Day 4 - Rickshaw Rally - Thanjavur - Madurai

Day 4 and our little convoy has a long way to go - just over 200km.

MS T-shirts today plus the nuclear pants

  We are 3 km from the start when the Bumbling Bees have a problem - their clutch has gone.

Tiger to the rescue - clutch replacement in less than 30 minutes

Maybe, but John says it doesn't appear to work with women

Roadside cashew nuts - unfortunately the other teams have been through before us and the price has rocketed

Indian road etiquette demands constant horn, but otherwise there don't appear to be any restrictions on what and where you can park.  Stopping in the middle of the road is positively encouraged.

Bumbling Bees nip past

Other rickshaw drivers like to put us to the test

We're flagged down by a passing TV crew and asked to do some soundbites for a New Year show - we've no idea whether or not we made it to air but we gave it our best shot - 'GR TV - Super TV'

Now we're on the telly - GR TV - Super TV

Fort in the middle of nowhere - described by locals as mountain stronghold

We came across this fort in the middle of nowhere and stopped for a quick look.  The locals were somewhat surprised by our appearance as we stepped out from the rickshaws.

In the shadow of the mountain stronghold

Filling up - we make frequent stops to fill up the thirsty 7l tank

The last 26km into Madurai is on the equivalent of the M1 - our slow speed rickshaws spin in the backdraft of the trucks and buses that tear past us.  Our rickshaw is the thirstiest of our group and at times we get no more than 80km on a tank.  We're getting expert at buying the oil and petrol mix.

We make Madurai by the appointed time.  We did however have a small cheat - Phil asked a guy for directions and the chap jumped in and drove team 3 to the hotel - Bees and ourselves had to pursuit drive through the rush hour traffic dodging buses and scattering bikes so as not to lose him!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE or as they say in Tamil Nadu புத்தாண்டு

- and a day off for us tomorrow.