Day 8: Chandrapur to Karimnagar

Distance travelled today: 289km

Total distance travelled: 2,203km

Driving time: 10 hours

Repairing time: 3 hours

We set off from Chandrapur using only a compass to navigate with and found a road heading south. Fairly quickly, this turned into a dirt track and we headed down to a river. The road criss-crossed over the river on a raised mound of mud and we could see an Indian rickshaw ahead of us get stuck and need a push. Driving around this was like rallying (with the added excitement of potentially falling into the river). There was a steep hill climb on the other side of the river which Joe tackled with gusto.

The "road" then crossed a ploughed field before eventually turning back into some semblance of paving. We were all very impressed with how the rickshaws were holding up under the conditions - amazing little vehicles.

A car drove past us, turned round, drew up alongside the Chapati team and invited us all for tea in their village. So off we all went to sit in a house and answer questions about England. It was all very hospitable and they even gave us directions for the main road, which we duly found. Unfortunately we went 17km the wrong way down the road before realising and turning round. The whole area is mining country and very industrial - there are also not many women about so Amelia was particularly popular.

Finally on the right road and congratulating ourselves on how well we were doing when suddenly, our vehicle had a bit of a moment and refused to go into gear. Only the night before we had been reading messages from other rickshaw runners who had experienced all-night drives, crashes and multiple breakdowns and we thought how lucky and generally incident-free it had been for us. But not today.

Three blokes on a motorcycle stopped and offered advice about towing us before jump-starting the shaw. We made it another 7km to the village of Wankidi, where our vehicle finally gave up the ghost. At the village, a mechanic we found and he climbed almost completely into the engine to have a look. Meanwhile, the four of where attracting a huge crowd, which was entertaining but pretty suffocating. We have endured temperatures of around 45 degrees centigrade for the last week, made bearable by speedy driving in a doorless rickshaw. But really quite sweaty once we stop.

The mechanic dissected the engine four times over the next two and a half hours, trying to fix the problem and replacing various parts. Joe made friends with a guy with excellent English who helped us to communicate. We went for tea in his palatial house - our second bout of Indian hospitality in one morning.

Mark and Tom decided to relocate 1km out of town and the crowds were getting to much. We sent a message via repair shop owner on his motorbike to tell them to press on as things were not improving with our gears.

Not long afterwards, a heavily fortified rickshaw with semi-automatic weapons poking out the side drew up. Two moustachioed henchman approached Joe and summoned him to their vehicle, where a smartly dressed man cradling a handgun wanted to question him. He looked like a mafia don but apparently they were all policeman. They came back a second time to check that we were ok but they didn't look all that friendly.

The mechanic was a hero and managed to get the shaw going after a lot of hot and dirty work but with the proviso that it was a temporary fix and we would need to find a mechanic with the right parts in a town 70km away. The whole repair job cost five pounds. Incredible. Everyone was so friendly and helpful but it was a relief to leave as our complete lack of Hindi made conversation pretty tiring (lots of waving of arms and mime actions).

70km on and all the repair shops were shut because it was a Sunday. All the men we passed appeared to be drunk as well - two tried to convince us that they were mechanics but actually they just wanted a photograph (of Amelia). So we decided to press on to Karimnagar, another 70km, and hope the clutch and gears would hold out. We drove at speed, navigating through the many herds of cattle being led home tobed. It threatened to rain on several occasions but we haven't hit the monsoon yet.