We all emerged bleary eyed into the cold, dark morning, to be greeted by the sound of a highly tuned 2 stroke bike screaming around at high speed. It turned out that a motocross event was taking place next to the hotel, and one competitor was taking the opportunity of some practice - he had been there from 1.30am, and was going to continue till 6.30! We got to the bikes, donned our protective clothing - in my case a Davida Clasic helmet and Aviator goggles supplied by Davida, Giali denim jacket and jeans, and Altberg Hogg boots. I soon turned from chilly to sweaty as I struggled to start the bike, but it eventually fired up and we all rode off in strict group order.

We happened to stop outside a Technical College, and spent a fun half hour talking to the students about who we were and what we were doing. Our reception was nothing short of wonderful everywhere we went! Barney and I made good progress on the next section, And after about 80 km we started to climb into the hills. The switchback mountain roads tended to be the best maintained roads we found, and the Enfields proved quite nimble, the heavy rubber pegs decking out with ease.

We arrived in the next town to find the leading 2 groups waiting at a filling station which was closed due to it being a State public holiday. They moved on, and we waited for our group to catch up. It was becoming clear that the groups were not going to work!

He got it going again ( all the Indians I met had the knack of starting the bike first kick, a skill I never mastered) and it got me a few km before stopping again. Despite the best efforts of a group of kids to get me bump stared, we were stuck until Barney and I swapped batteries. Luckily his charging system was in good order, and this got us through the rest of the day.

At the next town a fuel stop was punctuated by a huge crowd if kids, who the proprietor chase away with a big stick. Unfortunately one of our number left his gloves ion his saddle and they had also disappeared when he returned to his bike.

After a brief lunch stop where we enjoyed traditional Southern Indian food- a masala dosa, and a sambar with coconut rice - we set off for the last section of the day. We would cover 280 km in around 12 hours on this first day of riding, and that was pretty much riding constantly as quickly as was safe. A few km from the lunch stop Barney lost his right footpeg - he had decked it so often it had unscrewed itself! The last 40km involved an incredible climb then descent through the Western Ghats - about 8000 feet high at this point. The switchback roads put the Alpine roads to shame, and we all had a wonderful time, except for one poor soul whose throttle jammed open, causing him to hit a wall head on. His forks were twisted, his headlamp smashed and his knee badly bruised and grazed. One of the leaders swapped bikes with him and limped the wreckage home. This kind of making do would become a regular occurrence. We eventually arrived in Kodiakanal just before dark, though the stragglers didn't make it until 9.30, 3 hours later - one unfortunate took a wrong turn and covered 120km more than the rest of us, arriving on the dregs of his reserve tank!

We were greeted by a holiday "resort" where we slept 6 to a 4 berth chalet, enjoyed a beer and a good meal followed by fire-eaters, snake charmers and traditional dancers. Into bed at midnight exhausted to think on to the next day's ride