Monkey Magic

7th March - Muzaffarnagar to Amroha - Distance 128km - Descent 20m - Average speed 22.25km/hr - Current Position 28,55N 78,20E

Early morning sun and monkeys running on the adjacent roof tops greeted the cyclists. A hearty (?!) breakfast of cornflakes and white bread had to fuel the cyclists for their 130km day to Amroha. Not knowing what to expect of the route ahead, and sometimes expecting the worst, meant that today was a very pleasant surprise and was one of the most beautiful days of the trip so far.

One of the most striking things about India is how colourful the country is, and how green the landscape is - this is in total contrast to some of the countries we have already travelled through. The monkeys on the first leg wetted the appetites of the camera happy team, and suddenly camels were yesterday's news (at last!). The first 70km passed in a blur, as the team maintained a healthy yet enjoyable pace with almost all back to full health. Pauline has warned both Nic and Jamie that tomorrow she will be back upto speed and hot on their heels. Can't really see the speed happy boys losing sleep over that can you?! Other notable events were Ro getting a puncture which was mended in record time, Dom somehow getting lost on a straight road with the team ahead of him and Dickie preparing a mouth watering fresh fruit salad which the team devoured in minutes. Then came more monkeys which to me were the highlight of the day. To see monkeys running around in their natural habitat, and not behind bars in a zoo is wonderful viewing. This is how they should be, and watching them leap from tree to tree with all the freedom in the world is an excellent sight.

Lunch was under the baking midday sun, watched by a crowd of around 100 whilst Sarah set up the video camera for some video diaries. Don't think camcorders have reached these parts yet, but there was a budding actor in the crowd who clearly wants to be in EverestMax The Movie, since he outtalked Pauline – first time on this trip that this has happened and probably the last.

The final stretches into Amroha were on the dustiest roads in India, with the team trying to hold the racing line on the roads against the local traffic. Easier said than done and there is a rumour that Sarah may have left her bike (also termed a fall) after finding the edge of the road too tough to hold against a tractor, whilst Jamie cruised on, no hands on handle bars. Don't worry Dr and Mrs Lyle, Nic and Dom will talk her through the art of safe landings from falls, and maybe even help her make them more stylish ready for the next occurance. Our last drink stop brought about record crowds as over 150 people gathered round us and just stared at us whilst we drank our fizzy pop. I think there is a definite novel factor about the EverestMax team. Maybe these people realise they are witnessing a historic team of cyclists and are just lost for words! Then again…. Home for the night is a hotel in Amroha which is hosting a wedding reception. Not too sure if we are 100% welcome since the boys have been given a room with over 200 mosquitos flying around. Could be a fun night…..

One last point to raise is how the girls have yet again stolen the Pringles from the snack box despite the boys specifically going to the van to get them. Is there no justice in this world? This is how many wars have been started and I see only one winner. Sarah – give in now and you may reach Base Camp in one piece. You have been warned….

Posted by Nic

Crowded out!

6th March – Saharanpur to Muzaffarnagar – Distance 78km - Ascent - Average speed 15km/hr - Current Position

Bike repairs this morning meant we were on the road by 10:30am. It was a relief to leave what can only be described as the noisiest town in the world and enter a more rural India. People were busy farming every inch of land available and only stopped to stare as a group of western cyclists flew past on their bikes. Nic and Dickie were on a dung hunt today, trying to find the ultimate dung pile to photograph. The people here collect cattle dung, shape it into a dung chapatti, and pile it up by the side of the road in small towers ready for burning.

The relaxing and peaceful cycling didn't last long today, as the road, once a shiny flat surface, gradually turned into a stony, dusty, boneshaker of a track. This slowed are progress and 40km down the line we stopped in Deoband, a dusty village where they use tractors to spray the streets with water to keep the dust down. We were dragged into a café by a small boy who turned out to be the owners son, and Dickie soon got to work with ordering lunch. Curried eggs, seriously spicy Bombay potatoes, hundreds of flies and a circle of staring locals. After our mouths were sufficiently on fire, we paid up and got on our way. Dom, finding the dust spraying trucks particularly annoying, chose to ride out of town as quickly as possible but was held up by a small traffic jam. About 6 trucks were trying to get through the same small gap, but fortunately left a little space for Nic and I to skillfully nip through, making the truck drivers eat our dust for a change!

The road still remained bad and this inevitably led to yet more punctures for Dickie and Sarah. We were instantly surrounded. Children and Adults emerged from everywhere and stood as close as they could, desperate to get a front row view of us fixing the bikes. Luckily Pauline managed to thin the crowds out a bit by telling a joke and Ro thought better about filming the occasion from the top of the van when Dom urgently told her that there were some electricity cables about 6 inches from her head.

The next stretch saw us cycling past monkeys leaping from tree to tree, more dung piles and more potholes. We cycled into Muzaffarnagar at about 4:30pm and eventually found somewhere to stay. A cheap and cheerful hotel but lets just say that I'm very glad I packed my mosquito net!

