Riding down a river is a strange feeling.
Funnily enough it's only open during the dry season.Visit www.fowb.co.uk for more details on this and previous trips.
As I approached the Bolivian border post at Villazon I could see loads of people all over the place. My guide book had said that this was a major smuggling route tolerated by both governments and that I should just jump to the front of any queues.It was only on a second glance that I realised there were two rows of bicycles completely blocking the bridge. Between them lay a pile of ashes, presumably from a fire the night before. It looked like a meeting of French farmers.
What was going on?
They are easy to recognise.
They are always on the outskirts of town and always one storey buildings.
As you drive in every room has it's own parking slot directly in front of the room, like a motel. As soon as you drive in an attendant swiftly draws the curtain behind your car so no one else can see it. You can pay by the hour. The sheets are clean and the water is hot. They also had the smallest towels I have ever seen.
It was not a good sign.
The engine had become very noisy, very 'tappety'.
The inlet gaps had increased from 6 to 40 thou in 1,500kmThis caused the problem - a seized inlet cam follower bearing:
which then .......buggered the camshaft:
(So now I know where the metal on the magnetic oil plugs was coming from).
I watched as Willy tightened all my spokes.
'Do you know what you are doing?'
'Oh yes', he said.The next day I went for a ride into the mountains with Nico.
Even before we got out of the town I realised I had a big problem.
As I rode slowly down the road I stood up and looked at my front wheel over the fairing. It was wobbling like mad from side to side.
Willy had completely fucked it up. Brilliant.
So what's the big deal?
All I did was sit on my bike for nine hours.
I left Sao Paulo just before nine am and rolled into Campo Grande at seven thirty pm. One thousand and one kilometres later at an average speed of one hundred and eleven km/h.
This beat my previous record by 180km.
I suppose it must be a boy thing.
I love Ushuaia, it has a real buzz.
There are tourists everywhere. They are either just about to go or have just returned from their Antarctic cruise. Many of those that have returned said they have never seen so many animals together, hige colonies of penguins and birds.
One lady did say that the sea had been 'a bit rough'.
'What do you mean by a bit?' I asked.
This happened a few days ago to a friend whilst riding through no mans land between Argentina and Chile near Chile Chico.
I have reconstructed the actual event as a warning to fellow bikers.
He was in that semi euphoric state having exited one country and almost passed into the next. He was really happy to have left the wild winds and wastelands of Ruta 40 behind and was looking forward to riding the Carretera Austral.
I have wanted to come here for many years.
I really liked the idea of a shot with my bike beside a moai.
Unfortunately, and not entirely unsurprisingly, the frieght charges from Santiago and back were a bit too steep so I had to settle for a rental bike instead.
Oh shit, where did that wave come from?
Two locals had both said the tide was going out.
I was busily photographing my bike Fred with the sun setting behind him over the sea. As the sun got lower the light was bouncing through the spray off the top of the waves producing a beautiful orange mist.
The shutter clunked several times as I held down the button to take multiple exposures.
I was lucky. Really, really lucky.
My steering damper saved me from crashing after I hit a 'roo at about 120 kmh.It was the first live one I'd seen. All the others were laying dead at the side of the road.
I'd been warned not to go fast but had been having a race with a Landcruiser as we headed towards Miles.
I saw the 'roo hop out of the bush about ten metres from the edge of the road.
For the last year or so I've been funding myself by increasing my mortgage.
I'm having far too much fun to stop but, even as an accountant, I can appreciate the short term nature of my solution.
I tried to get a job in NZ and have just started the same in Oz.
Unfortunately, due to the nature of my work (contract IT consulting), clients normally want some one for longer than three months which is all I want to work for so I don't miss the dry season heading north through Africa.
The guide book author Hilary Bradt has been to Madagascar 27 times. Either it is an extraordinary place or she has a bad memory.
The Malgasy are the friendliest people I have ever met and the flora and fauna are also unlike anything I have ever seen before.
Instead of returning to Joburg after my ride south I'm now going to ride north and fly 'Le Heap' back to Tana again. There is no need for a crate, the bike is simply slid into the cargo hold on it's side.
It's true. Look:
There are also other very wierd plants and very strange animals:
Elephant's Foot:
A Sifiaka (a precursor to the apes)
Ive just spent five hours under arrest at the Toliara Police Station, Madagascar.
What was my crime?
Not stopping when the Minister of Tourisms cortege overtook me, a tourist, on his way to a very important lunch.
I was on my way to the spiny forest at Ifaty, which is full of strange succulent plants. I had just turned onto RN 9 and noticed a policeman at every junction. This was unusual. I passed the first few but then noticed a car coming up behind me with its headlights on so I moved to the right and slowed down.
Both my maps said my route north to Diego was the main road with Beleanana a right turn off it. Bollocks. You have to turn left for Diego. The one and only sign was hidden by a lorry when I went past.
The road was so much fun I never noticed I was going in the wrong direction.
I only realised Id cocked it up when I got to Beleanana an hour and a half later.
I watched with some trepidation as five blokes lowered Le Heap off the side of the quay into the boat.
The water was deep.
You are not the first moto I was assured.
What? Drop one into the harbour?
Five minutes later we were surfing the seas at 45 km/h with Le Heap roped down in the middle of the boat. We pissed past another speedboat full of passengers.
It is completely different to anywhere else I have ever been. The warmth of the people, the amazing variety of landscapes, the fun roads, the extraordinary flora and fauna and fantastic food make it totally unique.
It is Africa:
I'll be back.
It is France:
with French cooking:
Even I thought it was time to head home having faffed around for the last five months.
So where has the time gone?
Er, I spent three weeks in Madagascar and er, a day helping Steve entertain his clients:
er, and a bit of cycling to test the camera remote:
