After an enjoyable relaxing week at my warmshowers host Giel (pronounced heel) and Wies (pronounced Vees) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, it was time to get the flight to Nairobi in Kenya. Ouagadougou had been a surprise, more modern than other West African towns I’d visited and development going on in many areas. There is a…
After riding through most of The Gambia, I thought there wouldn’t be that much more to see in this small country. I continue to be drip fed surprises and new things as the travel continues. It’s always a highlight to see animals in the wild not seen before, like a troop of baboons, a mongoose…
While staying with Cherno and the cycling club, we were able to catch up on some things like washing clothes, bike repairs and taking time to see the beach at Gunjur. Cherno and his wife fed us well with African food, rice with fish, black porridge (rice with sugar and groundnut) and Cherno’s wife’s famous…
After a lovely week resting at 7 Palava, it was time to get going again. Another cyclist from Belgium Wouter arrived a couple of days before and he was planning on heading further into Africa. Wouter had been in contact for a while after being told by a Moroccan Gendarmerie checkpoint that there were cyclists…
After spending over two months on the road to reach Senegal, I thought it maybe time to allow myself a proper bit of R&R. The Campsite Camping 7 Palava near St Louis I had read about on more than one travellers blog. After spending some time in St Louis after crossing the border from Mauritania…
If I were to be asked to sum up Mauritania in five words from my experience up to Nouakchott they would have been: 1. Desert 2. City 3. Iron Ore 4. Railway Line 5. Sand The country is mainly desert. After receiving my Senegalese visa I was able to leave Nouakchott and continue on the…
Riding into the Sahara during summer isn’t something most cycle tourists do, most go through either before or after (I’d originally planned before). Luckily the route you take which starts in Morocco, follows the coastal route for much if the Moroccan part which helps to keep temperatures at a manageable heat. Throughout the crossing the…
The Youth Hostel Cloud 9 I stayed in (yes I know I’m not a youth, oldies are allowed as well!) was great. It was my first stay in such a place and I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. Cloud 9 is situated right in the heart of the Medina, near to everything…
The workaway week in Rabat with Ana and Salah at their school near the Barakas in Rabat was an experience I never thought I’d have in a million years. Only a couple of months ago living in the UK with a comfortable job and taking lots of things that we in the UK take for…
Ive arrived in Morocco, exciting, a new country and a continent I have never been to before, Africa. Its a lot different to Europe. Arriving and entry was easy, buy ferry ticket, pre-register entry to Morocco on the ferry, clear immigration and cycle into Morocco. It was quite an eventful day, I woke up and…
14th June, my Birthday. Woke up on the beach at Calarbardina the night after Spain got beaten in their world cup opening game. Renas gave me a birthday present, one of his cotton shirts that he’d not worn much with long sleeves. I had no shirts with long sleeves to protect my arms from the…
Childish…
Normally, I don’t do hot weather, however throwing myself into a warmer climate and adding on top cycling, I’m surprising myself at how well I am coping with the heat. Since meeting Norman and Renas, the schedule I was working to seems to have gone out the window a little. I was planning on doing…
The last week saw me spending my last few days in France, leaving the Workaway placement in Olargues and arriving in Spain. After going to the local festival of the cherry’s (Cerises) Local Festival in Mons Trivalle Elke and Norbert saw me off, sending me away with bread, locally cured sausage and the ever so…
Saw this guy on the way to Viladamat, his road awareness skills could do with a little polishing maybe.
The last week I have been on a Workaway placement in Olargues in Southern France. Workaway I came across the site when reading another cycle touring blog and from what they had written it seemed a very good idea. Simply put,you do some work for free board and lodging which will allow you to explore…
Please forgive any unusual spellings or what appear to be mistakes, I am writing this on a French keyboard in a library, hiding from the thunderstorms) and the letters are in different locations. If I were to write the cat sat on the mat using where the keys would normally be on a UK keyboard…