To Marich? See link to Aboy Landlord Garden Video! http://youtu.be/ELDFipHb0zg

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We had to revise our route after discovering Martin has ‘dinked’ the rim of his front tyre. This was probably caused when he hit a large rock when he was forced off the road by the white truck mentioned previously. We speculate as to why his bike has sustained this dink; Suspension set too stiff, wheel not correctly aligned, tyres too hard. Excessive peanut consumption is not ruled out! 

A boy Landlord... http://youtu.be/ELDFipHb0zg

We therefore abandon all thoughts of the hard core, off road route and settle for the tarmac road. This turns out to be a great decision as the road has a perfect surface and continual sweeping bends through the Rift Valley and a huge escarpment behind us.

 Vast landscapes at the heart of the rift valley

We stop occasionally to try and capture the views but no picture can really do it justice. Everywhere we stop the bikes are admired and the three questions trotted out, how fast, how much and how many cc’s. We have taken to asking them to guess. One guy thought the bikes were $100,000 another estimated the cc’s at 300 so he was sent to the bottom of the class! This all probably explains why asking a Kenyan for directions and estimated journey times is such a lottery!

The garage we stopped at to refuel in Eldoret had some guys in overalls in the hard standing next door who were obviously the equivalent of Kwik-Fit, except they had no ramps or nude calendars. We parked up next to them to have a drink and a cereal bar. After admiring the bikes and asking the standard three questions I showed my dink (Martin) to the boss man. He sort of grinned and said ‘that is no problem, that is nothing’ I think he is right. I am dodging pot holes better than ever and just not asking as much of the wheel as I might have but they are so strong.

 Escarpment behind us

 Yes we did ride these roads!

Tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee - you decide which. Matching shirts of course!

There cannot be much that is better than riding a motorcycle with your MP3 blaring your favourite tunes as you weave your way through the spectacular scenery of the Rift valley. Until one earphone packs in, that is. So it’s more Frankie Valli and the 2 seasons at the moment. I (Martin) have been listening to the very best of Level 42 on my ipod which, somewhat incongruously seems to provide a great soundtrack to the great adventure that has been our journey through N. Kenya

We pass through Marigat and refuel at Eldoret before stopping at Kitale. It is 3.30 and Marich is 2 hours away so we decide to call it a day and find a hotel, which comes in the shape of the Jehjovah Jire Hotel. Martin tells me this translates into “The Lord Provides” although it turns out he does not provide beer! 

Jehova Jire en suite!

We therefore book in, drop our stuff off and head into town for beer & a meal. Turns out this is more difficult than it seems as the Lonely Planet recommended restaurant has an extremely limited menu – chicken or chicken and only Fanta or Coke. We therefore scoff our meagre meals and head over to the enormous Khetia’s Gigamart to buy whiskey and, of course the obligatory peanuts as only they will do. Except that they too don’t sell alcohol or peanuts nor do they sell headphones so all in all a disappointing end to a great day. We think this is a dry town. We will have to go into the pagan underworld to find a cold beer!

 The bar...were we really that desperate for a cold beer?YUP!

We find a ‘bar’ opposite the hotel which sells ”Tusker” beer so we drop in for a quick one with the locals before retuning to our hotel for the night. The bar – well more of a beer shack – is playing very loud African music featuring videos of African dancing to said tracks. Low budget is not the word. They mostly look as if they have been filmed in someone’s garden but the dancing is GREAT. Favourite artist from tonight is Aboy Landlord – not a made up name at all!

Tomorrow we cross the border to Uganda at Malaba and Tororo.

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