Well, after a very leisurely breakfast with a couple of other teams, we headed off on the final stint in Dolly to our destination Pondicherry, a mere 98km south of Mamallapuram. It was a really weird feeling that, after almost 3,000km (which would have been more, had we not encountered so many problems) this was... it! We took it very slowly leaving Mamallapuram, I barely went over 40kph and really was savouring those last few kilometres driving. Dolly did us proud, on her last proper day with us - she behaved impeccably, though we did our part and kept pretty rigidly to a 40kpm speed limit, and had a couple of breaks along the way. We arrived in Pondichery mid afternoon, as a political rally was drawing to a close which just added to the chaos on the roads. It was a pretty weird feeling pulling up to a guest house for the last time. It has been such an utterly unique experience, every day I had to keep pinching myself to check I wasn't dreaming. I know how lucky I have been to take part - and come through it unscathed. The same cannot be said for all the other teams. One did roll on that first day - and that was sufficient to have them returning to Britain immediately afterwards, despite being relatively unharmed. Another team, who we saw for the first time shortly after we arrived, really had been in the wars. Apparently, in Kolkata, one of the team's cousin, who they had just met up with, asked if he could drive, and within about two minutes, promptly rolled their rickshaw, with the three team members inside. It was only then that they learned he had never driven before. That incident happened fairly early on, and their wounds were still seeping adn they were clearly still in some pain - full credit to them for carrying on. One team managed to drive around 5,200km, via Varanasi, Agra (and the Taj Mahal), Goa, the southern tip and Madurai - and still had time to get a piston replaced. Another team was made up of just one person, a German woman, who drove around 4,500km in total. That's seriously crazy! In fact, there were even a couple of teams that didn't quite make it Pondicherry under their own steam, they were either towed by other teams or given a ride on a tow truck. That makes me even more impressed that Dolly got us all that distance with only a few hiccups.... It was great to finally see other teams, hear all about the routes they had taken, what they got up to on the road - a few beers were consumed that night as we all caught up on each other's adventures. Early next morning, we got in Dolly for the last time, to take her up to the compound where she will await her next incarnation. I think she knew her fate because although she started up fine, she didn't feel like her usual self, it felt like she was straining to drive, so I was slightly concerned that she might grind to a halt during the ride in convoy up to the pound. I liked the symmetry of it all - we started our adventure with Dolly as part of a convoy leaving Kathmandu, and here she was again, with several other rickshaws hurtling through Pondicherry trying to keep up with the somewhat manic pace of the lead driver (a local). Sounds ridiculous, but I think we were all a little sad to be saying bye to our rickshaws. Once the farewells were over, we piled into rickshaw taxis, no longer trail blazing Rickshaw Runners, now just regular tourists, for the ride back to town. Had the day to ourselves, before the Party in the evening. Most teams had made it for the event, so there were many tales shared while we were entertained by traditional dances and music at the luxurious Dune resort. It really was a fantastic way of rounding off the Rickshaw Run.