Hey,

Left the UK with the idea of drifting/wandering across to South Africa, then off to South America. My bike is proving to be ultra reliable (no real problems yet), but it is just too slow. I am travelling max 80 kms/hr on tarmac, 20 kms/hr over corrugations. Final straw was the road to Bamako yesterday, over 13 hours from Kayes. Did the last 4 hours in the dark, avoiding the broken trucks and stupid donkeys only just. Four times now I have had to travel off-road in the dark.

My question is...am I just feeling a bit depressed because this region is particularly difficult to travel in (and I am taking Larium) for an old road bike? Is travelling easier in the East of Africa? The problem I have to address is carrying enough water/food/fuel to make each step. It's seems to be just stress/concern all the time. And a trip like this isn't cheap, so I would at least like to enjoy some of it...

any rtw'ers been here and felt the same?

Chin up old boy!
It could be worse. You could still be back here in London battling with commuter traffic.
Sorry I cant offer any helpful advise other than a bit of friendly encouragement.

Take it easy.
Gibbo.

Absolutely! Listen to gibbo. Think- you've done better than a hundred billion (or whatever) others on this earth. A hell of lot better than me, for sure.
Keep your chin up, like the man says.
All the best,
J

__________________
Johnef

Dougie

In six months time you'll be laughing about it and there are plenty of people who'd swap places with you, that's for sure.

Would you be there if you wanted easy?

Good Luck and keep your chin up.

Mick

I find I get a depression at some stage of any trip. It is stress taking hold as you feel out of control of the situation. The truth is you are in total control and you have got this far so why wont you go all the way. It is in part you Western mentality you are fighting you feel you have to set yourself goals all the time and meet them. Now is the time to adjust to travelling with the flow of the country (not easy) and take each day at a time travel as far as you can stop where you can and if possible get some camping stuff and sleep by the road as long as its safe. In the jungle I bought a hammock as it provides dry (with a poncho slung over it as a roof, safe and easy place to sleep, up from the creep crawlies and usually away from snakes. Treat the ropes with a little grease as the smell and feel deters any brave snakes.

I think you are doing an incredible thing and I wish I have the opportunity to do it now. You are doing fantastically just mellow out about it and review your achievements.


Charlie

Lots of good comments above!

In addition - one of the biggest things travellers forget is that travelling can be hard work!

Sometimes you need a VACATION from the err, vacation!

Find someplace NICE - good hotel, on a warm sunny beach with pretty girls walking by helps solve the blues everytime...

Or at least a good friendly hotel, and find a nice sidewalk cafe where you can enjoy the locals and people of the area - start a few conversations, relax, and enjoy the place. Get to know the people.

Spend at least a week there, and relax and enjoy how far you've come - you MADE IT this far! As noted above, much farther than most. Enjoy the moment, relax, slow down, don't try for such big bites,and give yourself credit for the accomplishment.

Best of luck!

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Grant Johnson

Seek, and ye shall find.
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One world, Two wheels.
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

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Grant Johnson
Seek, and ye shall find.
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Inspiring, Informing and Connecting travellers since 1997!
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

I felt a similar dispassion for the road after that same leg from Kayes to Bamako. The corrugations on that road were the worst we experienced on the trip. (Maybe not the worst overall road though ;-) ). I would say that you have survived one of the most grueling and bone-jarring sections, so take a break and a deep breath, then carry on! If you are going around Lake Chad, you will find another hellish road there, but that is some miles on.

cheers, and good luck!

Graham
www.africaoverland.org

__________________
Graham 'Cracker'
Director: Overland Training
Editor: Overland Journal
Instigator: Africa Overland

Oh, and I'm pretty impressed that you did it in 13 hours. We camped just outside Kayes, then again before we got to the tarmac section before Bamako.

cheers

Graham
www.africaoverland.org

__________________
Graham 'Cracker'
Director: Overland Training
Editor: Overland Journal
Instigator: Africa Overland

thanks for the replies. yeah, left Kayes early morning and arrived in Bamako around midnight.

Did a fair chunk of corrugations in the dark, which was interesting and hopefully not going to be repeated. Broke the Enfield frame in three places, popped the fork seals and smashed the headlight. Never crashed, that's just what the corrugations did! So that all added to the general depression. I was resigned to stopping, or getting an alternative bike, which is why I rode faster than I should have and broke the bike.

But, the hangover is now gone and it's a new day. Taking two weeks out, getting replacement frame parts/headlight/forks seals for the bike and will fix it up and carry on. This particular Bullet just doesn't deserve to die like this

Doug,

It's all true the comments here, what a cool bunch of answers! It's easy to forget what an amazing adventure you are having. After a while it all feels like normal life - cocking your leg over the bike and thinking...what the hell is going to happen today...what bit of the bike will screw up today....will I run out of petrol....ohhh look at the buns on those nuns...ahem, sorry, you get the picture.

I think it took me about 3 months for a lifetimes worth of stress and conditioning to start to leave me and to be riding one day under the sun and actually feel...not just think, that I was free and could do whatever I wanted to do.

Christ I'm jelous mate, I honestly cant wait to get back out there and worry about the state of my tyres instead of the state of my cat poo infested garden (the little sods love the gravel in my back garden).

Right, I'm off to bed soon then up for the Alexander Palace bikey show, then its Sunday, then its life in the bus lane again.

