And home...Day 7 Mon 30th Oct Delhi - Chippers

Another lie-in until 7.30am. As being asleep is my favourite state of 'being' I've found the early starts and broken sleep patterns rather difficult and I'm looking forward to a lie-in in my own bed.

Colin found a dead mouse in his ruck sack last night - he really has attracted the wildlife this week, hasn't he?! He thinks it went in after his biscuits at Riskikesh and got stuck. It was a bit squashed by the time it got to Delhi. Colin is staying on a couple of nights in Delhi so I hope he steers clear of the dogs and the elephants!

We said 'good-bye' and 'thank you' to the mechanics last night and got lots of business cards in return. Here's the link to one of their businesses, Soni Motors, if you're in Delhi please rent a bike from them!

Matt accompanied us on the coach to the airport and on the way gave us genuine Royal Enfield tank badges as a souvenir - they're fantastic and a lovely thought, thanks Matt. We discussed whether we'd be allowed to take them on the 'plane or would the authorities try to confiscate them, to which I said, "They can prise it out of my cold dead hand - I earned this!". And I meant it...

And what of Mike? Well, we had hoped he would be able to fly out on the same 'plane as us but he'll be flying out on Wednesday or Thursday instead. The break in his shoulder didn't turn out to be quite as serious as it first looked on the X-rays, but still bad enough! We spoke to him on the mobile from the airport and he was still very chirpy and couldn't praise the hospital enough - fantastic food, hot and cold running nurses, about as far from an NHS hospital as it was possible to get really. He said it was like having a two-centre holiday! Thus, his status as 'Top Bloke' is secure.

The smog was worse today than yesterday - it's amazing how it's descended in the week that we were out of the city as it wasn't like this last Monday. It's settled in for the winter now - like the London pea-soupers it's caused by pollution from transport, plus burning wood and dried cow dung for heating and to cook on, as well as the ever-present dust. The visibility was so bad that the air traffic controllers were having to leave greater gaps between 'planes taking off and landing for safety reasons, so our 'plane was 2 hours late leaving. Which gave the chaps lots of time to watch the German girl in the killer stilettos and leather corset in the departure lounge...I kid you not...

At Heathrow we said goodbye to Iain and Neil who were catching connections to Scotland and Steve who was heading south. Nick was catching a bus just before us so we went for a cup of tea and a chat until his coach came. I can say with complete honesty that it was a pleasure to travel with them, we couldn't have asked for a better group. Neil did suggest doing an off-roading weekend sometime next year and I really do hope that we get together sometime.

We crawled into bed at midnight.

And now...

When we got up the next morning we rang Jon's Mum and Dad and invited ourselves over for lunch. After a week of veggie food we demanded fish and chips and lots of cups of strong brown tea! Which tasted wonderful.

When we emptied our rucksacks there was so much sand from the Ganges in our shoes that we've now got a little pile of sacred sand by the back door! Sadly, it's now a sort of dull grey rather than the pristine white of the beach at Shivpuri.

Jon came back with a stinking cold which required two days off work.

My bruises have gone down (but still not disappeared after 3 weeks!). But two weeks after we got back a huge painful lump appeared literally overnight where I'd hit my chest on the wing mirrors when I came off the bike. It's a haematoma, apparently, which should go down of its own accord. I also spent every night for a week dreaming about riding motorbikes in India - I think it was such an amazing experience that my poor little brain is struggling to process it.

We're still amazed that we did it. Going to India would be unusual enough for us but doing the bike ride as well is almost incomprehensible. Would we do anything different? Well, if we got the same itinery from the organisers, we'd choose (and pay extra) to fly out a day earlier and get a night's sleep in Delhi before going to Amritsar. That first 48 hours where we only had 5 and a half hours unbroken sleep before getting on the bikes was something that we both struggled to catch up with all week. But the organisation of the trip and Matt's leadership were faultless.

Ian's photos of the trip are now on the Global Adventure Challenges website (see the link on the right just below our photo album). The link to Global Adventure Challenges is on the right if you want to do your own charity trek - certainly Ian had done challenges with them before and has already booked to do future challenges with them (so that must be some sort of recommendation), and Steve went on this challenge after friends of his had done it last year and raved about it. But if you fancy more of a holiday, the company Matt works for in India Mountain Adventures organises biking holidays in various parts of India and a trip similar to ours takes 15 days (so that gives you some idea of the ground we covered in 7 days!)which should give more of a chance of sightseeing. I'll certainly be booking the 'Royal Treat' when Jon's numbers come up on Saturday!

So what next...

Well, it's going to take a while to pay off this trip (we worked out that this one trip cost us what we'd usually spend on holidays for 4 years! Not that we're tight or anything...) so it'll be camping in Cornwall for us next year!

But...anyone fancy husky driving in Lapland in 2008? Only Jon doesn't like dogs so I've got to find someone else to kick-start the mutts for me!

I think we might be up for an Earth Watch expedition - probably an archaeology dig. Or actually just a nice relaxing holiday somewhere...

I'll post an update on the amount we've raised when I've finished counting it! But I've posted off cheques worth over £600 already and with the £480 on the website that's already over £1000 and there's lots more on its way.