Posted by Jamie

Dom in the dust

5th March - Ambala to Saharlwha - distance 118km - ascent 15m - av speed 24.1km/hr - current position

The landscape today remained much as it has been for the past 4 days; urban sprawl mixed with green wheat, sugar cane and oil seed rape fields across a flat plain punctuated with colourful women working the fields. We turned east off the main route into Delhi hoping for a slower, quieter road. This was perhaps wishful thinking on our parts, the buses go just as quickly and honk just as loudly as they dodge the bikes, pedestrians, cars, cattle-drawn carts, tuk-tuks and tractors towing ridiculously large loads. It all feels faster too as the roads have lost their hard shoulder and got narrower. Lovely.

It started an uneventful day, Nic, Dom and I had early punctures but they were swiftly mended. However, 30km in we stopped for a fresh juice in a road side café. Dom was so keen for the orange nectar that he forgot all about the cleats attaching his feet to his pedals and found himself sprawled in a pile of dust feeling rather embarrassed. Playful banter then developed between Jamie and Pauline, it all got a bit feisty and ended up with Pauline and Jamie splayed on the floor having broken the café's plastic chair. Oops. Dom had a teacher face on! The dynamic duo paired up again later as a local fellow rode off on Pauline's bike. Jamie started up the man's motor bike, a chilli red Honda Hero, and rode into the distance (slowly!).

Nic, usually a red blur blasting into the distance, was taking in the view today. He used three punctures as excuses to have a rest and such was his lethargy at lunchtime, the owner of the café brought out a bed! Ahh. Ro, feeling better, had a whole day on the bike today and hit her first 100km in one day. Congratulations! She ended the day with a big smile having been told at least five times that she was “beautiful, beautiful, sexy, sexy” by passing men on motorbikes. The support team share a bike so Dickie had a mini adventure in the van. He kept himself amused with shopping for such necessities as loo roll, and trying to keep tabs on the cricket throughout the day.

As for myself, I have made some truly stupid comments today, the best of which being “The Sydney to Hobart race? Where does that go to then?”. The only reason I mention it is that it saves Jamie a sentence tomorrow!

Posted by Sarah

England On Top

4th March - Ambala - distance 115km - ascent 30m - av speed 28km/hr - current position 3020N 7650E

The enforced late start due to the hotel staff having to go to the fields, pick the tea, milk the cows, mill the flour, make the bread, light the fire and make the toast, made us opt for longer legs to make up time before lunch. Ro who had made extensive calls on the great white telephone during the wee small hours opted to rest for the day to help my training programme.

The road was flat, straight and to be honest rather dull for the whole day. The only excitement coming when we pass through towns and villages when the traffic becomes horrendous and cars, bicycles, lorries and pedestrians converge from all angles. It is great fun but very noisy as every Indian driver seems to have a horn fetish. Noise pollution is not a concern as they merrily honk their horns every few seconds. This is a trend that I hoped to see the back of when we left Pakistan but no. The Indians who hate to be outdone by their neighbours have taken horn blowing to a new level and even write invitations for you to blow your horn on the back of every lorry and bus. I may need councelling by the Kathmandu as I am told the Nepalese are just as bad. If only they could learn to use mirrors indicators and brakes.

Progress however was swift which allowed time for some good pit stops. The finest of these was our first, which was by a hotel with the test match showing in one of the rooms. As fortune has it Sarah only noticed the puncture in her tyre as we were about to leave so Nic, Jamie and I scurried off to catch an extra few overs. 60 for 0 a steady start. My puncture was much less fortuitous happening by the roadside but Pauline was close at hand and Dom cycled back to make sure we didn't waste much time.

Our next leg saw Nic set a frantic pace so we could catch the players as they came out after lunch. To our disgust they were showing the South Africa vs Australia highlights from yesterday and despite my protestations would not change channel. The only option was crack on. Our next leg was due to be a 20km stint but such was the pace and focus that Sarah, Pauline and myself drove straight past the van eventually being flagged down by Ro 13km later outside a hotel. After a little negotiation they opened up a room for us to catch the last 12 overs. With signs that Cook might make a century the only option was to stop for the night and the boy did us proud. I'm sure that tomorrow we will employ similar tactics to try and witness an England victory. Good luck boys.

Posted by Dickie

Bye bye "Martha", hello "Marigold"

3rd March - Amaritsa - distance 126km - av speed 22km/hr - current position 3100N 7550E

At eight o'clock this morning a van pulled up outside our hotel... A large, white van with flowers stuck on her backside, patterns painted on her mud guards and some truely awful decoration inside - brown, swirly carpet on the ceiling with tassles and curtains to match! She is to be our bus for the next two weeks. I feel she ought to be called Marigold but the boys will shoot ANYONE who tries to name ANYTHING ELSE on this trip, so that will be just between ourselves and I shall call her "The New Bus" instead.

After a breakfast of honey toast and sweet lassies the cyclists set off for Phillaur and Dickie and I went back to the border to transfer all our junk..urm.. equipment from Martha into The New Bus. This took a while - after eleven weeks on the road we have a system organised that's finally working, and now we start again!! On the way there we had most of the seats taken out and a contract written up to agree how far, how much and how many drivers. Yes, we have a driver. He told us his name and in true British style we have all forgotten! But he is charming, speaks a little English and seems to be very helpful. We think he plans to sleep in the van every night and promises to be more interesting than our last few occupants.