Speak soon

Brian


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http://colesyboy.tripod.com

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http://www.trailsunexpected.com

Dougie:

I'll share my experience with you, both from the point of view of a touring rider who does 8 to 10 weeks on the road each year (mostly in Central and Eastern Europe), and someone who has worked in Africa for 20 years.

First, the riding perspective: I well remember the first big tour I made. I had planned it for almost a year, flew the bike over to Europe, had the whole route planned out... and after about a week, I was having a horrible time. The reality didn't live up to all the expectations I had, and on top of that, I was pushing myself too hard to cover the route I had planned, according to the time-line I had made up in advance.

Now - several years later, and several long tours later, I just pick a general direction I want to head in (e.g. if I start in Switzerland, I'll say "Well, it would be nice to make it to Odessa this year", then, I head off. The only plan I have is a faint one to hopefully make it to the destination, but the real purpose of the trip is to make the journey, not to arrive at the destination. So, my suggestion to you is "slow down, and ride less". Your comment about the 13 hours on the road in one day reminds me of my very first day riding in Europe - 12 hours on the road from Northern France down to the Med. I was crazy to push myself that hard, heck, I blew through a whole country in one day!

Second topic - Africa. If you want to keep your mental health in Africa, you have to learn to go with the flow, and roll with the punches. Otherwise, you'll go crazy. There's a saying in West Africa that you will hear often from the expats who work there: WAWA. It means "West Africa Wins Again" - in other words, despite your best efforts and most careful planning, there's no way you can achieve your objective due to problems totally beyond your control - bad roads, lack of fuel, stupidity of others, intransigence of officials, whatever. In East Africa, they say "Hakuna Matata", it means more or less the same thing.

I suggest you take your carefully thought-out pre-departure plans, and use them to light your next fire. After that, just roll down the road at a pleasant, leisurely pace, get off the moto whenever you see something interesting, and don't set any time or distance goals, just set a direction goal only (e.g. 'South'). In the end, it won't matter if you depart Africa for South America from Freetown, Accra, Libreville, or Luanda - as long as you have had a pleasant journey along the way. Who knows, you might even get really lucky, and make it all the way to Cape Town. Just don't plan too much, relax and live one day at a time.

PanEuropean

hey, Dougie. we met at the Zebra bar ... 3 loons on XR650Rs: Bertil had just come 35th in the Dakar and was trying to keep up with Tim and me who'd just come up from Cape Town in 6 weeks ... we were impressed that you'd brought that Enfield through from Nouadhibou - nutters also ride Enfields, it appears. I'm also impressed you made it Bamako at all let alone in 13 hours esp at 20kmh on the corrugations

1) fuel and water are much easier to find from Bamako onwards as far as Nguigmi in Niger
2) Niger and Tchad are the worst of 23 African countries that I've been to so rest up in Mali or Burkina Faso - nicer people!
3) lake chad is a tough route. you need 300km of fuel, but, more importantly, to navigate well! we camped out rather than ride at night and I suggest you either break the journey at villages or camp out too. be careful in Nguigmi ... there's a thief called Modo who'll make you really welcome at his house and he was the only person to get past my radar
4) east africa is generally much more pleasant. I like the people! I speak french and get on OK with west africans, but they're hard compared to even the roughest/toughest cops/robbers in east africa.
hope that helps
let me know if you want more info on shipping from Ndjamena to Ethiopia as we had to fly the other way
keep your pecker up
Rich

i just have to tell you I´m at BMW Rio, my bike broke down 2 weeks ago, and after getting back here in a pick up they can´t find the problem !! I just came in from having a weep outside the front! I have issues like visa renewal also, BUT i landed on this thread and its helped me to keep my pecker up, so once again thanks to good old HU and all
mary

Dude carry on!

It is conquering these situations that will make you grow emotionaly. the longest i have travelled on my bike is six weeks albiet through some very bad weather and isolated areas.

After the break up of my marraige, i planned my last trip to northern europe russia and baltic state, i was taking anti deppressants and very very low after being dragged through the the UK divorce legal system for fourteen months.

I was in a mess emotionally when i left the UK for my tour, i threw away the drugs and fought my way through fear grief homesickness lonliness etc etc.whilst i was touring

When i completed the trip i felt like a new man, i felt i had achieved something, i gave the UK legal system and my ex a metaphorical middle finger and said f**k you all, none of you can achieve what i have just achieved, your just sitting behind your computer monitors all day and twitching the net curtains at night to see what is going on outside your own front door cos your afraid of your own shadows.

Now i want to do what your doing, but because of certain constraints i cannot start an rtw until 4 years time.

When you complete your objective you will look back and laugh at certain situations you have been in, which at the time may have seemed really bad. By living your dream, you are the envy of thousands of people, most people realise there dream when it is to late, like when there on there death bed or having just discovered they have contracted a terminal disease.

When you have finised your trip you will be a lot richer emotionally, some people will have bigger cars/houses/bank balances etc but as i discovered to my cost these tangable items can dissapear with a blink of an eye, but nobody can take your memories away, they have no value to anybody to the society we live in, but they will always have value to you.

So dude, take it easy, don't rush its not a race, and to use the cliche, Stop the bike sometimes, get off stretch your legs and smell the flowers.

As you have read on this post there are a lot of people behind you

Have a safe ride geezah

Dougieb
If you make it to South Africa give us a call
keep your chin up i am jelous you are out there doing what we all strive for.

Regards Dave