One year on...

One year on. The knee is just back to vaguely normal, bits and bobs still to sell including Dakar II which is poised to be sprung on an unsuspecting market as soon as the good weather holds. Dakar I sold to a guy who was so excited to get back on a bike. Martin can't bring himself to sell the enduro boots. They were such good value and I intend to use them again! Hankerings for a return adventure on the African continent do not waine and 2013 is a distinct possibility. In the meantime the S. France beckons in May. It will be nice to get summer jacket on and get out and ride with Paul. Martin has settled his fat arse on the above machine (For illustration purposes only!). Actually a truly superb macine. Well chuffed and it was a "Touch"!

And now the real pain...

Just another post-trip reflection. I read an article by a guy who did six months going round Australia on a Yamaha. He said it was the best and the wost thing he had ever done. What he was saying was that the experience was unmissable and utterly amazing but coming down afterwards was hell. Even 10 months on I can relate so well to that sentiment. The trip, even though it was less than 3 weeks haunts me most days. I long to go back, learning from my mistakes and experiences; and yet I doubt I ever will get the chance. It is hard not being there when you have done it and it is almost impossible to imagine exploring any other remote place other than on a bike. "The pain now is part of the happiness then" C.S Lewis

Bikes are back!

Bikes are back...Weird to think that the last time we saw the one was in Rwanda and one was in Mombasa. Plenty of red dust to testify to their incredible journey. Respect to Humphrey and Unique Forwarding for getting them home just about in one piece. Carnets were not included but now have been recovered and sent to RAC to retrieve our massive deposits. Dakar I is fixed (timing chain as suspected!) and running sweet as a nut, renovation city! Ready to sell or keep and enjoy, not decided yet. Dakar II is with Paul and ready for sale and looking good!


Want to go back, want to do more of this. Expensive...very expensive! Will post pics of Dakar I in full renovation glory shortly! PS Dakar I started first time but the engine noise was not pretty! Dakar II started first time after a little battery charging.

100% Fantastic

People have been so generous, thanks so much for all your donations to Love Africa. We are humbled and really grateful. You can still give for a while yet do just click at will!

And while I am about it...One of these would have been great!

Money no object...

Martin,

Would you consider adding a money belt to your list?

Photos

Some are posted at this URL no subtitles as yet but gives a sense of the trip!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=153214&id=542648887&l=c39cf3fe4c

If I had my time again...

From a kit point of view there are some things I (MW) would have done differently if money were no object these include;

A decent helmet that would handle visor and or peek removal. My cheapo could only have both on or both off. The peek gets caught by the windrush of passing trucks and nearly rips your head off at the neck...!


A centre stand. I think it would have been the best £150 I had spent...the side stand bends, is too steep and doesnt hold the bike on poor ground or in the back of pick up trucks!!!

Take some GPS that would have guided us on key routes, asking the locals for directions was initially amusing but in the end fairly fruitless! Left and right were usually a problem plus distances were normally estimated +/- 100% wrong. We met a couple who were doing Europe to Cape in a Land Rover, I chatted to them in my underpants (you don't want the detail but it was harmless!). They used Track for Africa and said it was excellent. More kit though, more to get nicked etc...but worth a thought.




Get rid of the ridiculous plastic rear mud guard thingie. Mine flew off at the first sign of bumpy roads as did Paul's! Nonsense! Remove and never replace. Bike looks better without it anyway!

Taken a Camelback. How many times did I dream of the Camelback sitting in my garage at home. It is simple. You need to drink 3-5 litres of water a day if you want to have a beer when you stop on the evening and not have cramp in the middle of the night. Stopping to drink out of the water bottles is hassle. So you don't drink so you get heat exhaustion (actually I had Malaria!). The only way to get the fluids in and keep riding is a Camelback...essential kit, one more bit of paraphernalia but worth it!



Maybe Paul will other views.....

Big shouts out...!

Well done Paul! An epic end to an epic journey...I would do it again any time...itchy feet already!

