24 September
05 October
Hello people, just a quick email to say thanks to everyone who text and rang me
on monday it was good to hear from you all ! We have just covered the first thousand
miles of the trip and are now roughing it with freinds of Alans in the center of
Madrid for a couple of days before we move down to the ferry for Morocco. See Ya ! Chris
10 October
Hi people,
Just trying to use an arabic keyboard and all the letters are in the wrong place so my spelling and grammar may be worse than normal !
Well 9 days and 2000 miles and we have got to Rabat, on to casablanca tomorrow ! the weather is really hot here it has to be at least 32-35° here at noon, we have met up with a guy called Mike that I met a few months ago so there are 3 of us riding now !
no probs with the bike so far apart from the weight ! Have been to ceuta, chefcheon ( not sure of the spelling ) Fes and now Rabat. Each place has been totally different so far but I'm keeping up my video diary so you maybe able to see sometime, will start sending the discs home soon.
We will be heading off to Marrakesh ( the gateway to the dessert ) and the Atlas mountains in the next couple of days so expecting things to start getting harder with the roads over the mountains, I hit a match of diesel the other day in the Rif mountains and thought that would be that but I'm still hear so alls good !
Chris
14 October
Hi guys,
We are in Zagora at the moment north west of Marrakech heading down to Mhamid and then west out to the coast and Tan Tan then down to the boarder.
The bikes are fine at the moment but did our first 50 km offroad today which was hard going at times and the bike now needs at good check over tonight.
Mike and I are still travelling together and having a lot of fun filming each other but not heard anything from Alan in a few days so still hoping to meet up again on the coast.
We need to start getting a move on now as our morrocan insurance runs out on the 18th and the one month visa for mauritainia started on the 12th.
We stayed in a berber village last night ( mud hut ) and had berber food and berber tea with Saffron. The same village was used for filming Gladiator, romance in the stone, idiana jones and a load of other films.
Thanks for your help George.
Take care, Chris
22 October
Hi guys,
I think the last time that I emailed was Zagora in the Draa valley south west of Marakech, from there we took a piste or track west to Foum_Zguid, both Mike and I both fell off a few times before we got the hang of riding the bikes on sand, then there were rocks which really hurt the bike ! We camped next to a river that night and in the morning moved on to Tan_Tan, a long ride that took most of the day through mountainous dessert that is great for the first hour !
We spent a day in Tan_Tan mending the bikes and emailing etc.
After Tan_Tan we moved down the coast, there really isent a lot to talk about just small dusty towns full of rubbish ! After Laayoune Mike and I met an american called nick on an XT 350 at one of the many police check points, the three of us camped out on top of a cliff that night in the middle of nowhere, we had our first camp fire and slept under the stars to the sound of the Atlantic.
Next stop was just before the boarder with Mauritania in a remote hotel and an early start for the boarder the next day. saturday the boader took 6 hours and Mike and I both got our bikes stuck in sand in no mans land. that night we camped in a small hut in the dessert and saw out first sand storm !
The road down to Nouakchott is very long and very hot and soon turns into the dessert that we all imagine with nothing for miles, we only just made it with the fuel we had, now in Nouakchott we are enjoying a day of in this dusty dessert town and will push onto senegal and another boarder crossing Tuesday.
Miss ya all,
See ya
28 October
Hi Barry yes it would be great to get a few e-mails from the explorers, so please do put my mail address up !
Mum and Dad are having some problems using the camcorder DVD disc that I have sent home, its got photos and videos and was recorded onto a DVD RAM disc and protected my the camcorder, if they still have problems with it I asked kathy if she could get you to have a look I hope this is ok.
Chris
Hello people ! Well its sunday and I'm recovering from a hangover from last nights
jazz club in Dakar, we arrived here on friday and just got to the Mali embassy in
time to apply for our visa's which should be ready for us on monday, Alan and I
are really roughing it for a couple of days here over the weekend in a nice Hotel
while we wait. Dakar is a strange place, its a very busy town 6 days a week 24 hours
a day and then sunday nothing happens ! The people are generally really friendly
and very used to tourists and there are some great place's to visit but you do have
to watch your back the whole time as Dakar is will known for pickpockets and muggings
if you venture down the wrong street.
