Frederick Turner
Endurance tuktuk rally through India
Fundraising for Vasculitis UK
Story
Dear Reader,
Here is a wee bit about the challenge that is about to begin.
Three of us are going to try fit into a little tuktuk, Pony power of 7, and top speed of 16kph.... Room to carry one set of clothes, and then ram spare parts in the space left over in our bags... Will be staying in nice places? I have just bought a £9.99 tent from the black Friday deals in my local Argos - so YES! We Aim to travel a mere 4,000km route snaking through the deepest depths of India from the jungle and exciting rivers to the centre of the comfortably populated... New Dehli.
Having done some calculations we think it will take us about 250 hours, however that is at max speed.. And we aim to have the job done within 3 weeks. The rough idea as it stands is we shall be driving anywhere between 8 and 11 hours/day. Last time i was over their we came to the assumption that all the roads are basically large pavements - you can go any direction at any speed with any object/item/vehicle, be it cows in the middle of the motorway, driving along side cranes, or having very close shaves with busses driving down the wrong side of dual carriageways with no lights on in the dark!
And here is why we are doing this challenge.
The reason for our doing is two support two charities; one called Cool Earth which works heavily in India in many areas we will be visiting and they have a mission of bringing tropical deforestation to a halt which could perhaps cause the biggest difference in our whole lives. Tropical deforestation plays a leading role in climate change in numerous ways which you may read about here: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/deforestation/ . Rainforest trees are also vital to the worlds water cycle... No water means no whiskey and also means a grumpy Ivor.
The second Charity is attached closely to the heart of one of our prestigious team and is called Vasculitis.
Vasculitis is a group of disorders that destroy blood vessels by inflammation. Both arteries and veins are affected. My eldest brother (Jack) has a very uncommon called Henoch-Schonlein purpura (HSP) for nearly 10 years and it has turned his life upside down. It caused him to have Kidney failure. He has been on dialysis for a huge amount of time and it dominates his life, this means he can’t just go away for the weekend. This charity helps those who this group of disorders effects so they can live a more normal life as you and I would.
Huge appreciation for any form of support, and thank you for taking some time to read our brief mission. That's enough for now, we will send a tracking link out soon for all of you kind donators who wish to watch us succeed nice a safely and we shall be uploading little status'/ Photos / Check in's / whateveryouwanttocallit!
One more big thank you,
Freddie, Ivor, Matt