Actually it was all tit and no tat.

What's the "HU spirit"?

HU - Horizons unlimited

not sure its about limiting yourself, in this case to tarmac

Surely it means you're not limited to going off road - Unlimited, ergo, anywhere. Or should it be "yougo" anywhere.

Thanks Mark and Jim - two opposing views -the perfect answers.

Don't get me started on the Chinese & their 'improvements' in Africa - they only build roads where THEY need to them to scrape out all that they can out of Africa & take it home - take the 'amazing' road from Boke to Kamsar in Guinea, perfect condition & even a bridge is being built - WHY? Because there's bauxite north of Boke ... the only other 3 tarred roads in Guinea are OK, in a state of not brilliant repair but the Chinese aren't interested in upgrading those, nothing at the end of them!!!

Africa will unfortunately learn it's lesson the hard way when the Chinese have finished ... it's so sad but so true!

Kira

I don't pretend to be too knowledgeable about the new geo-politics in Africa.

But it seems to me that the Chinese pay market-economy-prices for what they take out of Africa.

This would be a new concept compared to - say - the Arabs along the Slave Coast, the Belgians in Congo or the Spanish in South America. Here it was plain robbery.

In most other cases (English, French, "Cold War" colonies), payments were made in arms, divisive border drawings and bloody conflicts - in order to manipulate market prices.

Not blaming anyone - except human nature in general, and maybe the African nature in particular.

The Kaolack to Barra road (Senegal to The Gambia) is surprisingly terrible as are a large proportion of the roads in The Gambia. Not the most relaxing place to drive a motorbike!

__________________
Find out details of my 2011 trip to Siberia on a lightweight dirtbike:
www.brighton2expeditions.co.uk

Do you mean English or British?

I purposely preferred to use the term English in this context, although I understand it offends you, if you are a very patriotic Brit. My apologies, Sir!

My personal friendships are more often found in Scotland and Wales and I didn't want THEM to be referred to as originators of what I previously coined rather aggressive colonialism.


Here is what Wikipedia says:
The ancestry of the English, considered as an ethnic group, is mixed; it can be traced to the mostly Celtic Romano-Britons,[87] to the eponymous Anglo-Saxons,[88] the Danish-Vikings[89] that formed the Danelaw during the time of Alfred the Great and the Normans,[90][91] among others. The 19th and 20th centuries, furthermore, brought much new immigration to England.
Ethnicity aside, the simplest view is that an English person is someone who was born or lives in England holds British nationality and regards themselves as English, regardless of his or her racial origin. It has, however, been a notoriously complicated, emotive and controversial identity to delimit. Centuries of English dominance within the United Kingdom has created a situation where to be English is, as a linguist would put it, an "unmarked" state. The English frequently include themselves and their neighbours in the wider term of "British" or even use English when they should use British. In contrast Scots and Welsh tend to be more forward about referring to themselves by one of those more specific terms.[92]

yeah I remember the Kaolack to Barra road, lots of broken tarmac and sand, not nice at all.

On the subject of new roads,in Gambia, I'm sure I heard something about the main road going to Georgetown, north of the river was built in exchange for some prime beach front which was developed into a 5 star resort.

What ever we think about the chinese ingroads all over the place, it still must be an improvement for the locals to be able to get around better.

Where should be tarmaced next? Maybe sort out that awful corrigated piste going to timbuctoo

lots of great info on this page very impressec with the knowledge graet stuff

No it doesnt offend me in the least - I only looked for clarity. Patriotism? it's been said that it's the last refuge of the scoundrel. That's 2/2 wrong so far. The Scots and the Welsh took full part in aggressive colonialism - your grasp of history isn't secure. 3/3. Indeed many Scots crofters burned out of their Hebridean homes revisited this treatment for example, on native Americans. And of course, there's The Darien Scheme.

One thing you said was right - the use of "Sir". "Manners maketh the man". Thank you.