So Nouakchott, Mike and I stayed at the Auberge Sahara for a couple of nights and
camped in small tents on the roof. On the Monday in Nouakchott I met up with Mohamed
Ahmed Salen the International commissioner for scouts and Guides in Mauritania.
We chatted in my best french and his best English and he invited me to a meeting
that evening at 7.
Nouakchott is a town that is only about 40 years old and as a desert town most of
the streets are sand, it was designed in a grid style layout, despite this I sill
got lost going to the scout meeting and the half hours walked took me 1 and a half
hours but I got to see the busiest and largest market in Africa so far and by African
standards that's big.
At the scout meeting I met one of the guide leaders called Nar, Nar can speak good
english and was at the Jamboree in the summer, she explained to me that the meeting
of leaders was a yearly thing and that they have 8 thinking days. The leaders are
all divided into groups and given problems such as program planning, National and
international relations, development etc, I had arrived on the 7th day when all
the groups present there findings and solutions !
Tuesday was time to get on the bikes again, 1 or 2 days off and you find yourself
keen to get going again, despite these amazing countries we still have a long way
to go !
Tuesday found us heading south towards Rosso and the Senegalese boarder, we had
heard that Rosso is a hard and long boarder to cross and Rosso itself is a c**p
hole, and it is ! So we headed west towards the coast for 70 kms on a dirt road
to a boarder crossing on the coast which only took an hour to get through, that
night we camped under the stars in a national park which was mosquito heaven.
Wednesday 24th we passed 20 kms south of St-Louis to Zebrabars campsite popular
with overlanders, its a very laid back place where you help yourself to beers and
hammocks. This is where we met an Italian couple on there honey moon, the 4 of us
got canoes and paddled across the river to the Atlantic coast for a swim, my swim
was longer than the others as halfway across the river my canoe sank !
Thursday night to our surprise Mike and I met Alan in St-Louis, less than a week
before we had left Alan at the side of the road in Western Sahara with a burnt out
clutch ! it turns out that in Dakhla they made new clutch plates for his triumph
and fitted them within 48 hours ! That night riding back to the campsite from St-Louis
I rode through a Police stop check and no amount of saying sorry to the policeman
would calm him down and only a $45 bride stopped me from being taken to the police
station in town.
Bribes, fines and money gifts to date: - Mauritania, 3kms to the boarder police
stop check and we had no insurance for the bikes ( which is optional ) a bribe saw
us carrying on still with no insurance. - They will let you cross the dam at the
boarder but can't open the gate at the other side for less than $10 each. - Nobody
wares a helmet in Senegal but when we take ours off it becomes the law, FINE 10
euros.
Friday ( Mums birthday ), Mike stayed at Zebrabars for another day while Alan and
I moved on to Dakar to get our Mali visa's, the longest and hottest 222kms I've
ridden so far ! And so here we are prepearing to move on to Gambia, yesterday saw
the bikes get there first 5000 mile service and me spending 5 hours getting my rear
subframe beefed up AGAIN !
Missing you all, See Ya !
14 November
Hi guys, well I just wrote a huge email and then the internet packed up and deleted the whole thing ! ****** Africa !
Ok so the last update I think was from Dakar where Alan and I had gone for visas for Mali. We picked up our visas on monday from the embassy at 2 o'clock and we were soon on the bikes and keen to get going to the Gambia boarder, however it was late and we only got a few hours riding before we stopped in a small truck stop town called Fatick. We rented a small bungalow / hut for the night but I ended up sleeping under a tree as seems to keep happening because of the heat !
We went out in search of food and found Mama Binda who had a small restaurant and she fed us some great meat stew ( we don't ask what sort of meat ! ). After food we were introduced to Mama Bindas family and sat talking until the early hours ! The next day Mama Binda took us to the market and we bought breakfast which Binda then made for us, we swapped telephone numbers, address's etc while Binda tried to set me up with one of her daughters who is studying English at oxford. Most people here are so keen to go to England that they will even try to give there daughters away to any passing ( good looking ) stranger !
After Fatick and a 40 km wrong turn that saw us heading east not south we made it to the Gambian boarder and crossed one of the easyest boarders to date, once in Gambia we had to cross the river, there was a huge queue for the ferry but once the scout badges on the bike and my jacket were spotted by the policemen we were sent straight to the front and given special treatment of drinks and peanuts ! Once in Banjul it was getting late so a hotel was found along with a few beers and an early night. Banjul has a very western and modern main street but like so many African towns its falling apart around the edges.
