The very top

Nearly at the top

Sunrise at Munnar

Knocking on heavens door

The ride up the mountains from Udipi was great, all the way to Madikere, twisting and turning, cool climate - coffee bushes, rubber trees, cocoa trees and pepper vines everywhere ---- and --- Joes bike didnt shed any bits or breakdown, hooray! Instead it was mine, the trusty silver machine that let us down. It wasnt bad tho, just the chain guard snapping off. This was on a bad section of road that had us leaping around all over the place.We reached Madikere early [no major problems today] so we carried on to Sera, at Kushalnagar which is a huge Tibetan refugee colony. This has been going for a lot of years now and they are farming successfully, and have small carpet factories, incence factories etc. They also have really good guest houses and lots of temples, we have been going there for 15 years, for a chill out and re-charge of the mental batteries. When we arrived we were told that it would be impossible to stay wihout a special permit [this doesnt cost anything but you have to get it in advance and it takes 3 months]Everyone was very sorry but the local cheif of police is giving all the Tibetans loads of grief. You arent even aallowed to visit the area, let alone stay.Obviosly we didnt want to get anyone into trouble so we left, down hearted and angry. Its only jealousy which has broughtbthis about, the Tibetans are very good at whatever they do, and being very genuine and kindhearted people, love to share their life and culture with anyone who is interested. We have encontered lots of institutional racism in India but this is without doubt the worst.Native Indians , dont have to have a permit of course.
So we have to stay in a shitty overpriced lodge in town-- these guys really know how to shoot themselves in the foot, - if you could stay with the Tibetans, you would be staying longer and contributing more to the local economy. Now everyone will only stay one night and get pissed off and leave-- a great case of short-termism.
Up and off the next morning [early - no one slept very well!] and onto Mysore. The road was good and bad. The whole road was terrible last year and theyve made great improvements. Unfortunately the new bits are falling apart before the rest is done! We did get some great video of the 3 bikes abreast with no other traffic- great stuff.
Reached Mysore by 11am, booked into our hotel, showered and went to the Ritz for lunch. Joe arrived with silver Bob, and Edd, Julie Moll turned up as well - ahh a good day.
Spent a few days overeating oh yes I got busted for no crash helmet and got fined 100 rupees. The cops were real friendly and Joe photographed the cops and me, holding up my fine papers!
Joe decided to leave us at this point, we are going south into the bigger mountains and he doesnt have any confidence at all in the bike - and we cant blame him. So we arrange to get the bike on a train most of the way back. This goes all wrong at the last minute, and we decide to accompany Joe back to the coast, where , if he breaks down again he can stick it on a truck heading north. The ride back was wonderfull, covering distance in record time and enjoying a great twisty moutain section as well. We said our farewells at Moodabidri, Joe heading for Gokarn, and us for Calicut. We didnt make it , but the road we took was stunning- - no traffic and twisting up and down the mountains for 60km- over the border into Kerala wihout noticing except for the roads got even better!
We then reached the coast road and it all jammed up. Loads of mad Keralan bus drivers forcing us off the road. Hence we only made it as far as Kannur. Struck lucky and found a beautifull old Raj house turned into an hotel--real pukka stuff this! We went down to check out the beach at sunset and found a full - on trance party starting up! It must have been for the full moon. Didnt stay long but we did meet the present incumbent of Beaver castle in Leicestershire--never know who youre going to bump into out here !
Now having an overnight stop inMamalpuram before heading up them mountains again, yeah-- bring it on!!
Will try to upload some photos when we settle.

A comedy of errors

Well, all got it together really early , to beat the heat --- and got 400yards when the twistgrip [accellerator] on Joes bike [my black bike] fell apart. I rode round to the Enfield dealer with said part to find it wasnt standard - a cheap copy part had been fitted yet again!! He had one anyway as he keeps any old parts that are still ok. I returned to fit it and one of the screws which hold it on had lost its head- so I went to get another one this one was about 5mm too long so we then had to hacksaw it down to size. All this done we got aboard the bikes and set off --alot hotter than expected. We got another 200 yards when the head gasket went! We couldnt believe it! The air was blue. Joe and I pushed the bloody wreck to the enfield garage where the mechanic [who is great by the way] told us it would be done by 4 in the afternoon.
So its back to the hotels that we"d just checked out of. We told them that it was so good here we didnt want to leave. A few beers later and we went to pick up the bike, and as we went for a test drive we noticed petrol leaking from the tank, straight onto the hot exhaust pipe.Removed the tank, which we had just filled up in the morning, drained it and found that it had been bodged with putty. Off it goes to the engineering works to be soldered. An hour later and we are ready to go again ---jeez this bike will be the ruin of us all! The repair bill for the head work and the soldering etc was only a fiver!
Leaving next morning, none of us had any confidence in the black bike at all, but we had to press on. I told Joe if it was going to give us any more problems we would push it over a cliff and he could continue on the back of Martin.

