(Daniel) Ok, so judging by the last few days, we are in for some good luck right?  You’d think so wouldn’t you!  But that’s not how Pakistan works.  Just when you think that everything that could go wrong has, and that you have sorted it all out again, accepted your fate and are on the way,  that’s when it’s got you in it’s grip again, ready for another whooping!

We woke up late this morning, well, late by our terms, at about 8.15, the Levies guys were all up and about, and they were very helpful with hot water ready for us to wash, and tea served up for us in the Mess.  We thanked them for their hospitality, and gave the officer a gift of the remains of our Earl Grey tea and one of the thermos flasks which we had, so that he could have tea whilst on patrol!  Then we hit the road and headed out into the unknown again.  Pretty soon the road surface ended and we were on gravel and dirt again.  Lorries picked their way across the corrugated surface which shook the Wolf as we drove.  I would have gone faster except for the trailer which we still did not have much confidence in since the axle breaking.  So we just shook our way across 120kms of bad tracks.

Along the way we stopped in a small town for breakfast, a crowd gathered again, and we were ushered into a back room so as to eat in comfort, as we ate a group of men watched us.  Here in Pakistan they ted to eat with bread instead of utensils, and as amateurs we probably made quite a show of ourselves, luckily we had got some practice with the Levies the night before.  When we finished we got back in the truck to leave.  The men asked us, infact almost begged us to stay, telling us that they would keep us safe, and look after our every need.  If was a heart warming invitation, but we had to push on.

After a few hours more, the road surface returned, and we cheered as I was able to accelerate up to 100km/h again.  We soon came to a small town where the police stopped us at a checkpoint just before the mountains.  This was the Punjab border, and they asked us to wait while they radioed ahead that we were coming.  While we waited I tried to fix the trailer brakes again which keep working themselves on the rough roads.  A caravan of camels was in town, and just before we were given permission to go, they pulled out, which made quite a sight.  The officials let us go then, and we headed up into the mountains. 

The roads here were bad again, and the trailer took a few potholes quite badly as we climbed to the top.  We had just got over the crest when disaster struck, as it does quite a lot lately.  The axle broke again, the wheel came off, again, the brakes sprayed all over the road, again, and we were stuck again!

I looked at Rowan and Gabbs, who didn’t seem at all surprised.  They just settled in for a wait as a policeman arrived and told us that he would go and fetch a mechanic.  After about 20 minutes a mechanic arrived on a bike, has asked if I had tools and then told us that we should be back on the road in around 2-3 hours.  We settled down and waited for him to disassemble the suspension, and remove the axle.  Then he drove off with the axle and returned an hour later to refit it.  As he was fitting the axle the sun was starting to go down, and we discussed our options.  Basically we would wait for another poiliceman to offer that we stay in his station, and then press on again in the morning.  When the mechanic had finished we paid him, £5! Thanked everyone, and carried on down the mountain, even slower, as we were even less confident!

The sun went down as we entered the most amazing mountain roads that I have ever seen, sheer drops, winding hairpins and amazing views.  If only we hadn’t been limping along in near darkness this would have been one of the most beautiful sections of the journey.  We drove for about 45 minutes and eventually were stopped by the police at the station marking the other end of the mountain road.  They made us fill out the ledger, and then started to repeat the words, “police spy.”  Here we go again, I thought!  But they were actually insisting that an officer accompany us to the main station down the road.  We took him with us, and pressed on, arriving at a very large police station about 30 minutes later.

Many police came to meet us, and asked where we were going.  To which we replied DG Khan.  “This is DGKhan province,” they said, “but you are not allowed to stay in DG Khan, visitors are not allowed here without a permit for… Various reasons.”  We asked if we could stay there, but they explained that because of this ruling we could not stay anywhere in DG Khan, and that we would have to drive all the way to Multan another 3-4 hours on from here, in the dark.  I couldn’t believe it, another 3-4 hours in darkness, with a road repaired trailer!  This was crazy, but there was no telling them.  They explained that we would also have to be escorted the entire way, and that they had implemented their Diplomatic protocol for us.  We got back in the truck and drove with a two car police escort sirens blazing to the edge of town, there anther vehicle picked us up and continued the escort.  We drove all the way to Multan, with at least 6 cars, and a good 30 policemen involved in the escort alone.  When we arrived in Multan, the last escort car did not pull off, instead the officer got out and walked to the window.  “Which hotel!?”  He shouted, very angry sounding, I hesitated, he grabbed the book from Rowan and tried to read it, then he came back to the window, and said, “At 1 o’clock we get request for escort, we have been waiting here in the road for 10 hours, 10 hours!!”  Then it dawned on us, the radio call that the men had made at 12pm was to arrange this escort, and all of these cars had been waiting for us while we were broken down in the mountains, although why he had been waiting here all this time I had no idea!  We tried to be apologetic, but I was not feeling in the best of moods myself and so had to bite my tongue, to stop myself screaming back that we were only doing this because of the meddling police!

Anyway, they drove us into town, and we found a hotel.  Once inside we ordered food and watched a movie before going to sleep.

Distance driven 490kms

(Nick) I spoke to Daniel again today, fortunately, the mobile phone networks in Pakistan are quite good. The trailer axle, which was already weakened from its last break, snapped again after only 300kms. The roads, by Pakistani highway standards are like potholed vehicle killers by our standards.

Daniel managed to get a mechanic in the middle of no-where to repair the axle by welding it, but the roads are so bad, and will only get worse as the journey goes on. As the axle itself is only a 50mm square beam of steel, a replacement shouldn't be hard to come by in Lahore.

The people in Pakistan are incredibly accommodating, and are very willing to help someone who is in a tricky situation.

The team will press on to Lahore tomorrow, hopefully the weld will hold out, and the roads might improve.

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