Big thanks go to these people and many more for all their support and help in times of crisis:

• Humphrey the Global Fixer
  
• Arthur Blick - East African Scrambling champion and his hot mechanics!
  
• Isobel & Abi at Viva Kampala
• Ros from Tearfund UK (part courier extraordinaire!)
• The boys in blue; wherever you may be...SERIOUSLY!
• Vines of Guildford esp Ian the tecchie
• BMW Motorworks
• BMW Tonbridge...top customer service!
• The people of Kibungo for sorting Martin out back to Kigali and for believing we could fix it when we did not. Thanks to Charles and his uncle Yussef!
  
• ACET Uganda esp Paul K..what a star...what a fixer!
• Pastor Paul for having us to stay at his house and looking after us like babies!
  
• Rose & Emmanuel at Tearfund Kigali...thanks so much; great people to get marooned with.
• The crazy guys that looked after Paul in the JCB and beyond.
• Keith at Food for the Hungry Nairobi
  
• The home crew...you who kept us in your thoughts and prayers, you who were rooting for us, you who have given so generously to Love Africa as we have gone round.
• That Tanzanian Policeman...
• Frank - Ciprofloxacin - Armstrong!
• The big LT flight-meister!
• SS the blog-feeder
  
• Our guides at the the two Genocide memorial Churches in Rwanda...you are very courageous people
• The animals for letting us see them in the wild....er...I think that will be all for the moment..once you start thanking animals you are in trouble!
  

Limping to Mombasa

As soon as dawn broke I was awake. I hadn't slept well and the light woke me immediately. I looked at my leg and saw that the knee and calf were double their normal size. I knew that riding along this track was a non-starter.

As I sat in the cab of the JCB, I could see that the road had deteriorated further; Huge lorries were struggling to get up the smallest inclines and a 4x4 Land Rover turned over in front of me.


The Tanzanians tried to flag down a truck to get it to take me and my bike to the end of the track approx 1 mile ahead. No one wanted to stop, afraid they would not get going again. I therefore decided to try and walk to the better road where I intended to ride the remaining 300 miles to Mombasa.


With four of the guys pushing my bike and another helping me to walk, we made our way to the end of the track, taking an hour to walk just under a mile.

Mount Kilmanjaro

The road surface was better and, having strapped my knee as tight as I dared, I got on my bike, thanked the guys and began the final leg of my journey. After an hour and a half I was at the Tanzanian / Kenyan border. I limped from one office to another, getting the permissions and paperwork stamped. I asked about the road ahead to Voi and was told it was one of the worst and would take a couple of hours to get there. I decided I couldn't risk riding it - I only had to put my right leg down and I would have been in agony so I persuaded two guys with a small pickup to take me and my bike to Voi for around £40.

That was the best £40 I spent! The road was truly awful and it took nearly 2 hours to complete our journey. When we arrived at Voi I saw that the bike , despite having been strapped down, was lying on its side with the mirror and side stand broken. Normally I would have been hugely annoyed at this but I was simply relieved to have got there.

I got on the bike and rode to Mombasa, a fairly uneventful ride. I found a hotel where I immediately ordered a beer, then another before taking a long soak in the bath and going to bed.

The next morning I rang Humphrey "The Fixer" who met me in the hotel. I dropped the bike off at the port and he helped me to re-arrange my flights. 15.30 and I was in a taxi on my way to Mombasa airport where my luggage was taken from me and I was put in a wheelchair and wheeled to the plane. At Nairobi, another guy with a wheelchair met me at the plane and transferred me to the BA desk for the final leg of my journey home to Heathrow.

0500 and I was back home. It was freezing and standing (just) in a pair of borrowed flip-flops ( one of my shoes had been stolen some days earlier rendering the other useless!) I knew how ridiculous I must have looked but I didn't care. I had completed one of the most exciting, amazing and unforgettable journeys imaginable. I had also met some of the poorest yet kindest people in the world. Sure I had injured my leg but ask me if I'd do it again!