An eventful evening after we got back from getting our ice cream last night. As we returned to camp Mateo came up to say that he’s going to be leaving the tour tomorrow and taking a bus back to Dakar. He’s saying that he may return to Freetown, but I think we’ve probably seen the last of him on this trip.
There’s no one thing that’s lead to his decision, but he described it quite well as ‘entropy’ – lots of little things that aren’t going well for him adding up to the point that it’s not fun anymore – clankey bottom bracket, nine flat tyres, tent zip broken, ripped his favourite riding shorts – lots of little things that all add up!
It’s sad to see him go – he’s such an engaging, entertaining and genuinely likeable person that his presence is going to be missed by everyone, and particularly by those of us who have been riding with him for so long. I hope that our paths will cross again!
We had a farewell drink at the bar, then I headed back to my tent to get some sleep.
It was immediately obvious that wasn’t going to happen – nothing really to do with the disco – there were incredibly bright LED strip lights in red and green along the hotel wall, as well as two floodlights pointing right at our tents. It was as bright inside as if the sun was shining!
You’ve got to be joking!
A quick reccie out to the soccer field and I identified a vacant spot which put the dinner truck between me and the lights. Back to my tent, pack all the heavy things back into my bag, untie my tent from the concrete blocks I was using to keep it in shape, pick the whole things up – still fully set up, and carry it to a much darker spot.
Much better! Though in the end nobody slept well last night – the road we were right beside was super busy, the hotel disco didn’t stop till the first call to prayer at 0445, and there were people wandering and talking round and through camp all night – good that today’s ride was relatively short.
To add to the activity of the night, at one stage it started to rain – only a few spots but it proved what I expected – my tent without its fly is as waterproof as tissue paper! Thankfully my fly was half-on, so pulling it right over was trivial and I didn’t even need to go outside!
Two other riders, Hanns and Catherine, are also taking a holiday from their holiday – Hanns hasn’t been well and hasn’t been getting any better so they’re also going to head back to Dakar in the hope that Hanns can get well and they can also re-join in Freetown. I think there’s more chance we’ll see them again than Mateo, but probably not a particularly high one!
With only 115km scheduled and the forecast of cloud cover for the day there was no real urgency to get out on the road, but we said our farewells to those leaving and then set off ourselves.
The other day when we’d been camped under the baobabs Phillipa had come to borrow my Lonely Planet – she was trying to find out anything she could about the hospital in Tambacounda, as from here on, even once we’re in Guinea, it’s likely to be the closest and best equipped hospital within reach in case of emergency.
The LP hadn’t helped any, and I’d also asked Google and found out that it should be reasonably well equipped, if for no other reason than they apparently deal with 300 road accidents per month – a sobering thought!
We passed by as we were heading out – let’s just say, I hope I never get any closer than riding past the front gate! At camp today Phillipa said that she’d been in to talk with them and in theory they have all the things we might need – CAT scanner, operating theatre, orthopaedic surgeon, but she’s also hoping she doesn’t need to visit again!
Out of town and we passed a number of riders before picking up Hanne who was riding on her own, initially Canadian Kevin dropped back to ride with her, but they were soon back behind Kevin and I, and we ended up riding together through the day.
We stopped at the bridge across the Gambia river – technically bridges – there’s a new two-lane road bridge but it seems cyclists aren’t allowed on that, the police telling us to use the old single-lane bridge beside it.
I tried to take a photo of the river from the bridge, but got told off (well and truly) by a couple of soldiers, so not only no photos of the bridge, but no photos from the bridge either. It was a bit of a shame really as it was by far-and-away the most interesting photo opportunity we’d had in recent days.
I can tell you that it’s a big river – right now at the end of the dry season it’s pretty low and consequently well below the bridges but you can see where the water reaches during the rainy season and that’s a significant difference – maybe as much as 30m.
From there to lunch was uneventful – we’d dropped down to cross the river – the first real descent we’d done in weeks, and inevitably had to climb back up the other side, but that just helps to make the day more interesting.
A lot of the countryside round here is reminiscent of rural Australia, with scrub and grass below gum trees.
Lunch was in an interesting spot behind a somewhat muddy waterhole – not entirely sure where the water might come from as though things are lots greener round here than in the north it’s still pretty dry.
There were two stops in the afternoon (after lunch, rather than afternoon in all reality) and we planned to take advantage of both. The first came round fairly swiftly – I added some cold water to my camelback while the others opted for drinks.
After the last three days there were lots of instructions today with four whole corners we had to look out for! We stopped for photos with a gigantic termite mound.
We also spent some time mucking round taking some riding photos, including Canadian Kevin playing ‘chicken’ with a cow!
At the next town we opted for the mango drink which Hanne had at the last stop and it made a nice change from sprite and Fanta. There was a lad outside with another half-flat soccer ball, thankfully he had needle already in the ball so I was able to get my pump out of my bag and solve his problem for him. I must try and find a ball needle on the next rest day!
We’d hoped for some bottles of cold water to stock up with – it’s so much nicer than warm camp tank water, but that wasn’t to be so we carried on.
Camp’s been moved forward by 5km which has given us some shade and some grass to camp on – in all it’s a pretty great spot and though it’s still mostly cloudy it’s over 30 degrees again so having some shade, with no chance of flood lights, is welcome.
All the usual afternoon activities – tent up, me washed, riding kit washed, washing up, soup eaten, and sitting under my tree writing about the activities of the day.
Max and Sophie have got a couple of frisbees out and are entertaining the children who have gathered. Interestingly they have separated into groups of girls and boys and though basically playing the same game the style is very different.
Sophie / Max throws the frisbee towards the group of children. The girls stand, watch, and whoever the fresbee heads for attempts to catch it and throw it back. The boys all run madly in the direction the frisbee is going, jumping, yelling and trying to be the one who catches it – usually resulting in a pile of boys on the ground on top of said frisbee! One of the emerges and throws it back to Max.
I sincerely hope the cattle that are wandering round camp are going to go home to some nice safe spot far away from here because they’re bloody noisy creatures!
I’m sitting under the big tree that I’m also camped under, and Swend who’s camped next to me has just come across to say that it’s starting to spit so I need to go and get my (dry) washing in, and put my fly over my tent.
Later: That bout of rain didn’t come to much, and neither did the spits that happened over dinner – we’ll see if anything more happens over night.
Based on riders’ meeting tomorrow’s border crossing is going to be pretty simple – it seems this is a very quiet border so far les hassle than either of the previous two – time will tell on that too.
Dinner was pretty good tonight – a beef stew with an interesting vegetable which is like a cross between a sweet potato and a yam, only huge – this one’s about the size of a soccer ball!
Thanks to having had the fly on my tent’s still pretty warm this evening, but as there are no mozzies I’m able to have both doors open so there’s a hint of a breeze coming through!
View from my tent
Selfie of the day
Riding data
That’s sad news about Mateo, I know you guys will really miss him. And I’m gonna miss his cartoons too. Good to see some of the women/girls out and about, that baby carrying method looks very clever!