Wednesday was the day that Alan and I split, Alan in search of friends in Banjul and me in search of a scout centre deeper in Gambia in an up river town called Soma ( next to Mansa Konko ). We parted and I set out on the two and a half hour ride half way across Gambia. Gambia is a very easy place to travel as everyone speaks english in a Jamaican style. I soon found myself talking to a couple of lads on a ferry across the river who then took me straight to the scout Centre.
At the Kaira Konko scout centre I found Abdoulie who is the caretaker for the site and he gave me a great little room to stay in, I soon found myself the centre of attention as younger scouts turned up and proceeded to give my bike its first wash since England ! This was Wednesday and I enjoyed my stay so much that it was monday before the itchy feet started again and the bike beckoned !
While at the centre I met most of the scout leaders there, we watched Manchester united VS. Arsenal, went to a local football match and went swimming in the river. There was a scout meeting for an hour and a half on the friday no fewer than 140 kids attending ! I spent a day with a local police officer who showed me around the surrounding villages and took me to his home to eat with his family.
The scout centre runs many projects in the area including the local school and hospital, it is well worth a trip to and I will be posting home some info !
So Monday came and no sign of Alan, we had an RV agreed at the centre, I left and moved on to Basse on the east boarder of Gambia where I found a small hotel with no guests, no water and no electricity called the Hotel Jem, it was clean and I was invited to join the owner and his mate for lunch, the owner (who I forget his name) loves english girls and has given me a signed photo to show anyone that might be interested at home ! I later met a fireman, we went for a beer and then to meet his friends to drink tea.
Tuesday and on to the boarder with Senegal, Basse is where the tarmac runs out and so its all dirt road for 30 miles into senegal. Senegal was where the almost non-existent internet in Gambia re-appears so a quick email check and I found that Alan has jumped ahead and is already in Bamako, Mali.
Tuesday and wednesday saw two 10 hour riding days of good road, bad road and dirt track to Bamako covering almost 800 miles to catch up ! Tuesday night found me just beyond Kayes in Mali being hosted by a family in a small village just off the main road who took pity on me when I turned up dust covered and exhausted looking for a place to stay.
Wednesday I finally got to Bamako (the capital of Mali) to find good and bad news, Alan is now a further 3 days ahead however the American Nick that I met in Mauritania is here ! I met with Nick thursday and his new travelling buddies, two Dutch girls travelling in a 4x4. Together the four of us collected visas in Bamako and hatched a plan to head for the amazing Dogon Country in Mali. Alan by now is far ahead and Im tired of playing catch up ! Mike has emailed and is heading in a group of bikes to Bamako but is a few days behind.
We all had repairs to do so these were done in Bamako, the machanic took dents out of my rear wheel but managed to break a spoke at the sametime ! While taking my bike to the mechanic with Nick on the back navigating we crossed 6 feet past a no entry sign and were jumped on by 5 army and 2 policemen who demanded 20,000 cfa to let us go ! Nick and I refused and asked to be taken to the police station ( in Africa this is quite a risky thing to do ). 2 hours later after bike documents had been checked and an official 5,000 cfa was fine was paid we were off again.
Now, Monday the 12th of November and the four of us, Oasis, Hilda, Nick and me find ourselves camping under the stars in the busy market town of Segou, east of Bamako and prepearing ourselves for a hard section of off-road to Djenne and Africas largest mud and brick Mossca !
missing you all, Bye Bye, Chris
Hi guys, this photo was taken in the early days in western sahara when Nick, Mike and I stopped behind some sand dunes to camp on the top of a cliff overlooking a huge beach and the Atlantic ! People seem to think its a good picture ?
25 November
Hello from Ouagadougou !
Think my last update was from Bamako (Mali) where I met up with Nick and two Dutch
girls, Oasis and Hilda are travelling in a 4x4 so make a great back up ! We all
had repairs to do there so they were taken care of and we all set off together on
the sunday for the small town of Segou. Nick and I got to the pre-arranged Hotel
first and stayed while the girls went off to check out the other Hotels and two
hours later came back to first one, of course !
