noticed that we have skipped a few days from the last report to catch up with the original schedule prior to the flooding disruption.

Today we had to revert to the original plan and transfer from the Oberoi hotel to the Wildflower Hall hotel both in Shimla. This is the hotel we would have stayed in on the original stopover.

So to fill the day the organisation made a plan to do a rally around the Shimla region in time to check into our new accommodation at about 3.00 pm.

Two regularity’s were scheduled and a time control along with a lunch at a Palace, in the middle of nowhere The regularities were again a dismal failure for us.

28 and 32 seconds out. It’s the regularities that make or lose points. We have just not got the knack or the navigator just hasn’t a clue! It’s happened on past rally’s and it’s the telltale to success or failure.

We determined that the GPS on the Monit trumpeters were inaccurate. At 14 kms the variation was Round 400 meters.

The Monits should have been mechanical as all the other competitors have. That is the most accurate way of doing regularities. Apparently the trees and building were upsetting the impulses from the satellites.

We made a great trip with all sorts of conditions, sunshine, rain and hail. Big hail.

Fog too.

We got to our hotel in the rain at around 3.40 but the pressure was all on. At the bottom of the drive into the venue, which was very steep, Denise struggled in pouring rain, to get traction. A car in front found it steep too and stalled causing us to stop. We couldn’t continue. It was piddling down.

We had to turn back in pouring rain to the bottom and get a run up. We got there, without assistance.

So all is good. Checked onto the hotel, again dog tired. But on time without point loss.

Went to the room to stow our gear and opened the window for some fresh air, and in a flash a couple of monkeys got in and pinched an apple and a banana. Quick as a flash! They must have been watching the windows to see which was opening. Cheeky monkeys!

Tomorrow is another lay day.

Sunday brings us back to the original schedule. So day nine then gets us back up.

The results so far is that for today we ranked 24. Overall to date we’re at 22 and in our class we lie 3rd.

Can’t be too pleased about this but is the regularities that makes or breaks the points.

 

Some of the local architecture

 

 

Apropos my communique yesterday, the order of the day was to go to a new hotel on the other side of the river, called the Sterling.

All of the rally members checked in there so as to have all of the participants together.

We were sorry to leave the castle ( The Himalayan) but it’s a team thing so all in together.

We whiled the day away, taking a taxi into the Manali township to an eating place called  Johnson’s burgers. Great western style restaurant with food alike. Open courtyard and the sun was out.

We walked, a group of seven of us around the bustling township. Shops were selling all sorts of cheap ware, ice creams, souvenirs, food and the like.

We all took a Tuk Tuk back to the hotel late on the afternoon and readied for dinner at Seven. Tuk Tuk’s are a hard ride, but cheap.

Steve had “crashed” and didn’t attend dinner but an announcement was made to advise that we were to leave the hotel for Shamli at 5.00 am on the next morning.

Great news but Steve was unaware so had to rouse him to let him know.

As most of you would relate to, when woken it’s hard to get back into slumber, knowing that you needed to wake at 4. Generally sleep is light.

Everybody was up and ready to go at around 4.30am rearing to get underway before the locals got on the road.

We were to travel in convoy and not let any locals come between the cars.

Tall order.

The local drivers are so persistent when passing they don’t care where or how they pass. Oncoming traffic doesn’t worry them at all.

Once on the road all went well, though the road surface was just terrible. Slips of rocks all over the road and we ducked and dived to avoid damage to the cars. Some of these rocks were the size of busses.

The distance is 280 kms but it took us 10 hours of careful but hard driving.

Our convoy was police led so that we had good road access to a cable swing bridge that crossed the river that had damaged the bridges we had crossed the previous day. It was  about an hour south of Manali. About 30kms.

This swing bridge was apparently opened for traffic(cars) for our escape. All of the other bridges were closed. Some of them very substantial bridges.

Our cars were allowed across one at a time due to weight restrictions. The bridge was very narrow so car to ensure that accessories such as chrome strips were not removed. Some cars who didn’t take care did have strips missing on arrival on the other side. Of course the bridge did swing and it seemed unsteady. Good to get across in one piece.

One by one they gathered on the other side ready to trip down to Shimla. The lager and heavier cars were left to cross last. Not a comforting thought for them.

Denise’s navigator had omitted to uplift the route chart at the hotel. So no driving directions!!! How dumb!

Asked if he could take a photo of someone else’s instructions was the only way to get the instructions.

To begin with we got horribly lost on the wrong side of the river going south. Of course there were no bridges to allow us to cross they were all closed.

We had to innovate so as to find the way back and found a way across some 22 extra k’s.

Stress!!!!! Stress!!!

The day was not a competition day and the only formality was a Passage Control to ensure that every team was on course.

The navigator tried hard to follow the instructions from the photos taken of the route guide. Most difficult on a small screen, that didn’t stay live for long and disappeared at a moments notice when desperately needed. Very hard work indeed though we didn’t get lost.

The trek through the mountains was not helped by the fact that many of the roads, tracks, were not were they were supposed to be and the main road disappeared from view as it melded in to look like a secondary road. Which one to take??

That’s rallying though. The roads were atrocious. We hammered our way through some interesting countryside though looking away from the road ahead could be lethal.

Car drivers here don’t care when they pass another. They go when they like and blind corners just don’t seem to bother them.

They think that you should move out of the way once they commence their driving manoeuvre.

It’s so stressful. Some of the rally teams cars had been damaged by passing cars but none seriously.

So on and on, over car and backbreaking roads we went. 280 k’s in 10 hours. Hard work and draining.

We got into Shimla, not quite last.

It didn’t matter from a competitive view so no points lost.

We are staying in the Oberoi hotel in Shimla.

A very nice pub in the middle of what seems nowhere.

So all in all a very exciting adventure albeit that it was a rough trip on both the car and our bodies.

A good nights rest and we’re good again.

It’s another rest day today so we can spend some time reassessing the car and having a look around. The area is famous for its narrow gauge railway and its “Tudorbethan” architecture.

There may be a rally planned for tomorrow around the local area, but due to the disruption from the rains a few days ago we will likely return to the planned rally on Saturday. Shimla to Mussoorie 269 kms. Apparently Avery arduous trip.

So long for now.