Africa 2004, Americas 2008

11th Feb 2005. Ayoun El Atrous.

A mostly-easy 130 miles from Kiffa, with a section 100 miles in of big potholes. Having read Doug's description of his pothole day I adopt his technique of imagining myself to be a spitfire pilot and treating them as bursts of anti-aircraft fire. It works up until the road becomes more hole than pot; then it's just a case of going slow and praying for it to end soon.

12th Feb 2005. Nioro, Mali

Utterly disgraceful weather today. Filthy dusty sandy gusts most of the way from Ayoun. Couldn't see the sun. Something ought to be done. I may write to the council.

10th Feb 2005. Kiffa.

There's exactly 1 pothole in the 145 miles of tarmac between Magta and Kiffa, but it's a big one. I'd still be planted face down in it now if a gust of wind hadn't blown me into the middle of the road, as I was gazing at some camels as I passed it.

7th Feb 2005. NKT.

It's nearly the end of my prolonged stay at Auberge Sahara. Those guys are grrrreat.....

Kania

Maryam

Olivier

14th Feb 2005. Bamako, Mali.

Shitty Death! If Jesus Christ himself had owned the ideal off-road motorcycle - a perfect blend of lightness, agility and power - rather than the more commonly accepted bicycle, He would have completed the Nioro-Diema road red-faced, furious and cursing like a hungover docker.

A good bit

10th March 2005. Cape Coast.

Conversations I've had in Ghana:

Young Man - I want to be your best friend. I will follow you anywhere.
Me - Uh, thanks.

Baby - HOWAREYOUIMFINE!
Me - Uh, fine.

Waiter - I really really like you.
Me - Uh, OK.

Mad Woman - These are my children! Come to my birthday! I will follow you to London! Plenty fruit in *indecipherable*!
Me - Uh...

27th Feb 2005. Po.

For the last couple of days I've been slightly concerned that a tropical spider may have laid eggs in my right hand. Bumps have appeared that are too close together to be mosquito bites, and in Mali I was attacked by, or more precisely saw, a jumping spider.

Today the bumps appear on my left hand as well and it strikes me that what I'm actually dealing with is contact dermatitis from a slight nickel allergy triggered by the poppers in my gloves. Phew!
---

9th March 2005. Cape Coast.

I stop for a fag somewhere in Southern Ghana and within seconds a man-and-wife team materialise from the undergrowth and offer me two - er - things in exchange for a cigarette. They're not coconuts but they might be cocoa-pods.

21st Feb 2005. Bamako.

At the reasonably fancy Hotel Nord-Sud. I just met Kolo Toure's brother! The Ivory Coast team are here for a game with Mali. KT - Arsenal defender and truly great all-rounder - is from Ivory Coast, so I approached them and asked if he was here. "No, but his little brother is", they replied, introducing me. Kool!

19th Feb 2005. Bamako.

Christ!

I move into the Catholic Mission, which is quiet and Jesusy. Doug's back from the UK with spare parts (unfortunately for an entirely different motorcycle) which means we can continue the important work we started in Senegal in the field of alcohol experimentation.

28th Feb 2005. Tamale, Ghana.

24th Feb 2005. Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso.

We stopped at Sikasso in Mali for a night on the way. It's a long hard hot sweaty pain in the arse from Bamako. Every checkpoint and customs post is a sweaty hot waste of time. It's about 40 degrees and while riding you get blasts of even hotter air. Eyes full of grit and shirt encrusted with salt.

5th April 2005. Accra.

Having returned to Ghana courtesy of BA's "Upgrade That Idiot To Business Class" service, we have spent 18 nights on the trot in Champs sports bar. Oh boy it's good.

25th April 2005. Aflao, Ghana/Togo border.

We arrived three days ago to find the border closed. The Togo elections were yesterday and we think the border will open tomorrow.
Quite hungry now as the restaurant in the hotel only serves food in the evening and the only other place to eat in Aflao serves cat. I had some meat on a stick from a roadside stall this afternoon. Couldn't say what it was, but it definitely wasn't chicken, pork or beef.

31/5/05. Cotonou, Benin.

18/6/05. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Several years of my life roll by as we try to arrange shipment of the bikes from Chad to Ethiopia. The budget also takes a vicious beating. To fly a person will cost 400 quid. A motorbike is 500. The "crate" for the bikes is 145 (haggled down from 220. For "crate" read "lash-up".) Dangerous Goods form - another 40. Oh blimey.

Bargain

7/6/05. Niamey, Niger.

The stomach cramps are coming at two-minute intervals. This allows me time to enjoy several mouthfuls of superb, freshly-made vanilla ice cream between gut spasms. Now I've finished and the waiter had better look sharp with the bill or he'll be needing a mop and a bucket of Dettol as well.

28/5/05. Lome, Togo

Let joy be unconfined! At only the second time of asking (if you count the first six-day attempt as one) I am allowed into Togo. The icing on the tin hat is that my Togo visa actually expired five days ago.

13/6/05. N'Djamena, Chad.

10/6/05. Kano, Nigeria.

Oh bloody brilliant.