I should say at this point that the next few weeks in Mali for Nick and I turned
into a holiday with Oasis and Hilda and for the time being the big adventure goes
on hold.
We all camped under the stars in Segou at the hotel as is becoming the norm, Monday
was market day in this little fishing town and so we enjoyed a day of walking the
market sitting in bars and enjoying the easy going life of Mali.
Tuesday it was decided to leave for an en-campment called Teriya Bugu ( yes these
are all real names ), Nick and I were the first to get to the turn off the road
and onto the 38km of piste to the en-campment, 36km of great sand and gravel later
we were met with flood water and villagers who were determined to put our heavy
bikes into canoes, NO WAY ! with no way around we turned back and met Oasis and
Hilda coming the other way, we found a new piste from the road and all headed off
to a most amazing hotel / campment on the side of the river Bani, this place is
amazing and can only be described best from photos. In total we spent three nights
here visiting villages on the bikes, lounging by the pool and drinking beer, now
time to move on again.
Next on the list we arrived in Djenne friday evening to see Africa's largest mud
and brick Mosque just in time for the sunset, we camped on the roof of an auberge
and Nick and I cooked a great meal of vegetables and ugly dried fish which taste
great !
Saturday we moved on to Mopti on the bank of the two rivers where the Niger and
the Bani meet, again a couple of days were spent checking out the market, bike repairs
for Nick and Antique buying for Hilda. For me the last few days have been fun but
now I'm itching to start covering some miles again so a plan was hatched, Niamey
(niger) by the end of the month and Cameroon by the 10th December. While in Mopti
Nick and I caught up with Mike just putting his bike on a boat ready for a three
day trip up to Timbuktu, we all hope to meet up again in Cameroon in time for Christmas
!
Nick and I then jumped ahead of the girls to Bandiagara and the fabulous Dogon country,
this is where we unloaded the bikes and went off exploring off road for the day,
the cliff tops, the remote villages and the sandy valley bottom was all amazing,
this was also where my bike ended up crashing into a ditch on its side and it took
3 of us to get it out ! Exhausted we returned to our hotel roof top to find Oasis
and Hilda. Nick and I went out to eat at a street stall, this is not only cheap
but great fun because you are never sure what they will give you or what you are
eating !
The four of us left the next day for Sanga, the road is a mix of concrete, gravel
and rocks and is slow going but the scenery amazing ! Once in Sanga Oasis and Hilda
organised themselves a guide for the Dogon for a week and Nick and I agreed to join
them for thursday with the plan to leave for Burkina Faso on friday.
Thursday was an early 5:30 start but well worth it for the day that lay ahead, at
5:30 the stars were still out and the sun nowhere to be seen. We set off in hot
pursuit of the Dutch girls in there 4x4 and our guide, stopping now again in this
amazing rocky and lush green countryside to see a village or cave paintings. Soon
Nick and I found ourselves winding down the steep cliff back down to the sandy valley
that we had visited the day before but this time with more sand ! We had a hard
time for a while keeping up with the 4x4 in deep sand with both of us letting our
tyres down for more grip but still getting thrown off into the scrub land on more
than a few occasions.
Another village but this time its time to go walking back up the cliff face in the
sweltering 47° heat of the day for a 5 hour tour of the Dogon villages built into
the cliff face, the Dogon people must be expert climbers and have balls of steel
to live in these house's built into the cliff face. The end of the day and we stayed
in the small village of Yendouma with its mud huts and incredible views of the valley,
after a great meal we all retired early to our roof top under the stars exhausted
after the days adventures.
Friday is goodbye ! We are all sorry to be leaving each other but its time for Nick
and I to get back en-route and make up some miles, I don't think for a moment that
this is a finale goodbye as we have all become too good freinds and have been through
too much together !
So for Nick and I we set out on our now heavly loaded bikes across 50km of sandy
tracks with just a compass bearing of SW to follow and the hope that we come across
the main piste that would take us into Burkina Faso, we found the good 50mph dirt
piste which took us through the border and eventualy turned to tarmac, by sun set
380km had been covered and we were sat in a bar drinking a well deserved beer, with
the pretty barmaids laughing at the dust covered, exhausted looking state of us.
Now in Ouagadougou ( Burkina Faso ) we service our bikes and prepear for Niger on
monday !
Wish you could all be here as my writting can't truly describe this place, AFRICA
!
|