The landscape is still incridebly flat. Long avenues of trees with white painted trunks line the roads. The fields are full of people harvesting by hand, loading their produce into carts, wagons, rickshaws and bicycles. Basically any form of transport that they can find, even on their heads. Most are massivly overloaded. The towns, villages and countryside are beginning to blur into one as small holdings and roadside stalls cover every mile and oxen, stray dogs and donkeys live by the side of the road in the towns. The dogs seem to have the hardest time - too many dogs and puppies seem to become victims to the traffic.

The best change is the availiability of cold drinks. The coke and fanta shacks all have electricity and therefore fridges. It seems obvious but we have been drinking warm water for weeks. Without the van for support the cyclists took the day twenty kilometers at a time, stopping for cold coke and dahl.

The bus made us feel at home straight away by immediately having a flat tyre. Our driver fixed it and has already sorted out a new spare (see.. very helpful). We finally met the cyclists at six o'clock and had a hot shower (very random these days) and an excellent curry and cold beer... slightly too many for Pauline.

Posted by Ro

New Man - New Van

2nd March - Amaritsa - distance 0km

Today was a rest day. This was great for the four of us who made the most of being able to have a beer and no escort until early hours of this morning. Going around the Golden Temple (one of the most stunning temples in India) with Dickie, Jamie and Nic at 1am in the morning should have probably been a spiritual experience. However, when I saw them all wearing a variety of pink, orange and yellow head scarves they looked more like they were in a Hansel and Gretal look alike competition - Jamie won.

Duties of the day were delegated and it fell to Dickie and I to find a substitute van. We set off, saw the size and shape of a van we liked in a street and it happened to have 'tourism' written on the front. It was locked and nobody seemed to know who owned it. Dickie suggested I stood on the roof and shouted for the information we needed to a crowded street. It worked. This lead to a chain of events lasting under two hours that means we now have a new van and a new man to come with us across India. Sorted!

Sarah has tirelessly sorted out the the array of things that needed tweaking on the web. Dom is king of administration as the climbing phase draws nearer. Ro is queen of shopping and got a few 'must haves'. Jamie has been keeping us updated on the cricket and Nic is filling in the gaps with computers and more van research. All in all we have kept ourselves busy and have all managed to slip in a visit to the Golden Temple or The Changing of the Border Guards.

Amritsa is busy, colourful, friendly and with the occasional pleasant aroma. It is like walking back in time when going around the smaller side streets with horses and bicycle rickshaws vying for space. The Sikh community are adding a whole new colour scheme with their turbans. Pink is very in this winter, as is orange.

Hoping to be off in the morning and on our way......

Posted by Pauline

India and the van gets it

1st March - Lahore to Amaritsa - distance 58km - ascent 12m - av speed 25km/hr - current position

Dickie and Ro left Lahore promptly for the Wagah border this morning while the cyclists enjoyed a bit of a lie in and a leisurely breakfast. Nic, the only one with appetite still intact did us all proud at the breakfast bar of cakes and omelettes. Even Jamie, the ‘king' of buffet technique was looking a little off colour. The staff were amazed at our ability though to consume gallons of freshly squeezed orange juice. Our last Pakistani escort helped us negotiate the mad city traffic for the short 30km leg to the border with India. The route out through Lahore took us alongside a wide canal lined with beech trees. All remnants of the colonial days before partition but now steadily falling into disrepair. We stopped to watch oxen enjoying a dip in the canal and being carried along in the swift current. The only border crossing between the two countries unsurprisingly comes with a bizaare level of officialdom. Getting out of Pakistan was easy and the short ride across no-mans land took us past hundreds of colour coded porters. Indians in blue pass their loads across to Pakistani in red and green in an incredibly ordered process. Little traffic passes across this border such is the nature of relations between the two countries. We hoped our van would be an exception but it was not to be. Indian customs simply refused entry to the vehicle despite Dickie and Ro's best protestations. The custom official's polite statement that as of tomorrow it would be officially ‘junk' was pretty much the final straw! It now seems that we will have to hire another vehicle to get us through India, although this should only take us about two weeks and then we are within a few days of Kathmandu anyway. We've had our moneys worth out of the van but it is a big loss nevertheless. We would love to have donated it to one of our sponsored charities in Nepal at the end of the expedition but it's not to be.

We left Dickie and Ro to enjoy the bizarre ritual of closing the border while we made our way into Amritsar another 30km away alongside Graham, a Canadian cyclist. He has been touring for the last three months in Nepal, Pakistan and India and it was interesting to swap experiences with the only other cyclist we have met on our route. Pauline and Sarah were enjoying the new experience of cycling in short sleeves. The boys remained at some distance to avoid the glare from their white arms! For the first time on our trip we are in a non-Muslim country, which means tonight we can also sample a beer. We are now in a pleasant guesthouse just round the corner from the Golden Temple complex. Amritsar is at the heart of the Sikh religion and tomorrow we'll enjoy a well earned rest day and take in the sites.

Posted by Dom