First job the next morning was a reconnaissance. Lars and I took the Land Rover further up the valley. The track got narrower and more precipitous. We came across an overhanging tree that would need felling to get Baloo past. Then we turned right into a very rough track, a streambed really, threading its way through some close packed buildings before it went steeply up the hillside above. Passable by donkey and, with care, a Land Rover. No good for a 20t 6×6 at all. We returned to the others and set about reversing all the tricky bits that we had brought Baloo up the day before.
It all went quite well. For a start, we knew that it was possible. Secondly, our road building efforts were still in place. Lars was in charge. I was driver and had to do exactly what I was told. Inge and Diane were navvies and also looked after the cameras. The morning was not without some delicate moments. Watching the rear wheels through the mirrors, I occasionally saw rocks falling out of the side of the track. The last but one squeeze, past a concrete wall on a narrow track, seemed to have become smaller. Took a couple of shunts and some very delicate manoeuvring.
At last, we could relax. We got back to the main track just in time for a late lunch. Nothing damaged, nothing broken, no big dramas. We all felt pleased with ourselves. Lars and Inge were keen to find out just where the track went and decided to go back in the Land Rover. We waved them goodbye and set off for the wide, open and mostly empty desert hills to the south of Tata.
A day later, we came across a well. It was actually marked on my map so we figured there was a good chance of clean water. We have a small electric pump that we can lower down wells. The water was five or six metres down. Getting the pump into position takes a bit of care. It hangs on a rope but also has a hosepipe and power cable attached. Need to make sure the rope takes all the weight and also that we do not lower the pump too far and risk disturbing the mud or whatever is right at the bottom of the well. Once everything is in place and the rope securely tied off I can plug the pump in. There is quite a good flow rate. We can fill a tank in less than ten minutes. The hose connects to a large particle filter. This is mostly just to stop fish or frogs that might be having a swim. One day I hope to add a filter to purify the water but for now, we just have to hope that it is clean enough.
We did not camp by the well but went off down a track for a few hundred metres. There is virtually no traffic on the road but we still prefer to get well away from it. While I had been messing with the well and the pump, Diane had been getting on with the washing. By which I mean she had been running the washing machine. I rigged up a line and twenty minutes after we hung them out, the sheets were dry.
