Day 59 McLeod Ganj

5:55 am. Green hotel. I have a cold. Not a bad one (at the moment at least), hopefully it'll get better. Anyway, the plan is to get a taxi back to the truck, thence on to Manali. Geoff and T have organised this originally, and the plan has been adopted by Duncan et al. It's obvious (at least to me) that this is the best solution. Apparently a crane was obtained yesterday - but it was too small, and then another crane, also too small. To me you need a 20 tonne crane - in part because the truck is stuck in the mud. Also the road the thing is on is like a minor road back in the UK, so I'd imagine access would be difficult for a big enough crane.

10:15 am. En route to the hill town of Manali, in the Himalayan mountains of Himachal Pradesh province. Sat in the back of a 4 x 4 jeep like vehicle. We went via the truck to recover our stuff. Pulled out most of my important stuff - well at least all the climbing stuff. A bit short on the warm clothing front. Breakfast stop at Davnt Restaurant in Tharu Paprola; omlette and coffee - very black.

3:16 pm and just had lunch at a roadside place about 50 or 60 km short of Manali. The rock hereabouts looks better - I can see some nice climable slabs for example. But travelling in the back of the jeep thing it's difficult to see much. Particularly since we go so fast. Weather seems better too - we have left behind the mist and rain in the Tibet-esque parts. Plan is to get to either the Mountaineering Council or perhaps just a climbing shop in Manali. Rumors of a hotel near a crag. No further news about the truck. Just seen my first elephant (Indian I assume); lot of monkeys.

10:20 pm. Latest news: arrived Manali (1900 metres); Lianna has arrived. As usual, T sorted out an awesome hotel, a completely brand new non-skanky hotel. Good job T did this before the B group led by Lianna arrived! Eating in a tiny eating place - pretty much just a room with long table and chairs; the food seems to be cooked someplace on the opposite side of Manali's high street and the service is really quite slow, but food really quite good. I am having rice and garlic. Much discussion about Hot Rock - especially ways to avoid getting lost (e.g. maps). My suggestion of hiring a local man on a moped to lead the way was met from Lianna with "the problem with that is that we'd have to leave on time", the logic of which I do not follow. Anyhow the truck is still stuck; latest efforts are to include the Indian army - hope they blow the thing up.