Today I followed Lamin, a Street Child voluntary social worker to visit some of his cases. I have heard some very sad and harrowing tales of sowing, loss, and sadness.
Blog
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Day 62: Arrival at Street Child
After a good night’s sleep at Kabba crossing. James and his son (the headmaster) took me back up to the school. They teach 283 children in a tiny building so mostly use outside under mango trees as classes. This is fine at the moment but in 3 weeks the rainy season starts. When it rains, all the children go to the building making any teaching impossible in such a crowded space.. They have a half built building next door that needs a roof before the rains arrive. They need a contractor to saw up large roof timbers and some more zinc sheet. PLEASE USE THE LINK ON THE MAIN PAGE TO DONATE TO STREET CHILD AND MAKE THIS POSSIBLE. I am sure that a couple of hundred pounds will be enough to open a new school building for this and the surrounding villages.
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Day 61: Swimming with the bike
Today was about great bike riding on mountain roads and on jungle tracks, falling off a ferry into a river, seeing fantastic wildlife, breakdowns and hospitality in a remote jungle village. It is going to be a long blog. ..
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Day 60: Great biking country
Distance 350km
Today has been a great bike riding experience it started with some straight forward good straight tarmac for high speed and burning kilometers. Then came some of the worst roads imaginable where the tarmac was either pot holed or missing for several kilometers at a time. I spent a lot of the time riding on the dirt beside the road rather than dancing around pot holes on the road. Finally I was back on good tarmac through fantastic hilly scenery with long sweeping bends.
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Day 59: Pause for bike repair
This morning I only had a kilometer to go to the village where I needed to get my passport stamped. Right from the outset the steering did not feel right. It was notchy when turning rather than smooth. Ok when going straight and fast but very difficult when going slow and using the steering to help balance.
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DAY 58: Into Guinea
Distance: 380km
I started the day unsure of where I would finish. The Michelin paper map showed an unpaved road between Bougoni in Mali and Kankan in Guinnea but neither Google Maps not Openstreetmaps said it was a complete road. They showed a gap and no route through. Internet searches gave no mention of a border post there. I decided to get to Bougouni and ask a local. If no joy then I would have to take a much longer route and stop overnight in Bomako, Mali.
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Day 57: Three days, Three Countries
Opposite the hotel in Bobo was a bike repair shop so first thing I wandered across to ask about them helping do an oil change (they do the mucky bits of a service) we agreed a price and layer I came across with the bike. While he did the oil, I checked the plug, cleaned the air filter etc. Half hour later the bike was serviced.
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Day 56: Results of a big storm
Distance 350km
Last night I went to sleep with the sounds of a big thunderstorm. Lighting flashes were almost continual as was the rumble of thunder. I definitely made the right choice of not camping. I got a very good 9 hours of sleep and woke to a very different world to the one I left the night before.
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Day 55: Very tired
After two consecutive days riding for 11 hours, a lot of it on dirt roads, and a sleepless night in a hot and humid tent, I am exhausted. I managed to get to the last small town before the Hamile border post and find a cheap hotel. It has a shower and a bed and sometimes power. There is a thunder storm outside which may account for the 3 consecutive power cuts in 5 minutes.
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Day 54: An unscheduled departure from the vertical
Distance: 450km
I am on the road again at last. I left Accra at 8am and headed North West. I entered Ghana on the East side so am travelling up the West side of the river Volta to leave by different scenery. So far I am not disappointed.