Day 3 in Indialand – a nice cup of tea in Darjeeling?

Well our first night at altitude – Mirik is around 6000 ft – saw me have what can only be described as a rotten night's sleep. Couldn't sleep? No I bally couldn't. And do you know why?

Because of the canine flippin' symphony being played constantly from 9 pm right through to 4 in the morning. Dog's barking the whole night long – only stopping their blazin' racket when the damn sun came up.

So now you know why there are so many dogs sleeping in the roads all the way through Indialand – they're all knackered because they've been up barking all night.

Anyway we're up this morning at 4 o'clock to see the sunrise and get back on board our charabanc to take a trip to Darjeeling. The journey is around 25 miles – which means a 2 hour bus journey starting at 5 am!

To try and counter the effects of altitude we're given Dimox tablets. That's fine - other than they were just white tablets and very similar to all the other medication I would subsequently need – but nobody warned me of the side effects. Within an hour of taking my first tablet I started getting pins and needles in my arms and legs – and, bizarrely, in my chest too. The sensation was similar to somebody boiling my blood.. It affected other people in different ways – the Half Share complained of swollen lips – but that could have come from the gin – and the MOS complained of being light headed. So no side effects there then.

The 5 am bus leaves bang on time – well bang on Himalayan time and we pull out of the Lodge at 6.40. The journey is through some pretty countryside, including more tea plantations and we begin the long climb into the mountains. In the distance we can see the peaks of Indialand's highest mountains – the impressive Mount Kanchenjunga is over 28,000 ft and the third highest mountain in the world. That's higher than the South Downs.

The road to Darjeeling is the border between Indialand and another country called Nipall and throughout the journey we pass checkpoints, armed soldiers and other nice men with guns. Himalaya Charlie makes it abundantly clear that we are not to set foot on the Nipallese side of the border.

So that's laid down a challenge then.

Darjeeling was an interesting place and it was full of those Gherkin people. They seemed really happy to see me and I made lots of new friends at the railway station when I dropped my wallet. I bought tea and curry for 26 whoopees – a bargain! We then boarded a steam train - oh how my fellow passengers enjoyed my steam train noises and impression of Casey Jones. I think I might have made some real friends on this trip already.

When we got off the train we visited a monastery - which was full of cheeky little monkeys - the zoo and the Himalayan Mountain Museum before stopping for a bite to eat. No curry today – we had a Chinese instead. Not sure that my comment “I could murder a Chinese” translated very well and my hosts don't speak to me much after that.

Our 3 pm return journey left bang on time at 4.15 and we began the long drive back to Mirik. The 25 miles fly past in no time in two and a half hours. Now, if the journey here was scary, it was nothing on the return – for which we had the added attraction of darkness and thick cloud cover to contend with.

We arrive home, grab a quick curry, take our Malaria, Dimox and other sundry pills and I'm tucked up in bed with a decent whisky by 8 o'clock.

Tomorrow I'm due to star in the start ceremony for the Himalaya 100 Mile Stage Race – and with a 4 am start I'll need my beauty sleep.

I'll be bringing you news of my first day in the event tomorrow – including news of a real-life near-death experience for your man here. No kidding Ronnettes – I was inches away from becoming a posthumous legend.

Tell you tomorrow.

Keep on tapering

Ron