Segou proved to be a haven in africa set on the side of the Niger it had quiet tranquillity good food increadabe Malian music, even a cheap streetside eatery run by one lovely smilling malian who even did a 3 coarse plat de jour and wait for it turned the telly to english league football on my secound trip to segou i watched man u v blackburn something i would never do in the uk Man u won of coarse.
someone gave me a sticker of drogber for the bike who does he play for.
Geordie moved on after 2 days to go to mopti and get a boat to tomboctou(I dont swim so wasnt getting on any rickerty boat Tomboctou or not) and then bus back to mopti and bike then a mad dash to europe and canada , I was sorry to see him go ben had already left in Bamako for Ghana he was then going to ship the bike back.
I was now on my own i decided i would head north for the world famous Dogon County and duly set of after 100 miles i realised i had missed a small junction and was in fact heading south for Bobo in Bukini Faso oh well, go with the flow so to speak 200 miles later and one very very lonely breakdown that i fixed , Yes I fixed it Tim, no AA, no ring Tim just a shepard boy helping,clever archie god i felt bloody on my own Nearest town about 80 miles away and very little, like non traffick going by
I hit Bobo just as a tropical storm exploded not being able to get a street map out in the rain i shot into the first hotel i saw. It was the most expensive 60 yes 60 euros a night and they even gave me the shits next day after an expensive feekin meal
I was forced to stay a 2nd night as being away from the toilet was not possable i the moved to a cheap backpacker hotel for a day there being no other guests i headed for; wait for it Quagadougou pronounced wag a do gou what a name better than derby eh oh by the way what was Bobo like Ok i headed back there after Quaga
People may wonder what west africa is like well in the northern part its savanna mile after mile the same A few days ago i took a pic of the road and surroundings the same after another 50 and so on for300 miles lookin at the pics later you would have thought they were a mile of each other
You pass thru small very very poor villages and every 100 miles or so a small town that looks like a rubbish tip I must say the people are always very friendly.
On a bike you often feel and are on your own Other bikers ive met all feel the same we all dread puntures on tubbed tyres
THE COSTS
Pretty high really petrol about same as uk cheap tatty hotel about 15 euros meals food about same im currently more than double over budget.
Female company what female company you sit on your own every night contemplating your navel by the way theres some cracking lookin birds, all on their rubbish chinese mopeds they get them for about 350 quid new there crap and no spares but the two look nice together
After realising ghana for cost reason was out and being rolled over by to bent cops i headed back for bobo
Here i met an Aussie couple Zander andTam on an africa Twin both members of XRV.org of which im a member they tried to persuade me to come back to waga and beyond with them but as they were shipping on from ghana it would mean a long lonesome return on the same roads , no i had made my mind up i was heading for Senegal and the Gambia (english speaking) and then the worst corrupt border in the world The rosso northern senegal exit to mauritania
Am i still enjoying it well you have super days and bad days but its an experience not to be missed and a thousand stories but as a one finger typist its hard work
Next blog fro the Gambia i hope The bike going well Well it is a HONDA and its dosent have metal panniers a must for riding in england Bah what crap You dont see BM riders down here its to far for them and their bike might get dirty (hope i dont meet a BM riding here if im in need