Escape from Goa

Well after one month on a beach we are finally on the road again! We had a great time for Helens birthday and new year was a stonker-- in every way.The bike went in for repair in the new year, it took a week and then I tried to sell it -I put up fliers and parked the bike in prominent position with a big sign on it but no joy.Joes bike is now in for repair[ the bikes we bought were utter crap and we have had to spend a lot of money getting them sorted -- a common complaint amongst bulletwalla bike owners --5out of 5 owners have the same story !!!!!!!] Anyway, Joe is now riding my black bike and we are on our silver one. Joe will get his bike back in a month - with a huge bill.
We are also joined by our old mate Martin.Presently we are in Udipi, on the coast of Karnataka, tomorrow we head inland to Moodabidri, where we might get to see some buffalo racing - they really shift when they want to !
We spent today bolting things back onto the black bike -it sheds parts like an oak tree sheds leaves in autumn.Its now running o.k. again and looks complete.We head for Kerala in the long term, for some good mountain roads, bringing fun and games to the adventure, we only have a month to do this in [and return] so the bikes had better behave themselves. The border crossing out of Goa was a breeze - we were expecting trouble as the pigs are becoming even more greedy than usual but we rode straight thru - but they did realise that 3 victims got thru when they werent paying attention.I apologise for the underscoring, but the keyboard has a mind of its own.

Hampi to Goa

Im sitting at a very sticky keyboad at the moment - so I dont know if I shall have the patience to continue. We left Hampi on the 26th Dec after an excellent christmas day. We got up and went down to the bazzar for a lassi, then wandered off to climb Matunga hill. Weve tried to get up 3 times before but woosed out when we reached the summit. You have to walk across a curved rock with a really steep drop to the side. Well I made it this time, Helen decided it was still too much and stoppped nearly at the top.
We left early in the cool and headed west. The road was good then bad - the usual thing but we made good progress, with nothing untoward happening with the bikes. Stopping at Dharwad for the night as we werent really sure which road to take next, The road west - the most direct and shortest was reported to be in really really bad condition, whereas the road south was reported to be in better condition, but much longer - and with a horrible border crossing - the notoriosly corrupt Goa police taking money off every foriegner who dares to enter their state and spend money! We went for the bad road - after all we had been on bad roads before. THIS ONE WAS THE WORST OF ALL. First gear a lot of the way, getting covered in red powdered rock dust, spitting grit and cussing a alot. The road is made bad by Tata steel trucks carting iron ore. Considering the money they make out of the steel youd think they would put in a road!
Down the mountains and into Goa - no problems at this border - they dont expect anyone to come this way. I noticed a huge buddha statue in the jungle on the way in, this is new and we are going to return to investigate soon. When we were here 17 years ago there was an article in the local news about a major archaelogical discovery in the mountains with evidence of a buddhist settlement with caves water tanks, irrigation etc. We havnt heard a thing since- so it needs further study.
We arrived at our usual guest house and relaxed we"d made it !! 2478 km. We were filthy, my bike was not running very well - a broken valve spring.
Helens birthday - on the 30th was celebrated in style, with lots of friends joining us. We all went out to dinner -14 of us in total, it was a great surprise to Hels [ and to me!!] Joe put on an amazing firework display, dinner was excellent, followed by a lovely chocolate cake and cocktails, to the accompanyment of the Arabian sea. We were really surprised by the singing firework birthday candle, and the table firework which nearly blew or heads off.
Lots of terrorist scares here at the moment - dont know whether to take them seriously or not, but they are making life a nuisance, the police stopping motorcyclists to check identity papers[yeah right] email monitoring, registering at internt cafes etc.
We now have to sell our Delhi bike so we have the money to continue travelling on our old bike, which is still running beautifully. Amazingly the Goan authorities have discovered a new way to wring money out of travellers - you have to have a new yellow nunber plate a nd pay yearly taxes to keep your bike here. Well yesterday, I went to see the assistant director of road traffic, South Goa to find out what to do, In my case I dont require this new plate, but the police dont know this and all I have to do is convince the pigs of this everytime they stop me -- yeah right!!!
Im going to see how this goes- but as you can probably tell, its pissing me off already!
I shall try and get some new photos up presently -- the beach is great, sea warm etc!