Day 58 McLeod Ganj, Dharamshala

6:55 am. Spent the night in a town called Sihunta; plan was to stay in some sort of guest house. In reality we had to camp just outside the guest house in tents, on the concrete pavement. Apparently some sort of mess up (by the guest house) - when we got here the place was already full - despite Hot Rock having booked it up. Something along those lines anyhow. Anyway, at least I got to sleep somewhere flat for once, even if it was concrete.

Today, I hope, we get closer to Manali i.e. closer (but probably not reaching) some climbing. Rain has stopped, leaving a distinct dampness in the air.

1:35 pm. McLeod Ganj - as you can see we have failed to reach Manali, as predicted. Briefly, the truck is stuck in a paddy field, a result of front nearside wheel coming off the paved road, a perfectly good road by the way. Got out of the truck - it was clear in an instant that the only way out would be a vertical lift - and that would need a big crane. Given that there wasn't a big crane a few of us more sensible types wandered off to find some sort of breakfast, rather than fiddle about with an impossible task of trying to push several tons of scrap out of a rice paddy. A short way up the road and we indeed came across tea and omlettes - the latter so good we (Geoff, T and I) had two each.

Back at the truck - still stuck of course - we got what gear we could - not easy given the positioning of the vehicle: when I opened the side locker all my junk wanted to slide out into the field. T had real trouble getting at her stuff. Got a taxi to take us to McLeod Ganj. Now we are in the Green hotel at McLeod Ganj; further food: hot chocolate and coffee and walnut cake. McLeod Ganj, the upper part of Dharamshala is the residence of the Dalai Lama; Tibetan culture; backpacker hotels, gap year students and yoga. Light drizzle on and off.

7 pm. Green hotel reception area / restaurant. Plate of chips and a bottle of Pepsi. Chatting with the other renegades about how crap Hot Rock is...decided we need to get some control of this crazy trip; looks like we'll make our own way to Manali (and climbing). At this rate we are literally going nowhere.