Overland to London - Crossing the Narayani River

 On my last Overland in March 1982, with Mr Sid in the Ford coach PBA, we were told in Pokhara that our normal route south to Bhairahawa via Tansen had been cut by a number of landslips and we would have to take an alternative route. This meant back-tracking towards Kathmandu as far as Mugling, then taking the newly-constructed highway to Narayanghat on the Narayani River.
At Narayanghat a new bridge was being constructed over the Narayani River as part of the new Mahendra Highway project and we would have to cross the river by a local man-powered ferry. This basic ferry was made up of two open deck boats with a section of heavy 'wooden' highway holding the two boats together. Motive power was by a couple of large oars and a rudder. 

Mr Sid and I watched a local bus being loaded and Sid formed his plan of attack - not that we had much choice. We watched the ferry depart and noted the landing point on the opposite bank, which was almost directly opposite us. 

The ferry returned and it was our turn. Sid knew that he would have to use all his driving skills to place our 'over-sized' coach, which  had a longer wheel-base that the local vehicles, exactly on the boards on the two boats to keep the equilibrium. We both scientifically measured the length of our coach and the wooden platform by pacing the length of each - probably with different results. "Right,' said Sid, 'let's do it!'  An Indian stood in front of the coach beckoning Sid forward but Sid didn't trust him and asked me to squat down and make sure the wheels were placed on the thickest boards and to stop him when the front wheels were close to the gunwale of the left boat. We reckoned that the coach would, then, more or less, be evenly balanced - and so it proved!

 Sid made sure the coach was parked effectively - brake on, in gear -  on the ferry, got out and we both  hoped for the best. I went back to where the passengers were watching and made arrangements for them to cross the river on a separate passenger ferry. 

 

With Sid now sitting in the bow, the ferry cast off, with the oarsmen keeping the vehicle and its unwieldy charge, reasonably close to the right bank, letting the counter-current take the ferry up-stream. 

I, along with the passengers watched as the counter-current took the ferry further and further up-stream.. Did those turkeys know what they were doing?!!

Just as we were fully expecting to see PBA slip beneath the waters of the Narayani River in imitation of the Titanic and the passengers were checking to see if their travel insurance included losing their luggage in a 'sinking at sea' in the middle of Nepal, the ferry reached the main stream, changed direction and began picking up speed. We could see the crew struggling with their oars and the rudder, and their were sighs of relief when we saw the ferry stop exactly at the landing opposite us. The ferry crew knew exactly what they were doing. 

Now in a more cheerful frame of mind, the passengers and I climbed onto the passenger ferry to join Sid who was now looking happily relaxed  and we were on our way to Bhairahawa, and a chicken curry dinner.

Text & photographs ©Neil Rawlins 

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My paperbacks and ebooks on my Overland travels in Asia, Europe & Africa in the early 1970s and the experiences of a tour guide on the Asian Overland routes & leading Camel Safaris in Rajasthan in the 1980s are available from Amazon.