Day 9: Karimnagar to Nagarjuna Sagar Dam

Distance Travelled: 341km
Total Distance Travelled: 2,544km
Driving Time: 11 hours
Repairing Time: 1 hour

With our temporary fix still holding we headed from Karimnagar to Warangal in search of a bona fide rickshaw mechanic. We were bitterly disappointed, despite row-upon-row of motorcycle mechanics there was not a rickshaw mechanic to be found. Amelia worked her charms on a friendly petrol station owner who sent out some of his employees to find a mechanic. Once located the mechanic took the rickshawout for a spin and delared "No problems".

So off we set in pursuit of Mark and Tom in their rickshaw - never managing to meet them but criss-crossing routes and passing each other at petrol stations. As we neared our destination it appeared that few people had heard of the town we were asking for - so when one person on a taxi-rickshaw declared he was going there we nabbed him as our passenger. Amelia managed to hold conversation with our nervous passenger (who was clinging on to the sides with white knuckles) - a civil engineer working on the dam - whilst he pointed us in the right direction.

With Joe driving, we spotted a 5km to go sign on the road and were mentally preparing for a wash and nice meal when the engine began to sound particularly bad and the clutch gave way completely. We laboured on - avoiding changing gears in the hope that we would be able to make it to our destination - but eventually we ground to a halt.

We were barely stopped for a minute when we had drawn a crowd of 3 local rickshaw drivers who helped us out and got us going again trying to keep in 3rd gear and work our way to the local mechanic -- again guided by our passenger, who was turning out to be a real hero. The smiling mechanic managed to fix our clutch in 10 mins, refuse payment and then sent us on our way.

So 2 breakdowns in as many days but still on the road and still heading South.