Starting point: Vadodara, Gujarat
Finishing point: Daman, Gujarat
Distance covered today: ~310km
Total distance covered: ~1060km
Number of breakdowns: 0 (touch wood)

Vadodara to Daman. On a motorway. There were many hairy moments. Mostly involving trucks trying to squish us, vehicles travelling toward us on the wrong side of the road and cars full of people who think it’s entirely normal to either pull alongside you or stop in front of you or try to flag you down in order to take a photo. Take a photo. On a motorway.

We skirted around Ahmedabad. On a motorway. We ate brown/beige food. On a motorway. We ate bananas and orange. On a motorway. We searched for suitable toilet break stops. It’s tough for girls on a motorway. It was motorway madness.

We ended the day in Daman, an Indian seaside resort a little like Skegness, only with an open sewer on the beach. But nothing could dampen our spirits at being by the sea in the warm sunshine. South India was so close we could almost smell it (if it hadn’t been for the overwhelming stench of fish). Only Mumbai stands in our way now. We’ll be attempting to navigate our way round tomorrow. On a motorway.

Phrases of the Day
There were many, all yelled from the rickshaw and all involving the excessive use of expletives (sorry parents).
Don’t pull out you f*^king idiot…don’t you even f*^king think about it…oh you f*^king did
Aaaaaaaa…you just cut me up you f*^king tool…idiot
Watch out for the lorries…they’re coming in….aaaaaaaaaaaaaa f*^k aaaaaaaaaaaa

Moment of the Day
We realised that we haven’t really mentioned the other teams on the Rickshaw Run. There are 78 in total from all around the world. To begin with we saw many rickshaws along the way, but now we’re all dispersed, we rarely pass 1 or 2 a day. Sometimes locals tell us that they saw a ‘shaw pass a few hours before. It’s always fun to come across another team. We sound the horn and smile and gurn. It’s comforting to know that we’re on course and we’re not alone out there.

The other Rickshaw Runners are drawn from every walk of life. But there’s a commonality in our craziness, so we’re never short on conversation. We don’t know all the individuals’ names, so we refer to them by their teams or nationalities: the Bananas; Team Jayden; the Norweigians; the Kiwis; the Canucks. I wonder what we’re known as…?

On a late afternoon pit stop on the motorway, a father and twin daughter team from the US came over the hill and pulled up behind us. Mike, Lauren and Brie. We had shared a hotel room together in Palanpur a few nights back. We convoyed into Daman, stayed in the same hotel, drank beer (in Gujarat, a dry state, you can drink alcohol by the sea apparently) and ate a Gujarati thali dinner together. It was lovely. Our memories from the Run will not only come from the sights we’ve seen or the locals we’ve encountered, but also the friendships we’ve made with fellow crazy Rickshaw Runners. We are all awesome.

Hero of the Day
Today this accolade goes to Mike the Dad. He gifted us a pepper spray (he had 3, one for each of his girls and a spare).
Mike: ‘If a man tries to grab you again, don’t hesitate, just spray. And make sure it’s pointing in the right direction.’

Some scenes from the motorway: