I arose at 5 to find that the promised overnight repairs had not materialised and my charging system was still not working. The mechanics soon found the problem however, and it was announced that the group system was being abandoned in favour of having leaders regularly spaced, allowing the riders to choose their own pace. The approach to the hotel was a very steep twisty driveway, ad having chosen to go with the second set of riders away in order to get fuel I found my bike gutless in the extreme and unable to make I t up the slope. Left behind by the group, Barney and I coasted back to the hotel for repairs. I was ashamed to find the problem was partly mine; the bike has a "neutral finder" lever which should automatically go from 2nd, 3rd or 4th gear into neutral. Mine wasn't working properly and I was trying to pull up this steep hill in third! Boy did I feel stupid! We eventually set off with the final group, which included Tamara Beckwith and the "beautiful people" as we had dubbed them. Our leader was Bobby Lillywhite, an older Indian who was an Enfield expert but not the best rider in the world, as we discovered when he dropped his bike in a simple slow U-turn! He held the speed down for the first section, another very high climb and descent, which in parts had a 2000 foot drop open to one side! We were happy to take it easy here, but as we gained flatter ground we took off into the wild blue yonder.

We fishtailed up sandy country roads, waving at locals who had never seen anything like it! Some sections were rocky and for up to 300 yards the bike would buck and weave through the uneven terrain, but no-one came off as we were all used to it by now.

A highway section saw us arrive at the next stop, where all 150 of us slept on the floor in a big marquee . A bar down the road provided beer and amusement in the form of the inebriated owner. Because Kerala is a dry state you are allowed to drink but the beer must stay inside the "beer parlour" which is deemed to be not in the state! A Scottish rider, Bruce, provided entertainment in the form of bagpipes before we all hit the sack.